Members began gathering to collect their registration materials as early as 7:30.  While waiting the caught up with old friends and made new friends.

Members from the Shanghai Toastmasters Clubs completes the name card for visiting members and guests.

Members and guests begin to find their seats prior to the beginning of the Convention program.

2006-2007 Toastmasters International President Johnny Uy, DTM and Toastmasters International Executive Director Donna Groh talk before the program began.

Rebecca Hong, ACS and President of the Shanghai Leadership Toastmasters Club (#868941-U) as well as the E2 Assistant Area Governor, served as the Convention Host and Master of Ceremony for the day. Here she is giving her opening comments at the start of the day.

The convention began with the introduction of representatives from the China Toastmaster Clubs that were in attendance.  Twenty-one of the twenty-five clubs had members attending the convention.

Territorial Council Chairman Warwick John Fahy, DTM was introduced and spent a few minutes talking to the members and guests in attendance.  Warwick and the Shanghai team had spent over a year in preparation for the day.

2006-2007 Toastmasters International President Johnny Uy, DTM addresses the audience with his opening remarks - in both English and Chinese. 

Johnny spoke for almost twenty minutes before the program moved into the Educational Sessions.  Throughout the day members and clubs from around China took advantage of Johnny's visit to have their pictures taken with him and Toastmasters International Executive Director, Donna Groh.

E2 Area Governor Eugene Tang, CTM/CL showed his enthusiasm as a speaker during his educational session "Quicker Improvement in Public Speaking for Non-Native English Speakers".

N2 Area Governor Rebecca Niu, CTM/CL explained to the audience how to develop a Corporate Club environment that allows the club to continue to grow and thrive in her presentation "Keeping A Corporate Club Growing".

S2 Area Governor Mark Pixley, ATM-S/CL presented an interactive session on "Creating a Dynamic Toastmasters Club", where he helped the audience discover the keys to building a dynamic and sustainable club environment.

Vice-Chairman of Education and Training, Keith Ostergard, DTM shared with members and guests the qualities that make up a good Speech Contest Judge in his presentation "Evaluation & Judging - Similar Skills; Different Missions".

N1 Area Governor Erik Barnes, ACS/CL shared his leadership growth experiences with the audience in his presentation "Learning to Be a Visionary Leader in Toastmasters".

N1 Area Governor Cindy Jensen, CC/CL shared her passion for strong evaluations and their importance in a club during her presentation "Evaluation - The Heart of A Healthy Club".

Following a sumptuous luncheon, International President Johnny Uy, DTM gave his keynote address "Toastmasters - Simply Amazing", which is also his theme for his year as Toastmasters International President.

The China Prepared Speech Contest was the next event of the afternoon.  Speakers representing their Clubs and Areas competed to become the 1st China Champion of Public Speaking.  Contestants above from left to right:
Britta Hua - N2 (#9237-U Tianjin Toastmasters), Phyllis Wang - S2 (#2721-U PMA Elite Toastmasters), Aishwarya Kasturia - N1 (#887575-U China Capital Toastmasters, Ailing Wang - E2 (#8698-U PuDong Toastmasters), Elena Lu - E1 (#942088-U Dell Explorers Toastmasters, Jack Yuan - S1 (#549537-U Shenzhen Toastmasters)

During the Awards Ceremony at the end of the day, Vice-Chairman of Marketing Victor Yu, ATM-B/CL and Sam Ng, ATM-S, President of the new 5C+ Toastmasters Club present the club's charter paperwork to International President Johnny Uy, DTM and Toastmasters International Executive Director Donna Groh.

VCET Ostergard would not let Convention Host and Master of Ceremony Rebecca Hong, ACS, who was celebrating her birthday at the convention, leave the stage without the entire audience joining him in singing 祝你生日快乐 (Happy Birthday To You) in Mandarin.

Convention Master of Ceremony Rebecca Hong, ACS presents Bill Wang (#585-U Shanghai People's Square Toastmasters) with his plaque for winning Third Place in the International Tape Speech Contest for 2005-2006.  The award was announced at the Toastmasters International Convention in Washington DC at the Hall of Fame presentation on August 25, 2006.

VCET Ostergard read the names of the members that had earned their Competent Communicator award so far during this year.  Those that were present came to the stage and shook hands with TI Executive Director Donna Groh and TI President Johnny Uy.

VCET Ostergard read the names of the members that had earned an Advanced Communicator award so far during this year.  Those that were present came to the stage and shook hands with TI Executive Director Donna Groh and TI President Johnny Uy.

Sam Jones of the People's Square Toastmasters Club (#585-U) was recognized as the first member to have earned the prestigious Distinguished Toastmaster award in China.  Sam had also completed the Advanced Toastmaster - Gold (October, 2005)Excellence in Leadership and Advanced Leader-Silver awards in order to earn his Distinguished Toastmaster award.

Territorial Council of China Chairman Warwick John Fahy, DTM presented the Area Governors with certificates.  Area Governors from left to right: S2 - Mark Pixley, ATM-S/CL, S1 -Karen Lim, CTM/CL, E2 - Eugene Tang, CTM/CL, E1 - Erik Barnes, ACS/CL, N1 - Cindy Jensen, CC, N2 - Rebecca Niu, CTM/CL.

The convention ran flawlessly, primarily due to the hard work of the different planning committees and the work of the team of volunteers on the day of the event.  TC Chairman Warwick John Fahy, DTM recognized all of the committee chairs for their hard work and had all of the volunteers that worked the convention to take the stage for a moment of recognition.

There were several visitors that traveled to Shanghai to take part in this historic first convention.  Chairman Warwick John Fahy, DTM presents District 67 (Taiwan) Lt. Governor Education and Training Jack Tsai, DTM with a gift to show our appreciation of his attending the convention.

Chairman Fahy also presented Houng and Ben from District 67 with gifts for attending the convention.

Territorial Council of China Chairman Warwick John Fahy, DTM presented Past District 67 (Taiwan) Governor David Wang, DTM who is now living and working in SuZhou with a gift and a request that he will help us to build clubs in the SuZhou area.

Toastmasters International President Johnny Uy, DTM and Territorial Council of China Warwick John Fahy, DTM present Ailing Wang with her trophy for winning the China Prepared Speech Contest and becoming the China Champion of Public Speaking.

Toastmasters International Executive Director Donna Groh was presented with gifts and then said a few words of appreciation to the audience for the wonderful hospitality she was shown by all of the Toastmasters in China.

Chairman Warwick John Fahy, DTM poses with Irene Uy, ATM-B (the first lady of Toastmasters) and International President Johnny Uy, DTM after presenting them with gifts to remember their visit to the first China Toastmasters Convention at the close of the convention.

Following the official closing of the convention, the Territorial Council met to discuss the next steps in our progress toward becoming a District in Toastmasters International.  The Territorial Council is made up of the elected and appointed Territorial Council Officers and the President and Vice-President of Education of every chartered club in the Territorial Council.

After a long week in China (three days in Beijing and three days in Shanghai), Toastmasters International President Johnny Uy, DTM and his lovely wife Irene Uy, ATM-B wave goodbye to their new friends in China to return to their home in Cebu City, Philippines with the promise that they will return to visit China and its Toastmasters again.