Let's move on to talk about the Ah Counter.
Of course, the Ah Counter is not required to check the mouths of Toastmasters... AHHHHH!So what does the Ah Counter do?
The Ah Counter counts the number of pause fillers every speaker makes. Erm (that counts one.), you know what I mean.
How do they go about doing it?
There is currently an A3-sized booklet in the cupboard for the recording. It has the list of all our members' names, as well as the pause fillers, and boxes for you to tick off.
1. Get the booklet, put down the names of guests or visiting Toastmasters who are at the meeting, and record their pause fillers too. The introduction at the start of the meeting is a good way to get all their names.
2. Start recording when the SAA kick starts the meeting. Some of us have the misconception that the recording only starts when the project speeches begin.
3. Recording only ends after the language evaluation.
4. You also may want to give a brief explanation of the Ah Counter before reporting.
Eg. The purpose of the Ah Counter is to allow us to be more aware of the pause fillers that we make, because too many pause fillers can be distracting.
5. When reporting,
- Say the name of the person
- Say the specific category of the pause fillers
- State the number of pause fillers in that category
- State the total number of pause fillers for the person
Eg. Andy had 5 ahs, 3 okays, 7 you knows and 9 so's. Total 24. (Huh? So many ah? - that counts another 2.)
6. Should we be running overtime, only report the total number of pause fillers for each person.
7. Remind all members to pay 10 cents per pause filler, to a maximum cap of $2. Guests and visiting Toastmasters are exempted!
8. You will collect the money individually from each member. (OWE $$ PAY $$.)
9. Pass the total and the ah counter booklet to the treasurer, Shui Sheng or Han Wen who will initial and record as petty cash.
Petty cash in our club goes to buying refreshments. So eat your fill because you are paying for it!
By the Ah Counter Master,
who always gets more than $3 each time she does ah counter...
Muahahahaha...
