Dan Klein and John Martzitelli, Sargent at Arms Co-chairs: Dan and John were everywhere ensuring a friendly, hospitable environment for all attendees. You seldom saw them sitting down because they were behind the details taking care of business at the mike to open a session, in the hall directing activities, or hosting the hospitality room. Their creative and festive non-alcoholic beverages were a hit in lieu of the facility non-alcoholic policy.

Kim Keilholtz, Registration: Kim is simply excellent before, during and after the event. She makes a great floor manager as she not only takes care of the registration procedure in her usual efficient manner, but also is taking care of a million details for many people well beyond registration. I cannot count the times I thankfully was reminded of a detail or informed of a need through Kim's courteous presence. We surpassed our expectations for registration with Friday Fun Night and Contest (155), Breakfast Opening Program (114), Lunch with C & L plus other awards (124), Saturday Banquet and Contest (211 meals plus 23 for the Saturday night contest only.) Outstanding!!

Kirk Johnson, Hotel Liaison: Kirk was another example of someone who could ride the ebb and flow of a large undertaking with tranquility, humor, and efficiency. He was everywhere for everyone. A big thanks to he and his wife, Lu Johnson, for all of their time, energy and help.

Shirley Daniel, Decorations: Shirley and her team did a fabulous job of decorating for mealtimes which accompanied our various programs. The pansies brought a colorful flair to the "spring " convention. Each meal was creative with a different framed focus: dance card, menu, Ronald McDonald logo and The Art of the Matter logo. Special thanks to volunteers Bonnie Lee Johnson (for her hearts and scarves decorations, Kaki Steen (for the dance card and menu decorations), Mike Johnson for his piano and paintbrush paintings, Bill Johnson, Melissa Stotts, and Boni Bieniek. Special thanks to Shirley for donating five Successful Club Series packages for Moments of Truth as volunteer raffle prizes to volunteers.

Michelle McMullen, PRO: Michelle was an excellent PR officer this year. She had a detailed, well thought out plan for publicity. She incrementally provided increasing and enticing details to the membership at large about the upcoming convention. She and Brian Hinton were responsible for creating the delightful Blue Ribbon Bucks as a thank you to our convention volunteers. These bucks were convertible to purchases at the Merchandise Mart during the convention. I saw several volunteers using them at the Merchandise Mart on Saturday - a win-win for the volunteer, their clubs and the District! Besides, Mary just looked darn cute on them.

Len Glaeser; Website: Len was a big behind-the-scenes supporter with the website promotions and information for the convention. Information was quickly synthesized and updated from several sources throughout the year. Special thanks for the graphic design work on The Art of the Matter and the C & L award recipient logos on the programs and convention promotional items.

Orapat Sivatanpisit, Friday Fun Night: Orapat was instrumental in arranging our Friday Fun Night entertainment including the Chinese Dancers and the Costume Contest. The Tai Chi, Sword and other dances were very entertaining and colorful. The interactive ribbon dance was especially fun and many members joined the dancers on stage to give this a try. Mary Wingert was delightful as our Friday night MC for the costume contest.

Helen Groethe, Printing: Helen helped us develop the printed programs for the various convention programs. Special thanks to Creative Memories for being willing to donate their printing.

Scott Miller and Brian Hinton, Photography: Scott and Brian took hundreds of pictures over the weekend to make sure we captured this one for posterity. These were digitally captured for easy updating to the website. Many pictures are already on the website. Great jobs you guys!

Judy Southwick, Recognition: Judy chose a delightful gift of frames and a digital picture taken from the convention for our educational speakers and co-chairs as keepsakes.

George Kane, Noel Field, Co-chairs Silent Auction: George and Noel did a great job of setting up the Silent Auction which brought in over $1300 dollars for the district. Thank you to our donators:

Elaine Bailey, Theo Black, Pat Casello, Pat Croal, Shirley Daniel, Rosie Davis, George Deliduka, Bob Dummer, Pauletter Dummer, Joan Estenson, Daniel Field Noel Field, Faye Heffele, George Kane, Karolyn Hoard, Laura Hutt, Bonnie Lee Johnson, Kirk Johnson, Henry Korpela, Lyndah Korpela, Marilyn Landreth, Mary and Mark Linz, Laura Mangan, Frank Mayers, Scott Miller, Joan McTeer, Michael Orr, Patricia Passon, Duane Rivard, Evelyn Rivard, Earl Roethke, Ronald Sutliff, Georgia Thometz, Stew Thornley, Mary and Gary Swanson, Orapat Sivatanpisit, Linda Westrom, Voices of Leadership, Timberlodge Steakhouse, Minnesota Wild, Old Log Theater, Guthrie Theater, and massage by Deanna Benson.

Susan Long, Greeters: Susan worked throughout the weekend coordinating greeters for our members and guests alike. Special thanks to volunteers Nancy Anderson, Rich Andreson, Pat Croal, Dale Kroc, Linda Larson, Linda Murphy, Melissa Stotts, Shirley Daniel, Sara Schuck, Blair Schuck, and Sam Justus. Special thanks to Pat Croal for making the greeter buttons.

