District Seminars a Success

DISTRICT ASSEMBLY: On Saturday, March 27^th 63 Rotarians from more than 25 clubs attended the first of three District Assemblies. Topics covered included: the 2010-11 Rotary theme, "Building Communities - Bridging Continents", DGE Penny Offer stressed the goal of bigger, better and bolder Rotary clubs, PDG Dean Rohrs outlined the revised RI strategic plan, district membership chair Linda Coyle offered a practical solution to membership the 5 X 5 plan and PDG Mary Watson updated clubs on the certification required by the Youth Exchange program. 

A presentation on risk management and crisis media management was given by PDG Chris Offer,  AGs Pam Rickey, Ken Wilson, Wayne Roy and Sue Godey covered a variety of administrative topics. DGN Hans Doge stressed the need for partnerships in Rotary.  DGE Penny Offer concluded the seminar with a call for clubs to be creative in their service projects and innovative in their approach to membership development.

Download slide presentations from the seminar:

Youth Exchange Certification
Risk Management and Crisis Media Management
General Assembly Slides

Photos from Metro Vancouver Assembly

 

ROTARY FOUNDATION GRANT MANAGEMENT SEMINAR: On Sunday, March 28^th more than 100 Rotarians from 30 clubs gathered in Delta for the first of three of the district's Rotary Foundation grant management seminars. This is part of the districts participation as a pilot district in the Future Vision Plan.

DGE Penny Offer welcomed the Rotarians and explained the unique role District 5040 has in the future of The Rotary Foundation and the opportunity to use a new approach to humanitarian service.

PDG Kevin Conway, DGE Penny Offer and RRFC Chris Offer gave a series of fast paced  presentations and group exercise on the new grant structure. The new funding model for grants, vocational teams and scholarships was explained. Lively discussions were held on the funding of grants and how future vision has changed the approach to clubs participation in international and local service.  Many questions were asked on the future vision program.

Download Future Vision Grant Seminar slides

Photos of Grant Seminar

 

The next seminars will be held:

Quesnel District Assembly April 10 and TRF Seminar April 11
Terrace District Assembly April 17 and TRF Seminar April 18

The best way to donate to The Rotary Foundation

A short presentation on how TRF Direct works and why it is an easy way to make your donation to The Rotary Foundation. TRF Direct is one of the easiest ways to increase donations from Rotarians in your club. Why not set a goal of getting 5 or 10 members to sign up in the next six months?

Photos from Pacific Northwest PETS held in Seattle March 5 to 7 2010.

Happy Birthday Rotary

During the first Rotary club meeting on February 23, 1905 in Chicago, Paul Harris, Gustavus Loehr, Hiram Shorey and Silvester Schiele met to talk about their personal experiences. Harris then unfolded his general plan for their future club meetings. Paul Harris named the new club "Rotary" because members met in rotation at their various places of business. Club membership grew rapidly. Soon Paul became convinced that the Rotary club could be developed into an important service movement and strove to extend Rotary to other cities.

Watch a 1933 radio address of Paul Harris which is a compilation of audio and still pitcures on YouTube. For more historical information about Rotary, visit Rotary History and Archives or the Rotary Global History Fellowship.

First District 5040 Global Scholar Interviews

On Saturday I had the opportunity to sit on the scholar selection panel for District 5040's first Global Scholarship as a Pilot – Future Vision District. We are one of only 100 pilot districts around the world.
We interviewed four outstanding, bright articulate students from different parts of our district, with diverse cultural and academic backgrounds. It is rewarding to meet and talk to young future leaders of our country. Their enthusiasm and commitment ensures a strong future for our community. We wish we had four scholarships to award.

We were looking for academic performance, defined objectives in a plan to achieve their goals, demonstrated work and volunteer experience, participation in school activities and team sports and the impression of the applicant during the interview.

Scholarships, by a variety of names are The Rotary Foundation's oldest and best-known program. The first scholarships were awarded in 1947. Since then, nearly 38,000 men and women from about 100 nations have studied abroad under its auspices. Today it is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program. Over 650 scholarships were awarded for study last year.
The purpose of the Global Grant Scholarships program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries and geographical areas. The scholar must study in one of the six areas of focus and attend university in one of the 100 pilot districts. While abroad, scholars serve as goodwill ambassadors to the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to a greater understanding of their host country.
Generous contributions from Rotarians in District 5040 fund this scholarship and lay a foundation of future world leaders. We will announce the person selected in a week or two. Approval from TRF is still required and admission to the selected university must be obtained.

Simply Does It

Communications is critical in Rotary. Presentations to clubs, conferences and semianrs are an important part of Rotary communications. I thought the following tip from Alan Stevens "The Media Coach" from the UK is so good I want to share it.

The best speeches are often remembered by a single phrase. For example "I have a dream" or "They shall not pass" or "Yes we can". There are a number of things that make a speech "great", but one of the most important is simplicity. Look back at each of those phrases - just three or four words, each of one syllable. Yet they conjure up ideas and imagery which move people to action or remind them of the message of the speech.

An exercise that I often go through with clients is to find the simplest way of expressing their core message. We try to reduce it to just three or four simple words. If these words are repeated throughout a speech (a rhetorical technique known as anaphora), then they can be used later on by listeners to recall the message of the entire speech.

Sometimes, clients say to me "but my message is complex - it just can't be simplified". My response is always the same "Then how do you expect people to understand it?". Making a message simple is not patronising, or dumbing-down. It is allowing your idea to be understood by the largest possible number of people.

OK, maybe some messages can't be delivered in four simple words. Perhaps it may take five or six. But if you can't find a way to make your message really simple, then you are short-changing your audience.   See: http://www.mediacoach.co.uk/.

Rotarians Welcome Olympic Torch

Had a marvellous afternoon watching the Olympic torch arrive in my community. Wonderful enthusiasm and patriotism. Children and adults had red maple leaves painted on their faces. There was a sea of red jackets, hats and flags. The members of the Rotary Club of Ladner volunteered along the route to pass out hot chocolate. I joined the club members for a de-briefing and light dinner at the local Legion. This is a superb example of Rotary serving the community and maintaining a high profile.

Membership Video

This is a great membership development video from the Rotary Club of Vancovuer Arbutus. Shows us what one club can do. What is your club doing?

Building Communities -- Bridging Continents

It was wonderful to be in San Diego for the International Assembly with more than 500 DGEs from around the world. RI President-elect Ray Klinginsmith announced the 2010-11 RI theme, Building Communities -- Bridging Continents, during the opening plenary session. President Elect Ray said he arrived at the theme after reviewing RI themes of years past. He noticed that only a few spoke to non-Rotarians.

He said, "As a result, I decided to search for a briefly stated theme that would fulfill two objectives: the first to explain Rotary to non-Rotarians, and the second to validate our work for Rotarians". "The words I have selected to describe Rotary's current mission and to highlight our achievements are what we do best: Building Communities -- Bridging Continents. " The president-elect described how his 50 years of Rotary experience have contributed to his focus on communities at home and abroad. For example, as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar, he studied for a year in South Africa, becoming the first student from his small town of Unionville, Missouri, USA, to study abroad.

He encouraged all of us to reexamine traditional procedures that were no longer best practices and to begin new traditions where appropriate.

I think the theme is easy to work with. Just four words to tell us all what Rotary does.

RI President Elect Ray Klinginsmith theme speech

The 2010-11 RI theme reflects what Rotarians do best, says RI President-elect Ray Klinginsmith. See an excerpt from his 18 January International Assembly speech, and watch as he unveils the next theme, Building Communities -- Bridging Continents .