Chicago has been hit with really bad weather this winter, with this past week having some snow and really freezing temperatures, going down to -10 Farenheit later that week.  For the Arlington Heights club meeting that Wednesday evening, there was a discussion among the officers about whether to go forth with the meeting or cancel as some snow was falling that morning and temperatures were dropping below zero that evening.  My reply was that if as long as snow is not falling that evening, the roads are mostly clear from snow and we only have the cold weather to deal with, we should not cancel the meeting unless the museum where we meet decided to not open that night.  Here in Chicago, traffic tends to slow down significantly whenever there is snow falling and lots of snow on the ground as opposed to just cold weather.  So we did have the meeting and despite a few cancellations we did have two guests from our December meeting there to submit their applications and one new guest showed up.  One of the new applicants even gave his Icebreaker speech that evening!  Overall we had 12 people at the meeting (which is about the average attendance), including three members who did not sign up for a role prior to the start.

So for areas with winter weather, unless there is a major snowstorm or the meeting facility is closed, make every attempt to keep the scheduled meeting.  For some members who want to give a speech that meeting, it is probably the best chance for them to deliver it after practicing for days prior to the meeting, getting nervous prior to the speech and eagerly awaiting feedback for their performance.  Most importantly, there will be guests that find that day to be the best day to visit a Toastmasters club and not having a meeting can give guests a bad impression not only for the club but for the entire Toastmasters organization to the point they would not bother visiting any Toastmasters club again.  Even if there are only a handful of members present, the guests can learn more about Toastmasters from a small meeting than no meeting at all.