“Effect on a scale of our abilities[1]”
6 months of preparations.
15 people on the core team.
30 on the crew.
1 goal.
To create a conference for Toastmasters from Poland and all friends who would join, be proud of and not get rid of Toastmasters from our lives once we’re done organizing it.
I will not postpone the answer, we did it.
All started on Friday evening. The Table Topics and Humorous Speeches in Polish. More than 300 people decided to be there and observe the participants. What is more, for the first time, we also had a live transmission on Facebook! It was probably the largest audience at this type of contests in history. In previous years around 150 people joined and so we had room for 250 and it was still not enough. It was great to have such a fantastic audience.
However, that was just an appetizer. The work started at 7 AM the next day to be sure that everything will be ready for guests. And guess what? At night before the conference I received a message from our Key Note Speaker that he would not be able to be at the conference due to illness. What a shame, what a damn shame! But he send a knight in shining armor, or rather a colleague from the team , Anna Baczyńska, PhD to rescue us from trouble. Many people were attracted by the “Bounded Leadership” theory. Thankfully, that was the biggest unexpected obstacle during the conference.
The conference had a wonderful atmosphere. Many small things created it but for me, one moment will stay in my mind. I remember when we already finished the day. The water needed to be stocked in one of the rooms. More than 10 participants joined the line and we started to throw packages of water from hand to hand! In one minute we stocked more than 200 hundred bottles! We didn’t even ask for it. For me it shows what amazing people join this organization. Thanks from my heart for all who helped then!
All in all, it was a huge event. There were about 250 participants at the conference. They consumed dozens of kilograms of fruits, toasts and cookies. New friendship were made, new ideas came. I For me, it is a reason to be proud. I am very grateful for my team, which was simply amazing.
And now for the ending, Dear Toastmasters. When you will be at your next conference, remember one thing. It took a lot of effort to create the conference. All of the people do it in their free time. Do their best. Tell them some good words for it. It matters a lot.
And join the next Toastmasters Conference!
Rafał Staszek vel Staszewski
Chairman of the Organizing Committee
[1]It’s a paraphrase from a famous polish movie called “Miś’
