Putting On A Backwards Meeting
Backwards meetings are a unique and very fun way to hold a meeting. The meeting is literally held in reverse. Everyone must pay close attention to what the evaluation team had to say about them because they are responsible for incorporating those comments later on in the meeting. The information in this document incorporates information from previous Dynamic Speakers meetings. It is written from the perspective of the Toastmaster who is the key organizer of the meeting. The Toastmaster is responsible for seeing that the meeting stays on track because it is very easy to become confused.
Backwards Dynamic Speakers Agenda Outline
- Presiding Officer
- Close meeting
- Thanks Toastmaster for a good job
- Toastmaster
- Hands out awards
- Thanks VPEs for their report
- VPEs
- Report
- Thanks General Evaluator for intro
- General Evaluator
- Introduces VPEs
- General Evaluator Report
- Leader Evaluator Report
- Timer Report
- Grammarian Report
- Evaluator 2 report (if any)
- Evaluator 1 report
- Opening remarks
- Thanks Toastmaster for intro
- Toastmaster introduces GE (Topicsmaster comes up)
- Topicsmaster
- Table Topics
- Thanks Toastmaster for intro
- Toastmaster:
- Introduce Topicsmaster
- Introduce Speaker 2 (if any)
- Speaker 2 speaks
- Pause for comments
- Introduce Speaker 1
- Speaker 1 speaks
- Pause for comments
- Introduce Word of the Day
- Discuss theme
- Thank Presiding Officer for intro
- Presiding Officer:
- Introduces Toastmaster
- Welcomes guests
- Recite Club Mission
- Recite Pledge
- Open meeting
One feature of a backwards meeting is for members to challenge other members with doing different things. Here are some examples from past Dynamic Speakers backwards meeting
- The Toastmaster awarded Keith with a Special Recognition Award for using the palindrome phrase “Was it Eliot’s toilet I saw” during Table Topics. The meeting theme had been palindromes. The Topicsmaster was sure to call on Keith during Table Topics.
- The Grammarian said that Mark used the crutch phrase “you know”; something he normally does not do. Mark then used “you know” a few times in his remarks.
- The Timer said that Pat had gone over on time during Table Topics. The Timer said that Pat had started off fine then went off on a tangent about her philosophy of life. The Topicsmaster made sure to call on Pat and Pat slipped into a long discussion about life.
- The Evaluator said that the Speaker, Bruce, leaned toward the audience and winked each time he used the word “art” in his speech, as though he was being sly about something. The Evaluator had known that Bruce’s speech was called “Art Show” so figured he would use the word a few times. Bruce winked at the audience whenever he used the word “art”.
- The Evaluator said that the Speaker, Steve, used the phrase “Am I right?” several times throughout his speech. Steve was giving us an informative speech so the phrase fit perfectly.
- The Grammarian commented on Victor having used a very long drawn out ummmmmmmm during his Table Topics response. The Topicsmaster made sure to call on Victor and Victor ummmmmmmmmed.
- The Grammarian commented that Vernon had spoken very quickly at one point and his words were undecipherable. Vernon did exactly that at one point.
- The Timer had noticed that Keith was right on time during Table Topics until he got into a coughing fit that took him over. The Topicsmaster called on Keith and Keith coughed.
- The General Evaluator stated that the start of the meeting was delayed when Mark, the Toastmaster, started to speak but then had to delay his opening remarks when he couldn’t find his glasses and they had actually been on top of his head. Mark put his glasses on top of his head, said a few things, then stopped, reached into his pocket for the glasses, didn’t find them, went to his seat, looked under the table, looked under the lectern, and then found them on his head.
- The General Evaluator noted that the meeting had gotten off to a late start and that Victor was so rushed as the Presiding Officer that he forgot to read the Club Mission. Victor, indeed, skipped the reading of the Club Mission.
- The General Evaluator commented that the Toastmaster, Mark, forget to give the definition for the Word of the Day. Mark introduced the Word of the Day but then didn’t define it.
- The General Evaluator commented how the Topicsmaster, Jeff, forgot to tell us how long we had to speak during Table Topics; so Jeff didn’t tell us.
- The General Evaluator noted how the Ah Counter, Vincent, said the word “click” instead of clicking the clicker several time through the meeting. Vincent then had to say “click” instead of actually clicking.
It’s important that everyone understand what their role entails prior to the meeting because the meeting format is so confusing. One week prior to the start of the meeting, the Toastmaster should email each member with a role and provide guidelines for their role. Sample emails follow. If you use them, replace highlighted text. Also, the format of the meeting may have changed since this document was written so be sure to modify the emails, below, for our current format.
