80TH
LIONS INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, PHILADELPHIA ,
USA
JUNE 30-JULY 5, 1997
The months of June and July would be busy months
for all district governors-elect. As I me
I was very excited as I prepared for my overseas trip weeks ahead.
I attended the 80th Annual Lions
Clubs International Convention which was held in Philadelphia/Valley Forge, Pennsylvania , USA from 1st-4th
July 1997. The flying trip was 31 hours and I was up and about, very excited over
the whole event.
The Convention City
I arrived at Philadelphia ,
the ‘City of Brotherly Love ’
two days earlier prior to the district governors’ elect school. The weather was
warm. It was 102 degrees Fahrenheit.
I expected a colourful sight and a roaring
welcome just like our home convention; but somehow, it turned out to be very
peaceful. There was no Lions welcome sign, banners or buntings. I then realised
that was too early for that. I took a cab and find my way to the Wyndham
Franklin Plaza Hotel.
The Convention
Delegates
Unlike previous International Conventions
which I had participated, the 80th LCI Convention was not very well
attended. There were about 15 thousand delegates. Of the total number of
delegates attending, those from United
States outnumbered the rest. The Asian Lions,
in fact, became something of a sought after novelty especially by the pin
exchangers who were more interested in what colourful and unusual pins you
might have for exchanging. You could see these international goodwill pin
interchanges almost everywhere; be it at the Convention Hall, inside the buses
and lifts, on hotel escalators and even five-foot ways whilst waiting for
buses.
The Campaign
form International Directors
The politicking for the election of the
International Directors went into full swing at the Pennsylvania Conventions
Centre. You could see all the talents and human ingenuity put into operations
to attract votes. I was amongst the
thousand who collected gifts including key chains, fans, diaries, stickers,
badges, placards with photos and the list went on. It appeared that the
respective election campaign personnel spared no expense and efforts to get
their candidates elected.
The Convention
Sessions
The Opening Convention Plenary Session on
1/7/1997 started on time at 8.30 in the morning. The programme started with the
presentation of the Flags of Nations of Lionism and this was recited by the
International 2nd V.P. Kajit Habananada.
Mr. Luis Vincente Giay, the Rotary
International President was the guest speaker at the 1st Plenary Session.
Mr. William J.Bennet who was a noted author, commentator and former
presidential appointee, serving as the co-director of empower America spoke at the 2nd
Plenary Session.
The 3rd Plenary Session was most
exciting. There was tremendous excitement and commotion when the names of the
successful candidates for the International Directors were announced.
There were recognitions of the 100% Club
Melvin Jones Clubs; the announcements of International Contest Winners. Candidates
vying for International Directorship were each given an opportunity to say
their piece. There were translations in French, German, Italian, Japanese,
Portuguese and Sweden
were available at all the plenary sessions.
The Installation of International President
and the 700 over District Governors of which 69 of them were ladies. The finale
was the declaration of the International President Judge Howard L “Pat” Petterson. Supporters and well
wishers appeared from everywhere and they, together with a prearranged music
band of some 40 strong ‘took over’ the Convention Hall for about 20 minutes.
The installation of district governors was
carried out with a simple tearing of the broach tail.
The Convention
Workshops
The Convention had lined up several
workshops. I noticed that the time set for some workshops crashed with each
other. These workshops were conducted by veteran Lions and PIDs. The talks
were, namely: Focus on Environment, the Lions Eye Health Programme; Leo Clubs,
Children At Risk, Eyeglass Recycling, Youth Exchange, Club Twinning, Peace Poster.
Due to time factor, it was impossible to
attend more than two topics in full. I chose Environment and Publicity and sort
of ‘peeped in’ on a couple of the others workshops. I must say that all the
seminars seemed to have enjoyed full house. In some workshops, there were no
standing room; perhaps, due as much too good attendance. The LCI organizers had
provided inadequate seating capacity.
As I reached the end of the seminar hall, I
saw a Round Table Discussion Group. I enjoyed this session as I was able to
share my ideas with other Lions on our
Clubs activities and how we raised funds for projects. Most of the Lions
in the west were hands-on projects.
The Lions
International Parade
The parade, held on July 1st was
one day before the Opening Convention Plenary Session. This was traditional and
always heralded the commencement of a Lions Intentional Convention.
We were instructed to assemble at Penn’s
landing on Columbus Boulevard
at 10.30am. We had our contingent lined at the 134th position. Because
of this, we started marching at 12.30pm. At this time I was unable to comment
on the start of the parade as there was no opportunity to see what was ahead.
The parade consisted of floats, banners, bands and marching girls. We had to walk
from Market Street to the 13th Street which was about a
mile long. The Lion dignitaries including the international president, the board
and all past international presidents and judges were standing on a prominent areas
to see the march past. It was certainly one of the longest, most colourful,
liveliest international parade I have
ever seen. It was widely published on front page of all the news papers in Philadelphia .
The parade was well organized. The
participants were totally disciplined. The event was definitely one of the highlights of the
convention, an event never to be missed by any Lion delegates.
The International
Show
The one and a half hour show features
singer and actor Bobby Rydell. Also there were other variety acts.
I always thought the show was an international
joint effort by Lions from each nations each putting up an item of
entertainment of national character to give a truly intentional flavor to the
international show. After all it was suppose to be an international show.
Leisure
hours
I made use of my free hours at the Pennsylvania
Convention Centre meeting with the staffs of LCI. They were very friendly. I
had the opportunity to know their responsibilities and how they work. They were
the people who would respond to our communication through the English Language
Department. I took a couple of photos with them and I sent them hard copies
when I was back home. In this manner, they remembered me during the one year
period, at least.
Representatives
from District 308B
Not many Lions from our district
participated in this convention. PCC Dr. Chin Yoon Hiap and wife, PCC Dato Dr.
K Nagaratnam and wife, PCC Jeffrey Quah and wife, and wife, PDG John Loh and
wife were the few POAs who attended.