The District Alignment

At 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 16, we received email confirmation from the District Director. The alignment had been approved! We were given a complete list of Area Director names, Area numbers, and club names. At last, we all knew which specific clubs we would be supporting this year.

In nearly all cases, including my own, each Area Director was assigned to six clubs. Mine fell within a radius of less than 10 miles. In fact, three of the six clubs met at the same Denny's restaurant. Meeting times varied from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Some met weekly, while others met twice a month.

At this point, I had these primary goals to focus on.

1. Make initial contact to start building good relationships with club members.
2. Encourage attendance at the TLI on July 28.
3. Encourage clubs to assign proxy* voting rights for the International Convention on August 22-25.
4. Schedule the first round of formal club visits, which must be reported on by November 30.

Next up on the agenda was to start reaching out to the officers at each club to schedule visits and learn how I can support their immediate needs.

*A variety of topics are voted on each year at the annual International Convention. Clubs often do not have members that attend the International Convention, which is held in various locations around the world. Therefore, the proxy system allows clubs to assign their voting rights to a representative. This ensures that clubs are able to vote, even when a member may not attend the International Convention in a given year.