OK, I'm Still Here!

I'm shocked that it's been almost 6 weeks since I've blogged.

Time has definitely whizzed by lately. Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.

When I signed up to be a Toastmasters Area Governor, I didn't realize how much work it would be. I have 6 clubs in my area, and they run the gamut from brand new to 20 years old. One has 32 members, and 2 have less than 10 members. I was told that the minimum was to visit each club twice a year and send in a report for each visit. I could do that.

I found that to be an effective area governor, it takes much more than that. It started with the first month when I had to nag my clubs to get their officer lists updated on the Toastmasters website followed by making sure the officers are trained. Then it was club contests and teaching them about the Distinguished Club Program. That was followed by Area contests and club dues being due. Then the Division Contest and the Conference, and the holidays. The cycle started over again.

It's been a very busy time. Last week I attended 7 Toastmaster functions in 8 days. It seems everything hit in the same week, contests, training, meetings, committee meetings, you name it.

There is absolutely no Toastmaster meeting this coming week. It seems weird. I think this is the first week since July 1 that I have absolutely no meeting on my calendar.

I've been so busy with Toastmasters things that I haven't had time to do the Jim Rohn Personal Development Program. My subscription to it finally ended last week. Fifty-two weeks and I haven't done much of it at all.

My craziness will end June 30 when this Toastmasters year ends. Then I can finish some of the other projects that will help me earn the Distinguished Toastmaster, DTM, that I'm working to earn.

I have to give 5 more speeches to earn a Competent Communicator (CC), a Advanced Communicator Silver (ACS), and my High-Performance Leadership (HPL) Project (Slick Talkers 20th Anniversary). And I have to finish 7 projects to earn another Competent Leader (CL) award.

As an Area Governor, I am to encourage my clubs to do what is required to earn a Distinguished Club (DCP) award. Most are fairly new, and the others are hurting, so I spent 2.5 hours this evening writing emails to the members of each of 5 clubs encouraging them to step forward if they are close to earning a CC so their club will earn points toward the DCP.

If I can get them to make sure they turn in their membership dues by April 1, earn 8 CCs, 2 ACs, and 3 clubs become Distinguished, I'll earn a Distinguished Area award. It would be nice. I hope my encouragement helped. I offered to help as much as I can.