Report: Ririna Kaneko

On Saturday, October 13th, we held the very first demo meeting at Hotel Crown Palais Kofu! Many Toastmasters gathered from Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Nagano etc., and we were able to welcome 6 non-Toastmaster guests!

The meeting started with the introduction of Toastmasters by the founder. Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD = Master of Ceremony of the meeting), TM Drian — former champion of District 76 (All Japan) and also a musician–made very warm and energetic atmosphere!

The “word of the day (keyword of the meeting)” was “memorable,” which was perfect for the first meeting. Also, at the beginning of the meeting, all of the attendees introduced themselves, with an adjective which shows their feelings–amazing, fantastic, confused, beautiful… Various keywords came up.

At Prepared Speech Session (the core activity of Toastmasters), 3 experienced speakers delivered their speeches prepared in advance. All of the speeches were very inspiring. Each speaker shared stories based on one’s own experiences: one’s childhood or past failure, and so on.

After the Prepared Speech Session, Speech Evaluators evaluated prepared speeches one by one. Evaluation is one of the most important parts of Toastmasters as well. In Toastmasters, we don’t have teacher-student relations. We learn from each other, through making speeches, evaluating others’ speeches, or being evaluated by others, or listening to others’ evaluations for other members. Since there were 3 prepared speeches, there were 3 evaluators as well.

After the Speech Evaluations, we had a short break. Attendees including guests enjoyed casual conversations over tea and snacks.

After the break, we had Table Topics Session–impromptu speeches. Table Topics is another core activity in Toastmasters. A person who is assigned as “Topicsmaster” manages this session. Topicsmaster asks questions to the attendees, and assign one member to deliver an impromptu speech answering the question. This time, Topicsmaster asked questions related to “Kofu” “Yamanashi” and “beginning”.

After the Table Topics Session, General Evaluator evaluated the meeting. Evaluation Session is also an important part, because we can look back how today’s meeting went on, such as time management, effectiveness of Speech Evaluations, and so on.

In Toastmasters, we always vote for the best speakers. At the end of the Prepared Speech Session, we voted for the Best Speaker. In the same way, we voted for the Best Table Topics Speaker and Best Evaluator as well, at the end of each session. At the end of the meeting, TMOD announced the winners of Best Speakers. This time, one of the Non-Toastmaster guests won the Best Table Topics Speaker Award! Congratulations!

Lastly, we asked our guests to share how they felt about the meeting. Thankfully, some of the guests said they want to visit Kofu Toastmasters again!!

Our next meeting will be held on Saturday, November 10th. If you are interested in our community, please feel free to contact us!