The coming of autumn. No cicadas buzz. Just a chorus of insect sounds. The air is crisp. The sky is crystal clear…With talents like our Diversity Club members’, the sky is the limit. Now let’s get started!
Today we had…
Meeting theme: Your support system
Toastmaster: Naoki-san
Word of the day: labor of love by me
=Work done for one’s satisfaction rather than monetary reward
e.g.) The research took 3 years, but it was a labor of love.
The successful users: Kazuko-san & Jota-san thanks😊
Timer: Megumi-san kindly showed each speaker’s timing on the screen via the chat function so that everyone recognized who is eligible to vote on the spot.
Grammarian: Kaoru-san
The best prepared speaker: Takako-san
The best table topic speaker: Marama-san
The best evaluator: Mikiko-san
1. Prepared speech session.
The first speaker was Yumi-san in Thailand! Her speech title was “Cards on the Table.” She has ever faced critical moments twice in her life. She was standing at the crossroads then, wondering which way to turn. It was her first time that she wanted to get out of the difficult situation as a high school girl back then and did stay in South Africa for 2 years. How courageous! Then after she graduated from university, she lived in Shanghai and Tokyo due to her husband work. Now she is living in Thailand with her family. At first, however, only her husband lived there, but one of her daughters wish encouraged Yumi-san to get together as a family there. It must have been challenging to make a decision to live and raise children in a different country. I respect her very much.
The second speaker was Aaron in Hong Kong! His speech title was “PWDs in Toastmasters”. PWDs…What do they stand for? I wondered. He started his speech with an interesting question: How many numbers do you think are other types of Toastmasters? He mentioned one of them is PWDs, which means People with Disabilities. He emphasized how we can develop their hidden abilities by giving us concrete examples in his speech. He often let the audience imagine what the current situation can be improved. His speech has always been inspiring and enlightening. Especially today it was literally an eye-opener to me.
The last speaker was Takako-san! Her speech title was “Encounters and Destiny”. She talked about her encounters with wonderful people mainly her husband in her speech. Just after they got married, Takako-san was a homemaker. Thanks to his encouraging advice, however, she kept taking English lessons for a long time. Even after they had 2 kids, in addition to her work, he recommended her to enter graduate school to improve her English skills. (Totally different from my old-fashioned husband. He tried to convince me to be a stay-at-home mom until our kids enter junior high school. I was disobedient;)) Around that time she met other wonderful people who influenced her later life. She became a Japanese teacher to foreign people and then had a chance to join Tokushima Toastmasters club. Now she also belongs to our club. I strongly believe her personality attracts many people. We are so happy to have you, Takako-san 😊
2. Table topic session conducted by Yuki-san. She prepared some questions to ask each speaker what are their favorite things related to the autumn season.
#1 Autumn is a travel season. Where do you want to go next?
Surat-san, who didn’t use a microphone today;), touched upon 2 places to visit with his cute wife and adorable baby. The first place he mentioned was Japan. Autumn is a beautiful season here. There are lots of brilliantly beautiful spots, especially in Kyoto. The other place he would like to take his family to is America. He looks forward to experiencing a wide variety of culture there.
#2 Wild card! You can choose any topic.
Sounds like Hideki-san enjoys his routine training every week. I was surprised to hear that he goes to the gym to lose his weight. Though I see him at Diversity meeting or on his SNS site, he doesn’t look like a foodie or a heavy drinker. Anyway, good luck!
#3 We have a lot of fruits in Japan. What is your favorite fruit?
I expected Midori-san to answer, “tropical fruits” because she lives in Okinawa. She actually loves all kinds of berries such as strawberries, blueberries, and others. She often mixes them with yogurt and spreads them on a slice of bread to make her sandwiches. Yum! Her detailed description makes our mouth water ;)
#4 Autumn is a reading season. What is your favorite book or movie?
Marama-san’s cute kid was cling to his gentle mom. He wants to answer to the question. He must have a lot of his favorite books he wants to share with us. As for Marama-san, she hopes to read 60 books every year, and her favorite book is “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine”, which is highly recommended in book reviews. I will try to read it in English some day ;)
#5 Autumn is a sport season. What is your favorite sport?
Harizo-san used to practice martial arts and now goes jogging and cycling every day to stay in shape. Like he says, autumn is the best season for playing sports. For me, playing tennis is one of my loves. It is enjoyable and refreshing as well as releasing my stress.
3. Evaluation session
As General evaluator Kazuko-san mentioned, all evaluators pointed out how the prepared speakers did well and gave useful tips. For example, the best evaluator Mikiko-san mentioned not only the speech content but also non-verbal communication in a very encouraging manner. And even though a speaker seems to make a “perfect” speech, it’s better for his / her evaluator to give a piece of advice. In Takako-san’s case, Mikiko-san suggested that she should have focused on her husband story. Another important thing to keep in mind that evaluators should finish their speeches within the allotted time. One evaluator was disqualified due to the rule. Better luck next time!
Next month, our VPE Naoki-san is supposed to give an online training for the District 76, which is the top Toastmasters organization in Japan, introducing 30-minute instruction about how we conduct our meeting. Wow! How exciting! We are pretty sure he will be making a great presentation!