One of the biggest gripes some District 30 officers have had with the membership of the district is that many members complain about going far for a Toastmasters event. It can be a suburban member complaining about having to go to a TLI in downtown Chicago, a downtown member having to go to the suburbs to attend a district committee meeting, a member from the northern suburbs having to attend a conference in the south suburbs and vice versa. There are always requests from members to have an event held closer to where they live or work.

They do have a point – comparing to other districts, District 30 covers a very small geographical area. Most other districts cover a much larger area in which going from one end of a district to the other takes a day of driving. For districts outside North America, they span different countries and require flying to reach some places. I’ve heard that some Area Governors in larger districts have to make an overnight trip just to perform a club visit!

The reality, however, as to why some members in District 30 complain about “going far” to an event is that traffic in the Chicagoland area can be really bad in which you could be stuck no matter what direction you are going during rush hour. It doesn’t matter if you are going out of Chicago in the morning or return there in the evening. Many commuters already used or tried to use alternate routes. Some commuters enter or leave work earlier or later in order to beat the traffic, therefore rush hour can be a lot earlier than 7am and 4pm. Many roads are under construction, making commute times in some areas even longer. What can make things complicated for a District 30 member is that many District events take place at locations where public transportation is not adequate or nonexistent.

Whenever a District 30 officer claims that some larger district has better participation that District 30 in an event, the officer overlooks the fact that many people from that larger district usually travel significant distances to do practically ANYTHING, whether it is to do some shopping, watch movies or shows, go to work at an office, etc. They are used to driving long distances, while we in District 30 don’t need to drive far to do these things.

I think the issue when District 30 members complain about going far for a Toastmasters event is whether they are willing to support an event if it is held closer to them. I’ve seen firsthand some contradictions from members in which they ask for some event to be held closer to them, but when another TM event takes place near them, they would not show up! The Northwest 4 Area, where Arlington Heights club belongs to, is notoriously bad. When the Fall 2004 District 30 Conference took place at nearby Elk Grove Village, of the 100 members in the Area at that time only two showed up at all in that conference. One particular club in that Area had members kept complaining to myself and others in D30 that more TM events should be held in the northwest suburbs but NOT A SINGLE MEMBER out of 35 in that club showed up for this particular conference!

My suggestion to District 30 is, if at all possible, to place events in places which have the largest member turnout to events such as the District Conferences and TLIs. When I was the Publicity Chair for the 2006 Spring Conference, which was also held in Elk Grove Village, it appeared that the South Division clubs had the best turnout of all the Divisions in District 30. If that continues to be the case in subsequent events, I think more events should be held in the South Division as a reward for their participation.

For those who complain about going far and demand having an event held close to them, I would suggest to at least make the effort to attend those events close to them and encourage their fellow club members to do the same. Otherwise, what makes District 30 think these folks will show up to a nearby event?