Highlights from the 174th Regular meeting on 21st January 2023

  “Senri TMC - JUMP HIGH in 2023”

The 174th Regular Meeting of Senri TMC had a big leap just like this year’s animal, Rabbit. Taking this in regard, the meeting theme “rabbit” was chosen by versatile Toastmaster of the Day (TOD), Kiyo. She asked each role taker how they connect with the word – theme, “rabbit.”  Role takers had different answers ranging from pets, Easter bunnies and eggs, stuffed rabbit toys, etc. The audience enjoyed listening to these different “rabbit encounters.” The audience composed of members online and on the venue had a wonderful teamwork carrying out their roles – passing the baton from the spheres of digital to analog and vice versa. The meeting was also graced by a male guest, Mr. T.K.

                                   Let us . . .      H  O  P       meeting sessions . . .

The Prepared Speech Session

There were three speakers – a neophyte, a budding one, and seasoned speech – maker. Their speech titles were “Guten Tag”, “Let’s build a nest egg for the future”, and “Step Up”, respectively. The new member, Speaker Yasuko in spite of her injury delivered her Ice Breaker in a relaxed and newly gained confidence. Yasuko knew that the club members were there to listen with their (“rabbit like long”) ears as she recounted her experiences in a foreign country, how such exposure led her to seek and to aim to be a teacher for kids. The second speaker delivered and awakened our minds to a realistic scene of what the future holds with our finances. Kirinne had not left as hanging as to this issue. There was relief when Kirinne expounded on her three valuable solutions to . . . “build a nest egg for the future.” The third Speaker Tenten was eloquent. His speech’s content and message focused on his experiences as he dealt with other toastmasters’ clubs. His vision and the reality of the clubs’ situation struck him, gave him challenges that paved to the “step up” he had gained.  The club members voted Krinne as the Best Speaker for this session.     

     

The Evaluation Session

The General Evaluator (GE) Rene talked about the indispensable part that “Evaluation” plays in Toastmastering. She reiterated that offering useful positive feedback will help speakers become less self - conscious and be aware of their speakers’ skill level – their strengths and what has to be improved. The evaluators tried to be objective as possible not withholding their praises as to delivery, content, organization, voice, style, etc. But at the same time citing specific ways to improve. There were 3 evaluators’ namely, Kamayan, Nanea, and Momo.  As an added bonus to learn the merit of evaluation, the second evaluator, Nanea was evaluated by another member, Maririn.  As evaluators, we should be reminded that a healthy evaluation helps preserve or enhance the speaker’s self – esteem as they continue their journey in the Pathways of Toastmastering. There was no voting for Best Evaluator.

The Table Topics Session

Table Topics (TT), or Impromptu Speech Session was led a new member Kaz who was in control of his new role.   He has prepared well tying up his prepared topics with the speakers’ goals in 2023. We can simply term these topics as “one’s resolution for this year.”  The TT speakers were Kamayan, Munesan, Tami, Maririn, T.K. (guest), and Mika.  The topics they have chosen ranged from Health, Hobby, Travel, Toastmasters, Work and Language. Each speaker bearing their topics in mind freely talked about how they wanted to resolve this year. TT speakers talked about their concerns, their plans, their memories, their mottos, and their objectives in life that will bring about the answer to their resolutions. TM Maririn was voted as the Best Table Topics Speaker in this session.

Other Role Takers:

Grammarian and Word Master (WM), Tami who introduced the word “utilize.” The WM wrote the word, gave some derivatives, and gave several sentences to show its usage.  She has encouraged everyone to use the word of the day as much as possible in their speeches. Her comments on the use of English during the course of the meeting were very educational.

Vote Counter, Tenten took note and counted all the participants’ vote for the main sessions.  

Ah Counter, Tami did a great job watching our verbal crutches such as “ah”, “um”, “y” know” etc. It needs a lot of concentration especially that the audience are in two different spheres. 

Timer, Mika did a remarkable job keeping track of the timing rules all throughout the meeting and the “extra side roles”.

Zoom Master, Maririn was indeed reliable in handling online technology and some issues with zoom like lagging or freezing. 

We did a rightful and timely leap, we were on track with our club’s goals, and we are continuously learning and growing communicatively in a conducive atmosphere.  Thus, we, the members of STMC club will surely leap higher in 2023.      

