As the Timer in Toastmasters, your role is vital for keeping the meeting on track. You're responsible for timing speeches and other segments, ensuring they stay within the allocated time limits. By maintaining precision and fairness, you help members develop their communication skills effectively. Your role instills discipline and respect for time, contributing to a smoother and more valuable Toastmasters experience.

Guidelines:

Upon arrival at the meeting

• Pick up the timing device (color sign and a gavel) from the Sergeant at Arms.
• Prepare a stopwatch.
• Chose a seat that is easily visible to speakers.
• This is how the timing works: there is no color at the beginning; green color is flipped at the time indicated as „green“ on the agenda, and same goes for amber and red. 30s after signaling with red color, use the gavel to point out that the speaker has reached overtime.

At the meeting

• When introduced by the Toastmaster, come on the stage, explain the timing rules and demonstrate the signal device and gavel. Optionally, you can start your speech with a more general topic about time and its importance.
• For all speeches and evaluations on the agenda, record each participant’s name and the interval they required to complete their speech.
• When you are asked to give a timekeeper’s report, give feedback to all speakers. The report can have different formats. You can group people into groups by their color (green, red, yellow). Or you can go according to the order on the agenda. It is not necessary to mention the exact time of every role, you can just say “in green”, or “in amber”. For speakers, however, it is recommended to state the exact speaking time. For those that were marked with gavel, do say by how much they were overtime. If you like, you can make the Timer role a bit playful: for example pretend you are commenting on a racing contest.

<aside> 💡 There are mobile applications for Timer role in Toastmasters, which can help you make the tasks easier. On your mobile device, search for Timer Toastmasters or Speech Timer etc. Make sure to try out the apps before an actual Timer role.

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If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact club officers. Thank you again for considering this role. We look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

PBT - Where Words Become Power.