Table Topics

Overview

Table Topics is the improvised portion of our evening. During the networking break, the Table Topics Master will assemble a list of guests and members who want to participate. During Table Topics, the Table Topics Master will then call on each volunteer in turn, giving them a topic and they will have one to two minutes to present an impromptu speech on that topic.

Why do we have Table Topics?

The speeches at Toastmasters serve as a great opportunity to practice prepared speaking, but in the real world you very often do not have the luxury of being able to plan what you are going to say in advance.

The ability to speak confidently and clearly with little or no preparation is a very valuable skill, and like many things, you can only get better at it through practice. At Toastmasters, the Table Topics session allows us to practice our impromptu speaking in a safe and fun way.

Who can take part?

Table Topics is the one part of the evening for which guests and members alike can participate. Table Topics is especially useful for guests to get a taste of what it is like to speak at the club, so if you are a guest you are highly encouraged to give it a go.

How does it work?

During the networking break, you may be asked by the Table Topics Master if you would like to participate. If you are eager to take part, you can also seek out the Table Topics Master yourself to put your name down (ask the Toastmaster if you don’t know what the Table Topics Master look like).

Table Topics is the first section after the networking break ends. The Table Topics master will give a brief introduction in which they will explain how things work before calling on each speaker in a random order.

After your name is called, you should proceed to the stage and shake the Table Topics Master’s hand. You will  have a minimum of one minute and a maximum of two minutes to speak about your topic (the Timekeeper will show the green light at 1 minute, the amber light at 1 minute and 30 seconds and the red light at 2 minutes).

Table Topics Tips

Table Topics can seem intimidating at first but the only real rule is to try and talk for those 2 minutes. Don’t get hung up on the topic too much.  There’s a rule in Improv comedy called “Don’t Think Twice”, which means that you should always go with your very first impulse. It’s when you start overthinking things and hesitating that’s when you get stuck.

The most important thing is to just go with the first idea that pops into your head and to draw that idea out for two minutes, regardless of whether it actually answers the question or not. 

If you do get stuck, don’t panic. Take a deep breath and organise your thoughts. Remember that the audience is on your side and many of the members will have participated in Table Topics in the past, so they are very understanding and encouraging.

Table Topics should be fun and experimental so don’t worry about messing up. Whether you are a novice or a master, every Table Topic speech ends in the same way: with applause. That’s because we recognise the bravery it takes to deliver an improvised speech in front of a room of people.

Examples

Often the Table Topics Master will try to tie the questions together in some kind of theme. Some examples of previous themes:

  • Each speaker is given a very strange photo and asked to explain what is happening.
  • Each speaker is given questions on the theme of holidays.
  • Each speaker is given a strange headline and asked to explain the story behind it.
  • Each speaker is given the opening line of a story and asked to finish it.
  • Each speaker picks a fortune cookie, reads the message, and discusses how it applies to them

Examples of other questions that have been asked in Table Topics:

  • If you could go back in time and talk to yourself at the age of ten. What advice would you give yourself?
  • What is your most memorable holiday?
  • What is something you love now, that you could have never imagined yourself loving in the past?
  • If you could live in a fictional world from a book, TV show or movie, which world would you choose to live in?
  • What’s a conspiracy theory that you would like to invent?
  • If you could choose one mythical creature to be real, which would it be and why?
  • If you found yourself wrongfully placed in an insane asylum, how would you convince everyone that you’re actually sane and not just pretending to be sane?
 

Online Meetings

Table Topics works in much the same way online as it does for in-person meetings. For participants, the only real difference is that they should remember to pin the Timekeeper’s video feed in Zoom, so the colour indication of the time is always visible to them. An explanation of pinning video feeds in Zoom can be found here.