By Jamie Pickering, DTM, District Director

Pop Quiz: What does the D25 Trio, a Sextant, and Dallas all have in common?
Answer: Toastmasters International Mid-Year Training!

The Club Growth, Program Quality, and District Director attend training from TI twice a year. Once preceding the International Convention and then again in January.  This January we were whisked off to lands unknown – Dallas.  For two days we listened, we collaborated, and we walked away with an upgraded toolkit full of ideas to bring back to D25.

Of course, we had a blast – this is us we’re talking about!  During an exceptionally gruesome exercise of prioritizing 15 items needed if lost at sea, a sextant (item used for celestial navigation) among them, we quickly discovered you had a better chance of survival if working with a team and not alone.  We properly poked fun at each other deciding who was going to be sacrificed first to eat.  I was chosen for this honor, but they’d start with the legs so I could still lead.  We even decided, jokingly, if all else failed we knew who the kindle for our signal fire would be using our limited supplies.  I can’t blame them, we’re were lost at sea, you do what you need to do to stay alive.

Through budgeting exercises, role transfer brainstorming, core value alignment, and much more we learned and shared information with 15 other districts.  We made friends and promised we’d see them again at the TI convention in Paris, but more importantly the bond was strengthened between Bobby, Chris, and me this weekend.  We proved that together we can do anything, and I would do anything for these two, even if it means giving up my femur so they can survive.

I’m excited to say that both my legs are still intact, and I did make it safely home after the trip to the unknown.  Now it’s time to action all our new tools while we Celebrate You, Seventy Years Strong!