Attending a Toastmasters conference in Southern Africa is an experience which I’m always grateful for, and I have attended many in the years since I joined Toastmasters, from the West to East and North to South of the Republic.

What I love most is the educational sessions and the opportunity to connect with friends, old and new.

Attending an International Convention is extra special and I always tell people that what we do at a club or District level – contests, elections, training, the flag ceremony and more, gets repeated until we get to the international level. Whilst the glitz and glamour at a convention of well over 2000 people is magnificent,  the rules of the contest are exactly the same as they are at each of our clubs, the flag ceremony is much bigger and when we run the elections at our clubs, they are a microcosm of the elections which we just witnessed in Denver where Matt Kinsey was elected as 2nd Vice President & our own PDG Aletta Rochat was elected by a huge majority to the board as International Director for Region 11.

There were many educational sessions at the Convention & I attended most of them, but my personal favorite was Corey Ciocchetti, a Professor of Business Ethics, and a published author of Inspire Integrity, Chase an Authentic Life.

Here is a picture of me with Corey, and this is his book. 

The networking opportunities are endless, the Convention gives us the opportunity to reconnect with friends from around the world, this year was no different.  I met up with friends and new leaders and members from China, India, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and our own District 74 delegates and other African Districts.  I did meet a lady, a District Director and when I asked where she was from, she replied “the North Pole”…… and she was serious!

Denver was the 4th International Convention that I’ve had the opportunity to attend and I enjoyed it as much as I had enjoyed previous conventions and I’m already planning on going to the 89th Toastmasters International Convention in Paris, France in August 2020

See you there.

Nikki Quinn