2017年4月15日(土)のYTMC例会は、春の花が美しい象の鼻パーク内の波止場会館にて、参加者約30名が集う中、盛大に行われました。ゲストは6名、エリアマネジャーのJさんもお越し下さいました。前回パリからネット経由で参加された教育担当役員のNさんは、今回はイギリスからご友人と共に参戦されました。
この日のプレジデント、スーツ姿に頭はバンダナ巻きで登場。あれっ? と思っていると「スピーチはトライアルとエラーの繰り返し、失敗を恐れるな!」と言いながら例会をスタート。バンダナを巻いてみたけど (トライアル) 失敗だった (エラー)、というデモンストレーションだったのです。いつもいろいろ趣向を凝らして例会をスタートするプレジデント、さすがですね。バンダナ姿も似合っていましたよ!
そしてこの日は大阪出身のSさんが新たに入会され、入会式が行われました。Sさん、YTMCを楽しんでくださいね! 当日のWord of the DayはピンチヒッターYさんが選んだvernal (春の、若々しい)。春にふさわしい単語ですね。
入会式の後は、YTMCでのTMODが初挑戦の私が司会を担当しました。慣れないクラブでの司会は緊張しますが、なんとか頑張りました。
この日はドタキャンメンバーが多かったのですが、グラマリアンはGさん、タイマーはNさんが快く引き受けて下さいました。ありがとう!
メインセッションはTさんのWorkshopでスタート。お題は「Know Your Audience」。スピーチをするにあたり、観客を知ることの重要性について簡潔に語って下さいました。観客の年齢、職業、趣味嗜好など、調べておいてからスピーチをすると効果絶大、ビジネスと同じですね。
Table Topicはいつも簡潔明朗なSさん。前回Gさんが行ったTable TopicのWorkshopに感銘を受け、スピーカーが喋りやすい簡単な質問を心がけたそうです。世界滅亡の日まで残り1週間。あなたなら何をする? という質問に「お花見!」と答えたTさん、お見事でした!
この日の準備スピーチは4名。全てのスピーチが奥深く、考えさせられる内容でした。トップバッターMさんの “Heart Touching” は、人の心の深奥に如何に触れるかというお話で、Jokeを交えながら面白おかしく語って下さいました。2番目のHさんはDivision Contestで3位入賞の強者 (ﾂﾜﾓﾉ)。コンテスト以降初めて行うスピーチで “Mindfulness” について語って下さいました。過去も未来も忘れろ、今に集中しろ、そして判断するな、というメッセージを、トレードマークの「目力」で力強く送ってくれました。3番目のKさんは、殆ど毎回スピーチをする精力的なスピーカー。今回は “Read Between the Lines” というタイトルで、自分の恋愛経験談を交えながら「行間 / 空気を読む」重要性を語ってくれたのですが、最後に3本線が引かれた売り上げ予測チャートを見せて、「この線の間を読むことが重要なんです!」とスピーチを締めくくりました。ユニークなアイデアですね。スピーチセッションのラストを飾ったのはベトナム出身のHさん。タイトルは「マーフィーの法則の例外」。旅先で立て続けに不運に見舞われながら、最後には無事旅を終えることができた、マーフィーの法則にも例外がある、という内容を、展開毎に一歩一歩観客の方に近付きながら力説し、Your Body Speaksというスピーチ目標を見事達成されました。
論評セッションは、General Evaluatorが初挑戦のNさんが取り仕切りました。最近読んだ記事を紹介し、「一人で練習するだけでは上達しない。フィードバックが大事」と、フィードバックセッションとも言える論評セッションの冒頭を飾ったNさん。とても初めてとは思えない堂々たる司会でした。4名の論評者はそれぞれ的確に、時にはジョークを交えながら各スピーカーのスピーチを論評し、アドバイスを送っていました。即興で行う論評は例会中いちばん難しい役割だと思いますが、みなさん即興とは思えない素晴らしい論評でした。
最後にNさんが行った総合論評も丁寧で、時間がない中、各役割の人たちの労をねぎらっていました。
論評セッションの後、TMODがGeneral Evaluatorのパフォーマンスを簡単に論評しました。冒頭の記事紹介がアイスブレーカーとして素晴らしかったこと、各論評者に対する論評時間がもっとあれば良かった点などを指摘しました。そして例会の最後を飾ったのはもちろん表彰式。この日は無礼講ということで、少々時間をオーバーしたスピーカーも受賞候補に加わり、全員参加のもとで判定されました。ベスト・テーブルトピック・スピーカーには入会したばかりのSさん、ベスト・スピーカーにMさん、ベスト論評者にIさんが選ばれました。おめでとうございます!
初めてのTMOD体験でしたが、オフィサーやメンターのサポートのおかげでなんとか無事に終えることができました。終始笑い声の聞こえる、楽しい例会でしたね。また次回例会でお会いしましょう!
TMOD T.S.
