The Word for Evening is “achieve,” proposed by freshman TM
YU. A fitting start to this meeting!
Prepared Speech ＃１ “Get to Know Me” by TM NM
TM NM was born in Japan and
spent her youth in Canada. Coming back to Japan, she soon realized that though Japan
has a world-leading physical health system, its mental health system is
significantly behind. With the thought of how to fill this large gap, she
started a business related to mental health in Japan.
Evaluation
was given by TM GK, the super speaker of our TITMC. He said
that he was so impressed by TM NM’s speech that he couldn’t help but just listen
to it. He commented that she delivered a passionate speech in fluent and
beautiful English.
Today’s
Table Topics
by TM TM
TM TM prepared 3 Questions. How did
our members answer to the questions, which were full of humor and dignity?
Q1:
If you could become an animal, what animal would you like to be?
Answer
by TM ON: “I want to be a northern fox and dance with the cute girls of the
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.”
(Well, well, well…!!)
Q2:
“If you could turn back the clock on your life by one hour, what would you
do?
Answer by TM SE: “I would check the results of a horse race,
then go back in time to buy a winning ticket. With the money I made, I would go
on a world tour.” (All members agreed
with his splendid idea!)
Q3.
If you could go back in time and join Toastmasters again, what speech would you
like to make?
Answer
by TM MA: “Being a member of the club for a long time, I
have gradually been promoted to a higher position. So, if I could go back in
time and give a speech, I would like to give a speech about my
<achievements>.” (Fantastic! Actually, TM MA is now the president of ourclub!)
今回のミーティングは役員交代後の初めての会、さらに新会員によるスピーチが二つもあったことから、まさに刷新の風吹き渡る爽やかな会となりました。入会間もない＜フレッシュ＞なメンバーも、年齢を重ねた＜ややフレッシュ＞なメンバーも、それぞれのゴールを＜達成＞してていこう！という気迫とともに、今回の会合は終了となりました。 By TM MK
Prepared Speech “How to raise my
motivation” By TM K (6:20)
She shared with us 4 important things related to her positive ways of thought vividly. Each one has her special way, that we heard the details. And she concluded her speech clearly and warmly. We all found where her usual high-energy come from!
TM G’s evaluation was very helpful. The smart, kind, and detailed evaluation linked to the word “Positive” inspired not only the speaker but also the audience. And he showed her a very specific way to make her speech more impressive.
Today’s Table Topics Master was TM
K.
He prepared 2 Questions, how to enjoy the rainy season and too hot summer!
A1:TM Eto, Enjoy the rainy season by swimming.(1:17)
A2:Guest M, Enjoy the rainy season with fancy umbrellas, smelling the rain, staying home, and planning something for later fine days.(2:10)
A3:TM Aisaka, Enjoy too hot summer
by swimming and drinking beer(1:30)
A4:Guest S, enjoy too hot summer by camping, and staying in nature, especially with fresh cold wine! A hard environment gives her a new perspective. (0’55)
TT master, TM K deeply recommended fresh beer, and craft beer in summer! It was the most important answer!
Meeting started with Japanese session as hybrid format (In-person &
Zoom)
Welcomed 3 guests that demonstrated great enthusiasm, and meeting kicked
off with great energy.
Before moving to role introductions, we had multiple role changes and
speech order adjustments to accommodate participants availability.
Toastmaster of the Evening, TM J.S., displayed strong leadership and
flexibility.
・Word of the Evening：”Greenfield”
…Selected by TM
G.F., word is used to describe an area of land that has never had buildings on
it before; referring to starting something from scratch.
・Prepared Speech – English
■TM K.I.：”Okinawa Link”
Great backstory of how there is a link with her current life &
Okinawa. Starting off with her beautiful relationship of a friend from Okinawa,
and how TM K.I. had many discoveries and learnings of Okinawa culture as their
friendship developed over time.
■Evaluation for TM K.I. （Delivered by TM K.K）
Several positive points were specified pertaining to self management, structure
of speech, and conclusion of speech. Even through some technical issues, TM
K.I. was able to move forward with great poise and managed situation very well.
One suggestion shared was to make more effort to maintain eye contact even
if online format.
■Table Topics (Facilitated by TM S.E.)
Topic: Fruit countries Summit Talk (taking from G7 summit at Hiroshima in May’23)
Speakers were to represent a particular fruit as if it were a country, and
how that fruit would make the world a better place.
Great introduction of family members living together, and who is to blame for not tidying up the
house. However, after several years of living apart, it may have became evident
of who is to blame… overturning the initial hypothesis.
