President's Message
                    January 2025

Jim Christie
Club President

Teamwork

 

I just returned from a 7-day Caribbean cruise charter featuring blues music. What amazed me was the teamwork the organizers employed to convert the ship into essentially a floating entertainment venue. Aside from the usual theatre that is de rigeur for most cruise ships these days, they had to create two additional massive outdoor sound stages for musicians to perform. The ship docked at 6:30 am from its previous voyage and only then could the organizers start their construction efforts. Large cranes hoisted prefabricated pieces of structured steel, plywood panels, audio equipment, lighting, amplifiers, sound mixers and cables onto the ship’s rear deck. Within a few hours the ships’ pools had been covered by steel and plywood to transform them into platforms for passengers to stand and watch the performances up close. Deck chairs and other normal cruise ship accoutrements were removed and replaced by hundreds of chairs for concert goers to sit and watch from slightly further back. Meanwhile other team members began assembling the two temporary stages complete with 20 foot scaffolding to hold lights and massive 200 pound speakers. Sound and lighting cables were run from the stages to mixers located under canvas gazebos. Amazingly all preparations were virtually complete by 4:00 pm (9 ½ hours later) when the ship left the dock, having left most of the construction crew onshore. By 5:00 pm (only 10 1/2 hours after starting work) the first music concert began and a second one on the second stage started at 5:30 as scheduled.

 

The teamwork necessary to pull this off was something to see. Teamwork on this project was crucial. When team members worked together harmoniously, they can shared ideas, solved problems more efficiently, and ensured a smoother workflow. This collaborative spirit ultimately lead to timely project completion.

 

I use this story to illustrate that teamwork necessary to create any special event. But teamwork is equally important in running our Probus club. Members volunteer to make all the activities and events we participate in happen. Whether it is recruiting speakers, organizing outings, running regular events or any number of other activities, the club depends on a myriad of its members to make things happen. This club depends on all of you to be successful. So if you are asked (or better yet want to proactively volunteer) to help with something for the club, I urge you to do so.

 

 

Jim Christie

President