Table Topics Master

Your responsibility is to direct the impromptu speaking session which allows members to think on their feet.

PRIOR TO THE MEETING

Choose topics in keeping with the theme of the evening. Vary your topics: some controversial, some lighter, some serious and some humorous. Phone your Table Topic Evaluators.

Explain your responsibilities as Table Topic Master.
Instruct the evaluators which speakers they are evaluating: odd numbered or even numbered
Explain the timing and call on the Timer to explain the timing device.
Briefly explain your topics. Avoid long introductions of these topics so that more members can participate.
Ensure that everyone present at the meeting gets a chance to speak. You may exclude those already on a heavy speaking assignment. You may find it helpful to write a list of those members who are not already on the program.
DO NOT CALL ON GUESTS UNLESS YOU HAVE CLEARED IT WITH THEM AHEAD OF TIME.
Avoid having more than three speakers on one topic. However, if the session is lively and being enjoyed by all, you may choose to continue on the same topic.
If there are a large number of people present, you may reduce the time limit for each speaker to less than two minutes. Instruct the Timer.
Make sure you are within time limit as specified-on the Program.
Call on the Evaluators. Call the odd speaker evaluator first if you ended on an even number of speeches. Call the even speaker evaluator first if you ended on an odd number of speeches. This gives the evaluators time to prepare their evaluations.
Return control to the Chairman.