Table Topics Before or After Speeches?
Aug 17
Mandating the order of different meeting segments may seem silly and unimportant. It may seem strange that experienced Toastmasters can have very strong conflicting opinions on this—but the order in which you run parts of your meetings can make a difference in meeting quality.
Broadly, there are three major segments to a meeting: prepared speeches, table topics, and evaluations. Of course, there are usually a number of minor roles as well, often stuck in at the very start of the meeting.
Evaluations cannot come before speeches (unless you’re doing a backwards meeting for fun, but that’s another topic). In fact, it only makes sense to have them at the end. It’s had to give a wordmaster, ah counter or grammarian report when there’s still a significant amount of meeting time left. Speech evaluations would be split from the rest of the evaluation segment, but that would be inefficient and perplexing.
So evaluations are the third and final segment. That just leaves the question: table topics first or prepared speeches first? Surprisingly, some Toastmasters strongly favor having table topics first, although I’ve never once heard a specific, valid reason for why this should be.
Advantages of prepared speeches before table topics:
- Always prepared before impromptu. People who have rehearsed can’t relax and pay attention until they complete their part and stop fretting.
- Table topics are the most flexible part of the meeting… you can have one table topics speaker, three, five, ten, whatever. Logically you want it to be later in the meeting, so you know if you have spare time, or if you need to keep it short to make up time.
- Speech evaluators have a few minutes to think about their evaluations, instead of giving an evaluation immediately after seeing the speech.
Why would some people or clubs have table topics first? Thinking about it, I can only think of these reasons…
- Evaluators may be distracted, planning their evaluations, and not pay attention to table topics
- Your prepared speakers may be late and not have shown up to the meeting yet!
What do you think? Do you have more reasons for why prepared speeches should be first? Or do you have a good reason for having table topics first? Please let me know in the comments!
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I have two more reasons for Table Topics to be before main speeches.
1. For me the main events of a Toastmaster Evening are the prepared speeches. The Table Topic session serves as build up, relaxing the room, getting everyone used to speaking, then the climax is the speeches, with the evaluation session serving as a resolution.
2. If main speeches are before Table Topics than evaluators can’t enjoy Table Topic speeches, they’ll be thinking about their evaluations. Right after main speeches we have a break, during which evaluators would prepare, and then the evaluation session.
This is what I’m used to. When I learned other clubs do it reverse, well the first thing I did was google it and found your blog post.
Thanks, Adam! It’s good to finally hear some reasons to have Table Topics first. I personally still feel the reasons to have impromptu events after prepared events are still stronger, but the key is for a club to consider the options and make a choice. I’ve seen far too many clubs that were just taught by “more experienced” Toastmasters that something “is supposed” to be a certain way, regardless of whether or not it fits their situation or follows TI guidelines, and they accept it without questions. Hopefully this post, and your thoughts, will guide people to think about it and make a choice.