A Toastmistress Journey - Part 3

So now that I was an official member, I completed my IceBreaker Speech.  There were many similarities in terminology between Toastmistress and Toastmasters and there were striking similarities in the program, however, things were handled very differently.

At Toastmistress, the President, Treasurer, and Secretary were at the front table for the entire meeting.  There was a business meeting every meeting and lasted one hour.  Occasionally, there would need to a Motion to extend for 10 minutes.  We strictly had a business meeting for the practice of using Parliamentary Procedure according to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised.  We all had the book and it was very worn.  We emphasized parliamentary procedure more than anything.  The President always referred to themselves in the third person and as the Chair.  The hardest job was the Secretary who had to not only take minutes correctly but had to read them every meeting.  The Chair would not even be through asking if there were any corrections to the minutes when 6 hands would be in the air.  The minutes always were approved as corrected.  The Treasurer's report  was adopted as opposed as approved.  We debated everything but it was always done cordially.  We debated everything and made it as complicated as possible with amendments to the amendments, etc.  We did so we could learn.  We had a number of standing committees and we loved forming ad hoc committees and special committes, just to add to our business meeting.  The education that I achieved in correct parliamentary procedure was extraordinary.  It has been a perennial struggle for me as adult to see people "think" they are using RRONR correctly but they really are not. 

There never was a problem filling roles on the agenda.  The Vice-President was in charge of the agenda and that was sent out months in advance and didn't change.  It was not an option to come unprepared for your role.  If you had to cancel an assignment, you had better be atleast 8 hours out of town. 

For prepared speeches, it was not an option to come out behind the lectern.  Well, it might have been an option but it never happened. 

The role of Grammarian was different than Toastmasters.  We never counted ahs or ums or crutch words because they never happened.  We took a pledge each meeting to use the English language with grace and facility.  That meant  there weren't any ums and ahs.  If someone used them, they would be quietly taken aside and encouraged to make sure they practiced their assignments more in front of a mirror so that it never happened again.  The Grammarian focused on run-on sentences and incongruent tenses in the same sentence.  Analytical listening was mastered in the Toastmistress program. 

Evaluation was handled very differently in Toastmistress.  It was not kind nor gentle.  We had never heard of the sandwich method or commend, recommend, and commend.  It was all growth points and the evaluators would write out written feedback.  Never did I see a speaker upset.  We wanted feedback in order to grow.  When I did become a Toastmaster, everyone thought I was a word that starts with b and rhymes with witch.  My evaluations were very harsh and I had been known to report that someone had 86 ums in a meeting.  I had to really adapt. 

But, I was starting to really enjoy myself, even without Mrs. Ritchie.  I was learning a lot and most importantly, I was in Grade 9.  There were other more experienced new members who had not served on the executive.  There was no possibility of me serving on the executive. 

This was turning into a positive experience.