The main responsibilities of the Ah-Counter are:

• To introduce the Ah-Counter role to guests and new members
• To listen attentively during the meeting and make note of any crutch words or phrases
• To provide a report when prompted

The Ah-Counter role is often combined with the Grammarian role.

Prior to the meeting

Prepare your introduction

Write a short introduction of the role for the benefit of guests and new members.

During the meeting

Listen and make notes

For each speaking role, make a note of any excessive use of crutch words or “pause fillers” such as “um”, “ah” and “er”.

Also look out for repeated use of bridging words and phrases such as “but”, “so”, or “you know”.

Give your report

Don’t pick up on every use of a filler word – just those that detract from the speaker’s message.

Make sure your structure your comments as positive recommendations, rather than as criticisms. For example, you might suggest that a speaker who used “er” a number of times simply tries to replace this word with a pause in future.