The toastmaster sets the pace of the meeting. He acts in the capacity of a host for it's up to him to start the ball rolling and to keep the show on the right road. The key­note of his introductions must be levity, whether he intro­duces one single speaker at a luncheon, or a table load of penguins dressed in black tie and tux for the big banquet.

Keep the Program Moving

Organizations are increasingly aware of the importance of conducting meetings on schedule and restricting speakers to definite time limits.

Religiously following a time schedule avoids these inci­dents so aggravating to the speaker who has been requested to present a limited-time address. He has carefully pre­pared his material to fit the schedule and then, due to the inability of the toastmaster to observe that timing, he is asked at the eleventh hour to condense his time and butcher his talk. This rudeness is paralleled only by a toastmaster who completely ignores the speaker once his speech is concluded, and overlooks thanking him and commend­ing him for his address. A few brief words are sufficient, but a lengthy review is quite out of place.

Be Equipped with a Quip

An efficient toastmaster supplies himself with fitting quips of recent vintage to cover up confusion from those "unforeseen" circumstances that arise at every meeting.

Very often when a general discussion follows a speech on a controversial subject, the toastmaster (who is re­quired by custom to remain strictly neutral) is pressed for his opinion. He might escape this awkward situation with the story of the politician who took to the fence for safety when he was caught between conflicting fields of thought—by saying:

It appears that many prefer this proposed procedure, and they include a number of my friends. I too can see the logical way they face these facts. It also appears that others oppose the plan, and they also include many of my friends. I respect their reasoning. Now you ask for my views: Well, I've given the issue a lot of thought and I agree that it is a vital issue—one that's too big for any one person to settle by himself. It's a subject a man wants to discuss with his friends. I've done precisely that—and I stand strictly for my friends.

Plan Your Introductions

Introductions deserve more than extemporaneous stutterings; they require a little know-how of what to say. If you are to introduce someone, learn about him well in advance. If he is a stranger, get acquainted. Plan carefully how you are going to deliver him to his listeners and to key them up on his subject, for you are running interference for him until he gets going under his own power. A well-prepared introduction puts the speaker in harmony with the audience.

Introductory speakers, especially when the program is long and the speaker is a noted man, often urge the audi­ence to rise and honor the guest. This serves a dual pur­pose: It pleases the speaker, and relaxes his audience with a limited seventh inning stretch.

The toastmaster must assume responsibility for the com­plete program. He should know when to pop up and when to pop down by working out a schedule in detail and then faithfully follow its sequence. A program that's been mis­handled becomes overly-long, is improperly timed, or lacks dispatch, worries the speaker for fear the suburbanites will leave to catch the last train home. 

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