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When you are the AH CounterBefore, and during,the meeting. Delivering your report, Tips, explanation of role The role of the Ah Counter is to notice and give feedback on the various extraneous sounds people make while they are speaking. You make a report during the Evaluation phase of the meeting. Almost everybody ums or ahs or errs or hmmmms or doubles-up words (and..and, the..the etc.) or inserts some kind of filler sound while they are speaking, especially if they are put on the spot and have to think of something to say off the top of their head. Simple feedback works wonders. People actually improve. It's amazing. Before the meeting:It's helpful to bring the latest monthly schedule to the meeting. This helps you figure out who is who, and could serve as your scorecard. Usually the toastmaster will have prepared a printed agenda/schedule for the meeting, but this is not always the case. As the meeting starts, make sure you have a list of everyone present. During the meeting:You will be introduced as the Ah-counter by the Toastmaster. Stand and give a short description of what your role will be. Yeah, everyone knows it already, but the guests don't. Even if there are no guests present, give it anyway -- here's another opportunity to put a little of yourself into a relatively mundane speaking task, in fact, it may not be so mundane after all. During the meeting pay attention to the ahs! Sounds obvious, but it's harder than one would think. Keep score on some kind of tally sheet. Whenever you hear a filler sound, click the clicker. If you miss one, no big deal, keep listening for the next one. Do not click first time guests -- we don't want them to feel any more intimidated than they already may be! Delivering your report:Towards the end of the meeting, during the Evaluation phase, the General Evaluator will call on the various Watchdogs to give their reports. Once again, here's yet another opportunity to put a little of yourself into a relatively mundane speaking task, in fact, it may not be so mundane after all! Report on the number of filler sounds for each person, if the number is significantly greater than 5, you may want to soften the blow by saying "5 plus" ... they'll get the message. Tips:It helps to pay close attention to Guest's names as they are introduced. Later you may be called upon to report on their ah's, and it would be nice to refer to them by name. |