Bruce Trippett, C and L Award Recipient Chair: It was a first for the district honoring an organization for the Communication and Leadership Award. A well-deserved award was presented to Meg Katzman, Executive Director and Dawne Brown White, Director of Development for the Ronald McDonald House Charities Upper Midwest. Meg gave a wonderful thank you speech by giving us historical and current information on the wonderful work that the Ronald McDonald House organization provides to the community.

Keith Hardy, Credentials Desk: Keith was tireless in his efforts to ensure we made quota for the business meeting and the voting required for realignment and district officer elections.

Cliff Heinsch, Historian: Thank you to Cliff for his dual role as our historian and as an educational breakout session presenter. Cliff's presence was greatly appreciated at planning meetings and at the convention.

Jeannette Bauch, Lieutenant Governor of Marketing: Always a firecracker, Jeannette made the convention simply fun with her support behind the scenes. Yes, Jeannette, you can play with your Playdoh now!

Theo Black, Lieutenant Governor of Education and Training: Theo was instrumental in two large roles, securing the educational breakout session speakers and as our TM for the Saturday night contest.

Mary "the King" Swanson, District Governor: Mary has been at the core of the planning and the budget this year for the spring convention as well as other events. She and the conference committee attended numerous meetings to finely tune the details and to coordinate with the hotel staff along the way. Special thanks to Mary and her husband, Gary Swanson, for their donation of the 2004 World Championship Contest DVD as a raffle item to our volunteers.

Laura Hutt, Co-Chair 2005 District 6 Spring Convention: Laura has been the organizational strength behind the scenes including the costume contest, program layouts, script writing to name a few. It was a pleasure working with her. Our only regret is that she had to recuperate from surgery and was unable to see the splendid results of all her work. Her entire contributions are too many to list here.

David Goldsworthy, Friday Contest Toastmaster: Thank you to David for his charm and humor as our Friday Contest Toastmaster. It would not be a contest without David's participation in one way or another.

Boy Scout Troop #339 from Prior Lake, Color Guard: The boys and their troop leaders were very professional, timely, and courteous.

Bill Rudnicki, The Shakopee Mdewkanton Sioux Community Representative: Bill welcomed us to the Mystic Lake Convention Center and provided a current and historical account of the community.

Breakout Speakers: Thank you to our educational speakers Stephen Shaner, Len Glaeser, Geroge Deliduka, Andrew Miller, Pamela Sakayan, and Jean Keating.

Last and certainly not least volunteers: many volunteers served on one to several committees, or participated in the program events. We would like to honor our volunteers now:

Nancy Anderson, Rich Andreson, Waheed Auinde, Susan Barry, Blanche Bast, Jennifer Battan, Boni Bieniek, Terry Brickman, Gretchen Coons, Pat Croal, Susie Drane, Dan Field, Noel Field, Sheri French, Janet Fuchek, Linda Goeppinger, Tom Guetzke, Wayne Hanson, Faye Heffele, Carol Hicks, Jenna Hicks,, Brenda Himrich, Brian Hinton, Bret Jenkin, Bill Johnson, Bonnie Lee Johnson, Lu Johnson, Margie Johnson, Michael Johnson, Sam Justus, Lesa Kennedy, Lyndah Korpela, Dale Kroc, Linda Larson, Mary Linz, Steve Lockwood, Frank Mayers, Linda Murphy, Kathie Neumiller, Pat Passon, Ray Quinn, Brian Rohrenbauch, Blair Schuck, Sara Schuck, Linda Schweiss, Kaki Steen, Melissa Stotts, Ron Sutliff, Sue Tinklenberg, Joan Watson, JoJo Williams, Mary Wingert, Joe Wroblewski, Joqan Wurdeman, and Lonnie Yohannes.

Congratulations to our winners of the volunteer raffle: Gretchen Coons won the 2004 World Championship DVD (donated by Mary and Gary Swanson) and copies of the Moments of Truth (donated by Shirley Daniel) went to Terry Brickman, Wayne Hanson, Margie Johnson, Mary Linz, and JoJo Williams.

Thank you again for all of your help at the convention. It was a privilege for us to work with you.

Pat Casello and Laura Hutt, 2005 District 6 Spring Convention Co-Chairs

Realignment Passes (effective July 1, 2005),  see: Realignment Report
Realignment Maps: Realignment Cities (813KB .jpg)   Realignment State (755KB .jpg)

Communication and Leadership Award recipient for Spring 2005.
The Ronald McDonald House
        The Communication and Leadership (C&L) award was created to recognize a non-Toastmaster in the community who exhibits communication and leadership excellence through their mission and activities.
        This spring, Toastmasters District 6, choose to honor an organization rather than a specific individual. The mission and values of the Ronald McDonald House exemplify the highest standard of excellence in humanity and compassion. The service they provide allows families to focus on the emotional and physical health of their families during times of physical trial for their young children.
        The specific mission of the Ronald McDonald House is to be committed to helping families and communities live with children's serious illnesses.
        The specific service provided is to create a community environment and a home away from home for children with life-threatening illnesses (and their families) who are receiving care at Twin Cities area hospitals.
        During the C&L luncheon on April 30th, Meg Katzman, the Executive Director and Dawn White, the Development Director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities Upper Midwest will represent the organization as we honor the Ronald McDonald house with the Spring Convention 2005 Communication and Leadership award.