"HAMILTON CONFERENCE REPORT"

On the weekend of the 3rd-5th May Marc (with his wife Kerry-a Napier Club member),Patrick and Craig(with his wife Jan) attended the Annual (and inaugural) District 112 Conference in Hamilton.The theme of the conference was "New Beginnings" appropriate for the first  District 112 Conference after the split of New Zealand into two Toastmaster's Districts from 1st June 2018.


There were many highlites from the Conference but one of the main things our members were looking at was what went well- and what could be done better as next May the Conference is to be held right here in Napier (1st-3rd May 2020 with a 'FOCUS 2020' theme).

The Conference was host to the Toastmaster's International President Lark Doley DTM and she was a real star of the show, giving a Keynote address, an Educational Workshop and being ever present for members to talk to and making presentations. Known as the "Golden Lady" as her theme is that Toastmaster is a "golden opportunity" for people to enhance many skills in an empathic environment. She also dresses in 'gold' and her energy and enthusiasm appears boundless.

Held at the Distinction Hotel (Te Rapa), an excellent venue, the conference included four Educational Workshops (two of which were run by Overseas Toastmasters- from Australia and USA) the four Speech Contests (Table Topics-1st Peter Harrington: Evaluation- 1st Cliff Hall; Humorous-1st Gerald Hulst and International Speech Contest won by Kingi Biddle. Kingi has won this Contest twice before and now goes on to the Regional Final to decide who represents this region in the "World Championship" of Speaking in Denver, Colorado in August. Kingi has previously finished runner-up in the "World Championship". There were eight Contestants in each Contest representing the eight Divisions in District  112.

Also held was the District 112 Council Meeting an important part of the Conference for the successful running of the District and also this includes Election of the District Officers for the next 12 months. The incoming District Director will be Sharon Kerr-Phillips DTM. As a matter of interest the Division we are in Division R does not currently have a nomination for Division Director and our Area R3 does not have a nomination for Area Director. Think about it!! A great learning and Leadership experience!! By the way , many will not know that our very own Laurel did a tremendous amount of work for the District over the past few months, in taking nominations and interviewing all those standing for District Office, a demanding and time consuming role.

Two personal highlites for the author were the Humorous Speech Contest (held on the Saturday evening and really tremendous entertainment from all eight marvellous speakers) and being one of the only four recipients of a District Citation for services to Toastmasters with a  beautiful plaque to remember the event. I actually nominated someone for a Citation (not myself!!) and to receive one personally was mind blowing and very much with the assistance of all the Toastmasters I have come into contact with over many years and several Clubs. Thank you one and all.

Well, the next Conference is in Napier, so mark your Diaries NOW, you will not be disappointed and will never have one so close to home, FIRST WEEKEND IN MAY 2020- FOCUS!!!