Inquiring Minds at the District Conference

Years ago, I borrowed a wonderful Table Topics idea from the Toast of Shell; I call them "pop psychology topics." Some of my favorite topics included: "life is like a Metro bus" and "happiness is like an apple." Over the weekend, I learned a new one: "The 1991 Spring District Conference was like a newspaper." Newspapers have sections which cover sporting contests, political news, food, business reports, entertainment, religion/philosophy, and pets. The 1991 Conference also had all of these things. As someone caught in the middle of the swirl of activities, here's a collage of my highlighted memories.

• The M. W. Kellogg Company's majestic Quality and Toastmaster display.
• Toni Howard and Mary Baker ubiquitously run the show perfectly.
• Mary's husband, Victor Montalbano, a fantastic host at the casino party in Justin's.
• Mary and Victor's seductively cute pooch, Luciano, who distracted my wife for significant amounts of petting.
• The debate -- the candidates explained why they were fantastic, and the phrases began to run together.
• "Gee, I Love Toastmasters!!" and "Jean, Jean the Winning Machine!!"
• 7:00 breakfast meeting with good turnout (of course, I think any group over a dozen at 7:00 am constitutes a good turnout).
• 'Bert presenting our semiannual report: District 56 is third in the world if we stay on track. However, if things had stopped as of April 30, we would only have been about number 47. (This is our incentive to maintain our high performance rate.)
• Keynote speaker Mark Victor Hansen's fresh and invigorating style (just right to start things off).
• His basic message: if you want to be a success, then just do it, and if you aren't a success, then you're not doing it right (my summary of many groups' consensus, not his).
• Overhearing running debates as to how commercial can a speaker be without becoming crass and obnoxious (and when did Mark Hansen reach that point).
• Bavarian cream doughtnuts in the hospitality room gave me enough sugar to reach the luncheon.
• As an evaluation contestant, I remember Terri Saunders' test speech and little else.
• I was the third speaker and heard only Dr. Alan Griffin and Mike O'Krent; they were very good (they also won 1st and 2nd).
• Preparing for the Business meeting after lunch.
• Swarms of eye-catching Linda Carter T-shirts.
• Business meeting -- can you say "L-O-N-G" and "exhausting?"
• Exemplary Parliamentarian, Charles England.
• Neat to see Ann Wuori, Willie Trejo, Jeff Riggs, and Paula Tunison together once more (the first ones who, over the years, had served as two of my three Toastmaster heroes.
• Linda Carter inexorably and inevitably inching towards the magic majority, frantically holding back a rocketing steamroller named Don Samp to win on the fourth ballot by seven votes.
• "Boyce did it!"
• Gratefulness that Jean Riggs, Guy Jones, and Sharon Sharp ran unopposed.
• Class of the meeting to me: Don was nominated to run against Jean Riggs, moments after losing, and having the graciousness to step aside. (Isn't it so distasteful to see people gone from office trying to clutch to its power and maintain control rather than let the new wave have their turn to learn the lessons of leadership?)
• Tom Carter with a magnificently polished and professional presentation on success (Good luck at Regionals).
• Noticing that the top three speakers all spoke about their philosophy of success.
• The one speech with a more unique message, and the one which I will still remember next year (and even ten years from now): Lee Rushing's Little Red Record. It told of his memories and love towards his Grandfather, the simple things they did which mean so much to him, now, and his encouragements to us to be a similar, special someone to the children in our lives.
• The food at both contests (barbeque at lunch and cornish game hens at dinner) was better than at any other Conference I remember.
• 'Bert saying "I don't want to go." (Don't worry, 'Bert, you don't have to go as far as Paula did.)
• Mike Roth evaluated my and Karen Mayfield's evaluations ... with compliments. I know he's discriminating in his praise, and it made me feel so fantastic.
• Mike Roth received the David Abel Award for Excellence, and it somehow seemed appropriate.
• Seeing so many of my friends throughout the weekend, especially Paula Price from San Antonio, who made my first term as President such a success when she was still in Houston.
• Preparations already beginning for next year: Eloise Latson already recruiting me to help with Toastmasters University.
• I loved it, and it will take another six months to recuperate, I'm sure!