#21 Meeting

First and foremost, Happy Birthday, Miyuki-san 😊 I wish I could have joined the meeting and celebrated your first successful role of Toastmaster of the Evening. Another news I want to share is the second poster created by Megumi-san. She is such an artist and designer! She said modestly that she just used a convenient tool and it was easy to make. Still, I was impressed with her wonderful work. Everyone must have felt cool by just seeing it instead of eating ice cream on scorching sizzling summer days😉

As I mentioned above, I wasn’t present at the meeting. Thanks to the recording by Yukimasa-san, I am enjoying each moment of the meeting and reporting on it for you.

Today we had……

The meeting theme: Summer is here! Let us survive & thrive!

18 attendees from Kanto, Kansai, Chugoku, Okinawa, Shikoku, Vietnam and Thailand

Word of the Day: “assuage” means to make an unpleasant feeling less intense or

to satisfy an appetite and desire.

e.g.) His apologies did nothing to assuage my anger. (ease, soothe)

successful users: Michiko-san & Takako-san

Timer: LanAnh-san

Grammarian: Yuki-san

Best Prepared Speaker:Raymund-san

Best Table Topic Speaker:Michiko-san

Best Evaluator:Naoki-san

Now let’s get started! The first main part, prepared speech session. We had 3 speakers.

The first speaker is Jota-san! His speech title was “Toastmasters” from Dynamic Leadership Manual. He talked about Caterpillar Toastmasters Club, which he belongs to as an off-line club. I have always amazed at his speech style. He has never used filler words and looked very confident without checking his speech memo even if he makes it beforehand. I am pretty sure he prepares his well-organized speech very well to his heart content. He is one of the most devoted members. In his speech, he shared his 2 findings from Toastmasters basic manual and what he has learned through his experiences in both clubs. He emphasized how important it is to learn by doing and watching fellow members. Another thing I would like to mention is his presentation slides, which showcased his points. Though he was humble enough to say, in the introduction part, it was challenging for him to make this kind of speech in front of experienced toastmasters in our club, he should be proud of himself. Well done! Jota-san, thank you for your educational speech!

The second speaker is Naoki-san! His speech title was “Ju ge mu” from The Entertaining Speaker manual. That “Ju ge mu 寿限無” one of the most famous Rakugo? Yes, indeed. Naoki-san firstly explained what Jugemu is. Then he succeeded saying Jugemu’s real name (Jugemu Jugemu Go-Kō-no-Surikire Kaijari-suigyo no Suigyō-matsu Unrai-matsu Fūrai-matsu Kū-Neru Tokoro ni Sumu Tokoro Yaburakōji no Burakōji Paipo Paipo Paipo no Shūringan Shūringan no Gūrindai Gūrindai no Ponpokopii no Ponpokonaa no Chōkyūmei no Chōsuke) almost 10 times in his reading. Wow! After the story was over, he gave his interpretation of each member’s name to us. It was thoughtful of him to mention a member’s name which has no Kanji characters and try to interpret it as a positive meaning. Do you get interested in the Rakugo? I happened to find the website http://no-sword.jp/blog/2008/08/jugemu.html You will be able to learn the meanings of the rest of Jugemu there.

The third speaker is Raymund-san! According to Miyuki-san, he has got Toastmasters contests awards like District contest in Canada ever before. Wow. I can’t wait to listen to his speech. His speech title was “The Importance of Non-Verbal communication.” He shared his own experience to reinforce his idea of the importance of nonverbal communication. Intentionally or unintentionally he wasn’t showing his face. But we got the picture of his speech because he used his tone of voice effectively as well as his moderate speech speed. He was a good example of his own speech. And what I liked about was the hospitality department in his university. I don’t know whether universities in Japan have such a system, but I think it’s a nice idea. When he makes another excellent speech next time online, we hope we will see him so that we learn another important point: power of gesture from him. We look forward to listening to your wonderful speech, Raymund-san!

Next Table topic Session conducted by Kazuko-san! She set the impromptu speech session theme “summer” and prepared 7 questions.

The first question was “What summer food do you like the best?” Michiko-san, who is from Nagano, loves watermelon, especially one from her hometown. Then she introduced her way to have the summer fruit. Watermelon juice! Mmm…it was making my mouth water. She used a mixer to make it quickly. She pointed out that drinking instead of eating it allowed her to get more amount of watermelon. Also, she said the juice can assuage the summer heat. Oh, great!

The second question was “Looking back on your childhood memory, please share your favorite summer memory?” Kiyono-san used to visit her grandmother, who lives near the beautiful sea in Tottori. She enjoyed bathing and even walking in the shallow sea. The water was limpid enough to see the bottom clearly. I am truly envious! I didn’t know there were such a beautiful sea on the side of Japan Sea. When she went up to Tokyo, she was shocked to see the crowded beaches there. In the end she suggested that children should be taken to beautiful nature. Same here 😉

The third question was “What is your favorite way to stay cool in the summer time?” Mikiko-san likes to read books and watch TV or You Tube at home with an air conditioner on instead of going out in this muggy weather. These days the temperatures of her town are extremely high like 38℃. The same as my town… ♪Heat, heat, go away, come again another day!... ♪ The fourth question was “Your family plans to do staycation(a vacation spent at home or nearby) this summer. What would you do for the whole week of summer vacation?” Yuki-san usually go back to her home town during Obon every summer. She is planning to take part in the festival in the neighborhood. Also, the day before the event is her sister’s birthday. Her family is celebrating her birthday at home.

The fifth question was “Which do you prefer, summer or winter and why?” Midori-san is from Okinawa and she loves summer. Inside the house she feels cool with the air conditioner on all day long. As outside activities, she enjoys surfing, snorkeling, etc. Cool! Oh, I’ve almost forgot to say, “Happy Birthday 😊”

The last session was evaluation session. Each evaluator succeeded in giving their useful comments to each speaker. Some of their comments were what I couldn’t think of by myself. I wish I could evaluate like them.

Lastly, let me share an experience from Kazuko-san though Yukimasa-san mentioned as General Evaluator. She did volunteer work in Kurashiki, one of the stricken areas. I respect her, and we should think of people still suffering from the appalling condition under this severe weather. May God protect them.