Good morning. Everything is ready for our first B.I.G. day! Last night various groups met throughout Milano… I spent time with my fellow DTMs, at a reception hosted by our Programme Quality Director, Margherita Brodbeck Roth.
Afterwards, I joined my fellow club members from Zuriberg Toastmasters Club for a while, before I had to come and do some last-minute work on the website.
Arriving at the venue, the first thing that struck me was the anticipation. The second thing was the wonderful warm greetings from Toastmasters I know. From Toastmasters I had only met via a computer screen until now. And then a few others that I’ve neither met nor seen before. The scenes around the registration desks organised by Matteo looked somewhat chaotic. But things kept moving and people picked up their badges and brochures and proceeded to enter the hall and ‘book’ their seats.
With our District Director unable to attend, Margherita opened the conference, and welcomed us in her normal charming manner. Giannis Kanlis, District Finance Director, and host for the day, took over from Margherita. He soon enough had the audience warmed up and ready for the speech contests.
International Speech Contest