Common Terms & Terminology

The Advanced Communicator (AC) was both an educational award and a series of manuals, covering more specialized topics than the Competent Communicator. Some of the AC manuals include Speeches by Management, Professionally Speaking, and Storytelling. Each AC manual has five projects, instead of ten in the CC, but each level of AC requires two of these manuals to be completed.

The AC award comes in three flavors: Bronze, Silver, and Gold, each having their own set of requirements.

AC replaced Advanced Toastmaster (ATM) in the mid-2000s.

Advanced Leader is an award that comes in two flavors as of the mid-2000s: Bronze and Silver. Bronze requires service as a club officer, and Silver requires service as a district officer (area director or higher). There are other requirements. 

AL requires the Competent Communicator and Competent Leader awards to be completed. AL has been replaced by the Pathways program.

ATM is the older form of the Advanced Communicator, replaced by the latter in the mid-2000s. It comes in Bronze, Silver, and Gold variants.

This meeting role can be part of the WAG, or it can be standalone. The Ah-Um Counter keeps a record of "verbal crutches" like ahs, ums, you knows, and so on. 

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

An area is a collection of 4-6 clubs that an area director is responsible for. Typically these are kept in the same geographical area. 

Officers should know what area their club is in, and be aware it can change from year to year with realignments.

The area director (formerly known as area governor) is responsible for an area, helping to guide the clubs in the area to success.

Optimally, area directors should be a part of your club's executive meetings and be visiting your club once every other month (if not once a month). 

If you have issues with your club that are not being addressed by the officers, you may consider contacting your area director.

A Club Officer Training (COT) provides officers with the basics of how to achieve Distinguished Club Program goals as well as what roles and responsibilities they have. These typically are shorter than a Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) and may be conducted by a division, so they're recommended for more experienced club officers who can't attend the TLI.

The Competent Communicator (CC) was the starting speaking manual prior to the introduction of the Pathways program. It contains ten projects, starting with the Icebreaker and ending with Inspire Your Audience.

Though outdated now, the manual has some useful lessons.

The Competent Leader (CL) was introduced in the mid 2000s, and was designed to help develop leadership skills by getting written evaluations for performing club-related tasks and roles, such as being an evaluator, Table Topics Master, and so on. Like the CC, it has ten projects, but requires you to complete a set of tasks for each project that cannot be done in one meeting. It has been replaced by the Pathways program.

CTM is the older version of the Competent Communicator award/designation, replaced by CC in the mid-2000s. 

The Distinguished Club Program (DCP) is a set of goals that measure the success of the club in various areas, including earning educational awards, building membership, having trained officers, and some administrivia. Clubs should develop a Club Success Plan (CSP) to meet these goals over the course of the year.

In addition to the DCP goals, there is a baseline membership requirement that must be met of having at least 20 members, or base membership plus five, whichever is lower. For example, if a club starts with 12 members in July, and has 17 by the end of June, they qualify. That same club would only need to make it to 20 over the next year.

Achieving 5 out of the 10 goals awards the club Distinguished status for that year. 7 out of 10 earns Select Distinguished status. 9 out of 10 earns President's Distinguished. Some districts have special awards for 10 out of 10 goals earned.

A district is an organizing body in Toastmasters that tends to encompass a fairly large geographic area (for example, District 56 covers Houston, College Station, and Galveston in Texas). A district is typically composed of 5-6 divisions, which are made up of 5-6 areas each, which have 4-6 clubs each. 

Districts have a governing body that has a number of volunteers, and put on at least one conference a year.

Sometimes roles above the club will be referred to as "district-level" in a generic sense.

A division is a collection of 4-6 areas, with a division director having responsibility for them.

Division directors (formerly division governors) are responsible for their division. They work with the area directors to make sure clubs are progressing toward DCP goals, and report to the higher ups in the district.

The evaluator delivers an evaluation of a prepared speech during the evaluation segment of the meeting.

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

The General Evaluator evaluates a meeting from start to finish, giving feedback on the planning and execution as well as critiquing the evaluators.

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

This meeting role monitors for good, bad, and the ugly uses of the language, delivering a report at the end of the meeting. 

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

The Humor or Joke Master delivers an amusing joke or story to help open up the meeting.

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

This speech contest is held once a year, and culminates in the World Championship of Public Speaking. Participants can speak about any topic for 5-7 minutes (same timing rules as regular speeches), though most focus on inspirational or motivational type content.

For some sample speeches, go here.

The invocator delivers an invocation at the start of the meeting, which can be a quote, poem, or short story. 

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

Prior to the Competent Leader manual coming out, the "Old" Competent Leader (OCL) was the first rank in the leadership track. The requirements are equivalent to the Advanced Leader Bronze rank that came out in the mid-2000s, replacing the OCL.

Pathways (formerly known as the Revitalized Education Program), was introduced around 2017 and replaced the educational program. It uses online elements to deliver content and evaluations. As it has rolled out, new members in districts that have gone live will be placed on Pathways, and won't receive the old manuals.

More information on Pathways is available from Toastmasters International.

The President is the club officer that is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the club. They guide the other officers so that the club can meet its goals.

More on officers can be found in the RDG TM Leadership program.

The presiding officer opens and closes meetings, conducts club business, and hands off control to the Toastmaster. This role is filled by the highest ranking officer in the meeting.

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

The Secretary (often combined with Treasurer) is an officer that manages club records and takes meeting minutes. They'll often provide after meeting reports.

More on officers can be found in the RDG TM Leadership program.

The Sergeant at Arms manages the meeting space, setting it up before the meeting and tearing it down afterward. 

More on officers can be found in the RDG TM Leadership program.

A speech project is based on a manual such as the Competent Communicator or Pathways. Your speeches should, whenever possible, be based on manuals so that you can receive credit towards educational goals.

This is the impromptu speaking section of the meeting, meant to teach improvisational thinking. 

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

The Table Topics Master conducts the impromptu speaking section of the meeting.

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

This is a role that keeps track of times for speakers (prepared speeches, Table Topics, and evaluations), as well as tracks overall meeting time.

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

The Toastmaster acts as a meeting planner and emcee for that meeting. This is not to be confused with Toastmaster meaning a member.

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

Toastmasters International is best thought as the "parent company" for your club. They are a governing body and develop resources for clubs to use.

You'll often hear it referred to as TI or International.

The Toastmasters Leadership Institute is a training event that happens twice a year. TLIs often have extra content beyond the typical Club Officer Training (COT) events, making them like a mini-conferences. New officers should definitely attend these. TLIs are open to all members.

The Treasurer is an officer that manages the club's budget and is the point of contact for purchases. They also collect dues. This role is often combined with the Secretary.

More on officers can be found in the RDG TM Leadership program.

The VPE (aka VP of Ed) is responsible for the educational goals of the club, which includes making sure people are advancing toward their goals, setting up meeting agendas, and managing the mentoring program.

More on officers can be found in the RDG TM Leadership program.

The VPM's job is to be an "ombudsman" for the membership, follow up with guests that visit the club, and remind guests and former members of upcoming meetings. They also conduct member surveys.

More on officers can be found in the RDG TM Leadership program.

The VP of PR (aka VP PR)'s role is to get the word out about the club. This can be done with press releases, article campaigns, flyers, Meetup, and more. 

More on officers can be found in the RDG TM Leadership program.

If your club records speeches, there may be a Video Master role that is in charge of the recordings. 

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program. 

Short for Word of the day, Ah-uh counter, and Grammarian. This role is sometimes broken out into its component roles when there are more members available. 

More information can be found in the RDG TM Meetings program.