The 217th Regular Meeting: August 8, 2026

Kan Kan delivered a speech based on a project, "Understanding Your Leadership Style."

Kan Kan delivering her speech online

"Leadership?" you may wonder. Yes, we learn leadership in Toastmasters by taking leadership roles in our meetings and in our daily activities. That is why some of the "Paths" in our education program, Pathways, have this project.

In this project, we respond to a survey with 48 questions. Kan Kan's results showed she has a strong tendency toward affiliative and altruistic leadership styles. After introducing this result, she went on to tell us a story of her helping a new employee by reaching out to her with small talk and offering assistance with her assignment. She wanted to help her because she remembered how insecure she was at the beginning of her career. She just wanted to make her new colleague feel a little better. She then told us that leadership does not have to be "big and lofty." It can be just being ready to notice someone's stuck and offer help.

With this simple yet strong message, she incorporated a lot of beautiful phrases such as "everyone else was buried with work," "I wanted someone to point me in the right direction," "I reached out because I'd been in her shoes," and "That's not I'm after right now." This was a great speech by "Kan Kan, an ordinary person still figuring things out."

A scene from the hybrid meeting

Another aspect of leadership visible in this meeting was a suggestion provided at the previous meeting. At the last meeting, the General Evaluator, Jinyoung, raised an issue that it is sometimes difficult for online members to find the timing signals, especially when the Timer is at the venue. We came up with some ideas and incorporated one of them. The idea was to have the Timer stand much closer to the camera than before. With the timing signals occupying a larger part of the venue pane on the Zoom screen, it should have made it a lot easier for online participants to spot them.

The timing signal shown closer to the camera

This is another way to demonstrate leadership in improving our meeting and our club. Thanks to Jinyoung's initiative, our meeting is now more online-participant-friendly.

(by Tenten)

The 216th Regular Meeting: July 18, 2026

Today's meeting was a series of “firsts” for our club; the first meeting of the Senri club’s 2nd term, our new president “Hiko’s” debut, 1st speech of “Yuichi”. It was one of the most meaningful meetings I’ve ever attended.

Our new president, Hiko, kicked off the meeting with great energy. I’m confident that Senri Toastmasters will navigate this new chapter successfully under captain Hiko. I can’t wait to see the promising future of the club.

T.M.O.D (Toastmaster of the Day, facilitator of the regular meeting), Yuriko, successfully led the meeting. She introduced each session with kindness and shared thoughtful comments on every speech. Thanks to her leadership, all participants fully enjoyed today’s meeting, I’m sure.

A Toastmasters meeting typically consists of three parts: Prepared speech, Table Topics, Evaluations. Here are some highlights from them.

First, Prepared speech session.

Three speakers (Yuichi, Kama-yan, Ma-chan) shared their own stories:

• Yuichi : His curiosity about things and reasons for joining our club
• Kama-yan : His experience as Table Topics Master at our last special meeting with wonderful episodes
• Ma-chan : The journey of pursuing her dream of becoming a medical animator

Every speech was unique and resonated with all of us.

We had other role takers; Table Topics Master “Tami”, Grammarian “Anne”, Timer “Mats”, Ah-counter “Yasuko” and others.

Thanks to their contributions, the meeting ran smoothly.

In particular, Table Topics Master “Tami” showed remarkable growth, facilitating confidently with clear comments. I always admired her efforts to improve her English and public speaking skills. And the kind and professional report of Grammarian “Anne”, the brief report of Timer “Mats”, happy welcoming to Ah-counter “Yasuko”, made the meeting special.

However, there was a technical issue related to offline mic low volume. While our officers fixed the problem quickly, it seems we need to double-check mic volume before the meeting in advance.

Overall, the meeting was fantastic as always. I hope we can keep this atmosphere for a long time.

(by Jinyoung)

The 215th Regular Meeting: June 20, 2026 “General Evaluator’s Reflection”

We were very delighted to have a new member, Yuichi, in today’s meeting. As the General Evaluator, I felt it a pleasure to have had a tense but lively meeting.

Smooth Start & Progress

Our Toastmaster of the Day, Renelyn has a long career as a Toastmaster. She started the meeting smoothly and concluded it humorously.

Prepared Speech Session

The three speakers’ speeches made us think about and realize the meaning of our being a Toastmaster. They were worth listening to repeatedly. Their passion to be a Senri Toastmasters Club member is so great.

