District 10 was honored to have Toastmasters International President Michael grace us for almost an entire week. As it turned out, the week was extremely productive for District 10.
It started off Monday with a half hour interview on Reginald A. Sizemore's radio show, where Michael extolled the virtues of the Toastmaster program almost live from his Chicago hotel. Tuesday morning Michael arrived via plane. He and I immediately headed over to Diebold in North Canton, Ohio.
Three Clubs participated in this joint event, including both Diebold Clubs and Toastmasters-In-Green. While there, Michael took over the ice cream truck, He did neglect wearing the pointy ice cream man hat.
After roughly 125.00 in ice cream sales (the equivalent of a new Toastmasters club charter fee) we headed off to a Mexican Lunch with Marsha and Rich Friedman to discuss the District 10 DTM mentoring program.
Once we finished off eight hundred tacos and paid the seven dollar bill including tip, we decided to drive over to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for a little R&R.
Ironically, we did not stop thinking about Toastmasters. Seeing Michael poised next to a bunch of bronze heads made me think about sending this idea into Toastmasters - an International President wing of bronze figurines. Michael thought this was somewhat stupid, although he used a more positive learning environment word than stupid. I heard "stupid". Maybe I should have said Bobbleheads?
We ate, we drank, and we were merry for another hour before shuffling over to Talk-of-the-Town. When we arrived we discovered we could have just eaten, drank and found merriment there instead of going to the hotel lobby. (Notice Bill Simpson, the where's Waldo of District 10 far right).
So ended our first day. I went home, left this picture of myself for the kids so they would remember me, have an idea of what I did that day, and set the alarm for "God Awful Wednesday O'clock". (me top, Michael, lower). Which one would you mistake for a football player?
Wednesday morning, we went to A.M. Akron. Michael gave a 20 minute speech about leadership that almost made me want to run for District Governor again (not really, but it was a good speech).
Our next stop was Beacon Toastmasters. I'd scheduled Michael in to help form the club. However, we had Toastmaster extraordinaire David Green working there, and he'd already finished the charter paperwork. Michael gave a great speech about how the International President goes out to every new club and says hi when they charter. The Beacon Club didn't buy it, but they did enjoy his presentation.
Michael committed to returning if the club had 200 or more members by August 2012. I am not sure where Beacon Toastmasters stands, but based on the amount of enthusiasm in the club, it wouldn't surprise me if they indeed made the 200 mark.
I dropped Michael off at his hotel for a little R&R, then we were off to Stow Toastmasters.
We scheduled Stow to help them get over the 20 member charter mark, but Toastmaster Extraordinaire Pete Punwani and his team had already chartered, so Michael gave a speech about how the International President visits every new club, especially those that start from just an idea and end up sending in charter paperwork. Stow seemed to buy the story.
After the Stow meeting, the Trio (myself, LGET Deonna Gene Moore, and LGM Tony Green) met with Michael and discussed innovative and wonderful ideas for Toastmasters everywhere that only we'd ever thought of and hadn't heard from other people to steal. Michael was quite impressed. He filled up an entire napkin with super suggestions. We called it a day. I did not leave a picture of me doing anything cool for my kids that evening, because, quite frankly, how do you top kneeling on an NFL emblem. I repositioned that one, and set the alarm for Holy Schnikes its Thursday O'clock.
Thursday morning took us out to Canton and Stark Community Toastmasters. Stark presented Michael with a very attractive desktop Toastmasters emblem, along with me picking up our really excellent District 10 signs that were designed by Creative Source Toastmaster Mike Boyd. I can't remember what Michael's speech was about, but I do remember Kim Krajci's comparison of different confectionary items to Toastmaster Leadership roles. Most notable was the pecan role and its comparison to the VP of Membership, as that person is in charge of all the nuts.
At the meeting we met Matt Werstler from Shearer's, and we hopped in the car for the drive over to Brewster and the potato chip factory. This time we really did talk about forming a club, although after meeting Matt, I'm pretty sure if he'd had one extra hour THAT club would have been finished as well, as he is turning in the charter paperwork this week. The best part about visiting Shearer's was getting two giant bags of all kinds of chips to sample. I didn't take any pictures there, but I was good. Instead of a picture of me in a hair net making potato chips, I could just leave my kids some chips this particular evening. I'm sure that went over a lot better than a picture anyhow.
We blew out of Shearer's and drove North West to NASA Glenn Research Center. This was our first Corporate Recognition award of Michael's trip. We met Greg Johnson, the last pilot of the Space Shuttle Program. He accepted the award on behalf of NASA. NASA Toastmaster President Gail Roth set up a number of tours for us. Very interesting! I was amazed at the size of the complex NASA has on the outskirts of Cleveland Hopkins Airport. It is basically its own city!
We ended up scrapping a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in favor of..... Sleep. Ok not really. There was still the party with the DEC, Past Dignitaries, and their families at Bar Louie's in Shaker Heights, Ohio. I wanted to make sure Michael saw every city in District 10 during his visit. The dinner at Bar Louie's was one of my favorite parts of Michael's trip. It was nice to meet spouses, girlfriends, or boyfriends of Toastmasters. Central Division Governor John Niles really did find someone to marry him! (sorry John, had to do it). Hopefully many spouses do not think of Toastmasters as "the other man/woman anymore. Thursday evening, I got to set my alarm for after a rooster crows O'clock for once.
Friday morning we meandered down to Fairlawn, Ohio and presented a Corporate Recognition award to Sterling Jewelers.
It was quite an extravaganza. While we did not get to tour a diamond mine, we did get to meet a lot of Toastmasters that were true Gems!
The only item left on the itinerary at this point besides the two day spring conference, was our final corporate recognition visit to Progressive in Mayfield Heights. Progressive has three clubs in our District. My favorite is Good Night Toastmasters. They used to meet from 11:30 PM to 12:30 AM, making them the only club in the World that I know of that meets for two days!
In the lobby of Progressive, there is a group of monk statues. I don't recall exactly what the plaque says, but there are roughly two hundred of these little guys with their mouths open in a variety of poses and they are singing. It is mentioned on the write-up they were all world leaders. We decided to add one to the display.
Yes, the International President has a good sense of humor. One of our other fun pictures was this train in Akron Quaker Square. The flipped back tie was my idea.
We did have an award to present at Progressive.
While you might think this was a full week, remember, the conference started this very evening. Yes sir. Two more days with Toastmasters! While it may have been tiring, it was fun. Michael Notaro is a fantastic example of what Toastmasters is all about. His ability to remember people's names was something to behold. He truly sets a standard of excellence for all future leaders. When I grow up, which I am assuming at this point will be never, I want to be Michael Notaro.
Dave Wiley
