Hello, Pioneers!  

In the past year we created one of Sapporo's most sensational small community groups.  

I want to continue making improvements in our meetings and in our skills.  There is the saying that, "The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement". 

Now let us progress another step: Club management using parliamentary democracy. Our founders have left and I think we are ready to adopt the usual Toastmasters way of 
making club decisions. 

On 13 May, I will introduce the last major part of the usual Toastmasters "Education and Leadership Program" to add to our meetings.  Toastmasters International calls this session the "Club Business Meeting". It is the democratic, parliamentary way that TM Clubs make decisions. 
 
Club Business Meeting session is 5-10 minutes long--shorter than the Table Topics Session. 
The Business Meeting format is to use parliamentary procedure. It builds your meeting participation skills. 

According to Toastmasters International, a club must do 7 things for its members.  One of these 7 things is to: 

"Increase indivual members' knowledge of parliamentary procedure and their skills in conducting meetings and participating in group discussions." 
 
The Club Business Meeting session does 2 things to help club members: 

• First, it makes the management of our Club smooth, because it creates a forum for making club decisions as a group.   It gives members a voice. 
• Second, parliamentary procedure skills help you.  You can help run any corporation, organization, or even run for a seat in the Diet.  The formal meeting skills will make you able in most any kind of meeting.

1.  Ordering new supplies and educational materials 
 
2.  Accepting new members. 

3.  Giving flowers to First Time Speakers and Guest Speakers. 
 
See you on Wednesday. I will give you my best effort to introduce this improvement, to show you its benefits, and to help us learn its useful skills. 
  
            - TM Tom Davis  

PIONEERS 1ST STEP CLUB

The Education Commitee proposes that the Club give flowers to new members who deliver the "Icebreaker" speech.  The flowers mark the speaker's entry into "First Step Club". 

Kaderu Hall 6F Josei Plaza 

Toastmaster:  Atsuko Konishi  
Opening Thought:  
               Masami  Nishimori 
Table Topics:   
Current Topics:  T. Andou 
General Evaluator:  
                Hiroshi Tsukada 

Speaker1: Yasuko Osaki,  
Evaluator1:  Emiko Higuchi 

Speaker2:  Peter Firkola, Evaluator2:  Miyako Hayashi,   
                 & Naomi Komachi 

Timer:    Ms. Nakai 
Ah Counter:  Ruiko Takeda Grammarian: Xiaobei Wu  

Hot Seat:   Noboru Takase, Kiri Yanagida, Tomoe Arisaka, Masako Takeda, Megumi Yamada 
 
Guest:  Mr. Hiroyuki Shiina 

             - TM Tomiko Andou  

WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING LATELY . . .

Five guests and a guest speaker attended the spring anniversary meeting of Sapporo's newest community resource, the Sapporo Toastmasters Club. 

TM Davis presided over the meeting, providing the theme "Community Resources in Sapporo".  TM Higuchi even chose a Word of the Day, "consolidate", that matched the theme of the meeting. 

The meeting's guests included Mr. Hitoshi Yokomaku, Ms. Akamatsu, Ms. Siggillino, Ms. Emiko Kasai, Mr. Hiroyuki Shiina, and, finally, guest speaker Ms. Carol Harlow. 

TM Osaki hosted an interesting Table Topic: education for new recruits of companies.  The subject, not hypothetical as usual, allowed us to talk freely. 

TM Takeda delivered her Icebreaker speech, during which she assured the members that she is ready to commit great energy and willpower for the success of our Club.  Her speech was well prepared and delivered sincerely and emphatically. 

TM Wu gave her second speech, entitled "Diverse Cities".  She shared her insights gained from her recent travels to Hong Kong and Shanghai. 

Next, guest speaker Carol Harlow told the story of one of Sapporo's new community resources.  Last year she helped found the Hokkaido American Library, an English language reference library in Sapporo.  Ms. Harlow spoke of her vision for the library to grow. She emphasized the importance of grassroots community support. 
There is an English-language library in Paris, France which citizens saved and nurtured.  Ms. Harlow asked the audience to consider the importance of their activism in creating and consolidating Sapporo's community resources. 

Finally, finally, Club President Steve Fylypchuk  gave us his farewell message.  We owe our Club's success thus far to him.  Sayonara, TM Fylypchuk.  --Steve, we appreciate your efforts and leadership, and wish you well in Shin-Yokohama! 
 
  

           - TM Emiko Higuchi  
  

5 NEW MEMBERS !

In 1998 5 people  have joined our Club or expressed their intention to do so--most of them within the last month or two: 
 

Ms. Masako Takeda 

Ms. Ruiko Takeda 

Ms. Kiri Yanagida 

Ms. Nakai 

Mr. Hiroyuki Shiina 
 

We are happy that they are joining us for better speaking, listening, and evaluating.  Let us keep up our membership drive! 

  ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE TREASURER

                   - Yasuko Osaki 

CLUB HANDBOOK: TIMER 

When you play Timer, you keep the meeting on schedule. 

For Toastmasters, one of the lessons to be practiced in speech training is that of expressing a thought within a specific time. 

At the meeting, the Toastmaster of the evening will ask you to explain the timing rules. Demonstrate how you will use the timing device. Timer's tools include a box with three lights (traffic lights) and a stopwatch. 

How to Time Table Topics 

Each speaker should speak for between 1 and 2 minutes, with 30 seconds overtime available: 

     green light at 1 minute 
     yellow light at 1 1/2 min 
     red light at 2 minutes 

How to Time Other Speakers 

Ask each speaker before his or her speech: how long is your speech?  Ensure that you know how long the speech should take. Speech timer's rule of thumb: 

   green when 2 min remain 
   yellow when 1 min remains 
   red when time is up 

How long should speeches be? 

     Most Speakers (5-7 min) 
     Speech Evaluators (3 min) 
     Grammarian (3 min) 
     General Evaluator (7 min) 

Near the end of the meeting, the General Evaluator will ask you for a timers report.  Give the time requested and the time used by each speaker.  List the table topics speakers and evaluators with their times.  Finally, let the participants know where the meeting  fell off schedule. 

                - TM Tom Davis 

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