The 641st Official Meeting of Yokohama Toastmasters Club was held on April 15th, 2017, at Hatoba Kaikan inside Zou-no-hana Park, which was fragrant with beautifully blooming spring flowers. Around 30 people attended the meeting, which includes six guests, Area Manager TM J, and our Vice President of Education who joined from England (via Zoom system) this time with his friend (he joined from Paris at the last meeting).
At the beginning of the meeting, our President TM I took the podium wearing bandana around his head, which surprised us all as he usually wore business suits only. Then he said, “Making errors and trials makes a good speech. Don’t be afraid of making errors!” His unusual attire meant to be the demonstration of ‘Trial (wearing bandana) and Error (it was a mistake!)’. He always makes an interesting ice-breaker like this when he starts a meeting. Good job President, the bandana suited you well!
After the impressive starter, Mr. S, who came from Osaka, was inducted into our club. Enjoy YTMC Mr. S!
The Word of the Day was introduced by a pinch-hitter TM Y. She chose ‘vernal’ for it, a good choice for fresh spring!
The Induction Ceremony was over and the time came to start a main session. TMOD of this meeting was assigned to me, who had done this job many times in other TMCs but never done it at YTMC. It’s always quite unnerving to do things for the first time in public, but I somehow managed and did my best. There were some members who made a last-minute-cancellation, but TM G took a role of Grammarian and TM N performed as Timer. Thank you both for your cooperation!
The main session started with the Workshop conducted by TM T. The title of it was “Know Your Audience”. She spoke about the importance to know the audience before making a speech in crisp and organized manner. Knowing the audience’s age demographic, profession, tastes, hobbies, etc. makes a big difference like it does in business occasions.
The Table Topic Session was facilitated by TM N. S., who is always fun and precise. He was impressed by the Workshop done by TM G at the previous meeting, and tried his best to give each speaker an easy question to answer. TM T’s answer to the question, “The world is about to end in a week. How would you spend the final week of your life?” was “I’ll go to ‘Ohanami (cherry blossom viewing)’!” Attaboy, TM T!
We had four speakers in the Prepared Speech Session. Every speech was profound and made us think deeper about the subject. The first speaker was TM M, who talked about how to touch the hidden side of human hearts in his speech titled, ‘Heart Touching’. Despite the serious topic, he gave his speech humorously with gentle smiles.
The second speaker, TM H, is an excellent speaker who won the 3rd place in the Japanese Division Contest this spring. This was his first speech since the contest, in which he talked about the ‘Mindfulness’. With his strong power of eyes, which is his trademark, he sent us a message to the effect, ‘Forget about the past and the future, focus on what’s happening NOW. And DO NOT JUDGE.’
The third speaker was TM K, who is one of the most enthusiastic speakers of our club as he makes a speech at almost every meeting. His speech title this time was ‘Read Between the Lines’. He talked about how important reading between the lines is by introducing anecdotes through his love relationship experiences in the past (or in the present?!). The most unique feature of his speech was revealed when he closed his presentation by showing us the sales forecast chart that had three lines and gaps in-between and he said, ‘You see? Reading between THESE LINES is important!’ What a unique idea!
The finale of the Speech Session was performed by the fourth speaker, TM H, a pretty PhD student from Vietnam. Her speech title was intriguing ‘An Exception of Murphy’s Law’. She introduced us the series of funny misfortunes that happened to her during her trip. However, despite these misfortunes that seemed to be following the Murphy’s Law, she was able to finish her trip without another mishap, which made her think the Murphy’s Law got to have an exception. Every time the scene changed, she strongly stepped forward to the audience, which made me think she successfully accomplished the objectives of her speech, ‘Your Body Speaks’.
The Evaluation Session was conducted by TM N, who did it for the first time. At the opening, she introduced an article she’d read recently and said, ‘Practicing alone won’t improve your skills. The most important thing is to get feedbacks.’ Her icebreaker was quite appropriate as an opening to the Evaluation Session, which is in fact a feedback session. Not only she gave each role taker feedbacks, but also she gave four evaluators good advice. Her evaluation was on the mark and her sense of humor was brilliant. All in all she didn’t look like a first-time General Evaluator. Good job TM N! As for the four evaluators, although evaluating speeches on the spot is the most difficult of all roles in TMC meetings, all evaluators in this meeting did it amazingly well.
After the Evaluation Session, TMOD (me!) gave the evaluation to the performance of General Evaluator (in the way written above). One thing I regret is that I couldn’t give her enough time to give each evaluator more thorough evaluation.
The finale of the meeting was of course the Award Presentation. In this meeting, I suggested that we go crazy sometimes, so the speakers who went overtime were also made eligible for the award competition. The Best Table Topic Speaker was awarded to TM S, who had just joined the club on this day, The Best Speaker went to TM M, and The Best Evaluator was given to TM I. Congratulations all of you!
Lastly, I’d like to thank all the officers, members, and my mentor who kindly supported me in fulfilling my big task for the first time. Without you I could never have finished my job and would have gone home crying…thanks to you all it was such a fun meeting filled with happy laughter and smiles.
Thank you again and see you at the next meeting!
TMOD T.S.
