Sponging or Spongebob?

Cast your mind back. Can you remember what you were thinking, feeling, saying at your first few meetings at your prospective Zonta Club?

My first meeting was not what I expected

Sorry - just kidding .... my first meeting is still vivid in my mind and was held in far more salubrious surrounds. I remember being welcomed at the door by a couple of the most friendly and embracing women I had ever met and spent the rest of meeting discovering incredible women doing great things.

Over the years I worked out how Zonta worked and it has been my experience that the larger the Zonta get together, the more amplified are the extremes between the best that Zonta can be and the most infuriating. On balance, my time in Zonta is richly rewarding and I am deeply thankful for the opportunity to participate.

I find it easier to think of Zonta as a virtual organisation. There is only you and me and 'Zonta' only happens when we get together and make it happen. In that way, I create my experience of Zonta looking through the lens of my own perspective. Gee, this post is deep .... or.....

 So it is I, and I alone, who labels events as either gut wrenching or heart lifting.

ZI  Convention Election Speeches

and

Amelia Earhart Fellows' Presentations

This coming weekend is the Area 2 Area Meeting, and at some minor level the best and the worst will play out again. It's hard to get the balance right at Area Meetings - so many different people coming together with widely varied needs. But that's only in my head from my perspective.

So I am suggesting to you, gentle reader, to step up and create your experience. These meetings are the times when we, together, have the opportunity to make the most of Zonta. So what sort of experience would I like to create?

• Fun, joy and laughter of great company and fellowship - after all Zonta is my hobby. What moments have you enjoyed that have brought satisfaction to your world? How could you keep those happening?
• Growth in membership and service projects, and the outcomes those two together create. How can we help interested people become members in a welcoming way? How can we integrate the gifts those people are offering into our club projects?
• Transparency, clarity and fairness in management guidelines. Have you looked at the District Goals, Rules and Guidelines lately? Do they guide the District in way you believe is optimal? How about ZI By-Laws?

At District Conference in September all Zontians have the chance to put the motions that guide our District operations and any motions to be considered at International Convention. Area Meetings are where you can start those conversations. Make good use of your time this weekend.

If we're (me .... perhaps you too?) going to Orlando in 2014 I wanna be ready with some really great ideas to seed with that crowd.