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Ten (10) top Reasons to Attend the Spring Conference 2016

District 30 Toastmasters covers the Chicagoland area (the city and surrounding suburbs) and here is the official list of the top 10 reasons for attending, according to the District 30 website.

10. Hospitality of the Skokie Holiday Inn–rather than stay late Friday night and get up early Saturday morning, stay at the Holiday Inn and be able to RELAX and enjoy the event!

9. Comedian Dobie Maxwell–showing how a professional entertainer gets the crowd to laugh

8. District 30 Toastmasters Got Talent Show–I tried to enter this event, but it was so popular, that the entry list was closed weeks beforehand.   Better luck in the Fall!

7. Network and have F-U-N!–I see all the people I’ve come to know over the past half-year, and I get to meet a lot of new ones.

6. Awesome Educational Sessions–learning how to be a better speechwriter?   How do use improvisational techniques in your speeches?    Do you want to learn how to do a High Performance Leadership Project?   Do you want to learn how to become a professional speaker?  Come to the educational sessions and find out!

5. Table Topics and International Speech Contest–these contests started back in January at the club level.    For those of us who have been behind the scenes running Area and/or Division Contests, it is thrilling to see people who have improved their club level speech when going to the area level, and then who have improved their area level speech when going to the division level.    Now the division finalists need to improve one more time to go to the district competition.    So it like seeing your child go from Little League to the World Series!

4. To SOAR For Your Success!–get inspired by the examples of speakers and leaders to finish the rest of the Toastmaster year in style.

3. Proudly Carry the Club Banner in the Parade of Banners–strut your stuff for your club!

2. Hear Keynote Speaker Jana Barnhill, DTM, PDG, AS, PID, PIP–her Toastmaster pedigree is longer than her name.   One of the pioneering women of Toastmasters will distill for us the experience she has gained and give us advice on how to be better leaders.

1. To Share Your Own Uniqueness–each person has their personality, and each club does as well.   Meet the individuals who have taken their membership and made it into a thing of beauty by adding their own personality to the mix!

I would add an additional reason for going to the Spring Conference, and that is because I am running for a Division Director position and am going to be giving my “stump speech” at the Business Meeting.    In addition, the business meeting will discuss many important topics, such as how District 30 will split into two during the coming year:   one district will be downtown Chicago and the South Suburbs, and one district will be all of the surrounding suburbs except the South Suburbs.    It’s not a punishment, it’s a reward as a result of the constant growth that the District 30 Chicagoland has displayed in the past few years.   It has reached the “magic” number of 240 clubs, which according to our parent organization Toastmasters International, is where a district needs to consider splitting in order to create districts that are manageable.

It will be a two-day Toastmasters version of Disneyland, in my opinion, and I look forward to enjoying every moment.   One of the main reasons why is ANOTHER reason for going to the Spring Conference, namely, to get presented with a medallion in recognition of the fact that after 5 years in Toastmasters, I am finally going to achieve the highest level of personal achievement, namely, the Distinguished Toastmaster award!    At first when I joined I thought becoming a DTM was like going to the top of Mount Everest.   No, I realize now that it is in reality just base camp.    There’s a whole mountain range awaiting for me, as Jana Barnhill, PIP (Past International President) can attest to!

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