Time Management

Tracee Sioux wanted to lay the ideas out for members in this format to cut back discussion time at the meetings. One of the things I learned at Northeast Texas Toastmasters at Winter TLI was that many clubs get everything done in a one hour meeting or they table it because they meet during their lunch break.

Time Management

Use Website

More activity with this website should facilitate a lot of business discussion before we get to the meeting. If people read the articles, then respond and ask questions in the comments section we should only have to vote on business items and it will be a great deal more efficient.

The person over a project, or concerned about a training issue, would post an article about their plans and ideas and allow other members to respond, post concerns, etc. Some articles and discussion pages would be:

• Public Relations Campaigns
• Relay For Life Plans
• Contests
• Business Concerns
• Dues information and deadlines
• Reminders

Training Meeting or Training 5 min. Speech

To facilitate our time better, it was suggested that we turn 5 – 15 minutes, once-a-month over to a veteran Toastmaster like Teresa Wooten, Sherry Kramer, Hugh Dawson, Darron Killingsworth or other members who have areas of expertise. Tracee Sioux (me) doing the blog training would be an example of this type of training.

Because we are a new club, in need of lots of instruction about Toastmasters rules, customs, traditions, and awards, I (Tracee Sioux) would be inclined to include a 10 min. Training Speech on the agenda for the next year. Provided that instruction and training be strictly limited to this 10 minutes.

How does everyone else feel about this proposal?

Speeches About Toastmasters

Another idea was to encourage speakers give speeches about Toastmasters. For instance, you would still complete Speech #3, but choose to give a speech about the judges training you recently attended or you do Speech #4 and choose to speak about what makes a good Tabletopics Question or Answer.

Time It

Other members suggested that our President, Bobby Jo Spearman or VP of Education, Jennifer LaPrade time all portions of the meeting, including the business meeting. That business be put on the agenda prior to the meeting and be assigned a time that is strictly adhered to. Last week we had time limits next to every role and I thought that worked well, especially as we are a new club and need fundamental information like how long our General Evaluation should be. I think it would be appropriate to use the same format for business meetings.

Perhaps others at TLI got some great ideas about how to keep our meetings within alloted time frames. Please use the comments section of this article to brainstorm new ideas and support or reject some of the ideas presented here.