HIGHLIGHTS from the JANUARY MEETING

 The 150^th Meeting, January 16^th, 2021

 

The first club meeting for this year was convened with members and guests sharing the same passion to learn, to grow, and to have meaningful exchanges that will foster language competence and dynamic leadership skills.

The warmth atmosphere which prevailed thru the whole meeting was opened by the President TM S as she sent greetings from the other side of the globe.

The Word Master, TM C encouraged everyone to use the word “pragmatism/pragmatic” during the meeting. It is a word that is not usually used or heard, but its meaning and usage can be much felt as we go about our daily lives.  

The “advance organizer” was the News Master, TM K. She has made everyone focused on her mind-boggling question as to whether “Carlos Ghosn, a Criminal or Not?” She gave a detailed and a fully researched news update of Ghosn’s get-away escapade and his new lifestyle in Lebanon. 

The “heart of the meeting,” relied on the Prepared Speeches, the Evaluation Session, and the Table Topics Session.

The 3 speakers, TMs K, N, and S delivered delightful, informative, and had uplifting messages in their speeches.   

The 3 evaluators, TMs F, C, and Y gave praises as well as constructive suggestions for improvement in speech making and delivery. This is the core of “being nurtured in toastmastering.”

The Table Topics Session as led by TM A made the members and guests recall about the “New Year” in terms of experiences, beliefs, and customs. It was good to hear various speakers talk on certain assigned topics related to new year’s theme.

I congratulate first the TOD TM A for her preparation, coordination, and good time management that made the meeting run on smoothly. Next, the significant minor and major role toastmaster takers, TMs K and T.

 And lastly, to all the members and guests who have made the 150^th club meeting a “GREAT” success and a rewarding experience!!!

                                                                                               General Evaluator, TM H  

Highlights from December Meeting

The 149th Meeting December 19,2020

 The regular meeting looked like Christmas meeting. President S appeared wearing the funny Christmas hat which gave us a cozy atmosphere.  Some members’ background of the zoom were in Christmas decorations. 

 In addition to the regular meeting with prepared speech session, table topics session and evaluation session, there was “induction corner” under the title Is there a Santa Claus?. Pictures and music on the screen, reading voice by TM S took us to the Christmas world.  We had only two speakers.  I hope we will have more speakers at next meeting, Table topic session was different from the usual one.  Table topic master TM A gave some comments about each speaker. It needs some technique for summarizing speeches in short time.  

 Evaluation is important part of our activities.  To improve communication skills we need positive suggestions. 

 As a whole our meeting was enjoyable and successful.

                                                                                            General evaluator TM K

Highlights from November Meeting

 The 148th Meeting November 21,2020

Today’s meeting was a special Joint Meeting with ASHIYA Toastmasters Club. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn many new things from many new friends. 

Toastmaster of the Day: K.K., Theme for this meeting: Autumn Leaves

Word of the day: Serendipity. The meeting created a wonderful serendipity!

The meeting started with a self-introduction rally as an icebreaker. It was fun to know everyone’s “favorite things or activities in Autumn” Thank you M.K., we enjoyed interacting with ASHIYA Toastmaster Club members on Zoom!

There were 8 prepared speeches.

1st Speaker TM Y.C. “Comments from an Immigrant “

I love the expression, digital immigrant. Thank you for pointing out the merits and demerits of both the analog and digital world.  You used the visual aids really effectively. I don’t think you are a digital immigrant!

2nd Speaker TM T.I. “What is your personal song?”

She introduced three memorable pieces of music which induce happy emotions to herself.  It is also interesting to know that personal songs stimulate dementia people to socialize. It was a resourceful story. 

3rd Speaker TM R.H. “ Teacher Lyn . . . “

She shared the memory of when she first joined Toastmaster's club in 2001. I am surprised to hear the evaluator of her first speech was TM K.K., today’s toastmaster of the day! What a long and beautiful relationship they have built. It was interesting to know the serendipities that led her to become a teacher and a toastmaster.

4th Speaker TM M.W.  “Laugh lines “

The episode with her grandma convinced us that the smile has a power to make people happy. I will try to keep smiling to have lovely laugh line like your grandma. Your story vividly described what a wonderful family and happy life your grandma had. 

5th Speaker TM M.A. “Balanced Choice “

She presented a proposal regarding plastic waste. Recently she keeps creating and delivering the speeches at almost every meeting. I admire her energy. Thank you for the resourceful speech. 

6th Speaker TM M.Y. “Pre-toast Speech for after Joint Meeting Party “

The beautiful scarf really suited her and worked well to let us imagine the party scene. She introduced the distinctive points of both ASHIYA and SENRI club. It helped us understand both club's features and similarity more. 

7th Speaker TM T.F. “Sumo Wrestling “

He always does detailed research on his speech topic. After listing to his speech, we will be able to enjoy the Sumo tournament even more.

8th Speaker TM Y.K. “Inaugural Address“

This was a special funny project. The objective of the speech was to handle a difficult audience. During his formal speech, some people disrupted it by cutting in, chatting with others, or not paying attention because of shyness. We enjoyed watching and listening to how he managed a disruptive audience.  It was amazing to see how creative we can be on Zoom! 

We learned a lot about improving speaking skills from 8 evaluators and the skillful General Evaluator, C.M. 

Thank you ASHIYA members, it was a valuable experience to have the joint meeting with you. 

Next meeting :149th Meeting  December 19,2020 on Zoom 2pm-4pm

E.I.

Highlights from October Meeting

The 147^thMeeting  October 17,2020

Today’s Guest : Tm RB from Singapore, Marine Parada Club

 Toastmaster of the Day: A.S.  

 The ongoing issue with the coronavirus and its effect on our members has been

a big challenge. We are trying to make every online meeting enjoyable,

creative and heart- warming-- even though we are confined to boxes on a computer screen.

