The Ah-Counter is responsible for noting and keeping track of words and sounds used as a ‘crutch’ or ‘pause filler’ by anyone who speaks during the Toastmasters meeting. Words may be inappropriate interjections such as and, well, but, so, like, you know. Sounds may be ah, um, er.

If you are a speaker, at the end of the meeting Ah-Counter will tell you how many times he caught you making inappropriate interjections, for example:

…
Greg - 7 times.
Mark - only 1 time.
…

This always leaves me wondering: “When exactly do I make those sounds?”. Reports like this are delivered too late, after I had already finished speaking.

I’ve seen clubs solve this problem – Ah-Counter has a ring and uses it anytime he catches you. “Ding!” and immediately you are reminded to stop making “um”.

My current assignment is to get a dinging device for my club – Docklands Toastmasters. I’ve spent some time today going around shops looking for something like this:

but I couldn’t find any… So instead I’ve made an app ;)

You can get Dinging Ah-Counter Android App for free here.