Page 12 - June 2020

FROM THE DESK

Counting Down 3-2-1 . . .

PJ Kleffner, DTM

Program Quality Director

Yes, this Toastmasters year is almost a wrap.
Done. Finito. Finished. Stick a fork in it. However

you want to say it, our 2019-2020 year has been
a wild ride since I joined the Trio in October. I
feel like I’ve come full circle. I started my term
organizing the Winter TLI, and now we are days world will be a very different place when this is

away from Summer TLI. finally over, and that includes our Toastmasters
However, getting from Point A to Point B was experience.
anything but a straight line—Covid-19 made We have learned a lot in the last few months.
sure of that. As Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over We are getting very good at meeting online.

till it’s over,” and it’s anybody’s guess when that We had speech contests, our annual District
will be. Measures like social distancing, masks, meeting, District officer elections, open houses,
and contact tracing help mitigate the spread, and very soon, our first ever online Toastmasters
but the numbers keep climbing. The worldwide Leadership Institute. Our lexicon now includes

death toll is approaching half a million with over phrases like Zoom Master, Zoom bombing, and
eight million cases. The long-term solution is an “You’re still muted!”
effective vaccine, which is still months or years The irony is not lost that we were all forced
away, depending on who you ask. to go online as next month marks the complete

The pandemic has also devasted the transition to the online Pathways program. On
worldwide economy, which will take years, or the brighter side, this may help some of our
even decades, to recover. Many businesses will members who have been reluctant to take the
never recover and have closed permanently. Our technology plunge adapt to the changing times.

12 ONE COMMUNITY