Today’s meeting started with asking everyone “ What was your happiest moment this month”?

We found out that two members celebrated their birthday this month! Congrats to RA and RH!

Wishing you the best!  Tm JC, who joins us on Zoom from Okinawa,  announced the publication of his new book on Political Science! Tm TF met his grandsons for the first time since February! Tm EI found a new divine Bakery in Nishinomiya!  Tm FT was able to play volleyball with her team for the first time in months!

  The first speech was an Ice Breaker entitled” My Special Dots “ by Tm MK.  It is the first speech in the Educational Program.  Tm MK highlighted his speech by including a personal story about how he  was able to build a trusting relationship amongst his collegues when he started his new job in London. We all love to hear stories.  What a wonderful technique to capture the audience!  I admire his ambitiousness!

 The second presentation was from guest speaker Tm R K B. , President of Marine Parade Toastmasters Club in Singapore.  Her speech was based upon Project 5, High Performance Leadership(2). The objective of the speech was to implement a plan to complete a mission.  Standing in front of the camera, she used the small space around her, moving side to side and back and forth.  Her delivery skills were powerful and she captured the audience to the end.  I admire her enthusiasm.     The third speaker, Tm EI,   gave an Icebreaker entitled, Love What I Do.     Now I know what kind of work she does and how much she enjoys her job.   Judging on her power point presentation, Toastmasters has helped her build her confidence and organization skills.  She’s a busy professional, busy mother and busy Toastmaster. I admire her diligence! 

Always exciting to meet new people! Next meeting :148^th  Meeting

A.S.

Highlights from September Meeting

Toastmaster of the day: TM F. T. 

Today’s meeting started on time as usual. We were very happy especially because a new member TM M.K. joined the club. We’re looking forward to his wonderful speeches.

Word of the day: TM R. H.         

Captivate, Captivating: Today TM. R.H. introduced these words showing the meanings on the screen,

“attract and hold the interest and attention.”  Let’s use these words in our meeting today.

Prepared Speech Session

1. How did I join Toastmasters clubs? (TM K.Y.)

One of my friends made a wonderful speech in the USA. He introduced me ETS Toastmasters club. Then 

I joined the club. Half years later, I moved to Japan and found Senri Toastmasters Club. Now I am happy to be a member of the club.

 (The speaker showed us some pictures with his interesting memories. His speech tells us it is very important to put a great value on encounters with people.)

2. Watch China and US (TM T.N.)

 The two world powers worry the world. China’s success is based on its state-supported business and on its efforts to steal foreign intellectual property rights and exploit other countries secretly under the name of globalization. The US hasn’t tried to overcome its racism against black people. China and the US are lacking in law and international order.

(The speech started with Sumo wrestler-gestures. Soon we got that the two countries in the hot topic of world news were compared to the wrestlers on the sumo ring-dohyo. The content of the speech was deep about world affairs. Her gestures, however, helped the audience involved in the speech.) 

3. Take the Stage (TM H.T.)

  The speaker was telling us how we, members, can grow as public speakers with his personal experience. The goal of the speech contest is not only to win. He recommends that we can make use of the stages of various speech contests to be better and appealing speakers. He made the speech very informatively and enthusiastically, changing tones and keeping eye contact naturally. Those things might be what he has got from his contest careers. Thank you.

Table Topic session: (TM S.A.) Theme: Autumn

T.M. A. always offers interesting topics to us. What is today’s topic?

These are the topics he collected for the session. We enjoyed autumn!

1.Grapes   TM M.K.

2.Reading   TM A.S.

3.Colored leaves TM K.K.

4.Sports day TM F.T.

5.Maple     TM F.T. 

6.Bell cricket (suzumushi) TM R.H.

7.Pacific saury (samma)   TM E.I. 

Y.C.

Highlights from August Meeting

 “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.” (Eleanor Roosevelt) Toastmaster’s meeting is a good opportunity to listen to the other’s story and learn from their experience. Here below are the highlights of our August meeting.

Toastmaster of the Day: TM R.H.

Word of the day: TM A.S. /Usage of Simile & Metaphor

Instead of a “word”, she asked members to use “phrases” using” simile and metaphors”.  

For example, Busy as a bee, budding rose, kind as your Grandmother, strict as your teacher, they are the mirrors of you, your speech was half baked, like a samurai sword. We were able to find many Simile and Metaphor in the meeting!

 

Prepared Speech session

1^st speaker: TM T.F.

Speech Title: Coaching

Takamoto Mouri, Shouin Yoshida and Hirobumi Ito…how can we coach subordinates like these Meiji heroes? He advised us to approve other's ideas first instead of insisting on our idea.

It was a nice educational speech and he was also good at using a metaphor, “They are the mirror of you”.

 

2nd speaker: TM M.A.

Speech Title: Believe and Smile

By sharing the memories with her music teacher, she talked about the qualities of a good mentor. A good mentor is someone who is respectful of others and builds a personal relationship. “Believe and Smile”, then the audience is yours… it was a good conclusion!

 

3rd speaker: TM H.T.

Speech Title: Half-baked speech

The brilliant command of English is one of his strong points. He encouraged us to 1. Schedule the next speech first, 2. Have the story/ message bank, 3. Revise old speech. It was a meaningful speech for us. And “Half-baked speeches” was a great metaphor!

  

Table Topic session: TM Y.C./ Theme: Interesting story on the topic we chose.

Topics:

1. Physical distance            TM S.A.

2. Ventilation                      TM H.J.

3. Face mask                      TM. M.K.

4. Traveling                        TM F.T.

5. Essential workers           TM E.I.

6. Stay home                     TM. R.A

Thank you, everyone! I look forward to meeting you on Zoom again in Sep!  

E,I.