Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well.

 

            I am super excited to say that we had a successful virtual Fall Leadership Conference. An amazing featured speaker and presentations from our assistant governors are what truly made the conference successful. Since the conference was virtual this year, our committee decided to move from the full-day format that we were used to. Instead of dividing everybody into breakout sessions where the AGs would teach the material, we had our main presentations and then breakout sessions where the AGs would facilitate a discussion about the presentations the Interactors and advisors just saw. Our two main presentations focused on utilizing social media to grow an Interact club and safe community service projects. Our featured speaker Dr. Sarah Tuberty gave an inspiring talk about overcoming adversity, adapting to change, and finding your why. We also had presentations on the new D5495 Environmental Committee and Volunteer Hero, a website for tracking community service hours that one of our own AGs is developing. I really believe that the people who attended the conference went away inspired and ready to lead their clubs through this pandemic.

 

           

We struggled to meet our goal of 150 registrations for the conference through a combination of lack of communication or clubs not meeting because of COVID. In the end, though, the council pulled through and got over 100 registrations. I got to sit in a couple of the breakout rooms and observe the AGs, and I am very proud of how well they handled both leading a discussion and leading one online. For most of the council, this was their first time speaking at a district conference, and they did an excellent job.

 

            With FLC now completed, our next big conference to plan for is the Interact District Conference. That conference is open to everyone and is where we do service projects like Crutches 4 Africa and have breakout sessions about being an Interactor and the 4 Way Test. Our main challenge this year is whether it will have to be online as well. We hope we can have that conference in person, and we just have to hope we can find a facility that will host us and that the world is in a safer place. 

 

If you would like to connect with your Interact clubs, we can connect you with the club and the Assistant Governor assigned to the club. You can always contact me at ashtonkling34@gmail.com or Art at arthts@msn.com. Don’t forget that Interact is the start of the chain that leads all the way to Rotary.

 

         Thank you, and stay safe!