📝 Meeting Summary

What a meaningful way to wrap up the year! Our final meeting of 2025 brought together six dedicated members online for an evening of reflection, connection, and inspiration. Despite the smaller group size, the intimate atmosphere sparked deeper conversations and more speaking opportunities for everyone. From heartfelt discussions about relationships to powerful reflections on the year’s challenges, this meeting reminded us why we gather – to grow together through authentic communication in English.

🎉 Opening & Recent Updates

TM S. kicked off the meeting with warm energy, sharing updates from members’ recent adventures. TM S. recounted a memorable rock climbing trip to Okinawa, though it was cut short by a family matter requiring an unexpected journey to Hokkaido. TM K. painted a vivid picture of autumn leaves at Mitake Valley, complete with local sake tasting – a perfect autumn combination that unfortunately came with a cold! The icebreaker session set a comfortable tone as members shared their busy schedules, renovation projects, and the challenges of balancing work and personal life.

🗣 Table Topics Session

Table Topics Master: TM A.

TM A. introduced a surprisingly relatable theme that had everyone leaning in: maintaining a good relationship with your wife! As he humorously noted after his own haircut oversight, this was clearly a topic close to every husband’s heart in the room.

The questions sparked genuine, thoughtful responses. When asked about memorable mistakes, TM Y. shared his Google Calendar solution – setting automatic reminders for his wife’s birthday after a late-message incident years ago. His practical advice about minimizing “special days” to avoid forgetting them resonated with nervous laughter from the group. TM K. emphasized the importance of maintaining contact when working late, acknowledging his wife’s concerns about safety when he takes the last train home. The session revealed that while approaches differ, all members shared a common goal: showing respect and maintaining open communication with their partners.

🎙 Prepared Speech Session

Speaker: “Thank you, 2025” – TM Y.

TM Y. delivered a powerful year-end reflection that resonated deeply with everyone present. Rather than sugar-coating his 2024 experience, he honestly shared the challenges: welcoming new team members while managing critical projects, working until 2-3 AM regularly, handling unexpected staff departures, and dealing with client issues that required formal apologies and reports. The year had been, in his own words, “full of troubles.”

But the speech’s brilliance lay in its pivot. TM Y. presented us with a choice we all face: view ourselves as victims of circumstance, or embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. His message was clear and inspiring – the only way forward is to digest these experiences positively, extract lessons from them, and use them to build a better future. Despite the exhaustion and the desire to never repeat such difficulties, he could genuinely say “thank you” to 2024 for the invaluable lessons in management, client relationships, and trust-building.

The speech concluded with an invitation for all of us to reflect on our own year with gratitude, regardless of what occurred. It was exactly the kind of perspective we needed as we prepared to close out 2025.

🔍 Evaluation & Feedback

Evaluator: TM S.

TM S. provided thoughtful evaluation of TM Y.’s speech, acknowledging the timeliness of the topic and the clarity of the message. He particularly appreciated how the speech laid out concrete examples of challenges faced throughout different quarters of the year, making the journey tangible and relatable. His constructive suggestion – to include more specific goals for 2025 – would have added even more forward momentum to the already inspiring message.

General Evaluator: TM S.

The general evaluation praised the smooth flow of the meeting and highlighted TM A.’s skill in creating natural, discussion-worthy Table Topics questions. The unique all-male perspective on relationship management added an interesting dimension to the session, though TM S. playfully noted the absence of the female viewpoint on these “husband tips.”

🎬 Special Session: World Champion Speech Analysis

The evening took an exciting turn as members watched and discussed the 2024 World Championship winning speech by Sabi Sachchidanand Gupta. The speech sparked fascinating conversation about what makes a championship-caliber presentation.

Members noted this speech broke from traditional championship templates – no repetitive key phrase, no audience call-and-response, no clear quotable message. Instead, it was pure entertainment: an Indian performer’s journey from disappointed son to “chief entertainment officer” in Amsterdam’s finance world. The exaggerated gestures, the Bollywood flair, the same gesture used with different meanings – it was comedy gold.

The discussion revealed our collective curiosity: How did this unconventional approach win? What did the judges see that made them choose entertainment over traditional structure? Members agreed they’d love to watch the runner-up speeches to understand the full competitive landscape. The consensus? Sometimes breaking the mold and staying true to your authentic style creates the most memorable impact.

🏆 Awards

• Best Table Topics Speaker: TM K.

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