Prerequisite: Icebreaker and attendance at three or four meetings. This is the minimum. This task is not usually assigned to a member until s/he is quite familiar with the Club and its procedures by rotating through the other duties first.

Time: The entire meeting, except for the President's opening and closing. You will be making short comments in between meeting segments to assure a smoothly run meeting. You must also watch the time used by the other participants, particularly the programs run by the Topicmaster and the Chief Evaluator and, if necessary, tell them where to make adjustments as the meeting progresses.

Before the Meeting: The Toastmaster of the meeting has the key role in the success of the meeting. Only through proper advance planning can this assignment be carried out effectively. The primary duty of the Toastmaster is to insure a well-run, upbeat meeting, act as a genial host to smooth the transitions between program participants, and to return control of the meeting to the President in order to end the meeting on time!

• Several days before the meeting, contact the Topicmaster, Chief Evaluator (who will coordinate with the Evaluators and the functionaries), Speakers, member giving the Invocation, and Poet Laureate to confirm their attendance
• Prepare a brief introduction of the theme of the meeting. Try to weave the theme throughout the meeting by using it in introductions, summary, etc.
• Participants who are unable to fulfill an assignment should find a replacement and notify you as soon as possible. Sometimes you will need to find a replacement for them. Alternate Speakers should be contacted first as replacements for Speakers since they confirmed their position as Alternate and have been preparing. Feel free to contact the VP Education for names of members who are next in line for a particular position.
• Contact the VP Education the day prior to the meeting with any changes to the participants, so s/he can update the agenda prior to printing the agenda for the meeting.
• Obtain from each Speaker his/her manual title, project number, project objectives, speech title and biographical data for your introduction, or confirm that the speaker will be providing you with a written introduction that includes all of this information.
• Obtain biographical data on the Topicmaster and the Chief Evaluator.
• Plan your introductions carefully. Introductions should be no longer than one minute. Read "How to Introduce a Speaker" in your Communication and Leadership manual. Be sure you know the rank (CTM, ATM, DTM, etc.) of each person you are introducing.

1. Arrive before the meeting begins, and take a seat up front.
2. Make sure the VP of Ed has placed one Agenda at each seat and at the lectern prior to the start of the meeting.
3. Make sure all program participants are in attendance. If some fail to show up, appoint replacements prior to the start of the meeting. If an Evaluator or Functionary is not present, inform the Chief Evaluator that s/he needs to assign someone. Encourage Speakers to talk with their Evaluators before the meeting begins or at the break. If a Program Manager is not present within 10 minutes of the meeting, ask someone else to prepare to fill that position, should the Program Manager in question not show up.
4. Tell the Toastmaster of any changes to the meeting participants.
5. Decide the order of the Speakers, and inform the Chief Evaluator.
6. Plan the meeting to return control to the President on time. If the total maximum time for the speeches is over 30 minutes, inform the Poet Laureate that s/he will not be speaking. Don't add a "grace period" to the 30 minutes; that is already included.
7. When the President turns control of the meeting over to you, walk quickly to the lectern. You are in charge of the meeting. Address the group as follows: "Thank you Mr./Madam President. Fellow Toastmasters and Honored Guests," and introduce your theme in 1 minute or less.
8. Use the President's Agenda as a checklist to keep the meeting on schedule. It is your responsibility to alert participants who go over their time and indicate to them that they should immediately conclude their portion of the program. Make sure the Topicmaster does not call on the other two Program Managers (Toastmaster, Chief Evaluator), Speakers, or Evaluators. All others should be given a chance to speak during Tabletopics, ending with all guests. If this causes the Topicmaster to give the meeting back to you after 7:45, you will need to cut the break short. If the Topicmaster is falling behind because of long questions, comments between speakers, or is generally being slow or inefficient, catch his/her eye and motion that s/he needs to speed up the process. If you cannot catch his/her eye, you may need to pass him or her a note. If there are few members present at the meeting, it may be that the Topicmaster will call on other members and guests and still have time prior to 7:45. In that case, s/he can call on Evaluators, as long as the meeting can be returned to you by 7:45. You should gavel down promptly at 8:00 to begin the second part of the meeting.
9. In all introductions, be sure to give the person’s name last and Toastmaster rank (i.e.: CTM).
10. Make brief bridging comments between meeting segments to keep the meeting flowing.
11. Before the intermission, remind Speakers to confer with their Evaluators and to give the Timekeeper the minimum and maximum times for their speeches. Indicate the length of the break and ask the Timer to time the break.
12. Make sure the second half of the meeting starts no later than 8:00 sharp. Welcome everyone back and briefly introduce the Formal Speech portion of the meeting by reading from the President's Agenda.
13. Introduce each Speaker with your prepared introduction, being sure to include manual assignment number, name and objectives, speaker background, speech title and speaker’s name last, and speaker's rank. You do not have to give speaker background if it is the Icebreaker speech, as that is the purpose of the assignment.
14. Lead the applause and remain at the lectern until the Speaker has arrived to shake your hand. Then sit down.
15. At the end of each presentation, lead the applause as you return to the lectern to shake the Speaker’s hand. Offer a brief word of appreciation to bridge the gap between presentations and keep the audience’s interest, but do not influence either the Members or Evaluators.
16. After each Speaker, ask the members and guests to take one minute to write their evaluation of that speech. Do not talk during this time.
17. After all Speakers have finished, call for the Timer’s report on qualifying speech times.
18. Ask members and guests to vote for the Speaker who they felt best accomplished the goals of their speech.
19. Introduce the Chief Evaluator. Lead the applause and remain at the lectern until s/he arrives to shake your hand. Then sit down.
20. When the Chief Evaluator returns control to you, walk quickly to the lectern and shake hands.
21. Complete the rest of your duties as Toastmaster including: Calling up the Poet Laureate; giving a one-minute closing statement bridging the theme and the meeting together; and giving out the Awards. Give them in this order: Table-topics, Evaluator, and Speaker. Bring up last week’s winner in each category to present the award. If last week's winner is not present, you may present the award yourself or call on someone else.
22. South Bay Toastmasters Club 280 has a policy and practice that Trophy presenters are limited to members of the Club.  Guests are not prepared to know how to present trophies.  Members shall be given the opportunity to practice Presenting and Receiving Awards.  Each Presenter should deliver a hot seat speech that shall include a Definition of the Award, What the Award is, Why the award is significant, and express the honor of presenting the Award.  Each Award presentation should take on the character of being a Ceremony, brief, but Ceremonial.  The exception to the Club Policy and Practice would be a visiting Toastmaster Dignitary, e.g., Division Level, Area Level or other Level.  At Club 280 our Awards are not just given, we practice PRESENTING and RECEIVING AWARDS, Graciously.  The Receiver should also give a brief but genuinely grateful speech for the Honor of Receiving the Award. (Added September 21, 2007)
23. Return control to the President. Lead the applause and wait for the President to arrive at the lectern and shake hands before returning to your seat.