I did attend the Friday night and Saturday night portions of the District 30 Spring Conference held this past weekend.  During the day on Saturday, I was at Broken Arrow in Lockport playing a round in my singles golf group, with no plans of finding out who won the D30 elections that morning until I returned to the conference that night.  Well we had a lightning delay, so I ended up calling someone at the conference with the news.  The two candidates I did not want to see win did and I got upset about it as the incoming LGM definitely was not well known and the incoming LGET who I couldn’t stand had crediblilty issues among others who I talked to over the last year.  That person seemed to have gone around all Friday night as if he’s trying to pander them for their votes, as if he was doing anything and saying anything to get elected.  So after I hung up, I threw my cellphone against a brick wall.  It looked smashed but got it back together and it still works!  While many in my outing decided to pack it in as they thought the weather could get worse, I along with most of my foursome continued the round, which I felt was necessary to get my mind off of the elections.  And it seemed to help my game as I scored better since the delay.

My initial plans at the conference was seeing both the Table Topics and International Speech contests and being at the DTM ceremony where we had five people who received their ribbons.  I really wanted to be there for two of the five, Ron Lorsch and Keri Silk, both who I’ve known very well over the years.  I did not have any intention to do much at the conference, say hi to some old friends and meet some newer folks and stay in the sidelines as my days of having any role in a conference are long over.  Sherry Jost, one of my Area Governors who was an unsuccessful candidate for Division Governor, along with current District 30 Governor Pat Martin, mentioned about having me be part of the District 30 Wall of Fame as the 2005 D30 Toastmaster of the Year.  I replied “that was 4 years ago, I’m irrelevant in District 30 these days and I’d like to keep it that way!”

Well not long after I showed up at the Saturday night portion of the conference, Past D30 Governor Hugh Dunbar, who was the Chief Judge for the International Speech Contest, asked me to be a judge for the contest.  Having served as the Chief Judge for that contest two years ago, be one of the judges the year before that, and the Tiebreaking Judge even several years ago, I wouldn’t mind seeing different people getting the experience of serving as a judge for the most prestigious contest we have.  Hugh was someone who helped me out when I was Southwest Division Governor years ago as it was his home Division, and has encouraged me to stay involved in District 30 the last couple of years in spite of my problems with the people running D30 and their priorities.  So I accepted serving as a contest judge, which made me somewhat relevant in District 30, at least for that night.

But what made my comment that I was irrelevant to District 30 more contradicting was that I spent plenty of time at the conference discussing Toastmasters with many of the attendees, whether it is old friends that I haven’t seen or talked often or those who I only met last weekend.  I planned to leave the hotel both nights right after the contests, however I ended up staying longer because I still was talking with different people.  Saturday night’s contest ended just before 10pm, I left the hotel just after midnight!

When I talked with those who are currently serving as an Area or a Division Governor, I asked them how they liked their job and mentioned some of my stories from my days in those positions that may relate to theirs.  For those who I’ve known for years, we discussed about District 30 and Toastmaster International issues as well as what we’ve done since we last met and what our future plans are.  Many of them, even a few who barely know me were asking me questions such as:

  • When will you ever become District Governor?
  • When are you going to be involved in District 30 again?
  • How come we don’t see you much anymore?  We used to see you around a lot!

I even had a couple of suggestions to run off the floor against the current Lt. Governor of Education and Training for District 30 Governor as I’ve heard many people having concerns about his work (or lack thereof) in his current and previous Top 3 positions.  Well my replies to all of that appear in previous blog entries.

I realized after I left the conference that I do spend more time than I planned to when going to events outside of my clubs, and most of it had to do with talking with others.  There is always something I could learn from them, while I can make some contribution in return.  At the North Division winter officer training a couple of months ago, I was there in case I was needed to train officers.  Since my services were not needed, I planned to leave when training started and after finishing my pizza that was provided there.  Well I ended up leaving an hour later after discussing Toastmaster issues with the District 30 Secretary who is an employee of the facility where the training took place!

I’m still irrelevant in District 30 in terms of having a formal role, but I get the impression that many who know me would disagree with that in general.  It’s hard for me to turn down engaging others in a one-on-one or a small group discussion about Toastmasters, or taking a role in a contest or a conference if it was offered by someone who I greatly respect.  Regardless of whatever problems I have in Toastmasters, there is always something for me in that organization to deal with and that is why it seems impossible for me to ever leave.