President Average Jane

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Last night was my installation as president of my local Soroptimist club. I’m still not quite sure why they picked me. When I end up at board meetings wearing jeans, a t-shirt and my Converse All-Stars while everyone else is dressed in business attire, you’d think the "which of these things is not like the others" vibe would give everyone pause.

It’s especially intimidating given that our particular club was chartered in the 1920s and we have archives filled with photos of former members wearing hats and white gloves to the meetings.

Even though the club is definitely not "high society" anymore, I’d hate to be the person who lowers its standards one more notch. That’s why I usually dress up on meeting days, even though it tends to make people at work suspect that I’m out interviewing on my lunch break. (For the record, I’m not.)

Because I am a huge procrastinator, I wrote the outline of my "theme for the year" speech just moments before I left work. The outline turned out to be a bad idea because I can really only organize my thoughts when I’m writing. When I had to stand up and talk through the topics in front of people, I was nervous enough that I rambled, skipped over stuff I’d meant to talk about, and eventually ditched the last two sections.

From now on when I have to give a speech, I’ll know to just write the whole thing out and at least have it available for reference if I don’t want to stand there and read it verbatim. I should have joined Toastmasters back when I had more free time.

Before the installation, people kept asking me, "Are you ready to be president?"

My answer then and now, "I don’t know. I guess we’ll see."

I’ve purchased a 12-month accordion file so I can keep track of my paperwork (for once) and a separate calendar to make sure I don’t miss any important deadlines. I’ve given every club member my e-mail address and cell phone number so they can reach me whenever they need something.

Beyond that, I’ll just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Wish me luck!

Comments

4 responses to “President Average Jane”

June 22, 2006

me

You’ll be fabulous, no worries. They chose you because you will truly be a good leader for the group – they’re a bunch of smart cookies, as you know. And congratulations to you, prez!

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June 22, 2006

AWE

You should have sung your speech.

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June 23, 2006

monkey

Thanks for mentioning this organisation, Jane. I’ve been looking for something to get involved with such that I don’t spend every weekend hunched over my stove making cheese and this might be the ticket.

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June 23, 2006

Jane

me – Aw, go on. No really, go on!
AWE – That occurred to me as I was bombing, and holding a wireless microphone in my hand.
monkey – I definitely recommend that you check out your local Soroptimist club. The organization in general can use all the younger member it can get, and it’s really a satisfying way to give back to the community and meet an interesting variety of women.

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