Leadership Lab

For those who are reduced to a bag of nerves by the sight of a podium, help is at hand.

Please tell us about a funny experience after drinking sake,” Mika Yamada declares to the people sat around the long, steel-legged table before her.

As the leader of the table topics session for this meeting of the TAC Toastmasters Club, Yamada has to propose subjects for discussion. She then selects, at random, one of her fellow Toastmasters sitting in CHOP Steakhouse’s private dining room to ad-lib on the designated theme.

“I am a kind of person who is very diligent and boring at work because I am an accountant,” says Yamada, 53. “But, personally, I think I am humorous. I like to entertain people when I go out to dinner. The table topics in Toastmasters are like [conversation] at the dinner table. That is really my favorite part.”

Established in 2013, the TAC Toastmasters Club has more than 30 members and is recognized as a distinguished club by Toastmasters International, a nonprofit organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills to nearly 350,000 members worldwide through peer guidance and competitions.

When Yamada was named a regional chair for an international accounting network, she set about preparing herself for the daunting task of speaking at conferences and leading meetings. She was introduced to TAC Toastmasters, and subsequently joined the Club.

Her first meeting was a nerve-racking one. She stared at the ceiling during her maiden speech. But by taking on such roles as evaluator, timekeeper and Toastmaster of the day, Yamada has grown in confidence. The butterflies have dissipated, she makes eye contact with her audience and, she notes, “nobody check e-mails” during her talks.

“I still have some regret after I speak because I thought I could do better, but I will never regret I joined the Toastmasters,” says Yamada. “In order to improve, you really need friends you can trust to give good advice. …We have doctors, business owners, mothers and we even have professional speech trainers. …I don’t think you can enjoy this type of diversity at any other club.”

Two weeks after appearing as a guest speaker at an international conference in New York last November, Yamada traveled to Hiroshima where she had qualified as one of only eight speakers for the national Toastmasters table topics contest.

“[Yamada] is a great example [of Toastmasters success],” says fellow TAC Toastmaster Marika Rolf.

Most recently, Yamada participated in a prepared speech contest and could, if successful, compete on home turf at the area level competition, which is hosted this month by the TAC Toastmasters Club.

“At the beginning, I thought this was only to improve your speech. That was true,” says Yamada. “Eventually, you become a true leader.”

Toastmasters Social
Mar 16 | 6pm

Words: Nick Narigon
Image: Kayo Yamawaki