Duties of the Ah/Posture Bell Counter

Ah Counter | Ballot Counter/Listener | Evaluator | General Evaluator | Jester | PLG
President | Sergeant at Arms | Speaker | Timer | Toastmaster | Topics Master

Before the Meeting

• Practice your "Explanation of Duty" speech if you need to.

Upon Arrival at the Meeting

• Get the "Ah buzzer" and the "Posture bell" from the table or supply box.

During the Meeting

• Starting from the opening gavel, and continuing to adjournment, observe each speaker for distracting verbal or posture crutches.
• Buzz or ding anyone except a prepared speaker if you observe an infraction. Be aggressive, but if a speaker seems to be ignoring the buzzer or bell, stop after a few attempts.
• Keep a log of infractions, by speaker.
• Report on the infractions you observed when called on for the "Ah Counter's Report" by the General Evaluator.

Sample "Explanation of Duty"

My job as the "Ah" counter is simply to make people more effective speakers by making them aware when they are using words or gestures that can draw attention away from their speech.

I will press this buzzer [demonstrate] every time I hear verbal distractions, such as the "ah", "a", or "um" sound, any filler words such as "you know" or "okay", or a run-on sentence connected by "and" or "and so".

I will ring this bell [demonstrate, damping bell sound after a second or so] if I see any physical distractions, such as [demonstrate] hands in pockets, playing with a pen, leaning on the table or lectern, figleaf [clasping hands in front], or reverse figleaf [clasping hands in back], that will distract the audience from the speaker's message. I will refrain from using the buzzer or bell during the prepared speeches. For them, I will just write down their violations. I will keep track of the filler words and posture violations throughout the meeting and near the end of the meeting, when called on by the General Evaluator, I will give a report on the "ah" and "posture" violation count for each speaker.

Mr. (or Madam) Toastmaster.