President M. Hirota
It is my great honor and joy to serve as the president of Shonan this year. I started toastmaster back in 1998 from Shonan. The club has remained the center of my activities for the most part of my toastmaster years of more than twenty years. I was the president when the club hosted District 76 Fall conference in 2012. I served three district roles from Shonan. I obtained my first DTM award from Shonan. I am ready to do my best to make this year a rewarding and successful year at Shonan.
Now the club has become a rather small club of 10 to 20 members, but I believe the number is sufficient to make a good start for our second growth. Remember we have gained new strength recently: online meetings using ZOOM and the new venue at Fplace with an access to Wifi. We are fit to survive in the age of WAN – Wide Area Network – at the age of COVID-19.
Also we have revised our meeting format to make Shonan a club that offers the most number of free talk opportunities at a meeting: Table topic questions assigned to all participants and the Q&A time after each speech. More than anything we have so many old friends we have acquired through our thirty years of operation in Shonan – our treasure!
So I feel really encouraged to start the new year with full of hope.
Let’s enjoy the club activities together.
President 2020-2021
Midori Hirota
I used to be shy and couldn’t speak English well, especially, in front of people. However, after a lot of frustration, I finally recognized that I had to be a good communicator if I wanted to succeed in my career. The action I took was by joining Shonan Toastmasters Club. Fortunately, it turned out that my decision was correct! Since joining in 2012, my English speaking ability and presentation skills have improved significantly, I feel more confident in speaking in front of a lot of people. (L.C.)
When we go to foreign countries, we can visit the clubs in those countries. We have friends all over the world. I have so far visited 8 clubs in foreign countries. At a regular meeting, we can listen to various kinds of speeches. It’s a lot of fun to listen to them. (N.N.)
I always consider something in English, which will help me with aging prevention. Everytime I have some purposes rhythmically more than routine. I am blessed with a lot of good friends regardless of gender and generation. (Y.H.)
Toastmasters can use English, can cultivate communication skills.
get to know various kinds of people, get good stimulations and activates my brain.
broaden my knowledge by listening to other members’ speeches. (A.S.)
I can tell my communication and leadership skills I have learned here in STMC really make good use of my life, such as jobs, relationship of family and friends. (Y.T.)
STMC provides me with the chances to speak English. It also gives me the opportunity to share the ideas and thoughts with the similar-minded people in a friendly atmosphere. (A.T.)
It has passed just four months since I became a member of STMC. I had two times for prepared speeches. Drafting speeches, I accessed the Internet, went to the public library and bought some reference. I’ve never studied English hard like that. More than that, it is great to make the acquaintance of all members. (E.M.)
Getting to know the new poeple is one of the advantages of Toastmasters.
Even experienced TMs can learn new things from new members. (Y.H.)