At each Toastmaster’s meeting, we recognize outstanding performances of our members in different categories, such as Best Table Topics, Best Speaker, Best Evaluator, and Most Improved. The job of the Vote Counter is to count the votes and then fill in the winner’s name on the Award Sheets.
In the event that there is a tie, the Vote Counter casts the tie-breaking vote.
- Arrive early and obtain the Vote Counter’s sheet found in the club file box.
Also get the Award Sheets from the lectern for each category. - Get out the baskets that we use to collect the votes.
- Have the President sign the Award Sheets ahead of the meeting.
- You may wish to use a blank piece of paper as a worksheet.
- The Vote Counter does not vote, except in the case of a tie, he/she casts the deciding vote.
- Votes will be called by the Toastmaster and the General Evaluator and passed to you.
- Use your worksheet to begin tallying the total votes for each category. Do not vote unless you are casting the tie-breaking vote.
- It’s handy to have a trash can close by to get rid of the votes after they are counted.
- In addition to the votes, fellow Toastmasters will also pass written evaluations for the Speakers to you. Separate them and give them to the Speakers after the meeting.
- After all the votes have been counted, usually while the Joke Master is at the lectern, record the winner’s names on the Vote Counter sheet and the Award Sheets.
- Take the Award Sheets to the Toastmaster for the presentation of the awards.
- Give the Vote Counter sheet to the Club Secretary.
- Return plastic trays to lectern for storage.
Vote Counter Sheet
Name: _________________________ Date: __________________
Best Table Topics: _________________________________________________
Best Evaluator: ___________________________________________________
Most Improved: __________________________________________________
Best Speaker: _____________________________________________________
Zoom Notes
If you are the Vote Counter while on a Zoom meeting, there are some challenges. Since our club has dual meetings, in-person and Zoom, the challenges are double.
As the Zoom Vote Counter, I’d suggest changing your Zoom name to Vote Counter or add that to your name. Then it will be easy for people to know who to send their vote to. We use the Chat feature in Zoom to collect votes. People send a chat message to the Vote Counter and he/she will see each vote as it comes in.
The messages can be a bit confusing as they might be coming in quite quickly and the screen is changing. I’d suggest using a pen/paper to write down each voters name and their vote. Then it is easy to tally them up and come up with a winner.
You will also have to have a Vote Counter at the meeting. They will need to be able to communicate their results to you so you can add them to the Zoom vote. They could text, phone or email you with the results. If there is someone at the meeting with Zoom access, they could also chat the results to you.
The Vote Counter then needs to get the results to the Toastmaster.
If the Toastmaster is on Zoom, you could send them the results via Chat.
What I’d suggest is that instead of sending four different messages, send cumulative results so that the results don’t get lost in all the chat messages. You could also Text the results to the Toastmaster via text.
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