Summer has clearly arrived, and the Rotary year is almost over. Earlier this month, we had our annual District Conference at the Avalon Inn in Warren, Ohio. I hope many of you were able to make it to at least a portion of the conference. We had outstanding speakers, with inspirational topics and powerful presentations. We also provided a fast-paced, informative, and entertaining program. Besides the excellent speakers, we had more than a dozen brief film clips that told the Rotary story, four of the top speakers in the District Four-Way Test Speech Contest, and a blazer ceremony for the outgoing youth exchange students and talent show featuring our current inbound youth exchange students. We celebrated the achievements of our clubs and our members in several ceremonies, and most of all, we enjoyed the company of Rotarians from around the district and around the country.

It is dangerous to try to thank everyone involved because I know I will inadvertently leave someone out, but I want to nevertheless try to thank all the people who made this possible. Anthony Nacarato did an outstanding job as the conference chair, and Craig Olson did an excellent job with the program and the promotional materials. Barb Loudon negotiated the arrangements with the hotel and was one of our speakers. Lauri Coy was invaluable with registration and other organizational tasks. And more than two dozen people, mostly from the Canfield club but also from nearby clubs, were part of the planning committee and helped to carry out the event. Without them, we could not have put on the program. The Warren Rotary club sponsored an outstanding Hospitality Suite, the Youngstown Rotary club sponsored the House of Friendship (which included an Iron Lung display), and Sam Boak of the Canfield Rotary club funded our Keynote speaker (Brian Blasko). Finally, Dave and Lee Anne Perkins came all the way from Bryan, Ohio to stage manage the program, helping to move us smoothly from one element of the program to the next. For those of you who have attended All Ohio PETS in preparation for being your club’s president, Dave and Lee Anne are the behind-the-scenes wizards who make this program run so smoothly.

It took two years of planning to put on this district conference. The planning for next year’s district conference is well underway. DGE Scott Schulick will be telling you all about it next year as we get closer to the event. I encourage you to put it on your calendar early so that you can attend. There is no better way to be excited about being a Rotarian than to see all that is done in our name in our communities and around the world.