A sketchy speech competition!

My first go at an area speech competition fell the day after I got back from vacation in Thailand. This was the first mistake. The second and third mistakes were that I was under-rehearsed and hadn’t timed the speech. The fourth mistake was not checking the equipment with the organizers; I couldn’t use my slides as there was no projector.

However, I was lucky enough to have TM Rouse supporting me and she did some excellent sketches that went up on the whiteboard behind me.  I was also lucky because I had done the speech twice in our regular meetings and got great feedback. And TM Hirose mailed me to say “Don’t go overtime!”.

Next time, (ahem) I will call ahead to check there is a projector or bring my own. I have also started practising because I came second and am going through to the District Level!

Ironically, the person who came first, TM Schwerin, stepped in at the last minute. Her club’s representative had unfortunately needed to cancel. Her prize-winning speech was prepared on the train. Her visual aid was an audacious solitary black dot in the middle of the whiteboard. Her point was ‘when you meet someone, rather than focus on one negative thing about them (the black dot), look for their many good points (the white space)’. 

Sometimes less really is more.

 

 Helen

Sister Area 12 English Contest

March 21, 2009

We’re not in Area 12, but you might want to check out what other clubs are up to:

Area 12 English Contest
place: Minato-ku Labor Services Meeting Hall
http://www.3710pic.com/mkf/web/map.html
hosted by Kanto TMC

Area 12 英語
日程：3/21
場所： 港区勤労福祉会館
http://www.3710pic.com/mkf/web/map.html
主催： Kanto TMC

Division A English Contest

April 12, 2009

Division A English Contest
Place: Gakuen Toshi Center (Hachioji)
http://www.hachiojibunka.or.jp/gakuen/gakuenn-top.htm
Hosted by: Eight Princes TMC

A detailed agenda will be posted when available.

Division A 英語
日程：4/12
場所：学園都市センター（八王子）
http://www.hachiojibunka.or.jp/gakuen/gakuenn-top.htm
主催：Eight Princes　TMC

Division A Japanese Contest

April 19, 2009

開催場所・日時
[日　時] 2009年4月19日（日）
［受付］14：00
［コンテスト］14:30～16:00
[場　所] 渋谷区勤労福祉会館（渋谷駅徒歩7分）
http://www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/est/kinro.html
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5fyMUerrc （ハチ公口からの動画）
[ホスト] 江戸TMC

Area 11 and 13 English Contest

March 29, 2009
1:00 pmto4:15 pm

Time: 1p-4:15p
Place: North Topia　（JR Keihin-Tohoku、Metro Nambu Line,　Ouji Stn.　North Exit　2min walk.）

http://www.kitabunka.or.jp/data/sisetu/map/map001.htm

7th floor Lab 2

Fee 500 yen.
Schedule：
Open　12:30
Start　13:00
Area 11 Contest　13:05-14:30
Break
Area 13 Contest　14:45-16:10
End　16:15
Exit　16:45

Party  17:00-19:00
Party Entry　3,500yen（all you can drink）
Place：TAGEN（Dining Cafe)
http://www.tagen.jp/index.html

＜以下、開催概要＞
エリア１１＆１３合同　春季コンテスト（英語）
主催：SUNRISE　TMC（エリア１１）、千代田ＴＭＣ（エリア１３）

＜概要＞
□日時：　３／２９（日）　コンテスト13:00-16:15
懇親会　　17:00-19:00
□会場:　北トピア　（JR京浜東北線、メトロ南北線　王子駅　北口　徒歩2分）
http://www.kitabunka.or.jp/data/sisetu/map/map001.htm

7階　第2研修室（120名収容　205平米）
http://www.kitabunka.or.jp/data/sisetu/index.htm

□プログラム概略（案）：
開場　12:30
開会　13:00
エリア１１コンテスト　13:05-14:30
休憩
エリア１３コンテスト　14:45-16:10
閉会　16:15
撤収完了　16:45
※懇親会　　17:00-19:00

□参加費：　  500円（予定）

□懇親会：　　時間　17:00-19:00
会費　3,500円（飲み放題）
会場：TAGEN（Dining Cafe)
（ＪＲ京浜東北線、メトロ南北線　王子駅　北口　徒歩1分）
http://www.tagen.jp/index.html

What does ‘wabi-sabi’ have to do with visual aids?

A fantastic source of inspiration for how to use visuals in your presentations. Less is more!

http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/

Helen

What are our visitors saying about us?

Here is a sample of recent entries in our guest book.

“I enjoyed my first visit to Toastmasters”

“A challenging start to a most important skill set”

“Interesting group of people from different backgrounds. Keep the meeting on time”

“I enjoyed it very much. All members are friendly. I would like to join this meeting again”.

“Wonderful”

“I was very very lucky to join the meeting tonight”.

“I really enjoyed myself! I can’t wait to give my own speeches (in English and Japanese). Thanks for being so welcoming”.

“Excellent place to torture people with my Japanese skills. Hahaha!”

“I had a good time. Thanks”

 

Speech competitions

Two competitions! Come along, learn, and have fun meeting TMs from other clubs.

Start time TBC but should be from 1 pm.

29th March,  Oji - Area 13 English competition.

www.kitabunka.org.jp

19th April, Shibuya, District Japanese competition

www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/est/kinro.html.

 

Meeting 160 – Club Competition – Honing our speaking skills

Thank you to everyone for a great club competition.

Doing a speech a second or even third time is a bit like trying out new recipe. You have an idea of how you think it will go, but the final product always feels a little different. I was delighted to see TM Sato and TM Thompson make their “competition debut”, speaking on high school fashion and instilling better habits. TM Watanabe took the lectern as both a speaker and an evaluator – thank you! TM Yang spoke to us about how to project to our “future selves”, and I spoke on “life without television”.  

A big round of applause goes to TM Kaneda for stepping in to evaluate at short notice. He did a great job of giving helpful feedback and got a big laugh at the end.

TM Yang will represent our club at the area level in the Japanese competition on 19th April in Shibuya, www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/est/kinro.html. I will represent us in English on 29th March at Oji, www.kitabunka.org.jp. We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Helen Lewis