The 183rd Regular Meeting: October 21, 2023

Super-mini Workshop

This meeting started with the "Here's My Trick" presentation, which really looked like a workshop though it only lasted around three minutes or so.

The presenter, Anne, talked about her tips on delivery, which she learned at an English Rakugo workshop. She prepared some sentences for the attendees to practice and demonstrated how to deliver effectively using good posture, hand gestures, and vocal variety. Following her instructions, the participants tried those tips mimicking her as shown in the photo below.

For your information, "Here's My Trick" is not a standard Toastmasters program. It is our unique program that started this program year, where members share their own tips on public speaking. If you're interested, visit one of our meetings and see it for yourself! You can sign up from our website here.

Tenten

Special Meeting: September 30, 2023

 Toastmastersの活動でメンバーはいろんな役割をしますが、どんな役割を担当しても自身のスピーチ上達につながるんですよ。今回のSpecial meetingではSpeech上達につながるTipsが沢山ありました。

最初に今年度から始まった企画でメンバーが互いにTipsを紹介しあうコーナー“Here‘s My Trick”は、英語教師Momoさんからの発音に関するTips｡英語教師ならではの直筆紙アイテムを使ったプレゼンで､生徒になった気分になりました｡効果的なスピーチをするために、正しい強勢・音節で発音することはとても重要なことですよね｡　特に日本人が陥りやすい発音の間違いについて、例を交えた説明は理解しやすかった。一度で全部覚えきれなかったので、動画をもう一度みて学習しようと思ってます。（千里トーストマスターズクラブは毎回の例会を録画しているので会員はスピーチを見返して再度確認ことができるんです。）

Prepared Speech セッションから2点紹介します。9月に新メンバーとして加入したMollyが初めてと思えない落ち着いたスピーチを披露してくれました。過去、現在、そして未来の描写がとてもスムーズで話に吸いこまれました｡今後のスピーチがとても楽しみです。

2点目はTentenのKeynoteスタイルのスピーチ。Get There Faster と題したスピーチは、Toastmastersで得られる様々な機会を活用してより効果的なスピーカーになるための方法を中心としたものでした。Toastmastersには例会中に担当するRoleやクラブ運営に関わるRoleがあります｡どのRoleを取り上げても､自身のスピーチを向上させる機会が含まれているんですよね｡例えばスピーチの時間を計測すしてスピーカーにどれくらいの時間が経過しているかを知らせるるタイマーというRoleがあります｡このRoleもシンプルにスピーチの終了時間を計測するのみならず､スピーカーが持ち時間の内どれくらいオープニングに使ったか等を分析しながら担当すると､自身のスピーチの際に役立ちます｡その他のRoleもファシリテーションスキルや即興スピーチスキルなどが習得できる機会を含んでいるということを解説してくれました。

次回は10月21日に本拠地 千里中央のコラボにてハイブリット例会を予定しています。次回も楽しくて学びの多いイベントになること間違いなし。興味をお持ちいただけましたら、ホームページのContact Usフォームからご連絡ください！

Any role in the Toastmasters club leads to improved speech skills. In this Special meeting, members shared many tips that contribute to speech improvement.

First, in the "Here's My Trick" session, English teacher Momo gave a presentation on pronunciation using unique items. It was very informative, especially when she provided examples of common pronunciation mistakes that Japanese people often make. I hope to become more aware of placing the correct stress in order to aim for effective speeches. I couldn't remember everything at once, so I would like to watch the video again for further learning. At Senri Toastmasters, we record every meeting, allowing members to review their speeches.

I'll share two things from the Prepared Speech session. Molly, a new member who joined in September, delivered a speech in a  relaxed manner. It didn't seem like her first. Her descriptions of the past, present, and future were very smooth and captivating. I look forward to her future speeches.

The second is about Tenten's keynote-style speech. Titled "Get There Faster," his speech was centered around ways to make use of different opportunities in Toastmasters to help us become better speakers. Every role provides an opportunity to improve one's own speech. For example, there is a role called the Timer, whose primary responsibility is to measure the speech time and show colored signals to let the speakers know how much time has passed. Tenten told us that we can also be proactive and analyze how much of the speaker's allotted time was used for the opening, body, and conclusion. This perspective can be helpful for our own speech. He also explained how we can utilize opportunities other roles provide to improve our facilitation and impromptu speaking skills.

Our next meeting is scheduled to be a hybrid one at Collabo in Senri Chuo on October 21. If you are interested, please contact us through the Contact Us form on our website.

Members Join Debate Festival

 In Toastmasters, the club meeting is at the center of our learning. Yet, that is not the only opportunity for us to learn. There are other possibilities, too. Some examples include speech contests at the area, division, district, and international levels. There are district-sponsored educational events as well. On top of that, some clubs organize their own events inviting members of other clubs.

One such case was the Debate Festival organized by Speak-up Toastmasters Club on September 24. The club is an "advanced" club that features debating as part of its program. (The category "advanced" means clubs under that category only accept membership applications from existing or former Toastmasters.) The Debate Festival was conducted using a "Parliamentary Debate" format, a kind of impromptu debate where the topic is announced on the spot and the debaters only have 15 minutes to prepare.

Our debaters, Momo, Tamiko, and Yocchan, were not familiar with debate in this format but decided to join the event. They held numerous practice sessions to be better prepared and a lot of members volunteered to join these practice sessions taking the role of their opponents. Among them was Molly, who had only recently joined the club and was quite familiar with parliamentary debating. She volunteered to observe the practice session and provide comments to the debaters. Her comments were detailed and insightful indeed.

With the debaters' efforts and support from other members, they performed well and placed second in the Festival. Congratulations!! This serves as a perfect example of Senri's Teamwork spirit.