Membership Workshop a Success

On Saturday January 15, 2011 Rotarians from 16 clubs in Metro Vancouver attend the first of two District membership workshops under the leadership of district membership chair, Linda Coyle.

I welcomed everyone to the seminar and stressed the importance of membership retention and growth to every Rotary clubs. Many clubs in the district have had sustained growth over a number of years, unfortunately some club's membership has declined. The district has new clubs starting in Powell River and Bowen Island.

Rotary Coordinator Dean Rohrs led the group through a discussion on what makes a vibrant Rotary club. The list of ideas included fellowship, fun, service projects, spirit, and diversity of membership including classifications, gender, age and ethnicity.

PDG Del Paterson the district club extension chair discussed the current demographics of the districts membership and the challenges faced by some clubs.

Karen Harrison led a discussion on how we can retain members. Ideas included keeping members active and engaged fellowship activities, regular education, good leadership and communications.

The next membership workshop will be held in Quesnel on January 30, 2011. For more information click HERE

Why does Polio Eradication Cost so Much?

Rotarians often ask why polio eradication costs so much. This is a valid question. This short news story from Angola is a good example of where the funds go. More than 600,000 children and young adults are being vaccinated over three days. This requires a staff of 2000. The majority of the 2000 are paid health care workers. They may only earn a few dollars a day but there is significant cost. The vaccine cost is more than half a million dollars, plus transportation, coolers for the vaccine, yellow vests for the works, meals, advertising and accommodation.

Polio vaccination campaign this weekend in Cabinda

Cabinda - The third stage of vaccination against poliomyelitis is to take place on January 14-16, this year, in the northern Cabinda Province, says a source of the sector.

The official in charge of the department of public health and control of endemic illnesses, António Gomes Tati, said the campaign is intended to vaccinate 618,000 citizens, among adults and children.

About 2,000 people will participate in the door-to-door campaign, meant to reduce the propagation of the illness that affects not only children, but also adults.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, last year, were recorded 38 cases of the illness, out of them 34 adults, causing five deaths.

It has not been recorded any case of this illness in Cabinda Province, since December 2010.

See: http://www.portalangop.co.ao/motix/en_us/noticias/saude/2011/0/2/Polio-vaccination-campaign-this-weekend-Cabinda,80fb1b4c-c638-42b3-9535-cd370e168373.html

FIVE TIPS FOR SPEAKING IN MEETINGS

I thought this post in the blog by Rick Stevens (www.mediacoach.co.uk) was worth sharing.

"Even though you may not be delivering set-piece speeches or presentations on a regular basis, it's likely that you will be speaking in meetings more often. For some people, it can be quite daunting, especially if other attendees are more senior in the organisation. Even the "this is my name and this is what I do" introduction can make people nervous, causing them to give a poor impression right at the start. So here are a few tips to help you to be more confident in those small gatherings.

1) In small groups, being a good listener is as important as being a good speaker. Show interest in others' comments, both by your expression and body language. Never interrupt, but make notes if you wish to refer back to a point when it's your turn to speak.

2) Talk to everyone. Don't just address your comments to the meeting chair or the last person to speak. In a small group it's easy to make eye contact with everyone in turn as you make your remarks. Making everyone feel included will help to lighten the atmosphere.

3) Ask, don't tell. Encourage feedback from the rest of the group, and actively seek their participation. That's the point of a meeting, to ensure that everyone's views are heard. Otherwise, you could just send the information by email.

4) Keep your language simple, and try to avoid any business jargon (don't mention "out of the box thinking" or "rocket science"). For example, look at the editorial in any national newspaper. That always has a strong message, in simple language.

5) Be positive, and focus on things that need to be done, rather than things that went wrong. When referring to comments from others, find the positives to agree with. Summarise the points of agreement often.

Of course, there's always the other option - don't have meetings. But that's another debate."