■Evaluation for TM K.K. （Delivered by TM A.O. ）
Numerous positive points were shared as the speech was full of humor, and
followed a Rakugo principles (a traditional Japanese comic storytelling). Usage
of certain vocabulary was highlighted, which helped lighten up story.
One call out was to use more exaggeration for dramatics to close the
speech.
Today’s title is Fascinating CNN10. TM.K.K. delivered a speech about the advantages of this news and inspired the audience. To acquire listening skills through authentic American pronunciation and speed. To know about the current world situation through a wide range of news such as international politics and economy. To enhance the quality of our writing and speaking by checking CNN10’s transcript. In the speaker’s case, the special lesson using CNN10, especially the discussion with her teacher raised her motivation.
For the 1st Evaluator （TM F.G）, the evaluation was structured so logically but at the same
time it motivate speaker a lot. The
evaluation was structured by 3 points of focus, and TM F.G explained good point/suggestion
for each point. And the last suggestion
about emotion motivate speaker a lot.
今日の言葉は、日本語が「たけなわ」英語は、”be in the full
swing ” と ” be at the peak of ” 。「たけなわ」は、宴もたけなわ、くらいしか思いつかないところ、MさんとEさんが見事にスピーチや論評で披露。英語の部でも ” be at
the peak of ” は、多くの方が使っていました。さすがですね。また、皆さん、不要な言葉も極力使わないように意識しており、また、随所に効果的な表現を使っている人も何人かいて、表現の幅の広さ、引き出しの多さの大切さを痛感した役割でございました。
It was the first meeting in bright new 2023 and the Toastmaster
of the evening was our club’s Mr. Passionate, TM J.S!
[English session]
■Word of the evening: Go
Dutch (chosen by TM S.E)
Definition: Share the cost of something. TM S.E also
introduced us the expression “Greek”, meaning the things which is way too
difficult to understand.
■1st speech “My happy
communication style” by TM K.K
In this speech, TM K.K introduced her view on her
communication style from 3 aspects; (1) According to Pathways, or the study
program of Toastmasters, communication style could be categorized into 4
groups, passionate, supportive, direct and analytical. TM K.K assumed that she took
supportive communication style in workplace but direct style in private
situation. (2) According to TM K.K, personality traits and relationship of the
communicators played a significant role in their communication (i.e. supportive
person could have a good match with direct and competitive person,) (3)
Different personality traits could complement each other. A good combination of
different communication style could produce a constructive result.
■Evaluation for TM K.K by TM K.K
Great points: (1) Match with the objective -her speech met
her speech objective (to learn about different communication styles and
identify my primary style), (2)Analysis -Her analysis toward communication
style was multi-faceted and was eye-opening.
Suggestions: (1) To speak clearly and get closer to the
microphone so that audience online can hear her clearly, (2) To have more
eye-contact with the audiences who’s online.
■2nd speech “Knock
Knock” by TM H.A
Knock knock. Every morning TM H.A is woken up by a sound
made by a man who is knocking on his room’s door. Actually the man is TM H.A’s
competitor and TM H.A have been competing against him more that 20 years. When
TM H.A was in his teenage, he didn’t notice the man’s presence. But in his 20s
the man suddenly came up to him, and then the man started to follow after TM
H.A just like his shadow. One day TM H.A learned that some of his friends were
also competing against the man, and they advised him to keep diary to defeat him.
TM H.A did just as they told him to, and he found some progress. Now, dear
readers, could you guess who the man TM H.A is competing against is? It was
himself in the past. TM H.A is always trying to be a better man compared to the
past! He never gives up, and his competition continues.
■Evaluation for TM K.K by TM K.K
Excellent points: (1)Story –audience could see image the of
the story, (2) Structure – opening from the sound of “knock knock” attracted
audience’s attention, and the until the very end audience was wondering who’s
TM H.A’s competitor, just like a mystery novel, (3) Inspiring – audience got
inspired and felt that “I should be more competitive as well!”
Suggestions: To hint who’s TM H.A’s competitor at the early
part of the speech so that audience can get guide to the flow of the story.
Challenge: To make stories on our club’s SNS to attract
guests!
The word of the Evening is “ Scintillate”
. A very sparkling word for your
impressive presentation!!
Prepared Speech “My strategy for
success” By TM KK (5:23)
Firstly, she talked about her
challenge for National
Government Licensed Guide Interpreter, especially 2 mins presentation to get high score. It
has 3 difficulties. And she has 3 strategies for it. They are so detailed and
positive ones that we feel toastmaster’s usual leaning will work a lot. We all
pray her scintillate smile and success!
