This is it.  The recap that you have been waiting for.  Or is it? I don’t know if you were anxiously sitting around your computer wondering “When is Kyle going to get that recap posted?”  Whether this was you or not, it is all finished.  And the best part about it is that you don’t have to wait for it!  At the end of the weekend, it’s all finished.  The recap is ready to read. All 1690 words.  Are you ready?

This was my experience from the conference that I attended this weekend.  The Spring Conference aftermath from the Toastmasters District 62 Spring Conference at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan: April 27 2024.

First of all, the theme.  To change gears, the theme for Kalamazoo’s Spring Conference was “Where Leadership Takes Flight”.  And from my experience, there was plenty of places to soar from all the runways that I have taken off from in the past.  How so?  Listen to me as I will share my stories about this exciting weekend full of food, speaking and networking.

First of all, the name of the theme was decided because of the location of the conference.  With it being at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, we wanted to go with a leadership theme centered around aviation. This was also integrated into the keynote that our International Director spoke about.

So what about the weekend?  It begins with the journey.

My journey consisted of a really long 155 miles to the Main Street Pub in Portage.  I had to drive down M-30.  This was the first leg.  After I got to M-46, I turned right.  I then turned left on Barry Road, right on Washington, left onto South Ransom Road, right onto East Cleveland Road, and left onto US-127.  This was the second leg. I drove down US-127, staying on it until I got to exit 82B.  The next leg consisted of West Bound I-69.  I then took exit 97 to merge onto South Bound I-69.  After that, I took exit 38 to merge onto West Bound I-94.  Finally, I took exit 76 for Westnedge Avenue.  I then followed South Westnedge Avenue until I got to the Main Street Pub.

Once at the restaurant, I saw Avar Laws Wright at an empty table in a private room.  My brother and I were the first ones there.  Mostly everyone showed up and I helped myself to Pub Tater Tots, Fried Mushrooms, Broccoli Bites, and Onion Rings.  For my main course, I had the Loaded Burrito with tortilla chips, salsa, sour cream, black bean salsa, Spanish Rice, and the World’s Best Chocolate Cake for dessert.  We played one game which was a quiz to determine how much we knew about District Director Laura St. Louis.  I failed miserably, only getting 7 out of the 15 questions right.   I also received a coffee mug as a prize from Amy for helping Co-Chair the Conference.  To my shock, my dinner was entirely paid for by Avar, since she wanted to cover both mine and Amy’s meal expense for serving as Conference Co-Chairs.  Since I was so full from desert, I took a chocolate cupcake back with me in a take out container that the waitress provided.

After the District Director Reception ended, I made my way to the Springhill Suites.  I only had to drive 2.8 miles to get there.  I stayed on South Westnedge Avenue and turned left onto Trade Centre Way.  After parking in the parking lot, I got out and entered the hotel to check in.

I checked in and took the elevator to the 5th floor.  I then went down the hallway and found my room:  424.  I took the key, scanned the door, and entered.

Upon entering, I saw just a wonderful suite with two beds.  Here is a picture of the HDTV.

The furnishings were amazing.  A couch, a nice office desk with glass dividers on the other side, a hidden cabinet with a fridge, two queen-sized beds, a phone with a charge station, an HDTV and a coffee machine.  A very modern and totally awesome suite.

The bathroom was very impressive.  A nice sink and very spacious.   Instead of a regular door, it was a sliding door in maintaining the contemporary theme.  The shower was tall and had a glass door.  Very nice compared to the last room that I blogged about.

At the end of the room towards the window was the closet, which I used to hang my belongings.

So as to not overdo it on the room, let get to the meat.  Or vegetables if you’re a vegetarian.  After getting situated in the room, I decided to call it a night and go to bed.  With it only being a one-day conference, the event would not officially begin until tomorrow.

I found Lisa Waalkes and got my registration.  After that, I walked up to the second story and down the hallway to one of the three conference rooms that we had for the conference.

