I had a very exciting weekend in Calgary as I attended the Girl Guides of Canada Annual General Meeting. The weekend started off bright and early at 8 AM where I hopped on the Red Arrow bus and enjoyed the comfy seats, snacks, and WiFi. (I am not advertising I was just really impressed that I could surf the web on a moving bus!) I was able to travel with one of the girls who is attending the Girls’ World Forum in Chicago this summer. We started off our adventures in Calgary with a lunch with all of the facilitators for the girls engagement session, provincial commissioners, national board members and other member of the national team which was very nice. I picked up a couple of crests and then checked into the hotel. I have never stayed in a hotel by myself so that was very exciting.
Next was the member engagement meet and greet which was very cool because I met a lot of girls and leaders from across the province. They all seemed genuinely happy to be there and I think that it was important for them to have their voices heard later on in the afternoon. I collected a few more crests and had a few conversations with girls and adults in the smoking hot room and then headed downstairs for the member engagement (the part I was most excited for).
I found my table and met the scribe and waited for girls to come and sit down. I had a wide variety at my table- some Guides, Pathfinders, and Rangers who all had something to say about our programming, uniforms, camps, and paperwork. We started off by introducing ourselves and some of our interests and positions within Guiding. There were large pieces of white paper on the walls where girls had to write what confidence, courage, resourcefulness, and making a difference meant to them. Some of the answers were quite profound and I wish that I took pictures of them to share; hopefully they will be up on the national website soon. Then we had a sort of script to follow with questions and conversation starters about program, badges, and the best things about Guiding. It was amazing how quickly the two hours went by and I was blown away by what the girls were saying. They had so many great ideas and I cannot wait to see how they will be put into action.
There was a bit of a break between the member engagement and the general meeting so I took the time to relax and get ready for my speech. I was a little bit nervous not because I was speaking, but rather because I had given a very similar speech (well it was the same with a few tweaks) and there were several people who have already heard it. Overall I think that I did I okay and now I will have to make a new presentation if I do another one but that is okay. J I hope that I was interesting and made a few good points and I enjoyed giving the speech.
The banquet was after that and it was delicious! It was a lot of fun with laughs and great conversation. I loved meeting and chatting with other guiders and it was great to put faces to names on Twitter! I was exhausted by the end of the night and my face hurt from laughing so I think that is a wonderful thing
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