The Sergeant at Arms role on any executive is a much more important part than many people believe.
Having been a SAA in my clubs many times I can tell you that if the role of the SAA is underestimated the club will suffer.
One of the many duties of The Sergeant at Arms is to set up the room in readiness for a meeting. When guests and members arrive they should be greeted by the SAA in a room that demonstrates the purpose of the meeting. For example that the banner is hung, the timing equipment set out, and the seating is prepared.
The SAA maintains and cares for the clubs equipment, for example the lights and banners, as well as projector and microphone if the club owns that type of equipment.
In some clubs the SAA is responsible for liaising with the venue for ordering meals and providing numbers in attendance prior to the meeting.
The SAA will call the meeting to order and before introducing the President or the Chairman will read the Mission Statement of the Club and sometimes have a joke or a motivational saying to get the meeting moving in the right direction
Therefore the SAA should always be well dressed. As the first person seen by guests and members the SAA has the responsibility of appearing to “care” about the role and what it entails. It is important that the guests and all attendees get a good first impression.
All of these duties are vital to the life of any Toastmasters Club.
By doing the role of SAA properly the SAA gains skills in preparation, communication skills and making a first impression. These are skills that help in employment situations outside Toastmasters.
I believe that a good Sergeant at Arms is worth their weight in gold and an invaluable asset to any club.
Fran Kay DTM
D69 SAA
Thank-you Fran. I like all of this. In case clubs are doing online meetings, here are some things we are asking our Sergeant at Arms to do:
Opening the Zoom room (or equivalent) about 1/2 hour before the start time.
Making sure the Timekeeper has coloured backgrounds or coloured pages and can use them.
Calls the meeting to order and hands over to the Toastmaster.
Mutes people if they need to be muted.
Monitor the written chat, if that is happening.
Closes the meeting at the end.
Assists people experiencing technical difficulties.
Provides the telephone access instructions if needed.
Thanks,
…Geoff Higgins
Entrepreneurs Capricorn Toastmasters Club
I did it today and within Microsoft Teams, whomever is the main speaker can be “pinned” as the main screen appearing. It’s good for the Sergeant of Arms to do that. Also when we were having Table Topics, I would suggest putting down the name of the speakers as they are speaking so that when it comes to voting, it makes it easier for people to remember who spoke .