I opened the conference, and introduced James Lemke.  James Lemke introduced Region 6 International Director Dawn Frail.  Her speech was titled “Soaring Towards Success”, and it talked about the acronym MAP.  She also talked about Gillian, which she would reveal later on in the speech.  Towards the end, she revealed that this Gillian girl became a famous dancer for Phantom of the Opera and CATS.

After Dawn’s speech, the Evaluation Speech Contest started.  This was led by Taylor Vitale.  Of all the speakers that went, Robyn Schopp came in first place with her evaluation.

Lunch followed, where I was able to enjoy a delicious turkey Club Sandwich with chips and a chocolate chip cookie.

After lunch, I helped Pamela Keim with the testimonials.  Some notable ones that we gathered were from Kyle Bunnelle and Robyn Schopp.

A break out session followed.  I went to Nathan Hickman’s session, titled “Leadership through Listening”.  In the session, Nathan explained how important it was to listen, and he had an exercise where Faith Cooper had to listen to me and I had to listen to Faith.  Overall, we learned how to be, instead of just do.

The International Speech Contest followed.  Overall, there were some really good speakers.  One notable speech was Acacia Bergin’s “Baby You”.  In the end, the winner was Adli Anan.  Adli got first place with a speech where he addresses “The source of Grief and Confort”.  It was a moving speech about how he honored the tough love of his father, no matter how hard it was to love him in his last days.  This blew Fred Johnson’s “Going from Dump Dad to D.U.M.P.E.D. Dad” away, putting him in second place.

While the Business Meeting was supposed to follow the contest, this was held on Thursday night, along with the Candidate Showcase.

After the contest,  Dawn Frail addressed the outgoing Trio and the incoming Division Directors plus the incoming Trio.  Laura St. Louis gave her last speech before handing it over to Kimberly Lynn, the new District Director for the next year.  Kim than gave her speech on saying yes and the fun plans that she has for District 62.

The DTM ceremony followed.  Bruce Frandsen led the ceremony, and there were six new DTM’s that would receive their DTM medallion.  Only two of which were not present to receive it (Owen Monday Jr. was attending virtually and Margaret Sieh, who earned her FOURTH DTM, was not present). I stood in the DTM line and congratulated each new one as they went by (Vicki Harwood, who earned her first DTM).  Other recipients included Josh Winklestein (first DTM), and Laura St. Louis, who earned her third DTM.

The cashbar followed.  After the cashbar was entertainment from Clash Reunion.  They had a few funny improv skits.  Overall, it was pretty entertaining.

After that, the conference was pretty much over.  Everyone was taking everything down since we needed to be out of the Air Zoo by 8:00.

My brother and I then had dinner at Bangkok Flavor, a restaurant about 12 minutes from the Air Zoo.  We split a Crab Rangoon and I had a Thai Tea, with a medium chicken Pad Thai as my main course.

After that, my brother and I decided to call it a night back at the Springhill Suites by Marriott.  We turned in for the night and went to bed.

The next morning, my brother and I went for a swim and then went home afterwards.

If you didn’t have time to read all that, let me give you the short version.  I learned a whole lot this weekend, as did everyone else who was present.  I also got to Co-Chair a conference for once.  With that, I will want someone else to do that for next year.

With that, I will now end…

Twin Muse:  I loved the Leadership Takes Flight theme.  The location for the conference was also good.

Yeah.  I agree.  It was a pretty good theme this year.  Well, I’m finishing, okay?  I believe that I said everything that I needed to.

Twin Muse: I learned a lot from my conference too, but I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well last night so I’m going to take a nap.

Okay.  I’ll let you do that…

Today’s high is going to be 70 degrees and the silver lining is getting this recap done.

To all of you who have ever had a wonderful learning experience, I hope that you all have a fantastic day.

Twin Muse: That conference recap was golden. I loved what I learned at my conference too, but man, am I tired…