Theme: Something I Want to Treat Myself To 🎁

Today's meeting theme was "Something I Want to Treat Myself To." As the year draws to a close, we reflected on how hard we've worked over the past ten months and explored ways to reward ourselves.

Inspired by the growing trend of self-gifting in Japan, members shared their ideas for treating themselves and celebrating their achievements in 2026.

🎤 Prepared Speech

 💡The Best Way To Learn Is To Teach

The speech explored how teaching others can help us become better learners. The speaker shared her journey from learning English in Japan to unexpectedly becoming an English teacher for young children.

She also highlighted how Toastmasters provides a great environment to improve our English speaking skills through preparing speeches, sharing knowledge, and learning from one another.

🐻 Controlling Your Fear

The speaker talked about why public speaking makes us nervous, explaining how our brain can trigger a fight-or-flight response, almost as if there's a bear in the room! She shared a few helpful tips for managing that fear:

• prepare well to build confidence

• don't be afraid of making mistakes

• imagine yourself delivering a successful speech

The best part was that she actually invited everyone to stand up and loosen up their bodies by swinging their arms for about a minute. It was a fun way to experience the technique!

💬 Table Topics Session

It was another very creative session! The Table Topics Master handed out pieces of paper and asked everyone to write down one thing they'd like to treat themselves to.

Members shared a variety of ideas, including:

• 🍰 Sweets

• ✈️ Going on a trip

• 😴 Getting some extra sleep

• ❤️ Spending quality time with their wives

It was interesting to see how differently people wanted to reward themselves!