The First District 13 Conference Ever

Last night we held our first Greensburg Toastmasters hybrid meeting. It didn’t go off without a hitch. We had our struggles at the beginning, trying to get the virtual crowd logged into Zoom. The Courthouse’s public WiFi wasn’t cooperating with us.

We started 15 minutes late and we had two excellent speakers. Our table topics were all about cliches. It was nice to see everyone in person and to be able to talk face to face with guests and members. We welcomed two new members last night too. One will be giving their ice breaker speech at our next meeting on August 18. We also heard from our Area 24 Director, Yasmin Brown, and in her email, mentioned club contests. It won’t be long until contest season is upon us.

District 13 was born on September 1, 1942 when members from the four clubs got together at the Greensburg YMCA. They also elected their first district officers. The first District conference was held on October 15, 1942 at the Penn Albert Hotel in Greensburg (near the Amtrak Train Station 🚉)

Each club gave panel presentations and, save for Jeannette’s presentation, these could be used today at a Toastmasters event. The afternoon keynote speaker was from District 10 in northeastern Ohio and was also serving as an International Director for Toastmasters. The big treat was the main keynote speaker being the founder of Toastmasters, Ralph Smedley. He congratulated those on attendance as they helped form the newest District in Toastmasters.

Other notable guests included the heads of Greensburg’s Rotary Club, Lions, and Kiwanis clubs.