Week 45, May 8-14, 2011

Off to Myrtle Beach in the morning for a great time at the District Conference. This conference has been in the planning stages since 2008 when I first visited Kingston Plantation and fell in love with the facility. I was looking for a great value hotel during "high season" at the beach and with lots of amenities and options. Little did I know that one month later the economy would tank and has been ever so slowly recovering. We have a great line-up of speakers and entertainment and if you are not there, you are truly going to miss out on a great experience. I want to focus this week on the Conference Chair, Betsy Schroeder. Betsy is a young, smart, energetic, visionary. At 27 we believe she was the youngest club president in the US, at least, during the Rotary Centennial year. She later replaced me as AG for Area 3. Betsy is a banker from a family of bankers. She is business savvy and creative. She has put together a fabulous program which will appeal to all. She has endured tremendous ups and downs as we renegotiated our contract as we saw that the economy was not recovering as we had hoped. She has always remained optimistic. Did I mention to you that she is also a very talented musician? Betsy plays the piano and sax and those are just the instruments I know about. She also sings with another Rotarian, Brad Majors, in a jazz band known as Dirty Martini. You may have heard them at both Myles Golden's and George Fletcher's District Conferences. Betsy has been named as one of the Brightest and Best in the 35 and under category in Greenville. She sits on several boards and is a real community leader. I want to applaud and thank Betsy from the bottom of my heart for the excellent District Conference I am about to enjoy. Hope to see you there!