How is Ah-Counter Role Performed in Toastmasters?

There is a famous quote by Management thinker Peter Drucker which says that If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. 

Ah counter in a Toastmaster’s meeting is a person who keeps a measure of the unnecessary words or long pauses in a speech.

Unnecessary words could be crutch words, filler sounds or repetitions.

Crutch words are words used to fill the gap while the speaker is thinking common ones being You know, So, Basically and Like.

Filler sounds are sounds such as ah, um and er.

Repetitions are either repeated words or phrases which could be distracting for the audience.

Long pauses are the unintended overlong pauses taken by the speaker which could happen due to nervousness or lack of preparation.

In order to keep a record of all this for all the speakers, the Ah-counter could use a Ah-counter log template. See some samples below.

ahcounterlogsheet

These days, there are some apps also available which could also serve the same purpose.

However, the idea is to keep a track for all the speakers in some way even if that is on a simple sheet of paper.

You use whatever you are comfortable with or whatever is available to you at the time.

You might be wondering what is the benefit of this Ah-counter role?

While the speakers improve their fluency over time by understanding their count (measure) of unnecessary words or overlong pauses, the Ah-counter also gains a very important skill: Listening.

As the success of the Ah-counter depends on how well they pay attention to the speaker, doing this, improves their listening skills one meeting at a time.

Until next time, Mohit signing off. Bye bye.

Before I go, one important thing – You may be a new toastmaster, or an experienced one, in any case, the Ah-counter role has something in it for you. Read this blog to find out.