What a beautiful hotel! It’s the Broadview hotel, near the river, dating back to 1921 or so. My room is huge! Friday night is a Halloween-themed mixer with a costume contest. I brought a simple feathered face mask to wear. This is Michael Smith’s first official International Director visit to a district. There’s an interesting contest, which is based on bingo, but each square on the card is filled in by finding someone who meets a specific requirement (like past DG, member for more than 10 years, has presented “Parliamentary Procedure”, etc.). There’s a variety of prizes for the winners to claim.
Saturday morning’s opening ceremonies are brief, and includes a good number of club banners. Clubs represented in the audience but without banners were also called up to join the line. A local Cub Scout pack presented a little skit that got everyone laughing. Then Michael Smith presented an educational session on “Be Good to Yourself: Serve Others”.
Lunch is deli sandwiches, and the presentation of the C&L award to Larry Hatteberg, a renowned storyteller about unique people in Kansas. This is followed by the district Hall of Fame awards, which included recognition for club sponsors, mentors, and coaches (great idea!), and the evaluation contest.
Mid-afternoon is my turn, as I presented “The Value of a Club Coach” (one of my favorite topics), to everyone at the conference. I received many favorable comments afterwards, and I hope the district gets lots of volunteers as a result. I realized afterwards that I didn’t close with a “call to action” — I should have had a half-page form asking for people to fill in their details, so they could be contacted about being a coach.
The business meeting came next, followed by the dinner banquet, which includes a delicious prime rib. Michael Smith presented his keynote address “Shaping Ourselves: Shaping Our World”, followed by the humorous speech contest.
One of the best ideas I’ve heard is the current D22 “Gold Star” charter membership challenge — every club that ends the Toastmasters year with a net increase of five members will receive a gold star for their banner, and if they end with a net increase of 10 members, they get a second gold star and a Toastmasters gift certificate.