It was fitting that outgoing 2015-16 Founder’s District Director, Pan Kao, set the tone for a fun and varietal Founder’s District Installation Dinner for the new district council as Founder’s District found itself back at the Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel in the 9th floor ballroom.
He instructed each audience member to fold up blue pieces of paper to ultimately make paper airplanes after instructing everyone to write down an audacious goal that pertains to their leadership position going into the 2016-17 Toastmasters International year. After the folding was done, blue paper airplanes were flying everywhere as if the Blue Angels were part of the festivities. It was as fun as much as it was a great message by Pan to dream big as part of the leadership opportunities all the incoming leaders have going into 2016-17.
One can only wonder what some of the content was that was written by the wide array of leaders that were represented there during the night. It was a diverse crowd of established leaders, past leaders of certain posts and the aspiring new leaders that want to keep the momentum of Founder’s District going.
Along those lines, it was a Founder’s star-studded event as put on by the Past District Governor’s Club that is home to some of the greatest leaders Founder’s District has ever had. The master of ceremonies was the outgoing President of the club as well as outgoing Area D-2 Director, Richard Snyder, who was masterful at keeping the audience engaged while also ensuring the event would end on time, which it did. You did a great job, Richard!
All that said, what’s a Founder’s District installation ceremony without the use of props?
As some of the leaders of yesteryear took the responsibility of installing the Founder’s District leaders of tomorrow, they took it upon themselves to ensure that the installation was both creative for the new leaders while being entertaining for the audience as it occurred.
For instance, Charley Patton installed Debi Morales as the incoming Finance Manager in which he presented her with a green-tinted plastic visor that both symbolizes Debi’s chief responsibility this year in terms of handling the district’s funds along with helping Debi to cover her eyes as she prefers being out of the spotlight. Nice going, Charley!
Roberta Perry installed Michelle Bender as the new Public Relations Manager. As part of the installation, Roberta described Michelle as the primary Founder’s District cheerleader. As a result, Michelle was presented with a plastic cheerleader megaphone as well as a book entitled “Contagious”. Great going, Roberta!
Immediate Past Founder’s District Governor, Linda Ulrich, was charged with installing incoming Club Growth North Director, Jill Briscoe. She presented Jill with the Yellow Pages directory to assist her with new club leads as well as the White Pages to assist Jill with new member leads. It looks like Jill has her work cut out for her, especially if she has to lug those two directories around as she makes her rounds. Well done, Linda!
Finally, the person charged with installing incoming District Director, Siri Payakapan, was outgoing Vice President of Education of the Past District Governor’s Club and current International Director, Ede Ferrari-D’Angelo. Ede spoke of the importance of integrity for Siri as well as all the leaders of the district council. She remarked that what the leaders of Founder’s District going forward will be primarily remembered for is the integrity they’ll apply to doing their respective jobs more so than the accomplishments they may generate. It’s a great point, Ede, and we’re lucky to have you as such a wise and dedicated Toastmaster!
During Siri’s inaugural speech, she spoke of how she’s been expanding her horizons as she has climbed up the leadership ladder to get to where she is today as the theme of the event was “Expand Your Horizons.” It’s going to be important that the rest of the leadership council follow her example because with leadership comes great opportunities to make a difference and great responsibility to shoulder as part of ensuring that all Founder’s District members benefit from the mission that Toastmasters entrusts into each leader regardless of the district. Siri’s indefatigable spirit and passion for Founder’s District will be the beacon that shines brightly on all Founder’s District members throughout the course of this upcoming year. As a council, we are very excited to walk this journey with you, Siri, and look forward to learning from and assisting you in this mission. Congratulations!
At the end of the day, Founder’s District is finishing the year strong and gaining momentum going into 2016-17. Under the guidance of Siri, Program Quality South Director Dan Cossack, Program Quality North Director Karen Lucas, Jill Briscoe and her partner, Club Growth South Director Diana Dee, it’s going to be a strong year of maintaining and adding to the excellence of Founder’s District as well as transitioning in earnest to the up-and-coming Century District.
Special recognition and gratitude goes out to Director Pan and his 2015-16 executive council including Program Quality Director Siri, Club Growth Director Dan Cossack, Immediate Past Governor Linda Ulrich, Public Relations Manager Jill Briscoe, Administration Manager Linda Denton, Finance Manager Alexander Ruiz and Logistics Managers Brent Felsted and Kenneth Olson.
On to 2016-17 with audacious props in tow…