Unusual Officer Elections
This meeting was a unique one in that the educational portion was substantially shorter because we held the officer elections for the next term. In Toastmasters, each club is supposed to hold officer elections in May to elect seven officers to lead the club from July to June the following year. Those seven officers are President, Vice President Education, Vice President Membeship, Vice President Public Relations, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sergeant-at-Arms.
The elections are normally a solemn event with lots of formality. This time, however, was different thanks to Immediate Past President Maho, who served as President during the last program year and this year served as the chair of the Club Leadership Committee, a panel of three members to nominate officer candidates for the next term. She brought with her some cheerful atmosphere. Look at her face in the photo!
During the business session, President Yuki presided over the election with Maho making a motion to elect the nominated candidate. Each candidate made a short speech of one to two minutes followed by the voting. Each speech was well-prepared and showed that each candidate had seriously thought about how to perform their duties. This is in stark contrast from last year, when two of the seven officer positions were not filled and two officers ended up serving in two roles each. With the newly-elected seven club officers, we are sure to have a better, brighter future with more educational and encouraging meetings.
Two exceptional Ice Breaker speeches
Prior to the officer elections, during the educational portion of the meeting, two new members, Izz and Manas, delivered their Ice Breaker speeches, the first speech every Toastmaster delivers at a club meeting to introduce themselves. They both did a wonderful job at that. They narrowed down their contents so that the speech was easy to follow and memorable. Izz talked about the importance of believing in yourself and not setting your limit yourself using her own story of leading a group of some sixty students in a dance competition. Manas told passionately about the importance of pursuing what we truly love and the reasons he chose to join Shin-Osaka Leaders. He said, despite the great diversity, "we have one unique shared vision. We have a common sense of purpose that we want to be great leaders, that we want to be great speakers, we want to be great teammates. Most importantly, we want to be great human beings." Their speeches almost brought Hideo, one of the founders and first president, to tears.
Just as Izz mentioned, we want to pursue our goals without setting our own limits. Just as Manas told us, we want to strive to be better leaders, bettter speakers, and better human beings. In doing that, we remember to help each other with quality feedback.
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風変わりな役員選挙
Toastmastersでは毎年役員を選びます。会長、教育担当副会長、会員担当副会長、広報担当副会長、書記、会計、会場係の７人です。役員選挙は普通なら厳かな堅苦しい雰囲気のものですが、今回の選挙は前期会長で今年は来期のリーダーを推薦するClub Leadership Committeeの委員長であるMahoがとても明るい雰囲気を持ち込んでくれました。写真の笑顔！ ビジネスセッションで会長Yukiの司会のもと、Mahoが推薦候補を選任するよう動議を出し、候補者が1‐2分の選挙スピーチをしました。どのスピーチも、それぞれが自分の役割をどう果たしていくかを真剣に考えたことがうかがえる素晴らしいもの。1年前には役員が揃わず、5人で7つの役職をまかなったのとは雲泥の差ですね。今後、クラブがより明るく素晴らしい未来に向かって前進するのを予感させるスピーチでした。
2つのレベチなIce Breakerスピーチ
役員選挙の前には新会員（IzzとManas）がIce Breakerスピーチ（すべてのToastmasterがクラブで最初にするスピーチ）を披露。２人とも内容を絞り込んだ理解しやすく記憶に残るスピーチをしてくれました。Izzは６０人ものメンバーを率いて臨んだダンス大会の経験をもとに、自分で自分の限界を設定してしまわないことの大切さを語ってくれました。Manasは自分が心の底から好きなことを追及することの大切さとShin-Osaka Leadersに入会を決めた理由を熱く語ってくれました。「大いに多様なグループなのに、『より良いリーダーになりたい。より良いスピーカーになりたい。より良いチームメイトになりたい。何よりも大切なこととして、より良い人間になりたい』という、1つの共有のビジョンがある。」と。彼らのスピーチを聞いて、ファウンダーの一人で初代会長のHideoは泣きそうになっていました。
Izzが言うように自分で限界を決めずにゴールに向かって進みたい。Manasが言うようにより良いリーダー、スピーカー、そしてより良い人間になりたい。そのために、意味のあるフィードバックでお互いに助け合うことを忘れないようにしたい。
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