Thanks to everyone . . .  the 174th Meeting was a big success!!!  

by ~ RENE ~

High lights from the 173th regular meeting on December 17, 2022

12月のMeeting themeは、”Things That Remind You of Christmas”! New Sergeant at Arms（会場係）Mikaさんの明るい笑顔と、サンタクロースの帽子をかぶったPresident Kama-yanの登場で始まりました！

Christmasらしいみんなの装いやZoom背景に飾られた会場は、まるでPre-Christmas Partyのよう。MeetingのMCであるToastmaster of the Dayが、事前にRole takersに聞いていた「それぞれの” Things That Remind Me of Christmas”」を紹介してくれました。Scent of pine tree、Christmas song…などなど、「分かる！」というものばかりで、楽しいChristmasの雰囲気が広がりましたね。

 

今回、Prepared Speech Sessionで、2人のスピーカーが偶然、どちらもMentorについてお話しされて、その内容が特に印象的だったので取り上げたいと思います。一人目のSpeaker、ムネさんがPresentationに興味を持つキッカケをくれたMentorは、いつもムネさんに「考える時間」をくれて、Muneさんが答えを見つけるまで待っていてくれたそうです。そして、Muneさんの新入社員発表Presentation の準備のため、ご自宅にまで招いてくださり、とことん付き合ってくださったのだとか。Mentor について話してくれた二人目のSpeakerてんてんにとって、Effective mentorであるために大切なことは、相手を理解して信頼関係を育てることでした。Muneさんとてんてん、お二人のお話の中で登場したMentorはいずれも、コミュニケーションを重ねて、彼らを理解しようとしてくれていたところが共通点だと思います。Toastmasters Club で、新しく入会された方のMentorにAssignされた時に、また会社や家庭で誰かから頼られる存在になった時に、求められるMentorとはどのような存在か、伺えてとても参考になりました。

Prepared Speech Session で、Speech を披露してくれたもうお二人は、私がToastmasterに入って以来、まるで私のMentorのように相談に乗って下さったり、いつもアドバイスを下さるももこさんとAnneさん。Vocal varietyやBody movement といったスキルを使い、また具体例を上手く出して、分かりやすく印象に残るcall to action（行動を換気）するスピーチで、いつものように色々と学ばせて頂きました。 

12月のMeetingは、とあるメンバーの旅立ちの日でもありました。いつも優しく落ち着いた話し方で、素敵なスピーチをして下さったJedaiさん、お仕事の都合でしばらくはお会いできない事になりました。ますますのご活躍と、そしてまた会えることをみんなで願っています！

久しぶりに沖縄からzoomで参加してくれたメンバーも！彼のNative speakerの視点での厳しいコメントは、励みになります。

一人一人の発言に不必要なものがないか細かく見てくれたAh-counterのMikaさん、私達がしてしまいがちな間違いとそれを防ぐ方法を教えてくれたGrammarian & Word MasterのKazさん、冷静に落ち着いて進行をサポートしてくださったTimerのYoshikoさんとVote counterのまりりん、そしてChristmasに関連するシチュエーションの楽しいお題を準備してくれたTable topic masterのKama-yan。みなさんのおかげでPre-Christmas Meetingは、思い出に残るMeetingとなりました。

 

2022年もありがとうございました。毎回、実りあるMeetingで、みなさんから、たくさん学ばせて頂きました！2023年もまた毎回楽しいMeetingを企画しましょう。どうぞ宜しくお願いします。　　Eri

Grammarian Special！ Highlights from Grammarian Special Meeting on 3rd Dec, 2022

 

One of our founders, Rene, made a presentation titled "A Toastmaster Wears Many Hats," detailing the responsibilities of each role taker and some tips to make a difference serving in each.

Since the role of a speaker is obvious and we've learned quite a lot about the evaluator role, going through the Evaluation Contest, she focused the other roles, namely, Toastmaster of the Day, General Evaluator, Table Topics Master, Ah-Counter, and Grammarian.

She came up with a sentence for each role that eloquently summarizes their respective tasks and purposes. Those are:

Toastmaster of the Day RUNS THE SHOW.

General Evaluator ASSESSES ALL.

Table Topics Master INVOLVES EVERYONE.

Ah-Counter CATCHES OUR WORDS AND SOUNDS.

Grammarian WATCHES OUR WORDS.

Those sentences describe their role succinctly and precisely.

The latter half of her presentation was focused on the role of Grammarian because this particular meeting was called "Grammarian Special" and had three members serving as Grammarians. They listened to Rene's presentation and did their best.

