sergeant at arms
This is a description of the meeting role, although this will often be performed by the club's elected Sergeant at Arms (on the committee) it is also an opportunity for other members to take on as an additional speaking/leadership opportunity.
Every Toastmaster member was once a guest at a meeting. Your task as the Sergeant at Arms for the evening is to welcome guests to the meeting, introduce them to club members and to leave them with a positive impression of the club and of Toastmasters.
The role has many facets but is crucial in ensuring that the meeting runs smoothly and efficiently.
Whether the meeting is in-person at a physical venue, or a virtual meeting online (Zoom) the duties are the same.
The Sergeant at Arms helps set up the meeting room, greets guests on arrival, opens the meeting, and carries out a number of tasks through the meeting.
Every Toastmaster member was once a guest at a meeting. Your task as the Sergeant at Arms for the evening is to welcome guests to the meeting, introduce them to club members and to leave them with a positive impression of the club and of Toastmasters.
The role has many facets but is crucial in ensuring that the meeting runs smoothly and efficiently.
Whether the meeting is in-person at a physical venue, or a virtual meeting online (Zoom) the duties are the same.
The Sergeant at Arms helps set up the meeting room, greets guests on arrival, opens the meeting, and carries out a number of tasks through the meeting.
in person meetings
Before the meeting:
- Arrive early (20 min before the meeting starts) so you can help prepare the room.
- When the doorbell rings, open the door and welcome each guest or member.
- Direct any guests to the meeting room and introduce them to a club member.
During the meeting:
- Open the meeting on time.
- Sit at the back of the room and be ready to answer the doorbell and usher in late guests or members.
- If a speech is in progress wait with the latecomer outside the room until it completes before escorting them in.
- At various points during the meeting there will be votes for best speaker, best evaluator and best table topic speaker. Collect the votes, count them and discreetly pass a note to the Club President saying who won.
Here is a sample script for opening the Toastmasters meeting:
Step confidently to the front of the room. Smile, look at the audience and if needed use the gavel to get everyone's attention.
“Good evening, fellow Toastmasters and most welcome guests!
Welcome to Croydon Communicators, I am [say your name], and I will be performing the role of Sergeant-at-arms for this meeting.
Before we begin, I have three housekeeping items to announce.
First, please can all mobile phones be turned off or set to silent.
Second, the facilities are located outside of this room on the right.
Third, in the event of a fire please exit the building and assemble across the road.
Now, I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to our Club President Aseem Kapoor”
Lead the applause and shake hands with the President.
Step confidently to the front of the room. Smile, look at the audience and if needed use the gavel to get everyone's attention.
“Good evening, fellow Toastmasters and most welcome guests!
Welcome to Croydon Communicators, I am [say your name], and I will be performing the role of Sergeant-at-arms for this meeting.
Before we begin, I have three housekeeping items to announce.
First, please can all mobile phones be turned off or set to silent.
Second, the facilities are located outside of this room on the right.
Third, in the event of a fire please exit the building and assemble across the road.
Now, I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to our Club President Aseem Kapoor”
Lead the applause and shake hands with the President.
online meetings
Before the meeting:
- Arrive early (20 min before the meeting starts) and take on host privileges (if you are not already the host).
- Create a break-out room and move the Toastmaster, speakers and other role players into it if they wish to do some pre-meeting preparation, leaving you, the VPM, President and other members free to speak to guests.
- Keep an eye on the waiting room and admit each guest or member.
- Rename attendees adding their meeting role as a prefix or suffix.
During the meeting:
- Open the meeting on time,
- Explain meeting etiquette for all attendees i.e.
- Switch off phones and devices, and removing any other distractions if possible
- To remain muted unless invited to speak
- Encouraged to keep their cameras on, remembering to switch off if they need to step away
- Use the chat function to provide feedback to speakers directly
- Introduce the President
- Make sure a copy of the agenda has been made available to attendees, this can be uploaded as a file in the chat window
- Mute any attendees that forget to mute themselves.
- Any late arrivals should be held in the waiting room if a speech is in progress (you can message the waiting room advising them of this), then admit on completion of the speech.
- Manage the polls. The best speaker and best evaluator polls may have been created in advance, table topics to be created on-the-fly. These have to be administered by logging into the Zoom account on the web (check with the President / VPE / Zoom Master if you are required to do this).