Regular Meeting June 8 2019
The regular meeting NO. 508 was held on June 8th at Tsujido Library with 14 active members and one guest. This was the last ordinary regular meeting under TM T. O.’s presidency because the next meeting on June 22 will be dedicated to handover from outgoing officers to incoming officers, Moment of Truth, Installation Ceremony and Installation Party.
President T. Ono called the meeting to order at 14:10 on time, and reported the outcome of the last ECM meeting as follows;
- Six new officers were unanimously approved.
- The schedule of the next meeting will be as follows: Moments of Truth: 14:10~15:40 for one hour and a half presided over by Secretary TM A. M. Installation Ceremony: 15:50~16:30 for 40 minutes presided over by VPE L. C. Installation Party from 17:00~19:00 chaired by TM Y. U.
- Shonan Toastmasters Club got the “Distinguished Club Award” for the last term in the DCP (Distinguished Club Program). This is the award given to the clubs that achieved 5 goals out of 10. STMC got the same award last year as well as the year before last. The ribbon from Toastmasters International is shown and the certificate from District 76 is to be given to IPP N. N. (And the certificate was presented to TM N. N)
- The annual awards of STMC (*Perfect Regular Meeting Attendance Award*Educational Accomplishment Award* Most Prepared Speaker Award* Most Enthusiastic Member Award* Special Award) will be given to the selected members at the Installation Ceremony on June 22.
- We have made it a rule that TMOD of the next meeting takes the Meeting goods home and bring them to the venue on the day. TM M. I. kindly donated a carry-bag to our club. The burden of TMOD will be reduced a little.
- When we used the Tsujido Library hall on April 27, a part of the curtains was broken. While we apologized to the Library, the library didn’t claim compensation. We should be careful in handling the curtains, and never draw them with hands.
<Word of the Day>
The Word of the Day “cerebrated” (adj) was introduced by Grammarian TM Y. U. Derivatives; cerebration(n.) and cerebrate (v.) were also encouraged to be used.
<Toastmaster of the Day>
TMOD , TM K. T. started the meeting by expressing a sincere gratitude to the outgoing officers ,and introduced his assistants: Grammarian TM Y. U., Vote counter TM M. Y. and Timer N. N for TM M. Y., this was her first role she takes at a meeting. As we had a guest, they were asked to explain the nature of their roles.
<Joke Session>
Joke master TM A. M. introduced some jokes related “bank” and “relationship between Trump and Abe”.
<Prepared Speech Session>
TMOD TM K.T. introduced 4 speakers with answers they gave to the question:“What is your 原風景？“
TMOD TM K.T. explained this word as follows This is a keyword of the television drama serial “やすらぎの刻 道“written by 倉本聰 which is being broadcast now, and it means “the landscape which is deeply impressed into your heart where you want to go back someday.”
The 1st Speaker TM. T. U.’s answer to this question was a river in his hometown at the foot of Mt. Fuji, where he played in summertime with his friends, competing stone-throwing and catching crabs etc. His speech was for Pathways “Persuasive Influence”, Level 1-3, Researching and Presenting. And the title was “My favorite food”.Showing a mouth-watering picture of Unadon with power point, he said his favorite food was eel. The price of eel is soaring due to over-fishing and pollution in the rivers and the ocean. In ancient times, the Greek philosopher Aristotle said eels emerged from mud. No one found matured eels with eggs or baby eels just after hatched. Japanese marine biologists, however, are now revealing the mystery of spawning and life cycle of eel. TM T. U. showed the cycle in a diagram and concluded with a remark that he hoped the results of the research would lead to preserving eel and enabling sustainable eel aquaculture.