Rene explained things to listen for:

Awkward use or misuse of the language

- incomplete sentences

- sentences that change direction in midstream or non-sequiturs (it does not follow)

- grammatical mistakes

　(a) verb tenses

　(b) singular-plural disagreement

- malapropisms - (mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one)

- mispronunciations, intonations, and word stresses

- distracting phrasing

- weed out weak words that don't add to the message

- an overuse of "empty modifiers" like "very," "nice," and "fun" which take up space

- let speakers know of gender-neutral language that connects rather than divides the audience

- call attention to vivid descriptions, on-point metaphors, and appealing rhythms

- point out rhetorical devices

- use of figurative language

- point out humorous twists

Wow! The list is overwhelmingly comprehensive!! Don't worry, though. You don't have to cover them all. Your time for your report is limited and there's only so much listeners can absorb. Yet, her list is educational and motivating. Truth be told, I've delivered a similar talk in other clubs myself and still, found something valuable in her presentation. The three relatively new Grammarians at the meeting must have learned quite a lot from her presentation and their experience puttiing to practice what they learned.

We're all grateful for the opportunity to learn from more experienced members like this.

If you are interested in improving your English skills and public speaking skills, join us at one of our meetings!

Written by Tenten

Highlight from 172nd regular meeting November November 19

11/19の例会から、あるプロジェクトをハイライト。“Managing Difficult Audience”スピーチをする中、複数の邪魔者が、スピーカーに話しかけたり邪魔をします。挑戦したのはTami さん。どんな邪魔が入るか本人は知りません。邪魔されたときの反応は人それぞれ。話しかけられたネタをもとに話を広げたり、それとも無視したり、それとも後で返事をすると答えたり。Tamiさんはとても誠実に対応されました。

スピーチ自体も、オーディエンスの多くにとって新しい情報満載、とても学びのあるスピーチでした。そしてインタラクティブなセッションになったことで、内容もとても印象深くなりました。

元はこのプロジェクトに取り組むことに躊躇されていたTamiさん。

やってみた感想は「とっても楽しかった」とのこと😍

さて、また誰かこのプロジェクトやらないかな、と心待ちにするVPEでした。

I would like to highlight a project “Managing Difficult Audience” from the meeting.

Tami delivered a speech titled “The Happiest Country”, while several so-called disruptor tried to distract her.

In real life, there are cases where you get distracted by audience while the presentation. This project is a good opportunity to learn how to respond with those disruptors.

Each person reacts differently when they have disruptions. You may want to involve the disruptor and expand the discussion or you may want to ignore. Tami handled the situation nicely. The speak itself was really informative. We all enjoyed the session

Best Speaker受賞のNaneaさんはいつも素敵なvisusl aidを作成されます。

rhetorical language（修辞的に関するスピーチ、具体的な例で説明されていてとても勉強になりました。自分のスピーチに応用して活かせるといいなー。

Nice visual aids used by the best speaker of the day, Nanea ‘s speech on rethorical languages

今回のBest SpeakerとBest Table Topics Speakerです。

Best speaker and Best impromptu speech speaker receive ribons from the President

Written by VPE　まりりん

Comment from General Evaluator Kiyo:

First of all, I would like to say the meeting was successful with two guests: We had four speakers, and their speeches' objectives were different. 

 That made the audience excited. 

 Table topics speech master who was her first job, prepared many topics which were easy to speak. Excellent job! Evaluation session had excellent experienced evaluators. 

Each evaluator gave us evaluation like a model.

The word of the day was transform, which is different from word change. Ah counter was busy counting Ahs. It was simple but hard. Timer needs concentration. He did it well. The TMD did a very good job. The meeting went smoothly. 

The good news was the new SAA was elected. 

I hope Senri TMC will be energetic and friendly.

Highlight from 171st regular meeting October 15

Thorough preparation,I enjoyed this meeting because members were fully prepared. Let me share three examples among others. First off, Yoshiko, who just joined us recently, served as Grammarian/Word Master and demonstrated her thorough preparation. Grammarian is someone who pays attention to the use of words in speeches. She focuses on good use of the language and some errors and mistakes in the speeches. Ins Senri Toastmasters, Grammarian always takes the role of Word Master, who is responsible for choosing the Word of the Day for that meeting, explains it with some examples, and review the use of the Word of the Day by all the participants. She chose “scrumptious,” which is similar to “delicious” in meaning. I never knew the word. She gave a nice and succinct explanation of the word and that helped members and guest use the word in their speeches. Truth be told, I am not a big fan of incorporating Word of the Day, especially when the chosen word is a difficult one because that results in rampant misuse of the Word. Yes, Word of the Day, when selected and explained poorly, could lead participants to remember the wrong usage of it. That beats the whole purpose of the whole thing. This wasn’t the case. Participants listened to the explanation by Yoshiko and found an appropriate instances to use the word correctly. This demonstrated how thoroughly Yoshiko prepared for her role as Word Master.

