Timing Procedure (rev. Wed 26 Nov 1997 mjj)
 
 

Timing Procedure

The timer is very important to the Toastmaster process. The timer is important in helping keeping the meetings on time.
 
 

Intermission

The timer is often asked by the Toastmaster of the meeting to time the intermission so that the meeting starts after the time allotted for the intermission.
 
 

Timing Speakers' Presentations

As Toastmasters learn to speak in a meaningful manner, they also strive to speak in a timely manner. The timer assists the speaker in this by the use of the timing lights.

The speaker has a time range within which to complete his/her speaking assignment.

The timing lights usually consist of a 1) green light, 2) yellow/amber light, and 3) a red light. A buzzer is used to indicate that the speaker has gone thirty seconds or more than the upper value of the time range requested.
 
 

Timing Lights in General

For a given time range, the timer will turn on the green light at the lower value of the time range, the yellow/amber light at the midpoint of the time range, and the red light at the upper value of the time range. The buzzer is sounded at thirty seconds beyond the upper value of the time range.
 
 

Overtime/Undertime

The speaker is thus overtime if he/she speaks thirty seconds or more beyond the upper value of the time range requested. Likewise, the speaker is undertime if he/she speaks thirty seconds or more under the lower value of the time range requested.
 
 

Table Topics Timing

For Table Topics that has a nominal time range of one to two minutes, the timing will be as follows:

For a many speeches, the time range is five to seven minutes. The timing will be as follows:

For other speeches, the time range is some "lower value" to some "upper value". The timing will be as follows: