Words and Phrases found: May Special Meeting, May 25, 2024

 Today, I served as the Grammarian and found many nice words and phrases. Let me introduce some of them.

1. attentively
Marilyn used this word in "attentively listen to the speech." This word means "paying a lot of attention" and is similar to "carefully."

2. cookie-cutter
Momo used this phrase to describe something being used too often resulting in it losing its impact.

3. protagonist
Eri used this word that means the main character in a story when she talked about a program in her speech about the differences between Showar and Reiwa eras.

4. bring about interest
Hiko used this phrase to mention that Eri's speech title intrigued him.

5. meager and mediocre
This is not a set phrase, but was a nice twist on the Word of the Day at the meeting, "mediocre" used by Rene. Now, what's "Word of the Day"? It's the word that we encourage participants to use during that particular meeting. This has two purposes as I understand it, (1) to help members build vocabulary and (2) to help participants to train themselves to become more flexible. We are encouraged to incorporate the Word of the Day, which is not always easy. You have to be felxible to achieve that.
I like the combination of these two words, meager and mediocre, because they share similar meanings and complement each other. Also, they start with the same consonant creating a good rhythm.

We learn from other members' speeches a lot of things including how we can make an impact by using the language effectively. If you want to see it in action, pay us a visit! You can always sign up for a meeting on our website at https://senri.toastmastersclubs.org/

The 190th Regular Meeting, May 11, 2024

第190回例会では、Roleデビューのオンパレードでした。なんと4名のメンバーがドキドキしながら挑戦し、例会運営に大いに貢献しました。終了後、みんなほっとした表情を浮かべているのが印象的でした。

トーストマスターズの例会では、披露されたスピーチについて、「Ah」「um」「so」などのfiller words（不必要なつなぎ言葉）をカウントするAh-Counterという役割が設定されています。今回はGloriaがこの役割に挑戦しました。

Gloriaはfiller wordsの回数だけでなく、スピーカーが発したfiller wordsの特徴や種類も具体的に伝えてくれました。職場でも、たまにWeb会議でAhが多い方と一緒になることがありますが、自分のクセを知ることは非常に貴重です。気にしないと改善できませんからね。評価される人だけでなく、GloriaのようにAh-Counterの役割を果たすことで担当者は以下のようなメリットがあります。

1. スピーチや発話の注意深い聞き手になる: Ah-Counterは他人の発話に注意を払うことを促します。これにより、自然と意識改革につながります。
2. 他のメンバーに報告することでリーダーシップスキル向上: Ah-Counterは報告を行う役割でもあります。他のメンバーに報告を行うことでリーダーシップスキルを養 うことができます。

今回はAh-Counterに焦点を当てましたが、他の3名が初担当したToastmasters of the day（司会進行をする役割）、Timer（スピーチの時間計測を行う役割）、Topicsmaster（即興スピーチセッションを取りまとめる役割）など、どのRoleも担当することで自身のスピーチスキルやリーダーシップスキルの向上に直結しています。 

千里トーストマスターズクラブはメンバー全員で担当者をサポートし、互いに成長していくクラブです。楽しく新しいことに挑戦できるので、Roleデビューの直後に「慣れたいので、次回同じRole希望」という方も少なくありません。そんな学びの場に、ぜひ一度参加してみてください！

次回は5月25日にオンラインでSpecial Eventを実施します。お楽しみに！✨

The 189th Regular Meeting, April 20, 2024

 千里コラボで行われたこの日の例会では、ハイライトしたい点がたくさんありました。

まずは、Toastmaster of the Day!

私たち会員は全員「トーストマスター」と呼ばれますが「今日のトーストマスター」とは何をする人？

一口に言えば、例会での司会進行をする役割です。時間管理もしながら進行します。それだけではありません。アジェンダを作ったり、司会原稿を作ったり、事前の準備も色々あります。

今回初めてこの大役のデビューを飾ったのはHiko。

役割に当たっている人の可否をeasy-Speakという専用サイトで確認したり、スピーチのタイトルを確認するためにスピーカーに連絡を取ったり、役割変更のアレンジをしたりしながら入念に準備をし、流れも迷うことなくしっかり務められました！

さて、例会の目玉でもある準備スピーチのセッションでもデビューがありました。

新メンバーの初めてのスピーチ、Ice Breakerです。自己紹介としてご自身のバックグラウンドを話されました。さまざまな表情を行き来する独特な小道具使いが印象的でした。

今回の即興スピーチTable Topicsスピーチのセッションのテーマは「Storyelling」

出題者のTopicsmaster、Reneは、冒頭の一言となるセンテンス(未完成)を提示し、当てられたメンバーはそこからストーリーを作り上げてください、というものでした。例えば、

“It was a bright…”や “The King is…”

どんなストーリーを作れるか、聞いてる人もみんな頭をフル回転。

明るい日差しの日、学園祭で告白された話や、カメハメハ大王の話などが飛び出しました。

それぞれのスピーチや論評についても書きたいところですが、2時間半の例会の内容を全て書いていると長文になってしまいます。内容を知りたい？？その場合は是非、実際に参加してみてください！

Written by: Marilyn

Meeting Full of EVALUATIONS: April Special Meeting, April 13, 2024

The Special Online Meeting on April 13th featured a succession of “EVALUATIONS.” Evaluation is said to be vital in Toastmastering. As a consequence, a “Mini Workshop on Evaluation” by Rene initiated the meeting agenda. The workshop mentioned that an evaluator’s tone and feedback content had a great impact on the speaker’s self-esteem and self-confidence. An evaluator was also not a master but a peer who simply gave his or her own opinion to the speaker’s speech and some specific recommendations for improvement.

Toastmasters’ evaluation considers the “Sandwich Approach” as an effective way to motivate and to educate a public speaker. This approach enables an evaluator to give a personal opinion in a friendly, direct, and non-threatening manner. The evaluator’s suggestion for improvement is “sandwiched” between two positive comments. Thus, comparing speech evaluation to a sandwich, the top piece of the bread gives praise and congratulations. The fillings like meat, cheese, and vegetables refer to weak areas and constructive suggestions. The bottom piece of the bread is devoted to encouragement. The way an evaluator finishes his evaluation determines whether the speaker will be motivated and eager to begin his next speech.

The second of evaluation was the “Test Speech” of Mariko. All member attendees had to watch closely, listen attentively, make notes on the evaluation guide, and put into words their ideas and opinions of the speech entirety at the breakout rooms. It was a good learning opportunity to let everyone evaluate, to listen to other members’ evaluations, and to choose the breakroom representative evaluator.

The third of evaluation at the meeting was Tenten’s “Active Listening Project.” He served as Topicsaster, who gave clear, concise, and Toastmasters-related questions. Tenten demonstrated his active listening skills by commenting on each speaker’s Table Topics speech. The evaluation comments for all speakers were specific and concluded on a positive note.

The last in the succession of “Evaluations,” was the regular Evaluation Session. There were three evaluators for Mariko, and one for Tenten. They evaluated on different criteria: on how they reacted to the speech, the effect it had on them, the areas Mariko and Tenten did well, and specific recommendations. The members enjoyed the warm atmosphere conducive to “healthy” learning, interacting, and evaluating.

To be at the Special Meeting on April 13th was a rewarding experience!!! Who could ask for more!

Rene

Spring has come: The 188th Regular Meeting, March 16, 2024

On our regular meeting held on March 16th, the weather was rather warm. At the beginning, our President, Rene, observed a delightful scene: cute children participating in the entrance ceremony of some kindergartens. Coincidentally, the Toastmaster of the day, Kiyo, introduced each role taker and speaker, sharing memories of their own school graduation ceremonies—both the satisfactory and the melancholic.

As the second prepared speech presenter, Marilyn delivered an impressive speech titled “Eight Years’ Journey.” In her speech, she reflected on her experiences as a public speaker and as an officer of our club. Despite starting from scratch in both roles, she realized the effectiveness of continuous trial and error within our club.

With the pleasant weather outside, we enjoyed a variety of speeches, feeling a sense of new beginnings.

Keys to shape leader-speakers: The 188th Regular Meeting, March 16, 2024

Senri Toastmasters aims continuously to shape leader-speakers who are communicatively competent. HOW DO WE ACHIEVE THIS?

We don’t have teachers to teach us, but we rely on each other to help as we grow and improve. I have seen this more actively practiced during the last March 16th Regular Meeting.

We have the Prepared Speech Session where assigned speakers deliver speeches of their choice following the path they have chosen. The speakers deliver freely, with ease coupled with motivation the messages of their speeches. They incorporate the acquired delivery skills of an effective speaker like voice, body movements, gestures, eye contact, and other aspects. To deliver a speech doesn’t end here . . .

We have the Evaluation Session where assigned evaluators evaluate the speakers. Evaluators serve as “ala teachers” - our peers, club members. The evaluators try to apply the “Sandwich Approach” to give feedback. Evaluators are “teacher-like” wherein they state the positives of the speech delivered, suggest an area or two for improvement, and finish with another positive comment.

On this day, Speech Evaluator Hiko evaluated Prepared Speaker Kazu’s speech. His evaluation feedback was helpful and valuable not only to the speaker but to everyone. Then, Speech Evaluator Hiko got precious feedback from the General Evaluator Mune who gave his comments. And General Evaluator Mune got his share of feedback from the Toastmaster of the Day Kiyono. This is caught in the picture below wherein three Toastmasters engage in their respective meeting roles, supporting each other, acknowledging each other, and working as one in a “unique Toastmasters cycle.” Each member learns from a co-member and the cycle goes on. It is a unique teamwork. It facilitates the smooth flow of our meetings and productively fosters a warm atmosphere of growth. Each member on his own pace but equipped with the needed public speaking skills.