Sergeant at Arms

SERGEANT AT ARMS

From Latin servient - 'serving'. Originally a general term used for 'attendant'.

As the Sergeant At Arms you get to practice and improve your skills in planning, organization, time management, motivation and team building.

Email the Toastmaster to get their Bio and prepare a proper introduction.
If you do not know where the club materials are (ballots, evaluation sheets, timer device, name tags, banner, etc.) email the Club's President or the Toastmaster to ask in advance. Ask the toastmaster for a copy of the meeting's agenda; print it and bring it with.
Find a venue (if needed) for the social dinner and drinks gathering after the meeting. (Preferably within walking distance).

You arrive at 6:00PM.
Find volunteers to help you set up the room.
Ensure the Greeter has arrived on time, or get a temporary member to fill in the role of greeting every guest, conducting mini-interviews and delivering an oral synopsis of each guest at the beginning of the meeting.
You are responsible of setting up the chairs complete with the evaluation forms and ballots, ensuring the lectern is in place and the banner displayed, making sure the awards and name badges are visible and accessible.
Your main role is to keep the meeting in due order and on time.
Make sure you know the assigned speakers for when you need to remind them to get in the hot seat.
Verify each Featured Speaker's time and notify the Timer in advance.

You open the meeting energetically by warmly welcoming everyone and then introducing the "house rules", mainly: Remind all attending the meeting to turn off all their electronic devices or set them on vibrate; point out the location of the washrooms and remind al to keep them clean, identify the social room where people can gather for refreshments during the break.
Introduce the Toastmaster.
Sit at the back. This will help in filling the hot seat, without disturbing the meeting.
Ensure that the ‘hot seat’ is occupied by the next speaker so that time is not wasted in transitioning from one speaker to the next.
10 minutes before the first half of the meeting is over, set up the refreshments.
At the break, make sure to ask the Toastmaster what time the meeting is to resume.
Call everyone's back with a 3 minute warning prior to resumption of the meeting.
Remind everyone to bring a glass of liquid for the Toast.
Call the meeting to order, thank everyone for their prompt collaboration and re-introduce the Toastmaster.

Return the room (including washrooms) to their original state. Ask members to assist you.
Set all of the club's materials back on the assigned locker.
Report any shortages such as Cups to the Executive SAA or Club President.

Click here to get the default Step by Step document used by VETC