In our Madrid Toastmaster Club the grammarian has two main tasks:

1. Count all the filler words per person participating in the meeting. Filler words are aaahhh, eeehhmmm, and other sounds without meaning, but also repetitions of the same word, or expressions like “you know”, “so“, “well”, that the speaker may repeat too often. For each filler word the participant should pay 0,10 € to the club piggy bank. All the money collected at the piggy bank is donated to the NGO Kiva (please explain this last point during your intervention at the beginning of the meeting).
2. Provide the word of the day for the meeting. The goal of the word of the day is to enrich the vocabulary of the members by suggesting one word to be included in their speeches. You have to print two copies of the word of the day to put them on the lectern and in a wall of the meeting room so that the people at the meeting can remember it. You also have to explain the meaning of the word, whether it is an adjective, a noun, a verb, etc. and also provide one or two examples on how to use the word of the day. You should count how many times each participant says the word of the day and for each time he will reduce his penalty for filler words in 0,10 €.

Note: Remember to update the word of the day in Easy Speak before the meeting.

Your role as grammarian counts towards your Competent Leadership award, so before the meeting remember to ask someone to evaluate you on your grammarian role, and give him or her your Competent Leadership manual so that his/her evaluation can be registered in your manual. So very important, remember to bring your CL manual to the meeting!

During the meeting: Explain at the beginning of the meeting your two main roles as grammarian: counting filler words and word of the day, provide the word of the day and explain also about the penalties for filler words. At the end of the meeting you should provide the report on filler words/word of the day for each participant. Try not to extend too long on this because at the end of the meeting the people are usually tired.

Last but not least, if you have a mentor ask him/her for advice about your role, about the club, and about any other doubt that you may have regarding Toastmasters. Don’t wait for him/her to contact you! 🙂