I was a Toastmasters Grammarian—on my first night!
Last night was my first official Toastmasters meeting; I’d been going as a guest for quite a while, and only joined last week. I was expecting to sit back and relax through my first meeting as a member, but it wasn’t to be.
As is usual in January, there were more guests than members – the house was packed. As I arrived, the Toastmaster for the evening came up to me and asked “Guest?”. No, not this time. “Great! Can you be our Grammarian?”
The Grammarian at Toastmasters plays the role of language coach. It’s a matter of listening to what people say, for interesting turns of phrase and unusual usages. Often there’s a Word of the Day that challenges speakers to incorporate an unexpected element into their prepared or impromptu speeches. My word was prepared, although I wasn’t.
I was more nervous than I expected, perhaps because of the crowd, perhaps because of the implied responsibility. Would anyone say anything interesting? Would I notice? Would I be able to draw these elements together into a not-quite-impromptu 3–5 minute speech afterward?
Happily, they did say interesting things. And I noticed (and noted). And the mini speech went over just fine. I thought it wasn’t very polished, but the evaluator was very pleased, and said as his sole recommendation: “You should have joined months ago!”.
He’s right, but that’s another story.