On April 22, it was sunny and warm.  We held the regular meeting #463 with 22 members at Tsujido Library.

The venue is for audio-visual purposes, so there are many chairs and no table. It doesn’t meet our needs for our meetings.
However, all the members there started to set up the venue proactively as soon as we entered the room.

[The meeting progam on April 22 2017]

Shonan TMC President L.C called the meeting to order timely then TM A. U introduced “Brisk” as “Word of the Day”. All the attendees were able to see the word printed on the program but TM A.U prepared a sheet of big paper.

As TMOD (Toastmaster of the Day), I said “I’ll change the style of today’s meeting because we are bored with the similar meetings“.
Then I announced that I would broadcast some classical music in the background during my speeches.

I introduced TM Y.T as Grammarian,  TM A.U as Au-Uh Counter, TM N.N as Vote Counter and TM J.Y as Timer. Their role’s explanations were omitted to keep time enough to show our MOT and a joint meeting with Kamakura after the meeting.

Joke Session:
Joke Master TM M.K introduced some real funny stories about Mr. Baseball with more gestures and vocal varieties, which I requested him.
His delivery made a large of audience laugh much more.

Prepared Speech Session:
I broadcasted some classical music in the background and introduced my question I have already sent all the prepared speakers.
“If you compare yourself with any animal, which animal and why?”.  My answer was “I’m a barking dog as my mother and my wife often say I’m so noisy.”

The 1st speaker TM M.H delivering her speech “The New Normal”.
I showed her answer “Goldfish. I was born in the year of the snake. I didn’t like snakes when I was young, I used to say I was born in the year of the goldfish. ”
TM M.H introduced a project by the Japanese government, which is any 80-year-old person should keep at least 20 teeth. (about 8020)
She showed Japan is the worst among 5 countries and I agreed with her message to reduce our health cost.

The 2^nd speaker TM L.C delivering his speech “Let’s boost MOT”.
I showed his answer “I would like to compare myself with an ant or a bee, because I have to work as hard as an ant or a bee. ”
TM L.C appealed we should be more positive and more active to join our club’s activities and introduced MOT (Moments of Truth).
I really felt his love to our club and passion to grow it.

The 3^rd speaker, TM M.H delivering her speech “Donation for Himari”.
I showed her answer “Alligator. When they find any target for their food, they move quickly but when they can’t find any target, they are motionless.
For me, when I find any target such as working or housekeeping, I move quickly but when I don’t have anything to do, I keep motionless. ”
TM M.H introduced an actual story about one year old girl “Himari” who needed an organ transplant in the US. TM M.H saw the donation’s activities at Yamato station.
The good news is her parents were able to get money enough to have her take an operation in the US. You can see the update in http://himarichan.com/

The 4^th speaker, TM E.M delivering his speech “Silver Foot Step”.
I showed his answer “I seem to be a chicken, because I’m always nervous.”
TM E.M introduced a novelist “Ayako Miura“ and a painter “Tomihiro Hoshino” .
Ayako had many diseases and Tomohiro has been handicapped.  I felt I should not be depressed with anything as I’m not handicapped.

The last speaker, TM N.S delivering her speech “Bioethics”.
I showed her answer “May be a cat because I am selfish and at liberty.” 
TM N.S raised some argument topics like artificial insemination and euthanasia. The Japanese government prohibits both, but has been investigating the euthanasia (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). I agreed with her opinion that all of us should be involved in both of them.

Table Topic Session:
TM K.K raised a theme that each speaker should be a reporter at a place he would give.
It was too tough for any ordinal person to deliver any impromptu report, but some members were able to do that.

Some classical music had been broadcasted during the 10 minute short break.

Evaluation Session:
I asked General evaluator (TM T.N) to deliver more dynamic gestures and more vocal varieties. TM T.N seemed to be annoyed with my introduction.
He introduced 5 evaluators  TM A.M, TM H.M, TM K.I, TM Y.T and TM. Y.H and some of them were able to deliver their impromptu evaluations with some humor.
Lastly TM T.N showed his opinions about the meeting. I thought his impromptu English speech skill is better than mine.

Award Presentation:
TMOD Award : TM M.K.
The Best Table Topic Speaker Award : TM A.M.
The Best Evaluator Award : TM A.M.
The Best Prepared Speaker Award : TM N.S.

After the meeting:
President showed his plan to hold an MOT & Thank-you party in Chigasaki Hamamina on June 3.
TM M.K and TM T.O introduced a joint meeting and a party with Kamakura TMC on May 13.
Let’s join both events to grow our club.

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authored by TMOD (Toastmaster of the Day)

Regular Meeting #462 was held at Mina Park with 22 members and 2 guests.
President Chen called the meeting to order and welcomed 2 guests; Area 57 Director, TM K. M. and TM Y.M. from Keyforce TMC.

