Toastmasters Agenda Setup and Customization

Here is a detailed walkthrough of the tools available for creating and customizing your meeting agendas using the Toastmost system, which covers some helpful new features. For those who don't have the time or patience to watch the video, I've included some key details below.

New and improved agenda tools

The latest update to the Toastmost system includes the following new blocks and block settings options.

The agenda privacy separator

When you add this block to your agenda, any content placed below the separator will ONLY be displayed to logged in, authorized club members not to visitors.

I'm using this at my own clubs to guide visitors toward filling out the RSVP Now! registration form and omitting role signup details that are not relevant to a potential guest. In the example shown below, my marketing content and the the widget for the Theme and Word of the Day are above the separator and all the role blocks are below that dividing line.

In the video, I also cover the use of the Agenda Context block that can be used as a wrapper around content that you only want to be displayed to members, only to guests, and displayed or not displayed on the printable agenda.

Add "Show title prompt" to any role

The Speaker role automatically prompts members to add their speech title, path, and project. Now you can automatically prompt members to add a title for any other role -- in this example, the custom role of Tip of the Day we do at Online Presenters Toastmasters. The title (if set) will then appear below the name of the member who has signed up for that role, just as it would for a speech.

Option in the editor

Title prompt on the signup form.

Time display within the editor

It's now easier to see the time allowed for each activity on your agenda and whether your meeting will end on time. For each role and each "stage directions" agenda note, you can set the time allowed for that activity. As you make changes, the time for the next activity will update.

Another recent enhancement is that if you change the number of speakers, the number of evaluators will also change, along with the default time associated with those activities. The software calculates # of speeches times 7 as the default number of minutes, and you can adjust as appropriate to allow time for longer speeches and the transition between speakers.

As always, let me know if you have questions.

David F. Carr, DTM, david@toastmost.org or 954-290-6788.