Happy Father’s Day! What a good choice as a meeting theme for this time of the year, I thought. (Thank you, Toastmaster of the Evening Yuki-san.) As Yukimasa-san as Word of the Day touched upon in his session, this is sad to say, but Father’s Day is not so common as Mother’s Day in Japan. It is true of my family. My kids, who should be old enough to know the day, forget it every year partly because their father is living far from us due to his job. So I have to remind them of the day, and have them write a letter of gratitude to him. I hope all fathers feel happy especially on the day whatever situation they are in.
Now let’s go on to small talk session first, but I was late for the meeting, and unfortunately I missed most of personal anecdotes. Thanks to the meeting record by Yukimasa-san, however, I checked and found that there were a wide variety of interesting stories. They were about hot weather, celebrations on Father’s Day, juggling housework, child-raring, and her job, a couple of speech events, her painful wisdom tooth, a trip, and of course, something related to Toastmasters club as always. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Before the main sessions, I would like to introduce our meeting helpers. Timer, Megumi-san, Grammarian, Marama-san, Ah-counter, LanAnh-san, and Word of the Day, Yukimasa-san.
He chose everlasting as the word of the day, referring to the meeting theme, sharing happy memories, and showing a picture of his father sitting by the window on his presentation slide. Quite good! I liked the way he introduced the Word of the day. According to him, it has a couple of meanings: eternal, continuing indefinitely or for a long period of time, and persisting too long; tedious.
OK, it’s about time to begin the first main session, Prepared speeches. We had 3 speeches tonight.
The first speaker was Paul-san! His speech title was “ICE Breaker” from Presentation Mastery. His speech objective was to deliver a speech on any topic as an introduction to the club using any style that appeals.It seemed that he had no difficulty making a presentation by using slides. He talked about what he was like, his work and hobbies and then why he joined Toastmasters. We got to know him much more. In the end, he mentioned his father, who is his ideal businessman. His father would have felt glad by his speech.
The second speaker was Hideki-san! His speech title was “The essence of culture” from Presentation Mastery. We have always learned the details about what was taught in school subject as a student. This time he talked about how each culture evolved into what we have seen today, giving some examples of Kanji characters, Japanese traditional musical instruments, and others. Impressive as always!
The last speaker was Mikiko-san! Her speech title was “The Art of Effective Evaluation”. There were no speech objectives. She conducted a survey for her speech via email prior to the meeting. All the questions themselves were constructive and helpful for both our club growth. I was so much impressed with her sincere attitudes towards Toastmasters activities. Based on the survey, she conducted her speech session very smoothly even though some members had hard time expressing themselves when they were appointed on the spot. Not only new members but also experienced ones learned how to evaluate effectively.
Next, go on to the Table topics session conducted by Takako-san! She had created 7 questions related to Father’s Day.
#1 Do you think Father’s Day is necessary?
Yukimasa-san agree with the idea. As he described in his explanation of Word of the Day, it is the good opportunity to show our gratitude towards fathers though fathers’ efforts are not recognized so easily as mothers. Fathers are surely very supportive and helpful to make our life safe and secure. Speaking of which, it was my father that saved me and my kids when we had Kumamoto earthquakes. I thanked him so much and realized how much he loved his daughter…oh…I will talk about the details as a prepared speech in the future. I always remember Father’s day😉
#2 Who is your ideal father?
When it comes to an ideal father, LanAhn-san immediately thinks of her father. She once thought she loved her mother the best, but since an accident she had before her graduation, she realized her father was the best. She even said in her impromptu speech that she couldn’t think of any other people as an ideal father.
#3 What do you usually do on Father’s Day?
A guest introduced by Yuki-san gives a present to his father every year. On the other hand, he can’t get a present from his kids and his wife on the special occasion. It was partly because there is no rule of giving a present on Mother’s Day, he said. Hopefully his children will show their appreciation toward him in their letters when they grow old enough to write. That would be a great present for him. And to fathers, don’t expect your wife too much to give you a present on Father’s Day. Remember? Your wife is your spouse, not your child. Haha…
#4 Tell us about your father.
Marama-san’s father is a very powerful man. When he was around 30, he inherited Scottish crown! Wow!! They lived in New Zealand when she was a baby. One of their relatives, who had connection Scotland, passed away and they moved to Scotland. He became a chief of Carmichael crown. Wow…to be honest, I am ignorant of such a system, but I take a hat to him. I was really into her speech. Quite tantalizing, indeed!
#5 Tell us a thank-you message to your father.
Kazuko-san expressed her gratitude for her father, who passed away. While he was alive, to her great regret, she had never chance to thank him. He was not good at expressing his feelings. And even when she had something to tell him, she talked to her mother about it. But at his funeral she heard a lot about him through people who knew him very much and learned how much he dedicated himself to work for his family. I was deeply impressed with her speech. Thanks a lot!
#6 Should Father’s Day be a national holiday
Yuki-san agree with the idea to some extent because there is no holidays in June except Sundays. It would be great to have the national holiday to see her father and convey her thank-you message to him directly. Great idea!
Lastly, let me announce…the best table topic speaker was Kazuko-san! &the best evaluator was Aaron-san! Congratulations👏👏 Everyone, express your everlasting gratitude for fathers as well as mothers 😉