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FROM THE DESK












      We Gotter Done! Next Challenge!





      Eldred Brown, DTM - Program Quality Director




      WOW! It’s done! The first-ever online District  was really going on.
      7 Conference is now in the past, and it was a  This allowed our

      success! A big shout-out to Lyle Schellenberg  audience to see
      and his team of volunteer leaders for putting  quite the chaotic
      the whole event together and making it the  scene during the ten
      extravaganza it was! What were some of the  minutes or so before

      leadership lessons I learned from the event?           the International
                                                             Speech Contest on
      Strong leadership helps.                               Saturday as contest staff
          Our conference chair had many years of  were all “running around”

      leadership experience under his belt, but he  barking out orders to get all
      had never chaired a committee responsible for  the pieces in place at the
      planning a big event. He knew how to lead a  last minute. Yes, even
      team, but he wanted the experience of planning  the best planned

      a huge event so he could “cross that off his bucket  contests have these moments, but we could have
      list.” People with such initiative and drive as Lyle  shielded you from a lot of that if I insisted on
      consistently showed may not know at first what  greater accuracy in our published start time.
      they’re getting themselves into and will stumble
      a few times to start, but they learn quickly. Give  Communicate, communicate, communicate!

      them the opportunity and the direction, and                On Friday evening, the half-hour before
      they will thrive. The experience will also help  Jana’s speech was supposed to be a time for
      them become better-rounded leaders, which is  networking and conversation. Our Zoom team

      why so many long-time Toastmasters stay in  was not aware of that because I failed to ensure
      Toastmasters. There’s always a new opportunity  that that detail was communicated to them.
      to grow.                                               Mea culpa! (We fixed that on Saturday morning,
                                                             though.)

      Trust, but verify.                                         The conference didn’t run perfectly—we
          We had a few discrepancies between  had a few hiccups—but it was amazing to watch
      published and actual start times that led some  how well it did work. Fortunately, the hiccups
      people to become quite confused about what  of running an online conference (for the first




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