District 45 Conference 2026

8:00 - 8:30 am - International Contest Briefings

8:30 - 8:45 am - Welcome / Ice Breaker

8:45 - 9:45 am - Plenary Session 1 - Angela Chute & Joe Grondin (Sink or Swim)

9:45 - 9:50 am - Break (5 minutes)

9:50 - 10:20 am - D45 Reflections

10:20 - 10:50 am - Break (25 minutes) - Coffee & Tea

10:50 - 11:20 am - Educational Session Round 1

> Ballroom | Joe Grondin - How to Give your Speech P.E.P.

> Beaujolais Room 1 | Vatsal Sood - Navigating the AI Fog: Keeping Your Human Voice at the Helm

> Beaujolais Room 2 | Sharon Joseph - Step Into the Fire

> Beaujolais Room 3 | Melissa Miller - Mentoring as a Mutual Growth Experience

11:35 am - Break (5 minutes)

11:25 - 11:55 am - Educational Session Round 2

> Ballroom | Angela Chute - Supercharge Your Extraordinary Team: Recruit, Equip, Achieve, Celebrate

> Beaujolais Room 1 | Darlene Smith - Get to the Point: How AI Helps You Say it Better & Faster

> Beaujolais Room 2 | Shahram Bagher Ghanbari - Cross Cultural Communication

> Beaujolais Room 3 | Patrick Dunne - Ten Laws of Military Leadership & How to Use These Laws Everyday Outside if the Military

12:00 - 2:00 pm - Lunch

12:00 - 2:00 pm - District Awards (D45 Leadership Team)

2:00 - 2:05 pm - Break (5 minutes)

2:05 - 2:45 pm - Panel Discussion on Personal Growth within Toastmasters - Moderator: David Lee | Panelists: Jean Gamester, Pat Johnson, Dawn Frail

2:45 - 3:00 pm - Break (15 minutes) - Refreshments

3:00 - 5:00 pm - International Speech Contest

5:05 pm - Announcement of International Speech Contest Winner

5:10 - 6:00 pm - Break - Set-up for Banquet

6:00 pm - Cash Bar Open / Mingle

6:30 - 8:30 pm - District Director Banquet

7:15 - 8:00 pm - Keynote Speaker - Jean Gamester

8:30 - 11:30 pm - Entertainment / DJ

11:00 pm - Cash Bar Closes

Midnight - Entertainment Ends