Spectacular Debut!
Oh, boy, what a meeting! We had two major challenges before the meeting. Hideo the founder, a self-claimed master of hybrid meetings, forgot to bring a cable to connect a PC to a loudspeaker. Also, the projector was not recognized by the PC to project the Zoom window to the venue screen. We somehow figured out a way to start the meeting, fifteen minutes behind schedule.
What worried everyone was the fact that the Toastmaster of the Day (the facilitator of the education portion of the meeting), Tonette, was serving in this role for the very first time in her life. As you can imagine, people normally get nervous when serving in a new role, especially something very important as Toastmaster of the Day. This is actually one of the most challenging and demanding roles in a Toastmasters meeting. Their role starts over a week before the meeting. They are responsible for making sure that every single role taker is ready for their role(s). They send emails to remind members of their roles. They talk with the club President and Vice President Education to discuss how much time is required outside the education portion of the meeting. They think about how much time is required for each of the sessions in the meeting. They take the initiative in making arrangements when a sudden cancellation happens. Pretty daunting for the first-time Toastmaster of the Day.
Yet, Tonette was different. She was prepared. She knew how to make the adjustments during the course of the meeting. She skillfully handled everything to help the meeting proceed with no waste of time. With the help of the Topicsmaster Mariko, who had prepared very simple topics that were easy to talk about, Tonette managed to hand it over to the General Evaluator Maho on time. With everyone's help, the meeting concluded on time. Though it was a pity that there were some members who did not have a chance to deliver a speech/report during the meeting, Tonette managed to facilitate the meeting with minimal possible damage. Truly, truly spectacular job!
Happy Moments
This meeting marked Day 1 as a speaker for Sutas, one of the newest members of Shin-Osaka Leaders. Yes, he delivered the Ice Breaker speech, the very first speech every Toastmaster delivers in a club meeting. Members were amazed by the reason he decided he needed to train himself as a speaker. He wants his voice heard on political issues. We look forward to supporting him on his journey to his goal. We celebrated his debut as a Toastmaster with a ribbon. We also celebrated Tonette's Level 1 Completion. These moments we celebrate member accomplishments are among the happiest moments in Toastmasters. Congrats, guys!!