Finally, we came back to the Hybrid meeting! It took more than 6 months to be back from the last hybrid meeting at the end of March. Word of the Evening by TM NS was, of course, “Hybrid”.
Today’s Toast Master of the Evening was TM MB. To be surprised, it was her very first time to play the role. She was just like a born TMOE! Both on-sight and on-line members could fully enjoy the meeting.
【Prepared Speech & Evaluation】
1st Speaker TM SA: speech title “GRIT”
He got his life lessons from his favorite book, GRIT. The key to success is not your IQ or original ability, but it is the power that anybody can develop, the power to overcome your barriers, GRIT. Inspired by this life-changing book, he had accomplished one of his targets already and keeps going toward his dream. The speech from a personal experience was so compelling!
Evaluator TM NG: It was a perfect “Hybrid” of his personal story and interesting information through the book. The speech was easy to understand, informative, and succinct. In the case of an on-line speech especially, extra emphasis on vocal intonation would make it more impactful.
2nd Speaker TM HK: speech title “My Goal of Writing Haiku”
As his title says, he sets a concrete target for going up to a higher ranking in his Haiku class in next March.
In his short speech, he included information of Haiku from a very basic knowledge to how he enjoys it. The well-organized story line and effective visual aids gave us a clear vision of his engagement in Haiku.
Evaluator TM US: It was a speech that would make us feel his ambition toward his goal. Measurable clear goal-setting helps make it achievable. One suggestion was that he could cultivate his speech ability more in articulation by reducing the number of visual aids, and without relying on the image so much.
3rd Speaker TM JC: “Catch me if you can”
As a Taiwanese living in Japan, she shared her own experiences of having felt cultural differences. People tend to perceive others based on their backgrounds, such as their country, culture, stereotyped-image, etc. But each person is different. Sometimes, they prevent us from understanding each other. Her message wa, “Forget about stereotypes or biased images. It’s human to human relationships. Let’s try to look at each individual and understand them. Cross-cultural understanding is important.” Her last word, “Catch me if you can” from the title of a movie has the same message as her speech. What a cool ending!
Evaluator TM ST: The purpose of the speech was to identify your cultural identity and its effect on you. TM C shared her experiences as a Taiwanese living in Japanese, which was great. Considering the upcoming speech contest, how she uses the camera would be important. Rather than just talking to the screen, using body language would be more effective.
4th Speaker TM NW “Why Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is always positive”
Under the stressful everyday life, he tends to be in a negative mood. But one day, a TV program was talking about a super positive person, legendary TV talent, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. Inspired by her story, he has tried to find out ways to stay positive. What he learned from her ways of thinking was always true to be yourself, and no comparing with others...
Evaluator TM YH: Kuroyanagi’s story was well incorporated into his personal story. He described his current situation very well and conveyed the message clearly to us. However, he had two more minutes left when he finished his speech. It would have been even better if he had utilized the allocated maximum time fully.
As he was on-site, TM W seemed fully enjoying his storytelling in front of the real (physical) audience!
【Table Topics】
Table topic Master TM YU asked timely questions about autumn and the announcement of the Nobel Prize winners, such as, to whom you would like to give the Novel Prize.
Five speakers answered the question and gave their speeches.
【Awards】
Best Speaker: TM HK
Best Evaluator: TM NG
Best Table Topic Speaker: Guest Mr. F