The last spring conference! 11 district conferences in the course of my year of campaigning. And the I-70 bridge across the Missouri river is closed — the hotel is just over the bridge, a couple more miles, but traffic’s not moving. I inched closer to the next exit, and finally, was able to get off the stopped highway, with my car navigation system showing me the alternate route.

Friday night started with dinner and the evaluation contest with some time for socializing. Saturday morning had a continental Richard Avdoian gave a powerful keynote address about following your dreams, wherever they might lead you.

The business meeting went smoothly with a couple of minor policy changes to vote on, and uncontested district elections. Lunch included another keynote address, this one by Sharon Scott-Moyer.

The afternoon was filled with education, I started by attending Jerry and Cindy Hoeflein’s session on contest briefings, which was very useful. Then it was time for my own Club Coaching session, which had every seat in the room filled! This time, I concluded with a clear call to action — asking people to sign up to be a club coach, on a sheet in the back. Seven people signed up! But the district needs fifty. I gave the list to the District Governor.

Dinner was a delicious prime rib, followed by awards, officer installation ceremony, and the international speech contest. Sunday, I get to drive home — and get to stay home for a few weeks! The regional in Kansas City is just six weeks away! Meanwhile, there’s DEC meetings and club meetings and new club building to keep me busy.

With this conference, I’ve visited all eight districts at least once this year. And perhaps, just perhaps, I’ve saved the best for last.

Saturday morning kicked off with the opening ceremonies, and a lot of club banners festooned with a lot of ribbons! The keynote speaker was Professor C. Y. Allen, who gave an amazing inspirational speech titled “Leadership Communication: The Art of Shaping Change”. He discussed generativity (what will our legacy as ancestors be), and intergenerational communications, and he defined leadership as a series of transformative acts.

Lunch included some awards, and a keynote speech from Dietmar, followed by the business meeting. After that, the international speech contest was held in the late afternoon. I thought that was an interesting scheduling decision, and kind of nice, as it gave the audience plenty of opportunity to talk about the speeches and who they thought did better (the results were announced at the very end of the Saturday evening program).

After the Saturday banquet, the District Governor presented annual awards, things like Area Governor of the year. To me, this seemed a little unusual, since there’s still two months left in the year, the two months with the most work, when half of the educational awards will be filed. The district did a great job of presenting them, with a dramatic multimedia presentation (Powerpoint with photos and music).

One local award I especially liked is the “T” award, which is like Toastmaster of the year, except to recognize someone’s contributions over the course of 5-10 years, not just one year. I think that’s something all districts could support.

This same weekend, District 22 (Kansas), 30 (Chicago), 43 (AR/TN/MS), and 63 (TN/KY/VA) are all having conferences the same time! That’s unfortunate, since two of them won’t have an International Director visiting, and I can only get to one of them. I’m going to D43, since I missed that district last fall (their fall conference was the same weekend as D63 then). We should try to better coordinate conference dates, especially for neighboring districts.

Mississippi is probably the only state in Region V I’ve never been to before, so it was interesting to see Tupelo. I flew into Memphis, where Joan Diehl (my campaign manager) picked me up on her way from home in Little Rock to Tupelo. The conference began with Friday afternoon educational sessions. The DG himself gave one on running contests, he had some good stories to tell about his own experiences. While contests aren’t core to our mission, they are important and need to be run well.

Friday evening was the evaluation contest, and I played both sergeant at arms and ballot counter. Later, in the hospitality suite, the DG chaired “team table topics” with three teams, one from each state that makes up the region. I was a judge for that, and it was very good. Mississippi won, mostly due to a hugely funny skit trying to find some peanut butter in the room. There was also a “bad science fiction” topic involving Star Trek and an alien.

Saturday kicked off with a general session from me on club coaching (one of my favorite topics), and then educational session breakouts. The lunch included presenting the district C&L award to Randy Sharp, director of special projects for the American Family Association.

After lunch was the business meeting, where the main topic (besides elections) was for the district to select the contest option allowing contests with four or less clubs/areas/divisions to include two contestants from each club/area/division. I tried to get this passed in D30 a while back, but it is a complicated idea. I think it’s a great idea, it helps make small contests bigger and more exciting. A contest with 2-4 participants isn’t as much fun as 4-8 contestants, and it draws a bigger audience as well.

Saturday evening was the usual international speech contest (all very competitive!), “farewell” from the outgoing DG, installation of officers, and “hello” from the new DG. Sunday morning, Joan dropped me off at the Memphis airport on the way home to Little Rock.

I had to wonder how District 11 would top the show they put on last
fall, when Chris Ford, the International President, visited them in
Louisville. This conference, the Friday night entertainment was “The
District 11 Reality Show”, with six parts:

1. Extreme Makeover/District 11’s Top Model
2. Dancing with the Stars of District 11 – Traditional
3. The Apprentice District Governor
4. District 11 Idol
5. Dancing with the Start of District 11 – Latin
6. It’s a Wrap!

And wow, what fun. The District Governor was a good sport,
everyone was encouraged to participate, and it was a great way to break
down some barriers and get to know each other.

The opening ceremonies and education sessions were all excellent. The
C&L award at lunch went to Pat Wilson for her work in public
education (many awards) and with Habitat for Humanity. The district had
a raffle that I thought was quite efficient — there were seven gift
baskets, and you bought raffle tickets (about a dollar each, though
they were cheaper if you bought more), and then you dropped the raffle
tickets into a box in front of the specific baskets you wanted to win.

Saturday evening was very busy, and the District Governor’s year-long
theme of “Curing Cold Feet” provided a lot of possibilities for humor!
The international speech contest was great, I had a very hard time
deciding who was the best, and I look forward to seeing each district’s
best speaker in Kansas City in June, with all-new speeches!

Whoa, it’s spring conference season already! Actually, I wonder if you could get a paid job just going around to conferences every week like this. It’s always nice to see your old friends again and catch up on things, and D54 has always worked especially closely with D30, since they practically surround us!

One really great thing that happened Friday night. I found the chief judge for the evaluation contest to offer assistance, and she didn’t need any — but she said oh wait, you’re from Chicago, let me introduce you to someone who needs to talk to you. Turns out that someone from D54 is now working in the Chicago Loop, and she wants to start a Toastmasters club there! It sounds very promising, we’ll talk again next week.

Darren LaCroix (2001 World Champion of Public Speaking) played a prominent role in the conference program, with both an hour of comedy on Friday night, and an educational session on Saturday afternoon. Both of the Region V International Directors were present, with Dietmar speaking several times, and Michael talking about how to make your club stronger. Jon Greiner (Past International President, he’s from D54) was there, and we had an extended conversation about the history of the Distinguished District Program, as well as how to keep the Board focused on what’s best for the organization, not just for one part.

The C&L award was presented to Deanna Frautschi for her work with many charities. D54 had a special contest to recognize the clubs with the best newsletter, and I thought that was a pretty good idea. I’d include web sites as well, either as another category, or in combination with that.