And Today’s special project by TMOE
F was another exercise for English expression! He prepared funny, great practices
with slides and we all enjoyed and struggled!
The Word of the Evening is “Historic.”
TM MA went to the historic site in Nagano pref. and she was very impressed by 2
Jomon Dogus (clay figures) of national treasures.
The 1st Speech, “Things we shouldn’t’t forget” by TM FG（7:07）
TM F opened his speech about last
week’s earthquake in his native
Indonesia. He said he believed they would stand up again even through this
tough, painful situation. As they have a great history of winning their
independence from the Dutch after WarⅡ with their great cooperation and perseverance. He made a speech for us
about his mother country’s history so, so vividly with many tools…a national
hat, a gun-shaped cane, and a lovely song for sadness and peace…, of course
with a nice Batik! A very inspiring and soulful speech moved us a lot. Thank
you for your wonderful speech!
Table Topics by TM OA
Q1:What is your favorite time of the
year?
A1: Autumn! Because colored leaves
are so beautiful! She likes the yellow carpet of Ginkgo, especially in Ueno
Park, where various kinds of people come across it. (TM MA 1’24’’)
Q2: What is your favorite place on
Earth?
A2: It’s my home! Because he can do
everything he likes and no one disturbs him. (TM JS 1’03’’)
Q2: What are you scared of? What is
your biggest phobia?
A3: Sudden happenings. He remembered
his former boss’s sudden business orders that struggled him. (TM TM 1’23’’)
Q4: In a word, how would you
describe this year?
A4: She was hospitalized and took surgery
this year. She recommended taking health check every year. (TM KK
2’02’’)
It was the once-a-year Halloween meeting, and some members were dressed in their Halloween costumes!
TMOE: TM K.K
Guest: Ms. H
[English session]
■Word of the evening: brilliant (chosen
by TM H.A)
■1st speech “Preparation for
my future” by TM K.K
TM K.K was severely ill last September, and she spent a lot of time in bed, watching TV, or using the iPad. Then she found she wasted much of her precious time and money. She warned that we could easily waste our time and money on 3 things which are; (1) TV (passive watching may cause Alzheimer’s disease!), (2) iPad (we can easily purchase unnecessary things only with a click without thinking) and, (3) napping (sleeping on noon may obstacle regular sleep on the night). She swore that she would stop wasting her time on those things and have better habits to prepare for her fruitful life after retirement.
3 evaluators delivered their evaluation speeches at this night’s meeting.
■Evaluation by TM K.K
He evaluated that (1) the structure of TM K.K’s speech was clear and (2) the selection of the topic was appropriate because it was easy to understand for everyone. He added that it would be even better if she could mention what she’s working on now to prepare for her brilliant future as a conclusion of her speech.
■Evaluation by TM M.A
She pointed out 2 good points which was; (1) the structure
was easy to understand, and (2) TM K.K kept her positive attitude during her
speech even thought she experienced hard time when she was ill. For the
suggestion, she could have worked a bit more on her speech title to hint the
audience what her story would be.
■Evaluation by TM N.K
Since the previous 2 evaluators mentioned the good points of
TM K.K’s speech, TM N.K focused on the room of improvement, which was; (1) the
3 stories she told should be interconnected and be connected to her conclusion,
(2) show a bit more emotion during the speech and, (3) show the vision of her
future.
■Table Topics by TM H.A
Q1. What we should do to prepare for the future pandemics?
(TM A.O)
Many people felt down during the COVID crisis and some even
committed suicide. As the survivor of the pandemic, we should send the message
of “never give up and look at the bright side” to the future generation.
Q2. What kind of volunteer we should bring to Japan? (TM
F.G)
Recently the Indian descendant became the Prime Minister of
UK for the first time. Looking at Japan, we can still feel some kind of
closeness in the society, so we need some volunteer to try to connect with
other cultures and bring openness into Japanese society.
Q3. Why Japanese society is not globalized enough? (TM M.A)
Because of the language education. Many Japanese have
difficulties in speaking in English. I personally started studying English at
the age of 47. However, the younger generation are different from us, so we can
expect they will bring more globalization into Japanese society.
Q4. What book or article inspired you recently? (Guest H)
A book on Israeli women. When I read the book, I was shocked
to learn that the average Israeli women give birth to 2 or 3 kids while they
are working, and some of them think that they want to be a man. I leaned the
harsh situation Israeli women are facing now.
