Page 12 - December 2020 Voices

PJ’s PERSPECTIVE

Brand New Year

PJ Kleffner, DTM - District Director

I have heard people say they would like to press going to a concert or the theater, and attending

the “reset” button on 2020 and have a do-over, in-person Toastmasters meetings.
while others have said “No way, no how. I just With current projections for when we will
want to see 2020 as a distant memory in my rear achieve herd immunity against Covid-19, it is
view mirror.” I tend to belong more to the second unlikely that we will resume widescale, in-person

camp, and want to find ways that we can move meetings during the rest of our 2020-2021
forward. Fortunately, two events occurred as I Toastmasters year. That means we must adapt to
write this that are moving us in that direction. our circumstances and figure out how to thrive
Through the magic of live television, we saw in the online environment, which includes

the first person in the United States receive a attracting new members. We had a lot
Covid-19 vaccination, and the Electoral New
College confirm Joseph Biden as our next Visitor Member
President. While some of our citizens, New Visitor

including fellow Toastmasters, take issue with Member
either or both of these events, I believe they are
necessary steps in returning to some semblance of discussion during the District Council meeting
of normal. in September about advertising. Those of you

Normal is not going back to the way things who follow us on Facebook may have noticed
were pre-Covid. Many retailers were already that we recently started running “boosted
getting clobbered by online competition, and postings” and ads on that platform. We also
Covid was just the final nail in the coffin for the plan to start running ads on Google very soon.

countless businesses that have closed and will A major challenge for advertisers is finding
never return. Shopping online may be the new their target market or audience. In my home
normal, but there are some activities that I will Club, we always ask visitors how they found
be happy to resume, including sharing a meal us or what brought them to Toastmasters. We

with friends in a loud, fully-packed restaurant, discovered that many of our visitors came from

12 ONE COMMUNITY