Getting big things done takes a village. At Toastmasters International, my public speaking organization, the year ends at the end of June. So, I thought it’s time to say thank you to a couple of good folks.

Today I have served two years as the Conflict Resolution Adviser and had the privilege to lead the Conflict Resolution Team for our Toastmasters International, District 108, comprising seven countries: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Russia and Kazakhstan.

It’s been quit an incredible journey and it wouldn’t have happened without the following people.

Olga Turek-Woźniak was the first Conflict Resolution Manager at our District a few years back. She got things started, encouraged me to take this role and gave me good advice in the beginning.

Kamil Chmiel, as the District Director, asked me two years ago to accept the role of the Conflict Resolution Adviser in our organization. First I hesitated but I’m glad I said yes.

Łukasz Chomicz, as the District Director for the past one year, asked me to serve another year.

Kamil and Łukasz have been great partners in making things happen.

The fantastic fantastic Irina Četovičienė, Jurgita Keblyte, Justyna Lipska, Ernestas Ryselis, Magdalena Suraj and Daniel Zakharov served on my team in the 2023-2024 term.

The equally fantastic Roberto Bolomey, Irina Četovičienė, Paweł Lachowicz, Michał Moroz, Ignas Prakapas, Vadim Vasilyev and Karolina Wróbel served on my team for the 2024-2025 term.

With these teams, we have coached our Toastmasters members through tough spots, helped them manage and resolve conflicts, organized trainings and workshops and created a Conflict Resolution Guidebook for all our members to use.

Within these teams we have also supported, coached and educated one another.

One of my most memorable moments of these two years was when my team members said how much they had benefited themselves from learning more about conflict resolution.

We have not only helped other people but as a by-product, we have grown as human beings ourselves.

In addition to the team itself, my Polish brother, former Region 10 Advisor Piotr Chimko was always there, ready to converse about things big and small.

Working with Margherita Brodbeck Roth was one of my most rewarding and educational experiences in the past two years. Thank you.

Last but not least, there’s the Core Team of District 108, including our Area Directors: it’s been a tremendous honor and pleasure to work with each one of you. Oftentimes it’s also been a lot of fun. It would be too many names and too many fond memories to list here. You know who you are.

If I forget to mention someone, it’s because of my occasionally bad memory.

As to my biggest achievement in these two years, I think it is that I had the wisdom and luck to be able to recruit such talented and motivated members to my team. Together we have created a strong foundation for the future.

The future looks very good also because Michał Moroz will lead our conflict resolution function for the next year.

A new Toastmasters year begins tomorrow, so what next? Time will tell. For now, I’ll just cherish all the learning and all the friendships.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who’s been part of this journey. As Ignas Prakapas said at our last team meeting, this is not a goodbye but a see you later!