Regular Meeting 153, August 18, 2026 (Hybrid)

The last Tuesday meeting

This meeting was the last meeting we've had on Tuesday because we unanimously voted favorably on a motion to change the meeting day from Tuesday to Friday.

How it started

This was something nobody thought was coming only a few months earlier. The idea popped up at the 151st Regular Meeting on July 21, when only five members were present. With only two prepared speeches scheduled, we had a substantial amount of time, so we decided to discuss how to improve our club and ultimately invite more new members. During this brainstorming session, I shared this long-held idea, to an overall favorable reaction. We further discussed it at the following Executive Committee Meeting, a meeting of the seven club officers, and decided to propose it as an official measure. The final and official decision was made at the Business Session at this meeting because, in Toastmasters, every important decision must be made at a duly called Business Meeting where a majority of the active individual members are present.

Loss of opportunities

This was not an easy decision, especially for me, because we decided to hold our meetings on Tuesdays to provide more opportunities for prospective Toastmasters in the Keihanshin area. When we were preparing to launch a new club, there were only two clubs that met on a weeknight: one on Wednesday and the other, Nishinomiya TGIF Toastmasters Club, on Friday. We wanted to launch another club that met on a weeknight, and naturally we decided to avoid having our meetings on these two days. Changing our meeting day to Friday meant that we were removing the option we added ourselves. That was never an option for us for a long time.

Missing piece

Yet, I have always had mixed feelings about our Tuesday meetings. This was because the club did not develop in the way I had imagined. I originally wanted to build a new club that shares the truly supportive nature of Nishinomiya TGIF, where members stay for after-parties to discuss that day's speeches and the meeting as a whole. I still remember lively discussions to improve our speeches and the club meetings. That was the very thing I wanted to recreate in Shin-Osaka Leaders. Unfortunately, Tuesday regular meetings made it virtually impossible, since most members had to leave immediately after the meeting to prepare for work the next morning. It remained my deepest regret in launching Shin-Osaka Leaders. There were some discussions in the past about changing the meeting day, but the idea was not well received because some members were unavailable on other days of the week.

We fixed it

This time, though, things are different. When I floated the idea at that meeting, the overall reaction was favorable. Some members added other reasons for changing the meeting day: 1) It will be easier for members to participate more because there will be less chance of business trips, and 2) It will be easier to attract new members.

Since there were only five of us at that meeting, we needed to double-check with the rest of the club. We conducted an availability survey, which proved preferable, and moved on with the change. Now that we've fixed the deepest drawback, I am hopeful that we are ready to take our meeting experience to the next level.

Hideo Temma

Founding President and Secretary 2026-2027, Shin-Osaka Leaders Toastmasters Club