4squareviews

For those who are in Toastmasters in the Chicagoland area, there is an event happening today and tomorrow which I personally call “Disneyland for Toastmasters” called the Spring Conference.

The Spring Conference takes place on Friday  evening and all day Saturday evening, 4/29 and 4/30, respectively.

The reason why we are doing the conference in one and a half days is because there is too much going on to have it in a single day.

Here’s what’s on the menu for the conference program today:

• Achiever’s Breakfast
• Opening Ceremony/Parade of Banners
• Area Director Recruiting Station
• Workshop by Past International President Jana Barnhill (Keynote Speaker)
• New Member Orientation
• Business Meeting/District Leader Elections
• Club Awards Ceremony
• International Speech Contest
• Dinner keynote speech:   Soar for Your Success by Jana Barnhill
• Distinguished Toastmaster installation ceremony

The highlights of today were;

• Getting my Triple Crown award at the Achiever’s Breakfast, an award for getting three educational awards from Toastmasters in a single year.   I got the Leadership in Excellence award, the Advanced Leadership Silver award, and the Distinguished Toastmasters Award all in the same year, which qualified me for the Triple Crown award as well.
• I enjoyed all of the talks by Jana Barnhill on leadership, including her last dinner keynote speech on Soar for Your Success
• At the busines meeting, I was elected Director of the South Division.
• I sat by my fellow Windy City Professional Speakers Club member Nancy Depcik in the hallway as she awaited her turn as the last speaker out of nine in the International Speech Contest.   I told her stories to get her mind off of the impending contest, which she said helped her relax and stay focused rather than worrying about the applause, laughs, or other reactions the other speakers were getting.   Finally, at dinner I found out at the announcements for the winners that Nancy Depcek came first in the District and is going on to Washington for the World Championship of Public Speaking.
• I got my DTM medallion in a ceremony where I shook the hand of every person in District 30 who has a DTM award already, welcoming me into the family as it were.

It was a great experience, I think I’ll be processing what went on to do for months to come!

Filed under: Uncategorized |