Plano Early Lions Roar!

It was my pleasure to attend the District 2X-1 Convention, along with several other members of our club.

I didn’t get to go to all of the sessions that I wanted to, but I did get to participate in the Computer seminar given by Lion PDG Frank Pickens and his co-chair, Lion Mahindra. These Lions will be continuing in the role of District 2X-1 IT Co-Chairs.

Lion Hillary Landrum, this year’s newsletter editor, gave a short presentation on submission of event notifications to the newsletter. She admonished everyone to remember to submit enough details that people could make some sense of what the event is about.

Lion Renee Francey will be newsletter editor next year, and she mentioned that anyone submitting a photo needs to include a meaningful caption, and at least the names of everyone in the photo — along with a paragraph or two regarding what the photo is about.

Lion Dan Busdieker, the incoming District Governor, spoke briefly to the group, and gave words of encouragement to the group.

Lion John McGinnis spoke briefly about use of Twitter by Lions. I’m not sure I would consider Twitter all that useful, especially for a Lions club that has a lot of computerphobes…

After the Computer seminar, there was a memorial service for Lions that had passed in the prior year.

We had a great lunch, with Past International President Ebb Grindstaff as the keynote speaker.

We found out the next day that Lion Ken Gleason won the election to 2nd Vice District Governor. Congratulations, Lion Ken!

Posted by Lion Howard Harkness, Immediate Past President, Plano Early Lions.

I’m live-blogging this morning from Grand Prairie, where the Grand Prairie Host Lions are hosting the District 2X-1 Midwinter Conference. I am joined here by Lions Ken, Cyndie, Mike, Dee, and Don. Unfortunately, Lion Andrew wasn’t able to make it.

The conference started with a very moving presentation on the Snowball Express. I regret that I wasn’t able to be there, but Lion Ken and Lion Cyndie were, and they got their pictures prominently displayed in the presentation. I’m just going to have to arrange to take the time off to do this next December.

Next on the agenda was a presentation by International Director Beverly Stebbins (2E-2), also on the Snowball Express.

After the announcements, and distribution of awards by PDG Alic Conway, we had the student speakers contest. I won’t know the results until after lunch, but I felt like Sam Scott was a powerful contender. I’ll follow up on this entry this afternoon, after I learn who the winners are, and I will also add some photos of the participants.

UPDATE: Sam took first place again this year. Here are some photos of the event.

	Sam studying his speech before the contest.
	The Panel of Judges.
	Photo-op of the Student Speakers Contest Chairman and the 6 contestants at the end of the presentations. Photos were not permitted during the contest.
	After the awards presentation, Sam was invited to give his 1st-place-winning speech to the entire conference.