TM M. K. explained “Amazing” as “Word of the Day” using 2 big sheets of paper which were large enough to see and nice.

After Business Session, President Chen introduced TM A.S. as Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD) to start the program. Then TMOD introduced the co-workers; Grammarian : TM T.O., Au-Uh Counter: TM M.K., Vote Counter: TM Y.T., and Timer: TM T.N.
This time the role explanation was omitted since all attendees are the toastmaster members and know what the roles are.

Joke Session:
Joke Master TM Y.U. introduced 3 jokes to give us relaxation.
One of them is ; After enjoying the show with his wife, a man suddenly realized that he left his car key in the car and locked it up. With fear he returned to his car but soon relieved. Because his car was an open style car (convertible sports type) ,and no trouble getting in.

Prepared Speech Session.
The first speaker TM J. Y. delivered the speech Project #1 Ice Breaker from Competent Communication by the title of “Who I am”.
By showing many beautiful pictures she introduced how she was bought up. The question she threw to the audience, “Do I look introvert or extrovert?” was unique and interesting.

The second speaker, TM H. M. delivered the speech Project #3 Get to the Point from Competent Communication by the title of  “One of the Best Activities in this Season”.
He recommended the bus tour to Meiji Shrine, Imperial Palace, Asakusa, etc. by showing many beautiful pictures . His past experience as a tour guide helped to explain it effectively.

The third speaker, TM K.K. delivered the speech, Project #2 Uplift the Spirit from Specialty Speeches by the title of “Now, the Time to Rise Up”.
He spoke on the issue of Fujisawa City’s plan to construct a big new road in Kugenuma area which will subdivide Kugenuma into pieces. He fully explained the demerit of this plan by using many pictures and emphasized that it’s the time to rise up and oppose to the plan.

The fourth speaker, TM A. M. delivered the speech, Project #5 the Persuasive Leader, from Persuasive Speaking by the title of “Move Forward to the Next Stage”.
He spoke to the member of his group about his new job; introducing and providing “Suica” to Indian Train companies. He introduced himself first then explained his experience and then his vision.

The fifth speaker, TM S. N. delivered his speech Project #5 Accepting an Award, from Special Occasion Speech by the title of  “The 2016 Overseas Fellowship Program, in Japanese Scientific Promotion of Science (JSPS), Host Reserchers Hospitality Award”.
TM L.C. acted as the representative of Presenting Organizasion. TM S.N. accepted the award with great honor and talked about 2 ph.D. lady students he assisted as host researcher.
The report on Newly-wed Swedish student and a Finnish student with Chinese character tattoo on her back was unique and full of humor.

Table Topics Session. TM M.H. was the Topics Mater and she prepared 6 questions with the assumption that the audience is Shonan Elementary School pupil.

1. On the School Entrance Day, what will you do to make many friends?

2. In the classroom when you see your classmates fighting over a pencase, what would you do?

3. You forgot about the homework. When the teacher asks you to submit the homework, what would you do?

4. You don’t like onion and bell pepper. At school lunch you have Subuta which contains both Onion and bell pepper. What would you do?

5. Your next seat pupil is a beautiful girl. What would you do to become a good friend with her?

6. At Katase Seashore, Tombi snatched your Onigiri. What would you do?

6 members responded the questions humorously.

After 10 minutes break, the Evaluation Session started.
General Evaluator TM A.M. introduced 5 Evaluators; TMs M.H., N.S., H.S., N.N., Y.W., and all of them evaluated the Prepared Speeches nicely with proper suggestions for future improvement.
TM A.M. evaluated the whole meeting after Ah-Uh Counter’s Report and Grammarian’s Report.

Award Presentation
TMOD Award : TM L.C. for assisting the speaker’s sudden request.
The Best Table Topic Speaker Award : TM Y. T.
The Best Evaluator Award : TM M. H.
The Best Prepared Speaker Award : TM A. M.

On April 2, an International Speech Contest was held in Dvision E in both English and Japanese.
Toastmasters headquarters in Japan – District 76 – has 188 Toastmaster clubs in 45 Areas and 8 Divisions from A to H. Shonan Toastmasters Club belongs to Area 57, Division E. Division E has 7 Areas and each Area has 4 to 5 clubs.

Seven contestants of each Area competed on the stage at Verk Yokosuka, Yokosuka. Winners of the Division level will procede to the District Final to be held in Yoyogi on May 7. The winner of the all Japan English speech contest will further proceed to the World Championship of Public Speaking. This grand final of the whole event is to be held in August in Vancouver, Canada this year.

TM S.Y from Southern Beach TMC represented Area 57 in the English contest session and perfomed very well in the fierce competion, although First place went to the contestant representing Area 52. Now we are looking forward to seeing who will be the Champion in May to represent Japan in Vancouver.

 

posted by (C)STMC