Apologies for the slight delay in uploading my blog posts as I'm finding it hard to be as responsive as I was previously. This job is quite busy and hours long so the last thing I want to do after work is sit in front of a computer. On the plus side, the work is rewarding, I'm working with a wonderful team of people and it's a pleasure to go into work every day which is a long way from where I was last year!
Now to Rotary matters at hand...
Well our last of the guest speakers for the Connecting Business with Community networking events have finished and I hope that everyone enjoyed the February series! Admittedly I did enjoy them all and learned so much about the challenges that businesses undergo nowadays to grow and develop their business to keep our economy going.
In particularly I learned that technology and social media are changing the face of business; that what we knew about marketing in the past, cannot be used in the future - through connected online networks, people can decide whether your business lives or dies. I learned some simple techniques to save some money and that being environmentally friendly doesn't mean it costing me money and I learned that there's a small group of volunteers out there who provide mentoring services to businesses in need - that when there are droughts, floods or natural disasters - the livelihood of people goes and they would need just as much support to re-establish their business as others who haven't gone through this trauma.
Thank you to Greg, Ian and Philip for your assistance with the co-ordination of these events and thanks to everyone for being great hosts and making all our guests feel welcome.
The July events are already in progress. I've got a couple of speakers booked already. The topics will be on: "How to Increase Profits of Your Business"; "Closing Your Business" (hope that it's not too depressing). I'm thinking of a third speaker from Monash Health Foundation to talk about 'Corporate Social Responsibility: What Businesses Can Do to Connect with their Community" and followed by a vocational tour of the Intensive Care Unit. The benefit of these events now is that I have guest speakers approaching me to come to speak at our events and I have to fend them off for a few months! (We still need to actively promote these into our local area).
On an aside, I am now part of the District Vocational Services Committee for 2012-2013 with the aim to roll out these business networking events across other clubs who may like to do the same. The Vocational Service suite of programs are being revamped and in DGN's year are more likely to receive much more prominence than they have in previous years so we can 'get the business back to Rotary'. I have been asked to present the concept to PETS on Sunday 4th March and to the District Conference in April. However, now scratching my head to think up of what to say and need to find some time to create the presentation!
Other than that, I had an email from our GSE Recipient Kathryn who mentioned that she is getting married to Hayden on 1 March and that she is quite excited. She is leaving RMIT due to organisational restructuring and just looking forward to getting married and going overseas on her honeymoon then exploring job opportunities when she gets back. She passes on her regards to the club.
You may have seen by now the flyer for the Welcoming Dinner for the Incoming GSE team on Tuesday 27 March at Dingley International. We will not have our regular Monday meeting and instead, should you and your partner join us on this night, you are welcome to attend. It is $40 for a 2 course meal and it promises to be an enjoyable night as these nights always are. Come and learn about the culture of the Texans - and I do hope they will be wearing big cowboy hats and belt buckles!
Speedy Recovery
My best wishes also goes to Susan who has taken a leave of absence for a few months to undergo surgery for her back. I hope that this will finally ease her back pain so that she can get mobile again.
Also to Sheila, it's always difficult when we're in pain that stops our mobility so I hope that the issue is sorted to get back on your feet!
We were shocked to hear the news of Kevin who came off his bike and we wish him a speedy recovery and rehab to get back to his usual self and see him back at the club once again.
Global Illumination Ceremony
For those of you who are interested, on Saturday night the End Polio Now global illumination ceremony will occur at Federation Square at 8:30pm. Why not make a night of it by enjoying a meal in town and then watching the lights light up for Melbourne. If you won't be there, the display will be on for the next 3 days and this will promote Rotary to all Melbournites and seen by the rest of the world.
Have a great week everyone and see you on Monday night at Cell Care at Heatherton and followed by sangers and drinks at Melbourne Golf Academy. I'll be bringing my clubs - that's for sure.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Update on Presidents Meeting
Hello everyone
Last night I attended the Rotary Presidents Meeting and I'd like to update you on the various events and initiatives that may be of interest to you.
District Conference
If you haven't already registered, then please consider registering soon as the countdown is on until the weekend of 21 and 22 April for the District Conference. Register here: http://www.9810conference.org.au/
The question was asked if partners can come along just to the Saturday night event if they haven't paid for full registration. Although guests cannot come only to the Saturday night event, DG Juliet has a small budget available and if you put in a case for your partner to attend, then this will be considered. So please email her directly with your request.
The event promises to be wonderful and a bit different to other years and there is a surprise for us all on Saturday night.
Parking is available at Etihad stadium which is directly opposite the venue on the water, at $10 per day.
Peter Murie has asked that if you have a club project to promote that you provide to him slides/photos and some copy of your event so that the 'news reels' can be made and played during the event on loop. Unfortunately, due to limited space, there will not be club project displays in a House of Friendship like we have other years.
Rotary Birthday - Global Illumination Event - for your diaries Thursday 27 Feb
At 8:30pm at Federation Square, there will be a Rotary End Polio Illumination 'switching on' ceremony where the Rotary symbol and End Polio Now will be in bright lights at Fed Square for the world to see. It will be an opportunity for Rotarians from all Districts to gather and celebrate Rotary's birthday and be part of a once-in-a-Rotary lifetime opportunity to be part of the illumination of the city. The photo taken on this night will go along with the other photos of the Rotary symbol displayed in London, and other cities - the images we know so well.
