On Saturday morning, we both attended the Council of Governors’ General Session. We heard reports from several of the “entities” as they call their official 501(c)3 projects, as well as from the MERL committee and a few others. They were trying to cut down on the number of oral reports from past meetings, and we both felt the results were very good. The meeting flowed right along, and we finished early!
“Lunch with the International Director” was pork loin & scalloped potatoes, with cheesecake for dessert. After lunch, they gave Debra the mike in the center of the room for a Q&A session. She did a great job answering their questions and telling the story of how she became a Lion and got to where she is now. I think everyone was very touched by what she had to say.
After lunch, Debra went to the “Developing Future Leaders” workshop and the “PDGs – Tarnished Brass” meeting. I opted for the MERL/GMT workshop. That was very well run, and they seem to have some very good people in place, and a good plan for retaining & increasing membership, and extending new clubs. I especially liked Lion Trish’s idea of passing out “red dots” to every Lion to remind them to ask someone to a club meeting. That really puts the responsibility right where it needs to be.
The Saturday Governors’ banquet was a formal affair. Most of the men had white dinner jackets, while the lady Governors and PDGs wore their sparklies. Word had gotten out that I was in need of cufflinks, and PCC Mark had graciously gifted me with a beautiful gold & onyx pair with the Lions’ logo in the center, exactly what I had been looking for for many years. Dinner was Prime Rib or Mahi Mahi. I had the rib, while Debra had the fish. We traded broccoli for asparagus.
Debra’s speech went very well, we had added back a few elements from her last year’s speech, but maintained a good flow. It seemed to work, but the Ginkgo part is still a little abstract. We think we’ll try alternating characteristics of the Ginkgo with characteristics of the District. That should make the analogies a little more concrete. After the speech and response, Debra & Estelle presented a new PR award to their newsletter editor, Lion Mike, who had been the one to come up with the idea of using LCI PR grants to purchase advertising space on billboards. They also presented a Certificate of Appreciation (the second recipient couldn’t be there), and Debra presented her bags to Lion Doc & Dotty, Lion Mark & Sandy, and to “our favorite pest”, CC Rocky, who had done just a great job of corralling us when necessary all weekend. We also exchanged gifts with DG Estelle & Lion Ed. Estelle had been eating blue cheese dressing all weekend, so we were pretty sure she’d like the blue cheese. They made a donation to CSFII in Debra’s name, and gave me an etched crystal Lion that was very nice.
We hung around a while after the dinner while people came up to talk to Debra, then made it back to the room around 10:30.