Visit from Region Advisor Linda Williams Inspires D25 to "Finish Strong!"

Linda Williams

District 25 had the honor of a visit from Linda Williams, Region 3 Advisor, last week. A Region Advisor (RA) provides support and advice to district officers, mostly by phone, but also makes one visit in person each year to each district in the region.

It's important to make the most of the RA's time. Organizing the schedule is the responsibility of the Lt. Governor Marketing — that's me. Our Lt Governor Education and Training Cindy Hinckley gave me lots of help. Being a school principal on spring break, Linda was able to arrange a more leisurely visit than the usual jam-packed two day trip. Her husband Tim Williams, DTM, also accompanied her to some events.

Ruth and Steve Bomar, Chuck Mencke
at Panther City demo meeting

We started at noon on Thursday with a demonstration meeting for a new community club in west Fort Worth. Panther City Toastmasters is being spearheaded by Steven Timmons and Steve Bomar, and optimism is high that the club will charter soon because of the enthusiastic response from those who attended. The D25 demo team was in good form.

In the evening, District Governor Marylee Mims joined us on a visit to The Evaluators, an advanced club that specializes in speech evaluations, in Carrollton. Linda and Tim are interested in starting a similar club in their home district so it was fortunate that the monthly meeting was this particular week. Doubly fortunate was that this was the anniversary of the club's chartering, so it was a celebratory occasion, with cake!

Shannon Kingen, Linda and Sonia Lyons
at The Evaluators

On Friday morning, Linda, Cindy and I drove to Waco for the noon meeting of Baylor Orators. We were given a warm reception by the members and Area 41 Governor Louisa Whitehead. Linda got to show off her considerable Table Topics skills.

After the meeting, we were able to talk about a possible future Waco club with one of the members. On the way out of town, we left some Toastmasters materials for a contact at the Greater Waco Chamber. As the Lt Governor Marketing, I am always on the lookout for new club opportunities!

The three of us met Marylee for an early dinner, then we all went on to the Household of Faith Toastmasters meeting in south Arlington, where we enjoyed an excellent meeting and Linda got to practice her speech evaluation skills.

Early on Saturday, we were all at the District Executive Committee meeting and training, where Linda inspired the DEC members with a dynamic keynote about "Finishing Strong." In the afternoon, her presentation "Every Member Counts!" was enlightening, educational and entertaining for the marketing workshop attendees.

This was Linda's last visit to District 25 as RA. We hope for future visits from her — as a friend.

Jodie Sanders

Lt Governor Marketing