After having lunch, our meetings start promptly at noon with the presiding officer asking the designated member to lead in the invocation and prayer. Then the presiding officer introduces the Toastmaster for that meeting. The Toastmaster calls on the member who has the Word for the Day, the word that is to be used by all the members in that meeting. The Toastmaster then calls on the Table Topics Master. That member has prepared a list of questions for each member to respond to extemporaneously for one minute to a minute and a half. Following those short speeches, the Toastmaster then calls on two members to give prepared speeches, lasting normally five to seven minutes. The speeches usually are prepared using the training manual, with the first speech being the "Ice Breaker" with information about the new member. The Toastmaster calls on the General Evaluator. That member calls on two members who evaluate each speaker. The General Evaluator then evaluates the overall meeting. The Toastmaster returns to the podium and calls on the designated Jokemaster to tell a joke (while ballots are being counted for the best Table Topics speaker and best prepared speaker). The grammarian is then called upon to report on the number of "ahs" and other errors. Another person is then called to provide a "Thought for the Day". The Toastmaster then calls upon the Time and Ballot Counter to give each speaker's time and who won best Table Topics speaker and best prepared speaker. The advantage to having many short tasks is to allow all in attendance to participate and speak at least a little.
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