The 2nd speaker TM T. K. answered that it was a small village facing the quiet Uwajima with a lot of oranges and sweet potatoes. And the background of her speech was exactly that landscape. Her speech was for the Advanced Communication and Leadership program “Storytelling” #3 The Moral of the Story,” and the title was “My old friend” She vividly described the landscape and idyllic life of a fishing village where she had spent a couple of years of her primary school days, and talked about her friendship with her close friend Emi-chan. Her father was a policeman stationed there, and Emi-chan’s father was a fisherman. Many of TM T. K.’s classmates asked her to draw illustrations of French doll, and Emi-chan particularly treasured it. Three years after her family left there and returned to Uwajima city, Emi-chan visited her and asked her to draw a French doll again. TM T. K. tried to do so, but she couldn’t satisfy her friend. Maybe it seemed to be too childish to Emi-chan then. She might have disappointed Emi-chan. TM T. K. still regrets as she felt she lost the old friendship.
The third speaker was TM M. H. She answered to the question that she was lucky enough to live near the sea most part of her life including the time when she lived in the U.S. She loves the ocean: the smell, the boundlessness, and the deep blue. Her speech was for Pathways “Dynamic Leadership” L2-2, Understanding Your Communication Style, and the title was “Such a Long Talk”. In the speech she pointed out that sometimes the face or image of a person surpasses the word he/she utters in communication and said that one of the most powerful communication tools is the audience’s trust in the speaker. She stressed that you can build this trust overtime through your behaviors and said she had observed many good examples of the formation of trust at this club STMC. She concluded that she was hoping to build such trust here as part of her style of communication.
The 4th Speaker TM L. C. answered to the question that his “原風景” was a farming village in northern China where he spent his childhood. There were no high buildings, no too many vehicles. People were not rich, but simple and friendly. His speech was for Pathways: Innovative Planning L-3-2-1 Deliver social speeches, and the title was “Thanks”. In his speech he mentioned that three seasoned members are now leaving STMC, and said he was worrying about the future of our club. He listed contributions of these members, namely TMs K. T., Y. H. and N. S. have been made to our club for a long time and expressed gratitude on behalf of all other members.
Timer’s report was given, and unfortunately one of the speakers was disqualified because of the time excess.
<Table Topics Session>
TM A. M. who took the role of Joke Master, came to the lectern again and served as Table Topic Master. He asked variety of questions ranging from one’s favorite food, memory of childhood to timely issues such as rainy season, traffic accidents caused by aged drivers and persons who cut off social contracts (so-called “引きこもり”) and called on 5 speakers. All speakers who answered were qualified.
The first part of the meeting ended a couple of minutes later than scheduled, but the latter part started punctually at 16:00.
<Evaluation Session>
General Evaluator TM T. O. took the control of the meeting.
General Evaluator TM T. O. took the control of the meeting. He stressed the importance of feedback,and introduced 4Evaluators.
The 1st Evaluator TM. E. M. praised the efforts of the Speaker TM T. U. who spoke without notes, but he pointed out that the speaker used some difficult scientific words, and that only two pictures were shown. If the speaker used more images, it may have made his presentation more understandable.
The 2nd Evaluator TM T. O. highly evaluated TM T. K.’s speech for good introduction, vivid description and emotional expression that was suitable to this nostalgic story but commented that he couldn’t clearly understand why the speaker felt she lost her friend.
The 3rdEvaluator TM H. S. praised the powerful and colorful speaking manner of TM M.H. in a way that was also powerful and expressive.
The 4thEvaluator TM M. I. appreciated TM L. C.’s speech as appropriate but suggested more use of body language may been desirable.
Evaluating the whole meeting, General Evaluator TM T. O. summarized that there were important suggestions in Evaluation, and as for Table Topics Session, while he appreciated that the questions were focused on timely issues, pointed out that there were some problems in order of priority in choosing speakers.
Unfortunately, 1 Evaluator was disqualified due to time excess.
<Award Presentation>
Awards were presented as follows
TMOD Award TM A. M. for accepting double role
Best Table Topics Speaker TM N. N.
Best Evaluator TM M. I.
Best Prepared Speaker TM M. H.
The guest expressed his willingness to come to our meeting again.
The meeting was adjourned on time.
) By K. T. Photos by M. I.