2012 PETS is in the Can!

OK, the 2012 Far West PETS (Presidents Elect Training Seminar) is in the can! That is an expression I learned  from my Dad long ago. I am not talking about being unavailable because one is using the bathroom. "In the can" means, you have completed what ever project you are working on. It comes from the movie industry where, when they finished filming a scene, or episode, they put the film "in the can" and sent it off to be prepared for showing at the theater. Planning and putting on the PETS training is one of the most important jobs the Governor Elect (that's me) has to do, and as I sit here in the hotel lobby, waiting to take a shuttle to the airport, it feels great to have it "in the can!"

I am very fortunate that my Rotary District participates in what is called a "Multi-District PETS". This is where several districts (nine in this case) pool their resources to increase the quality of the training. It was a fantastic session.  A slate of very inspirational speakers, excellent instructors, well planned curriculum, and lots of personal involvement by all nine District Governor Elects. We started focusing on this in earnest last year, and the nine of us have worked together to have the greatest impact possible on our incoming Club Presidents. I realized during the weekend, that this milestone would soon be past (which of course it is). Even though I am happy about that, there is a part of me that senses all of this passing too quickly. It is of course all passing at the same rate. The earth spins away through space, orbiting the sun, while the entire solar system continues its course and speed along the infinite galactic highway, unchanging. It is our perception that changes.

So often we "leave the moment" and get so involved with work (be it voluntary or paid) that we forget to really savor and appreciate the joys of the moment. I got this sense strongly this weekend. The sense that time is passing too quickly, and something very important to me will be "in the can" before I realize it.

Some of my Presidents Elect (PEs) get ready for the opening
session Friday. A packed house (around 550 people)

So, I focused on being in the moment. The opening session was even more powerful and wonderful than I remembered, inspiring images of the United States Mission to the Moon, and President Kennedy's stirring speech that galvanized the nation behind that challenging endeavor.

My fellow DGEs and I rehearse our introduction on
Thursday afternoon. It was quite a production.

The images and feelings are like a collage of scenes and emotions. Standing to be introduced to the 500 or so Presidents Elect with my DGE classmates, The house lights come up and as the everybody begins to file out, I have a de ja vu of my first PETS in March of 2001. I feel moved and motivated and I wonder "who is this session for anyway?"

Joe on the left who is one of my Assistant Governors
works with some of the PEs.

Friday afternoon, my first session with my presidents elect (PEs), people from all walks of life, so diverse. From providing medical equipment, to managing RV parks. Dentists, attorneys, and firefighters. All serving THROUGH their vocation as well as in their "spare" time! Great feeling, good people, wanting to do their best.

I relax between sessions with four of my classmates.
Michael, Shirley, Me, Tom, and Liz. 

 Friday night, I am the master of ceremonies, ringing the bell, spotlights blind me. I can't make eye contact through the light, so I focus on vague dark table shapes in the ball room. Great program speaker. Rick King, he was RI President for my year as club president. A fabulously moving speaker, he takes the stage after a wonderful introduction and hits it out of the park. Tears streaming, standing ovation, thank you gift to Rick.

Past RI President Rick King gave a masterful performance.
Lots of motivated folks after his speech!

I stand, close the session with a reminder to have fun in our hospitality suites, but remember breakfast is at 8:00! Lights and music come up, people moving, congratulating Rick on a great speech. Someone comes up to me, I don't know them, "Great job tonight!" "Thank you very much" I say. It feels good as I move with the crowd toward the exits. The beginning is already at an end!

Yours truly, dismissing the opening meal session Friday evening.

The evenings in the hospitality suites (each District Governor Elect hosts one) are a blur of faces and conversation. Memories from previous sessions flood my mind, only now I am the Governor Elect! My bed is in the room adjoining the bar, so I am the last one to bed each night, grueling! So much laughter, and of course just great conversation. Everyone seems to be psyched up for the up coming Rotary year (my year as DG) it is an emotion that flows through the halls of the hotel.

Shauna, President Elect of Reno Midtown Rotary,
gets ready to party.

Four of my PEs relax in the 5190 Hospitality Suite

My AGs made up the bar tending crew. Gary, Gail, Randy and Barbara

Saturday morning, I introduced our Keynote speaker. Penny LeGate, a wonderful lady from Seattle who has been on numerous Polio immunization trips, and tells an impactful story.

I stumbled a bit with the speaker intro, but stayed in cahracter.
My Dad would have been proud!

Bob Deering  leads us at the head table for the Saturday Lunch session.

Saturday we have the surprise opportunity to meet with the President Elect of RI, Sakuji Tanaka from Japan. We wait anxiously in the hotel's "Board Room" a very fancy conference room sized for about 12 people. Black walnut paneling, and leather upholstered high back chairs around a huge long rectangular table of polished mahogany. We make small talk while we wait. Finally in walks the President elect with his Japanese-American interpreter from Hawaii. We all jump up like an admiral has entered the room. Shaking hands and bowing, I remember the Japanese greeting "kom ban wa" from my Karate classes.  I mumble it as I bow, not sure it is correct. "Ah!" he responds immediately with a huge smile, "kom ban wa!!"

We have a great conversation, although it gets off to a slow start with the interpreter. Finally, pictures and we are off to the Presidents reception. I tell all of the PEs that I see how to greet the President in Japanese and practice with them so they can greet him when they get their picture taken. Several come up afterward an tell me how his face lit up when they used their rapidly taught Japanese on him.

Sakuji gives a wonderful keynote for the PEs after dinner, and then holds a "Q and A" session with the interpreter. The last question is a request to do a "Banzai" with the audience. I am shocked and taken aback, because the only context I have for "banzai", is the battle cry the Japanese soldiers used during suicide attacks against US Marines in the Pacific war. Turns out it is also a patriotic cheer, and/or salutation meaning literally "may you live at least ten thousand years!" President Sakuji accommodates, and in halting English (pronounced Eng-Rish) asks the audience to follow his example. He throws his arms in the air and shouts "banzai!", the audience repeats "banzai!" Again "BANZAI!", the audience matches him. a third huge "BANZAI!" The crowd doubles their volume and everyone concludes with a huge standing ovation. Amazing.

RI President Sakuji Tanaka (left) and his interpreter
Steve Yoshida conduct a Q&A after his speech
Saturday night.

Sunday I wrap it up with my Presidents at 8:30 in the morning. The session goes well, the PEs are amazingly attentive after such an intense weekend. My Power Point works great, but I am unable to get in all the information that I had planned. I cut it short and finish with the story of how my life changed at PETS the March after Emily left us. It is an impactful ending, and many come up to me just to give me a hug, or shake my hand afterwards.

The final brunch session. Eighty six year old Past RI President Cliff Dochterman, gives a wonderful speech with the message:"at the end of your year, don't have any regrets. Make it count!" The PEs love it, still a great crowd, although there has been some attrition.

The lights and music come up, as the applause fades. I turn to my fellow Governors Elect. We shake hands and hug. A major milestone has passed in our journeys. What a few days ago seemed like it would never pass, is now over. All too quickly.

I tell myself, "stay in the moment, savor this, for it won't come by this way again". It was a fantastic experience, with more to come!

That's All!