Evaluation Session

All the evaluators engaged us with resonating comments. For example,

“The body language like gesture or eye contact made the speech more remarkable.”

“Real leadership experiences created the speaker’s motivational technique.”

“The necessity of mentioning some more specific changes with Maho san in your speech.”

We took it to heart.

Table Topics Session

TT master, Kazu was joining from India. Like Japan, India is now in the monsoon season. He said, “There’s heavy rainfall today, too, and it’s a miserable situation.” He gave us the topic of “rain.” It was a timely one. This topic brought out a wide range of vivid experiences or stories from the audience, which elicited laughs.

Other Roles & Reflection

From an overall perspective. As usual, we’ve learned a lot of valuable things about skills, words & phrases & expressions and the fun of inspiring each other. It’s thanks to each role taker’s supporting this meeting, what we call, “our teamwork.”

However, we’ve left an unsolved issue. That’s ‘how reducing filler words improves speech clarity and confidence’ (proposed by the previous GE, Anne). Let’s set this as our next goal again.

(By Tami)

Table Topics Special: Speak, Learn, and Repeat — June 6, 2026

This meeting was held entirely online and focused on Table Topics Speech (TTS). A TTS is a short speech for one to two minutes. Its most striking feature is impromptu delivery; the speaker must respond to a topic given on the spot. It felt as if we were thrown into a TTS boot camp.

Idea Shaped into a Clear Program

Kama-yan, Toastmaster of the Day, introduced a new idea of the combination of TTS and evaluation. He successfully shaped it into a clear program:

Participants’ TTS → Immediate Evaluations → Participants’ TTS on the same topic → Second Evaluations

Through this cycle, we could see the improvement from the first attempts to the second. It was truly the process of “Speak, Learn, and Repeat.”

Before and After

It was the evaluators who led the first speech to a more organized and more empathetic one. We could see the improvement from before to after.

The first evaluator, Jinyoung, delivered crystal-clear evaluations, accurately identifying the core message of each speech.

The second evaluator, Tenten, offered persuasive and instructive evaluations.

Generalizing: elevation of specific facts into universally understandable truth.

The impact of one word: how one well-chosen word can open the world the speaker is leading us into.

Calm Voice Magic

TTS is one of the most challenging activities for many Toastmasters. Eri, Topics Master, introduced each topic and appointed each speaker with a gentle, calm voice that created a relaxed atmosphere for everyone.

Teamwork

This busy and complex program succeeded because of strong teamwork: two Grammarians, two Ah-Counters, two Timers, and two Vote Counters. Everybody appreciated their precise and supportive performances.

We were able to enjoy another meaningful meeting.

(By Hiko)

Science Fiction Meeting – May 30, 2026

May 30th Senri TMC Special Meeting had a theme of “Sci-Fi”, which was set by our Captain of the Starship (Toastmaster of the Day), Anne, and brought a total fun time, in spite of the minimum crew of only 8 attendees. When it launched on time, I, the Chief Analyst (General Evaluator) was still driving home, connected by the modern science benefit of smartphone, without feeling "alienated" (Word of the Day from Mats), and managed to slip into the Starship in 30 mins.

Our Communication Scanner (Ah-Counter) Kankan suddenly got very sick and had to cancel her boarding, but our President Eri kindly and swiftly took her place. I believe it was not only me who was looking forward to Kankan's "Here's My Trick," but it will surely have another chance before long (with a larger audience!)

Today's three main projects (prepared speeches) were more than great. The first project commander Tenten showed us interesting comparisons between "Two Approaches" of a space station staff (contest staff) and an astronaut (contestant). The second project commander Marylin gave us truly practical and beneficial hints of "Managing Anxiety". And the third project commander Jinyoung guided us into an amazing tour of South Korea!

The following analyses (the Evaluation Session) was offered by a team of acrobatic aviators. Eri evaluated our most skillful speaker Tenten very well after speaking as President and Ah-Counter, Tenten evaluated Marylin's 15-min-flight after his own flight, and Marylin evaluated Jinyoung's 25-min-tour after her own 15-min-flight!

The Table Topics Session was conducted by Tenten, who had prepared lots of topics about science fictions. He wisely warned us beforehand that we could be called on twice, so we remained thrilled and on guard until the end of the session. Among the speeches, all of which were eligible(!!!), Marylin's exhortation to a Black Hole Tour in 2050, full of humor and suspense, quoting her own prepared speech, was literally out of this world. No wonder she won the double crown of the best table-topics and prepared speaker! (She might have won even a triple crown if her evaluation speech had not overtimed again( ´艸｀).)

