I happened to find a sentence in the textbook: “Parents can set a good example for their children by juggling housework and office work”. No way. Once my kids started summer vacation, I have got more work to do with a lack of energy, a source of Synergy. Having said that, I decided to attend this meeting at the very last minute, then I realized I had made the right decision. I felt like recharging my batteries after the meeting was adjourn. Thanks a million, everyone 😊
Today we had…
Meeting Theme: Quintessence
22 attendees including welcome guests from Okinawa-Kyusyu, Shikoku, Chugoku, Kansai, Chubu, Kanto, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. Word of the Day (conducted well by Takako-san): Synergy means Takako-san found the image above on the internet. e.g.) ・Hellen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Synergy will make Diversity the quintessence (the meeting theme!) of Toastmasters Club. (by Naoki-san)
Timer: LanAnh-san (concise report!) Grammarian: Yukimasa-san Best Table Topic Speakers: Yukimasa-san & Diana-san Best Prepared Speaker: Megumi-san Best Evaluator: Kazuko-san
Before we went on to the regular sessions, we had a self-introduction speech by Peko-san. She loves traveling, meeting with people, and seeing different culture. Through her bitter experience of communicating with local people abroad in English as a global language, she joined Matsumoto Toastmasters club in a few years. And now she is a member of our club. Welcome aboard! She has already used the word of the day “Synergy” in her very first speech. Impressive!
Now let’s start the first session. We had 3 prepared speakers today. The first speaker was Herizo-san! His ice breaker speech title was “Leaping into the unknown”. He firstly explained the meaning of the title and his birthplace Madagascar. When it comes to Madagascar, what do you imagine? Yes, that world- famous movie! The fourth movie of the series was released in 2014. It’s about time for the next one?! We will definitely recall Herizo-san. Then he described how much he has appreciated Toastmasters Club, and he hopes to work on with synergy in our club as well.
The second speaker was Megumi-san! Her speech title was “Be present!”. She described the quite important quintessence of meetings. I was impressed again with her speech. In addition to her speech content, it covered the speech objectives. Let me share some of them: Organize speech to achieve general and specific purpose; reinforce purpose with beginning, body, and conclusion; project sincerity and conviction. I was surprised to find that was only third time she made her prepared speech at our club. There seemed me to be no room for improvement to mention, but surprisingly enough, her evaluator Kazuko-san did an excellent job in her concrete, concise, and clear evaluation. Kudos to you both!
The third speaker was Hideki-san! His speech title was “Speak, memory”. That was his icebreaker speech. He gave me the first impression that he is serious and calm. Through his speech, we found out that he is such a curious and intriguing person. I was also impressed with his wide variety of readings. He explained the details of his likings, and suddenly he made a funny joke as if it didn’t matter. Haha… Personally I like the way how he made us laugh. Lastly, he shared his fantastic dreams. Do you want to know what they are? You will see them in the near future 😉
Now let’s move on to the 2nd session: Table Topic Session conducted by Surat-san. He was holding a microphone in his hand with his nice smile. Looks like he was a singer, which even gave us a pleasant atmosphere. He had 9 creative questions for us. 6 attendees had chances to make impromptu speeches respectively.
-When did you first realize that life is short? It was not until recently that Yukimasa-san realized that. He shared his bitter experiences as young and wanted to understand earlier how precious life is. It is never too late to learn. Like he said, thinking about life is a gift for all of us. Carpe Diem! -What can money not buy? It is family & friends and experiences that it cannot buy according to Moka-san. Especially the last one was what she explained, associating with her Toastmaster experiences. One of the things what I learned from her was “The more I put into efforts, the more I received.” -What will you never give up on? Naoki-san will never give up on improving himself. It’s so him! Also, he will be happy if he contributes other to some extent, which will lead him to enrich his life. -What is the meaning of ‘Synergy’ to you? Diana-san learned ‘Synergy’ (something like 1+1=3) at school but didn’t understand how it worked then. As she got older, she learned to deepen her understanding of the meaning. In her opinion, it can be got through communication well with other people. She has found out synergy every Toastmasters club meeting. Same here! -What is your happiest memory? My answer has been always the same. Apart from my precious kids, I felt happiest in my life when my dream came true. I managed to pass the test to be a teacher a long time ago and had to quit my job in 3 years because of marriage, but I have wanted to be a school teacher again after my kids grow older. Wish me luck. -What made you smile this week? As a Japanese teacher, Takako-san had an opportunity to show her town to Assistant Language Teachers with little understanding of Japanese. They communicated with each other in Japanese and English. She felt very happy to find they got interested in her town. Sounds like that experience broadened her cultural horizon more.
All in all, those thought-provoking questions created by Surat-san reminded me of the story ‘Le Petit Prince.’ We had another jovial session.
Due to space of limitations, as for the Evaluation session, let me mention just 1 thing. Jota-san did a wonderful job though his physical condition was not perfect. Give a big applause to him as well as other excellent evaluators!
