Spring has come! Indeed! Here in Fukuoka, where I live, we havenât had much snow yet. On the contrary, it is getting warmer and warmer, and eventually I have a hay fever. Fever? Fever! Yeah! Oh, well⊠Anyway, as you can imagine, I attended the meeting and enjoyed it very much with all members and a wonderful guest from Venezuela! We have got more diversified. We will be looking forward to welcoming another guest from Australian Continent and Antarctica Continentð§ to cover all the Continent!
The meeting was conducted by Toastmaster of the Day, Takako-san! She set the meeting the theme: Spring has come! with beautifully created a digital-flyer by Megumi-san!
And we had the following dedicated helpers, Megumi-san (Thanks again!) as Word of the Day, Hideki-san as Timer, and Mikiko-san as Grammarian. Great work!
Word of the Day: copacetic means very good or going very well
Synonym: extremely good
e.g.) Howâs it going? Everything copacetic? / Janet and I are copacetic.
The best users: Takako-san, Hideki-san, Aaron-san, and Hideo-san! Congratulations!
OK, are you ready to be excited? Letâs go on to the main sessions! We started with prepared speeches session.
The 1st prepared Speaker Yukimasa-san! His speech title was âThree essentials of lifeâ from Presentation Mastery - 4 - Researching and Presenting. The objectives were to research and present an unfamiliar topic; organize the speech clearly to maximize audience understanding; craft clear and engaging transitions between main sections of your speech; use and cite sources to support speech content, make source list available.
He introduced us an interesting approach to his research for a soccer playerâs life, which had ups and downs. Through his research, he realized there are 3 essentials of life: desire, mentor, and supporter. He emphasized how important for us to find them in our own lives. And in order to do that, he argued that we need to support someone first and practice âpay it forwardâ.
I was his speech evaluator. It was so nice of him to mail his speech script prior to the meeting that I took some time to read it through and I was deep in thought. I reflected my life and recognized I still have a strong desire for realizing my dream, which I have been struggling with. I almost gave up on my dream before. In his speech, Yukimasa-san quoted and said, âYou have everything. Ask your heartâ. I donât have everything and Iâm a middle-aged woman Obachan. But age doesnât matter. Better late than never. I will follow my dream on. Thanks a lot for your inspiring speech, Yukimasa-san.
The 2nd Speaker Yumi-san! Her speech title was âMy title- Whatâs nextâ from Presentation Mastery - 1 â Icebreaker. The speech objectives were to deliver a speech on any topic as an introduction to the club using any style that appeals.
Her words echoed through my head because I have a lot in common with her. Her words were short and easy to listen to, and I think âtheir echoes are truly endlessâ. Her speech was really resonated with me. She shared her hardships overseas with us and talked about how she found a way to keep her state of being controlled and enrich herself. I felt very happy to hear that she finally found her way to feel great and satisfied with her current situation. àžàžà¹àžªàžàžàžàž§àž²àž¡àž¢àžŽàžàžàžµàžà¹àž§àž¢ ð
The 3rd Speaker Yuki-san! Her speech title was âHow to start the âMimpaku (Airbnb)â from Competent Communication Manual - 7 - Research Your Topic The speech objectives were to collect information from numerous sources; Carefully support the points and opinions with specific facts, examples, and illustrations gathered through research.
Her speech was so informative enough to make the audience feel starting the Mimpaku business. Yuki-san showed a map, a chart, and detailed information on the screen in her presentation as audio visual aids. It was the first time that I knew Airbnb was the best among other companies. She gave us a lot of evidence to show her place would be appropriate enough to be open to the public by decorating lots of traditional Japanese goods such as Kimono and Syamisen. Her speech made us learn that she did quite a lot of research for the foreseeable future. Good luck with you, Yuki-san!
Next, Table topic session conducted by LanAnh-san! She has always prepared her role very well whatever it is and today she did in more interesting way. When it comes to spring, there are lots of flowers blooming. So, she shared her presentation slide drawn a pretty flower vase with 7 different kinds of flowers in. The vase had a Betty Boop mouth and big eyes looking up those flowers. Very cute!
For starter, she asked us to read aloud together a poem called âspringâ by William Blake, which was shown another side of the slide. I like the way she started the session. Then she had each speaker choose their favorite flower and introduced each floral language along with each question.
#1 A kind word is like a spring day. Do you agree?
If I remember correctly, it is rare that a guest has the chance to be the 1st speaker because they donât know exactly how and what to do. Having said that, our guest Alejandoro-san did a good job! He picked the rose and answered the question mentioning what life is like with kids. Amazing! Oh, just in case, for those who are interested in joining our club, donât worry. You can skip your turn if a question for you would be difficult to answerð
#2 Spring is finally here. Iâm going toâŠâŠ
Megumi-san picked the calendula and talked about her future plan. Happily, she is going to return to
work because she will be able to put her adorable kid into a nursery school. She can cooperate with her husband to deal with their triple burdens of house chores, child-raring, and working. Megumi-san, take it easy and we wish you good luck!
#3 What is your favorite spring time song? And go!
Mikiko-san chose the carnation and answered the question. She has been practicing 2 songs. She mentioned one of them. It was âLemonâ by Yonezu Kenshi. Wow! The singer composed the song when his grandfather passed away. It reminds her of her own grandfather. Mikiko-san, we wished you sang after your great impromptu speech!
#4 What is your favorite flower in spring?
Midori-san picked the violet and answered she liked all kinds. She loves taking care of lots of flowers in her garden. She introduced one of her favorites. It is called sweet violet, changes its color. When the color is blue, it smells good. I checked the picture on the internet to see what it looked. I was surprised. I had planted the same flowers the other day. But I didnât know the fact because I usually plant a wide variety of flowers at once. Haha⊠Midori-san, I hope to see your fantastic garden some day!
#5 If we had no water, the spring would not be so pleasant. Do you agree?
Hideo-san picked the lisianthus and said the more we can be patient with wintery cold, the more we can enjoy the cherry blossoms in spring. There is no pleasure without pain! I canât agree with you more.
Last but not least, I would like to announce that the Best Table topic speakers were Midori-san & Megumi-san! Congratulations!!
Everything was copacetic as usual. Thanks a bunch!