オンライン例会も今回で5回目、会を重ねるごとに会員もオンライン環境に慣れ、楽しく過ごせるようになりました。また今回は毎年行われる任期が一年の会長選挙が行われ、なんと、初めてのオンライン選挙を行いました。若干の不安はありましたが、実際に行ってみると問題もなくスムーズな進行となり、挙手投票も画面ですぐ確認ができました。今回、米国のシリコンバレーとディストリクトからお迎えしたトーストマスター会員のゲストのお二人にも、きっと楽しんで頂けたと思います。。

最近ではオンライン例会とオンサイト例会を組み合わせた会をハイブリッド例会というそうです。コロナ禍が終息した後も、この形が定着しそうな予感がします。自宅待機を契機に、いろいろ可能性が広がっている昨今です。

私たちの例会はいつでも見学可能です。詳しくは【見学をお申込み】をどうぞご覧ください！！
例会内容は、以下英語でご紹介します。

Doors opened as usual at 14:00. As usual there was a brief online workshop to practice different ZOOM functions.

President called meeting to order at 14:20. Word Master announced Today’s word of the day: surprisingly. The word of the day is the word to be used intensively during the meeting.

No surprise that the Presidential election took place as scheduled. It started with an endorsement speech by Current President TM E.M. followed by the speech by the candidate M.H. The result of voting was a unanimous approval. This portion of the meeting was moderated by the Presidential Nominating Committee Chair O.

Control was passed to today’s meeting moderator TM M.H. who led the Educational Session. Supporters were: Grammarian TM K. K, Vote Counter TM M.H. and Timer. TM E. M. We thanked Guest H.M visiting from the U.S. for taking the role of general evaluator at this point

Prepared Speech Session

1st Speaker was TM Y. U. With his speech titled, “The steady activities are rewarded,” he talked his various efforts to maintain the health operation of a life-support NPO he is in charge of management. We learned a lot from his practical tips on management.

2nd Speaker was TM T. O.: His speech titled,”What I am doing during my walking” was on the healthy habit he started after his retirement – walking that takes almost 3 hours. We were impressed by the various exercise activities he does while the walking. We learned of his secret why he always looks fit!

At the Evaluation Session, TM K. K evaluated first speech, and TM E.M. evaluated second speech, pointing out areas that are commendable as well as these for improvements.

Two people have arrived to be in time for the next session: table topic! This program is to answer to the given topic questions in the form of a 2-minute speech. We have managed to assign at least one topic question to all attendees. It is a big challenge not only to the members who are attending but also to the topic master who need create these questions.

Questions this time created by Topics master TM M.Y were:
#1 After an announcement of a state of emergency, people have been staying home surprisingly for a month.
How have you been doing for a month?

#2 I didn’t go anywhere during Golden week this year.
How did you spend GW last year? Or do you have any special memories of GW?

#3 At the supermarket, there are no flour, no butter and no pancake mix.
Some people started enjoying “cooking” to spend a lot of time. Do you have anything to start to kill time under covid-19?

#4 I read an article about the influence of infection in the newspaper.
It said “The plague（ペスト）brought the Renaissance and the capitalist economy.
What do you think the covid-19 will bring the change of our life like “telework” or “online lessons”?

#5 There’re two sides of thing, a bad side and a good side. What do you think the covid-19 has good sides?
For example, I heard that in India, people can look at the Himalayas clearly in the clear blue sky now, thanks to the covid-19.
#6 My friend told me that the people in the western often use the phrase “Every cloud has a silver lining.” in the conversation and on SNS recently. Do you have the good phrases, wise saying or motto?

#7 I want travel abroad when this bad situation is over. What do you want to do after that?

#8 The second Sunday in May is Mother’s Day. Please tell us the memories of the day.

#9 What is the best present of Mother’s Day so far?

General Evaluation is the time to wrap up the meeting and the role of general evaluation was performed by Guest Toastmaster H.M. Among various evaluation she made on the meeting including positive aspects of the club, she commented that – at online meeting – the pass of control is rather difficult to identify, so it would help to say at the end of your speech, “ back to (TMOD for example) .” Word of the day and grammarian’s report were done during the session.

Today’s TMOD Award went to TM T.O.
for the role he played on the Presidential Election.

Best table topics Award went to TM H.M.
Her speech was made on Question 6 on good phrases.
Her answer:
Life is full of accepting.

M.H