2006-2007 President’s Inaugural Address

　　　　　　　　　Let’s All Join Hands Together 

                                                      Junko Kaneko
                                                        (July 1,2006)

Hello, fellow members:

     First of all, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to you for electing me as your President.

In his inaugural speech, the former President, Machida, expressed his feelings that a guillotine fell down on him when he was elected as President.  He also said, ”the burden of President is certainly very heavy”.  Yes.  I feel like I’m doomed like a fish laid on the chopping board.　 Through out my life, my main song has been　"Que sera, sera".  Please let me sing for a while.♪Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que sera, sera. ♪

In our lives, we have to face a lot of hardships, however, if we took at them optimistically, they might change in aspect, so that a helping hand is extended to us to help escape from a seemingly serious situation.

This year, my motto is “Take it easy. You can do It!”  I suppose this message might recruit new members, as well as encourage me.  It’s been more than 6 years since I joined this club.　

 Do you know how I appreciate this club and the members?  I had never experienced making a speech in English in front of an audience.  When I stood at the lecturn for the first time, my mind went blank and I felt overwhelmed.  Gradually, however, I’ve been able to gain confidence and now I feel happy with my achievments.  What has made this change?  All of you did.  Your cordial support and encouragement made all the difference to me.

I’ve looked over the manual and realized that, for an　executive officer, the most important job is to recruit new members. Concerning the number of members, maintaining an appropriate number is very difficult.  For example, the meeting before last, only 13 members attended.  We need to recognize that our club is in a critical situation.  I’ve considered how to solve the problem and came up with three main ideas.

1. Advertisement:　　This autumn, our club will host the Humorous Speech Contest inTsukuba.Making the most of this golden opportunity, we’d like to recruit new members.  With this aim, advertisement will be very important. Thanks to TM Suzuki’s great effort, the range of the media has been expanding.We need to go on searching another effective way to recruit new members.  The strategies will be discussed at the exective meeting.  If you have a good idea, please let me know.

             

2. Follow up on new members and inactive members
　Luckly we have just gained a young and elegant lady , TM　Kondo’s daughter, TM Midori   Kondo,as the first member　of our team today. The member's　average agewill be reduced by   her admission. And I’m sure the ripple effect brings about the increase in the membership.
  On the other hand , In spite of joining our club, some members quit within a short　period of   time.Or some are being inactive. I suppose there might be individual reasons for each person,   however, we need to provide them with more support and encouragement to be able to  continue their activities.  

3. Obtain native English speakers:
    For English learners, the presence of a native English speaker is desirable. I heard from a     foreigner that money was not the only decisive factor whether he wanted to attend our     meetings.  We need to create a “win-win” situation to motivate them to attend.

Every leader has his strong supporters.  Even though the President is sometimes not very reliable, the supporters often help hide his weaknesses.  This is obvious to see in the Bush administration, isn’t it?  He has outstanding supporters like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld , Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.  As for me, I believe we have much stronger supporters.

A characteristic of the new EC members is that there are many more females as compared to males. However, never call us the Amazons, will you?  We also have a white knight, our Area Governor, TM Negi. What prominent staffs I have!

With your support, our administration can be more powerful than ever before. Let’s all join hands together for our team! I’m looking forward to an enjoyable and successful year ahead.