Another example was the Topicsmaster, who facilitates the Table Topics session. Topicsmaster Ju Tae selected topics that encourages speakers to compare two options about an activity. One example is a trip: “Which do you prefer, a domestic trip or an overseas one?” He prepared beautiful slides to help the speakers understand the topic and stay focused on the topic. The elements on the slides were carefully arranged and the topics were presented in a crystal-clear manner.

　 　Last but not least, what was exemplary was the leadership demonstrated by Toastmaster of the Day, Fumiron. Toastmaster of the day is in charge not only of facilitating the education portion of the meeting on the day, but also of ensuring that every role taker, including speakers, are prepared for their roles. She sent messages to individual members using the recently adopted communication platform Slack. Her directions were thorough and to-the-point. Thanks to her leadership and preparation, the meeting went several minutes ahead of schedule, and we were able to enjoy a couple of additional Table Topics speeches.

　These three examples show how thorough preparation makes our meetings fruitful and educational. We look forward to another well-prepared meeting next month as well. Tenten

Evaluation Special Meeting on 1st October, 2022

 土曜日が５回ある月は特別例会。

今回は、千里トーストマスターズクラブの所属する、4クラブから構成されるエリアF-3でEvaluationのコンテストが月末にあることから、1週目の土曜日にその特別例会を実施しました。

お題はEvaluation Special Meeting！

エリアコンテストに進む代表者を決めるイベントも兼ねての実施です。

ところでEvaluationって何？？評価？？

トーストマスターズクラブは、ご存じのとおり、先生はいません。仲間同士でフィードバックをしながら、お互いに成長していきます。

そう、スピーチと同じくらい、フィードバックをするというのがトーストマスターズクラブの活動の柱です。9月例会のブログの記事でMomoさんも述べてくださっていましたね。

そして、スピーチに対して、3分程度のスピーチの形にまとめてフィードバックするのがEvaluation Speech。

今回のお題はそのEvaluationです。

いつも素敵なスピーチでクラブ、エリアも超えて多くの人を魅了しているEriさんがワークショップを担当してくださいました。

Evaluationってどこをみたらいいの？どうやってフィードバックをしたらいいの？

赤ずきんちゃんの登場人物になりきって声色を変えるVocal Varietyを披露しながら、こうやって具体的な提案をするといいですよ、というのを見せてくれます。さすが！私はEriさんのストーリーテリングの大ファンです。具体的にどうしたらもっとよくなると思う、って言ってもらえるととっても助かりますよね。

さて、ワークショップでみんな学んだあとは「全員参加型」Evaluation。

Tentenの「テストスピーチ」を聴いて、まだ入会したてのメンバーから経験豊富なメンバーまで、スピーカーと、進行役以外の全員がEvaluatorになる本日のメインセッションの開始です。Tentenはリーダーシップについて話すプロジェクトでスピーチをしたのですが、Evaluation コンテストのルールに準じて、この時点ではみなさんにはスピーチの内容やプロジェクトなどは秘密です。

スピーチを聴いたら5分間の準備時間、そして2つのグループに分かれてブレイクアウトルームにGo！みんな真剣な表情です。それぞれがベストを尽くしてEvaluationをして、部屋ごとに投票しました。

休憩時間の後は、メインルームでFinal Roundです。各Breakout roomから上位2名ずつ、4名がFinal Roundで競いました。Best Evaluatorのお二人はエリアへと進みます。

次はブレイクアウトルームで進行役をした2名がそれぞれ、Eriさんのワークショップ、TentenのスピーチをPathways（教育プログラム）のプロジェクトとしてEvaluation。

最後に、4人ずつの小部屋に分かれて、自分のEvaluationや他の人のEvaluationについて、感じたことを共有するDiscussionセッションタイム。

いろんな人のいろんなEvaluationの視点、スタイルを見ることができてとても新鮮でした。

今回はスピーカー以外の全員にEvaluationする機会がありました。参加者はみんな、アクティブリスニングと、考えをまとめる、スピーチにまとめる、この一連のアクティビティでとっても疲れたかもしれません。が、「楽しかった！」「またやりたい」という声が、促されずともあがったのはとてもうれしいことでした。

さて、次回の例会は10月15日。普段の構成で行います。4本のスピーチが予定されており楽しみです。

見学ご希望の場合、YES! We are Senri Toastmasters Club! (toastmastersclubs.org)よりご連絡ください。

まりりん🌸VPE