MeetingMinutes

(Report) Visiting AYP Toastmasters Club Hello everyone, this is your blog writer, Y.T!! Last week, I and two more Visionaries members visited AYP (Australia Young Professional) Toastmasters Club, a club located in Australia, meeting. Since most of the members were native speakers, they talked far faster than us about complicated topics. I got nervous for the first time in the last few months. Members were pretty young, as its name shows, and they were highly passionate, especially, I could feel that they were serious in learning public speaking. At the same time, they had a warm atmosphere and welcomed us. They even [...]

Minutes Long time no see all! Three months have passed since our new leadership team has been installed. We are now enjoying hybrid styled meeting at Nakahara-shiminkan + ZOOM.   In the Table Topics Session, T.A, asked very unique questions. He supposed each speaker is a prime minister of Japan and asked several tough questions, like "How do you tackle with the COVID-19?" or "How do you increase Japanese birth rate?". All speakers struggled with it, but was a great opportunity to have a solid speech.   In the prepared speech session, we had three speakers. Y.T made a passionate speech about [...]

Minutes Finally, FINALLY! We had our onsite meeting for the first time since February! Of course, all of them were very conscious to the infection risk. Everyone wore a mask and took a distance between each other. In addition, we tried a hybrid-style meeting for the first time, connecting the venue with ZOOM. It was a very challenging try, but we successfully managed it!   In the Table Topics Session, R.B, the first timer, asked questions about basic and philosophical questions, like "What is the difference between 'living' and 'existing'?". Her questions made us think of our way of thinkings or unconscious values. [...]

Minutes I'm very sorry I forgot to update the blog for the last two weeks... June has started! It's the last month of this Toastmasters fiscal year.  We only have another meeting left.   In the Table Topics Session, M.S asked questions about "present", like "What is the most impressive present you have ever got?" or "What do you want know for a present?". It is one of the most common questions, but it reflects each members' personality well. In the prepared speech session, we had two speakers. R.B made her very first speech about her experience in struggling with public [...]

Minutes How did you spend your Golden Week? Oh, I'm sorry; it was not Golden Week, it was Gaman Week. I spent my time studying some political issues and programming. And of course, I completed my Gaman Week with our wonderful meeting!   In the Table Topics Session, H.S asked very interesting questions , such as "Which do you focus more, result or process?" or "Do you think your mentality is younger or older than your actual age?". Such questions seem to be very simple, but actually requires deep reflection of ourselves. One of the factors which make the Table Topics [...]

Visiting club meeting internationally Hello everyone, this is Y.T, President of Visionaries TMC. One of our members said in the last meeting, "Many clubs are holding meetings online. Maybe we can visit some meetings internationally." It made me take a challenge to visit Wall Street Toastmasters Club, located in New York! Main procedure of a meeting was pretty much the same as ours, but members spoke English much faster than us, as they are native speakers. But I also got a confidence, that we have enough English skills to catch up with them. As it was my first time to visit [...]

About our upcoming meetings Hello everyone, this is Y.T, President of Visionaries TMC. Two months have passed since we moved our meetings to online. Although it was our very first challenge, I believe we are doing very well with it; the number of attendees are increasing and we got a new member in the last meeting! I really appreciate everyone's contribution. For our upcoming meetings, we will hold them online. At least, meetings in May will be online and we will consider for June meetings. However, meeting venue we usually use is what we call "San-mitsu" environment, so I   don't [...]

Minutes What do you do to mitigate your stress staying at home? Why don't you join our meetings? We had our third online meeting. Almost two months have passed since we started our meeting online. It seems members are getting used to it and could enjoy it as well as our onsite meetings!   In the Table Topics Session, H.W asked some very critical questions about our life, society, and economy amid the fear of the COVID-19. The impact is expanding affecting not only our life, but also our society. It is very important to think and have our own opinion [...]

Changing world Hello everyone, this is Y.T, President of Visionaries TMC. Due to the pandemic of the COVID-19, Japanese government has declared a state of emergency. How are you spending these days? I really feel that our society or the world is changing rapidly in the last few months. Remote working, which many companies hesitated to adopt, is now becoming common rapidly. People are seeking a lifestyle reducing connection with others. On the other hand, restaurant industry and tourist industry have been damaged badly. Every country is adopting large economic measures, but conventional philosophy may not be effective in this situation. [...]

Minutes Are you staying at home? Yes, we are! Having our regular meeting online! Due to the pandemic of the COVID-19, we have been holding our meeting online since March. Yesterday, we had our third online meeting. Until yesterday, we only had a few members without any guests, but this time, we got many members and wonderful guests!   In the Table Topics Session, two members played the role of Table Topic Master. First Master, S.S, asked some questions about technology related with remote work or remote lessons. They were very interesting , futuristic, but also realistic questions. Second Master, E.W, [...]