It was everything I expected it to be, and more – which I also expected.

I wrote last week about the Toastmasters District Conference I would be attending over the weekend – my first in Georgia, although I attended many when I lived in Minnesota.

I expected to see a few people there whom I already knew, as well as to meet and get to know many others – and I did. I expected the educational sessions to be not only educational, but inspiring and entertaining – and they were. I expected to learn more about Pathways, a new program Toastmasters International rolled out last year – and I did, although there’s much more I need to learn before I’m totally comfortable with it. But that’s to be expected.

Over the course of the weekend, a few things happened that I didn’t expect. One is that I would win not one, but two of the prizes, donated by different clubs and businesses, that were raffled off throughout the conference. Another is that a conversation with a young man from Jamaica would end up providing a title for the book I’m writing about my first trip to Uganda.

This doesn’t even scratch the surface of what I did and learned, and of everything that went on at the conference.  But it should help you see why I was looking forward so much to attending. It gave me – as I expected it would – an opportunity to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of others. It allowed me to meet and network with people who have interests and experiences that mirror some of my own. And it provided me with ways to sharpen the skills I use not only in Toastmasters, but in many areas of my life.

As you can probably tell, I thoroughly enjoyed my first District Conference here. I expect it to be the first of many.

May 3, 2019
©Betty Liedtke, 2019

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