CHAIRMAN’S AWARD
Presented by Ted Lizotte 
The Chairman’s Award was first presented in 1981. It was started by 50-convention attendee and past Chairman – Jon Jones. I consider presenting this award a “perk” of this position as it is one of the few decisions that I can make without trying to get a consensus of at least three to five people to come along for the ride. I’ll admit that it does inject me with a little feeling of power. But don’t panic, any delusions of grandeur that I might have been tempted to run amok with, are quickly put into check by two voices of reason in my life, Teresa at work and Shelly at home.
Since I first realized that the 50th Convention would happen under my watch, I have been reflecting heavily on our past and our future. To attain a 50th anniversary of anything, many things need to be overcome. It’s easy to see why this milestone is celebrated as the Golden Anniversary, and we should take a few minutes to reflect on the hurdles we’ve overcome to be here.
The pure fact that CALLERLAB even exists is a wonderous achievement. That our founding fathers pulled this idea out of the ether and coalesced it into something that causes us to sit here today is remarkable. They managed to overcome differences to put our first list together and then worked together to continue to grow and expand.
Our activity, like many social activities, has continued to overcome the hurdle of the modern era as well. Even with the decline of social clubs that has been occurring almost since CALLERLAB’s inception, here we still are. We overcame a fracturing of our membership in the 90’s when disagreements became too much. We’ve seen many of the legends of our activity reach the ends of their calling careers – still we move forward. But one of the biggest hurdles for this organization and the activity in recent memory, is still one that we are recovering from today. COVID and its effects will not be forgotten anytime soon. We lost many dancers and callers from our activity due to our inability to gather together.
Additionally, if not for the loss of our 2020 and 2021 conventions, I would not be standing here for the 50th. And before I continue, I would like to take a moment to recognize and thank CALLERLAB’s Chairman during that stretch for holding us together, Ken Ritucci. The year 2020 will be remembered for a lot of things. For me, I earned my Caller Coach Accreditation, almost one month to the day that I had to stop calling. Many of us felt confused and almost alone for the first time in a long time.
But like many hardships that come along, there always seem to be those that find a way to adapt and overcome. I believe that tonight’s recipient fits that bill.
Within a few weeks of the COVID shutdown of our activity, this caller had an idea. What if he could use technology not normally thought of to be compatible with our activity, as a way to stay connected through the siloed times?
In late March of 2020, he tested his first Zoom dance session with two couples. Way up in the still cold Northeastern US, Maine specifically, this little idea started to flourish.
Once he knew it would work, he posted what he called a “beta test” out on Facebook. He began hosting these two-couple dances, inviting anyone and everyone to attend. Not for money, but to foster 13 the feeling of togetherness.
And he was generous with his time and knowledge. I and many other callers were invited to call with him. A large number of callers reached out to me to get an understanding how to get their equipment working with this newfangled tech. I sent almost all of them on to this caller, and he was happy to assist.
This germ of an idea led to many callers and dancers connecting through Zoom during the COVID shutdown. It helped spawn the C.L.A.S.S. series that I was involved in, as well as many other caller education seminars that existed. Callers are still taking advantage of the medium today, for teaching, dancing, or just keeping in touch.
And it also helped lead to a virtual gathering of this body in 2021, which has led to our ability to continue to stream parts of this convention even today.
One of my first trips overseas after COVID was in October of 2023. At the first after party, I was grilled on whether or not I knew this caller from Maine. This group had spent many hours online with him and wanted to make sure that I would thank him when I returned home. They all hoped to meet in-person one day. And I’m sure they still feel the love and thankfulness for the time they got to spend together online.
I understand that he probably wasn’t the first person to try this. I and others had called using Skype and so forth. But in my mind, he was the first to bring it easily to everyone, using available tools we all could understand. And his insight and generosity toward callers and dancers alike helped to spread the online dancing movement worldwide.
We lost a lot of people from this activity due to COVID. The actions of this caller helped us keep many of them that might have strayed, and for that, we are in his debt. While not much, this is my way of making sure that he is recognized for his contributions.
So please join me as we all “Bow to the Cat” and present the 2025 Chairman’s award to first time attendee, Mike Dusoe.