Putting Together the RDG Meeting

2. Day 0 & Before

Before Day 0:

• Far before in advance, your VPE should schedule meetings, preferably with the Toastmaster pre-set.

The VPE should be setting up meetings on Easy Speak at least two months out from the current month. At minimum, the Toastmaster should be set ahead of time; your club may pre-set other roles, such as speakers, GE, or the Table Topics Master.

Day 0 (the previous meeting):

• The VPE collects roles at the meeting for the next meeting. 
• The Secretary makes notes for an after meeting report.
• The Toastmaster for the next meeting is notified, if they are at the meeting.

Collecting sign-ups at the meeting is critical to making your meetings work - Easy Speak has a printable form that can be used. You should also put in an "Absent" role on the sheet so members can indicate if they can't make the meeting. This way, the VPE can mark them as not attending, which will prevent them from getting e-mail about roles. If the VPE cannot attend, someone else (likely the President) should prepare this sheet, pass it out at the meeting, and then send the information to the VPE. 

If your club does not pre-fill the Toastmaster, don't adjourn the meeting until you have at least that role filled - having the Toastmaster to help setup the meeting is a key factor. Otherwise, the VPE is going to have to do this work. If the next Toastmaster is in the room, letting them know they will be responsible for planning the next meeting is a great practice.

If the Secretary isn't available, someone else should take meeting notes and send them to the Secretary. The after meeting report is a great way to keep members who couldn't attend engaged.