The 758th meeting was held at Pio City in Sakuragi-cho and online. A total of 20 members, including 8 online participants, gathered in an open atmosphere as usual.
The first greeting was given by Mr. M, who had returned from a business trip to Qatar.
Ms. A, the Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD), is always a great speaker, and today she did an excellent job of leading the meeting in an atmosphere that made it easy for everyone to give his/her presentation. It was impressive that she expressed her joy to see everyone, as it had been a long time since she had participated in an on-site meeting.
The theme of this meeting, held in the spring when there are many encounters and partings, is “Graduation. Each participant gave a brief response on the theme of memories of graduation or what they would like to graduate from.
Mr. I presented “warm/warm” as the “Word of the Day” which is a very good word to imagine spring and our meeting. I think it was a great choice that everyone could easily use.
The first “impromptu speech session/Table Topics Session” was led by Mr. O, who is always very good at impromptu speeches with a sense of humor. First, he answered “spicy food” as today’s theme, “what I want to graduate from”. He told the audience about his experience of eating Peyoung’s “Jigoku Gekikara Yakisoba Final” (hell hot and spicy fried noodle, final version), which made the audience laugh.
The question was taken from the book “The Art of Impromptu Speech” by Tomohide Oshima. The first question was a simple one: “What is your favorite animal? to “Why did you buy a 10,000 yen loaf of bread?” “We found a 10-year-old capsule, what did you put in it?” You are a chess master and you have been defeated by an AI. What will you say to the AI?” Each member presented a 1-2 minute speech after being asked imaginative questions.
In the second session, “prepared speech session,” four participants gave speeches. The first speaker was Mr. N, who solemnly spoke about his mysterious connection with the late Mr. Shintaro Ishihara. The second speaker was Mr. I, who vividly described an episode with his English teacher “Professor Takizawa” from his school days. Third speaker was Ms. P, who spoke about “Self-learning”. Ms. S from China gave her first speech as a TM, titled “Sharing my experience in Japan,” with a lot of humor and a high-level speech structure.
The second half of the “evaluation session” was led by Mr. O. Ms. N talked about the good points and presented constructive comments on how to improve them further, Ms. A proposed in fluent English what she thought was good and suggested the Vocal variety by practicing it by herself, and Mr.T gave a excellent feedback with good organization of presentation. Ms. S explained her own analysis of how well the speeches were delivered and made some simple suggestions.
Looking back on this evaluation session, the explanations of the good points and suggestions were very clear and of a high level.
I think it was really impressive.
Presentations from each of the assigned staff members followed.
The Ah counter gave a presentation on habits that he/she was not aware of, the Grammarian gave a presentation on good expressions, and the General evaluator commented on the entire meeting in a calm atmosphere.
The impromptu speech award went to Mr. M, a guest, who dared to show respect to the AI that had defeated him and responded in a gentlemanly manner as if it were a real human being; the evaluation award went to Ms. A, who made a proposal based on her own practicing; and the prepared speech award went to Ms. P, who gave an excellent presentation based on her own experience and was supported by the members.
The meeting went very quickly. Thank you, Ms. A, for a wonderful meeting!
Lastly, TM/Magician. M, who is graduating from YTMC today due to a move, presented his idea for the launch of “Magicians Without Borders Association” and once again impressed us with the scale of his idea. Thank you for your hard work!
第758回例会は 桜木町のぴおシティ及びオンラインで開催されました。オンライン参加者8名を含む総勢20名のメンバーが集まり、いつもの様に開放的な雰囲気の中開催されました。
最初に久しぶりにカタール出張から戻ったMさんからの挨拶がありました。
Toastmaster of the Day(TMOD)のAさんはいつも素晴らしいスピーチをされる方で、本日も発表しやすい雰囲気の中、見事に会を仕切られました。オンサイトでの参加は久しぶり、ということで皆さんに会えた喜びを表現されていたのが、印象的でした。
出会いあり、別れありの春に開催される今回の例会のテーマは、「卒業」。卒業の思い出、または卒業したいもの、というテーマでそれぞれが簡単に回答しました。
Iさんから「Word of the Day/今日の言葉」として、「warm/暖かい」というまさに春と我々の例会をイメージする良い言葉が発表されました。みなさんが使いやすい素晴らしい選択だったと思います。
最初の「即興スピーチセッション/Table Topics Session」の担当はいつもユーモアを交えた即興スピーチが大得意のOさんでした。最初に本日のテーマ、「卒業したいもの」として、「辛い食品」と回答。ペヤングの「獄激辛 やきそばファイナル」を食べたエピーソードを語りメンバーの爆笑をさそいました。
質問は「即興スピーチ術 大島友秀著」からのチョイス。最初は簡単な質問「好きな動物は？」から「1万円のパンをなぜ買ったか？」「10年前のカプセルを発見、あなたはそれに何を入れていたか？」「将棋名人のあなたはAIに負けてしまった。なんとAIに話しかけるか？」など想像力を駆使する質問があり、各メンバーが1-2分のスピーチを発表しました。
次の「準備スピーチセッション/prepared speech session 」は4名が実施、Nさんは「故 石原慎太郎さんへの追悼」を自分との不思議な縁をもとに厳かに語り、Iさんは自分の学生時代の英語の師「タキザワ教授」とのエピソードを鮮明に語り、Pさんは「自己学習のプロセス」について自分の経験をもとにジェスチャーを交え堂々と語り、中国出身のSさんはTMになって最初のスピーチを「日本での経験を共有」と題して、沢山のユーモアを交えながら、初々しくも実は凄い完成度で語りました。
後半の「論評セッション/evaluation session」はOさんの素晴らしい仕切りでスタート。Nさんは良い点を語ったあとさらに良くする建設的な論評を発表、Aさんは流暢な英語で良かった点とVocal varietyについて自ら実践して見て提案、Tさんは非常に整理した形で良かった点と改良点を提案、Sさんはスピーチの進め方の旨さを独自の分析で解説、簡単な提案もありました。
今振り返っても今回の評価セッションは良かった点と提案の解説が非常にわかりやすく、レベルが高かったと思います。
各担当からの発表が続きます。
Ah counterからは自分では気づかないメンバーの癖について発表、Grammarianからは良かった表現を発表、General evaluatorは落ち着いた雰囲気で会全体の論評を実施されました。
即興スピーチ賞は、自分を打ち負かしたAIに、あえて相手を人間の様に尊敬の念を示し、紳士的な対応をしたゲストのMさん、論評部門賞は自ら実践して提案したAさん、そして準備スピーチ賞は自分の経験をもとに素晴らしいプレゼンをしメンバーの支持を得たPさんが受賞。
あっという間に会はすすみました。司会のAさん、素晴らしい会をありがとうございました！
最後に引っ越しの関係で本日YTMCを卒業するTM兼マジシャンのMさんから「国境なきマジシャン協会」の立ち上げに関する構想を発表、改めて発想のスケールの大きさに感動しました。お疲れ様でした！！
