LACE occurs four times each year – twice in June and twice in January. But if you did not attend LACE THIS January, you missed an opportunity of a lifetime!
The January 2014 LACE sessions were like none other! Thirty-five different classes were offered with information about Toastmasters, Officer Trainings, and General Interest. Some of the District’s more senior presenters facilitated our officers’ sessions, keeping discussions and topics on point and ensuring content was emphasized. However, the majority of the classes were new and different, extending member/leader learning, enhancing speeches with stories and humor, and using our Toastmasters skills outside our clubs and into our communities.
Noteworthy session topics included: a Toastmasters’ History; how to build a new club; how to build up your existing club; a specialty club panel; and of course, the basics, such as evaluation, and mentoring our members. There were classes on how to make sure what you say is what your audience heard, how to make your good speech the best it can be, and learning about diversity in audiences. Other classes were more specific, covering personal growth, leadership, and how to define your path to your goals through Toastmasters experiences. We wrapped it all up with how we can take what we learn in TM and give back to our communities using our voices and words.
Officer Training is the main reason for offering LACE. Over the two days, we trained 570 officers throughout Founder’s District and several more from surrounding Districts. We had about 800 members in attendance during the two-day event. We exceeded our expectations and our goals! If you missed the officer training, check the Founder’s District calendar for Division-sponsored make-up training. All clubs are encouraged to have all seven officers trained; check out the LGET incentives on the District website for more details.
If you have a topic for a future LACE or are interested in presenting at LACE in June (or next January), please send your topic, a brief course description, and some biographical information to our LGET (lget@foundersdistrict.org). We will take all requests into consideration.
If you want to be of service somewhere, please let us know. As a reminder–it takes a village to put on every Toastmasters event. Thank you to all our LACE volunteers and presenters. We could not have had a successful event without all of you who volunteered to help make this happen.