Harkmaster

HARKMASTER TOP TIPS:

  • Pick-up relevant audience questions from everyone not just the speakers!

  • Don’t select more than two questions per speaker

  • Prepare your notes before the prepared speech section starts!

 

““When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”

Ernest Hemingway

A very important skillset that the Toastmasters educational programme seeks to develop are listening skills. As Harkmaster you will highlight the importance of active listening by picking up facts from the evening speakers and questioning the audience on them.

What will I learn?

Just like the grammarian role, this role will give you a great opportunity to improve your listening skills. You’ll also learn how to pick-up the most relevant pieces of information in a speech. Something that is highly transferable to the workplace when listening to seminars, talks or during meetings.

During The Meeting

Please come to the meeting with a box of chocolates and other sweets to give to the members as a reward for answering questions correctly.

Introduce your role by highlighting the importance of active listening skills in all situations. Be it listening to a speech, having a conversation with someone else or even watching a movie. Explain that you will be taking notes during the meeting on what everyone has said and that you’ll ask questions afterwards on what everyone has said.

Typically one page of A4 paper will be enough for you to write sufficient notes to cover everything. You may find that dividing it by speakers and functionaries/evaluators at the beginning of the meeting will save you time later on.

Aim to ask about fifteen to twenty questions during your segment at the end of the meeting. While the bulk of them may be on what the speakers of the evening said. Do broaden your spectrum too to include other things such as:

  • Anything the President may have mentioned in his/her introduction

  • Recommendations given to speakers by the speech evaluators

  • Answers to table topics question

  • Something a guest may have said while introducing themselves

  • Anything else that was said during the meeting

Once you’ve asked your last question hand the meeting back to the Toastmaster of the evening.

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