Today's captain's goal as TMOD was to create an energetic sci-fi atmosphere while still keeping the meeting professional and organized, which was undoubtedly achieved and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you everyone, for your full team work. Mission completed!

(by Momoko)

The 214th Regular Meeting: May 16, 2026 "General Evaluator’s Reflection"

Today’s Senri Toastmasters meeting was filled with energy, inspiration, and thoughtful participation. As the General Evaluator, I had the opportunity to observe the meeting as a whole, and I was impressed by the positive atmosphere and strong teamwork throughout the session.

A Smooth and Energetic Meeting

Our Toastmaster of the Day, Takashi, took on this role for the first time — and what an outstanding debut it was! With his loud, cheerful voice and welcoming presence, he immediately created an energetic atmosphere for everyone. He guided us through the meeting with professionalism and elegance, and his transitions between sections were especially smooth and natural.

One phrase that stood out was:

“Let’s move on to the next session. Before moving on, let’s get the time rules.”

Simple, clear, and effective transitions like this helped the meeting flow seamlessly from one part to the next.

Excellent Support Roles

Tamiko did an excellent job as Timer. Today was no easy task — she had to time more than 20 speeches, including the New Officers Election speeches. Phew! Despite the busy agenda, her timing control remained clear and accurate throughout the meeting. Thank you so much for your hard work and concentration.

Our Ah-Counter, Ma-chan, also demonstrated great attentiveness. She carefully tracked filler words and gave a clear report at the end of the meeting. Interestingly, the report was quite short because very few people used filler words today — a wonderful sign of strong speaking skills among our members!

One suggestion for future meetings would be that when filler words are minimal, the Ah-Counter could spend a little more time explaining the importance of the role and how reducing filler words improves speech clarity and confidence.

Creative and Thought-Provoking Table Topics

Today marked Mats’s debut as Table Topics Master, and she did a fantastic job. Her chosen theme was Education, and she prepared creative and thought-provoking questions that encouraged meaningful discussion.

Some memorable questions included:

• “How should teaching styles be improved in Japan?”
• “In the age of AI, some school subjects may become more important while others become less important. What subject do you think will become more important?”

The questions were timely, relevant, and inspired many interesting responses from participants.

Inspiring Prepared Speeches

The Prepared Speech Session featured three excellent speeches, each with its own unique message and emotional impact.

“Not Walking Alone” — Yuriko

Yuriko delivered a touching and persuasive speech about mentorship and personal growth in her Toastmasters journey. Through a heartfelt story, she shared the importance of having a mentor and how her understanding of mentoring changed over time.

One of my favorite passages was:

“But this February, something changed about my understanding of mentoring. I realized my mentor is not only a mentor. She is also challenging herself and growing.”

This reflection added emotional depth and reminded us that mentoring is a journey of mutual growth.

“Redefining Leadership” — Kamayan

Kamayan’s speech was another inspirational presentation focused on understanding leadership style and self-growth. His speech honestly described the struggle of focusing too much on personal weaknesses and the shift toward a more positive mindset.

One memorable passages was:

“The more I focused on what I lacked, the more negative I became. A few years later, my perspective began to shift. I discovered the AHA moment!”

The speech encouraged us to rethink leadership not as perfection, but as growth and self-awareness.

“A True Universal Language” — Momoko

Momoko, who usually joins us online, returned to Osaka to present her speech in person. Her project focused on inspiring the audience, and she certainly succeeded. She began by greeting us in sign language, immediately capturing everyone’s attention and curiosity.

One particularly memorable line was:

“Your compulsory education is over. Why not start studying sign language now?”

It was a powerful invitation for all of us to continue learning beyond the classroom and to expand the ways we communicate with others.

Thoughtful Evaluations

To all the evaluators — well done! Your feedback was supportive, encouraging, and clearly showed deep thought and preparation. Evaluations play an important role in helping members grow, and today’s evaluators created a positive environment for improvement.

One suggestion for future evaluations would be to include even more specific examples or quotations from the speeches. Concrete examples can make feedback even more meaningful and impactful for the speaker.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a wonderful meeting filled with strong participation, inspiring speeches, and a positive atmosphere. Meetings like this remind us how much we continue to grow together through encouragement, communication, and shared learning.

I truly appreciate this opportunity to become a better listener and communicator.

(by Anne)