Events

President’s Final Address

We are an organization that deals with the magic of words. Our very being is because of a woman who was not allowed to be in the male dominated arena of her day, dealing with the magic of words.

We are some seventy years as an organization.  We are on life support. Everywhere we look someone is trying to breathe air into our lungs, without much success. Renewing, revising in order to survive, is the desired way to bring us viable into the future.

Here’s a little history for the books for this past year.  We lost two clubs and the primary reason is the glue failed.  What I mean by the glue? Is that there was one member who pulled everything together. Unfortunately, life happens and sometimes the glue fails.  Look around you and see who is here.  How many new faces are there and most of all will they be in the same type of function next year.  Even more important is will you be in the same type of function next year.  Not only are we faced with losing some of our glue but tit seems that world economics is against us too, with the ever spiraling gas princes and inflation.  We are the glue that holds it together, and we should be proud of our dedication. I can’t say that we will survive but we must take every opportunity to attempt to survive. We must develop new glue and thereby find individuals who also have a passion for the “magic of words.”

Having said that I must say that at the beginning of my term I was excited by the promise of the POWERtalk branding and the ideas that come with it. I am still excited by it. I am very proud of the fact that this administration saw the forward movement of the idea behind the branding of POWERtalk within the region.  This year some 17 individuals were certified to teach the POWERtalk Short Course. Of courses that means that they must first learn the information that they want to past on. Bragging rights will more appropriately go to the following administrations.  That is not going to stop me from commending the members of the Buckeye Club for their hard work in getting the POWERtalk Short Course approved as a corporate training element.  Likewise, I must also commend the members of the Kenn-Tenn Club for hosting the first in the region POWERtalk short course event. I wish these clubs and their members every success.

We find ourselves in a new and different world, one which we can not seem to remember too clearly how we managed before without cell phone, email and the internet.  Maybe this is where POWERtalk should attempt to grown. Using the electronic arena in offering services to individuals and how-to information.  Don’t discard the idea.  How may of you pay for the ability to email someone, well there are probably just as many that would pay to have access to a how-to-guru.

There has been some growth within the clubs but for a region as a whole we have lost. In retrospect, we tried and it didn’t work.  But on the other hand we are still here.

Please believe that it has been my pleasure to serve as your president this past year.