This is an opportunity to gather your friends, family and fellow Rotarians to come along to the city and be involved in this special night! The images will stay up for 3 days until 27 February so Melbournians can get the full appreciation of the message.
I'm planning to have dinner at the Young and Jackson's after work and then heading off to see the lights turn on in the city!
Dick Garner has asked for all club 's support to get as many people to this event!
Books for Babies
Jo Beilby talked about the literacy project available to all clubs. This is a full kit where this book, "Ten Little Toes and Ten Little Fingers" will be given to all mums who give birth on 12 March with a dedication from Rotary. It is an opportunity to work with your local hospital to provide this book to all mums on this day and spread the word of Rotary.
New Clubs in The Pipeline
(1) There is a new club starting at Swinburne University with the assistance of RC Wantirna and more information will be made available soon.
(2) Philip talked about a new District e-Club in formation called "Rotary eClub of Greater Melbourne" which will be an opportunity for those people who don't have time for meetings to attend meetings electronically and online. Once the website is up and running, there will be a promotion to the database of prospective members, previous members and the wider Rotary family to inspire interest. More information will come out soon but the aim is to have this up and ready on 30 June 2012.
(3) You may not know that our District has an Interact Club (14-18 Year olds) and it is the largest club in the District with over 70 members.
Group Study Exchange
There will be an outgoing team dinner to farewell the Aussies going to Texas hosted by the RC Doncaster on 21 March. More details will be out soon but it would be great if we had representation from our club to support Andrew Boast and wish him well. The outgoing team will be leaving Melbourne on 23 March.
The incoming GSE Texan team will be here on 25 March and the RC Mordialloc will be holding a 'welcome dinner' at the Dingley International on Tuesday 27 March. We will not be having a meeting on the Monday 26 and instead, will use the Cluster dinner as an opportunity to meet and enjoy the presentation at the Dingley for those people who are interested. More details to follow but please put Tues 25 March in your diaries.
New Members
There will be a new member's night at the Box Hill Golf Course on Thursday 1 March at 6:00-8:00pm
President Elect Training Sessions (PETS)
Given that I'll be President again in the new year, I'll be attending PETS on Sunday 4 March as a participant but also a presenter. DGE Brian has asked me to present the idea of the Business Networking Concept to the group to be rolled out on a wider scale across the clubs if they like.
There is opportunity for President Nominees to attend too but as we haven't planned down this far as to who will take over in 2013-2014...I'll leave that open. The choice is totally yours - do you want to act as President for the club for a year! It's a great job - with lots of support - and wonderful opportunities. If you haven't already considered it but you'd like to - then please, let me know because you can come with me to PETS!! Yay!!
DG Nominee Applications now Open
If you have loftier aspirations than just President, then how about DGN? Applications now open for DGN AND/OR the selection committee. More information in Newsletters soon or on the website.
District Governor Changeover Dinner Night
Will be on at the Box Hill Town Hall on Saturday 30 June 2012 if you're interested.
Business Networking Events
Just thought I'd add this in myself - it wasn't mentioned last night but you may or may not have seen the article in the American Rotarian magazine about how RC Rochester NY is using business events to drive membership. The article is called 'Open for Business' and here it is:
http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/TheRotarian/Pages/Business1201.aspx
I have contacted the RC Rochester to ask to speak to someone via Skype for an opportunity to share the knowledge, tools and ideas of what we could do to reconnect with our own business community and I'll let you know how that goes.
In the meantime, I have re-created District toolkit of tools and templates that should any club in our district (or wider) ask for how to plan for such events, will be made available. I have been asked by DGE Brian to be in the District role next year for Business Networking so if you have other ideas of how this concept can grow then please let me know.
Other News
Other than that, work has advised me that the upcoming months will be going to be hectic as the project starts gaining momentum and initiatives implemented. I have been warned that there will be many after hours work and weekend work to get through the workload. I'm anticipating that there will be Monday nights where I simply will not be available to attend Rotary and I ask your support in these cases. The business events are still my priority and I'm in the process of filling in one more speaker and a vocational visit to the ICU at Monash Hospital for our events in July.
However, there are other factors such as identifying alternative venues (we have already created the short list of places with the option of also 'staying at SOC' to be included if we can sway the management to keep us on if we join as SOC members to cover the cost of the big room). Standby for more information.
Other than that, RYLA is going to be asking for applicants soon and I'd ask that you consider applicants for that. The GSE Malaysia applications will also soon be open and Jayde (our guest speaker from Monash Health) has expressed an interest to join GSE and join Rotary afterwards and I'd be encouraging her to do the program first.
Have a great weekend and see you on Monday night for our Connecting Business with Community Business Networking Event!
Last night I attended the Rotary Presidents Meeting and I'd like to update you on the various events and initiatives that may be of interest to you.
District Conference
If you haven't already registered, then please consider registering soon as the countdown is on until the weekend of 21 and 22 April for the District Conference. Register here: http://www.9810conference.org.au/
The question was asked if partners can come along just to the Saturday night event if they haven't paid for full registration. Although guests cannot come only to the Saturday night event, DG Juliet has a small budget available and if you put in a case for your partner to attend, then this will be considered. So please email her directly with your request.
The event promises to be wonderful and a bit different to other years and there is a surprise for us all on Saturday night.
Parking is available at Etihad stadium which is directly opposite the venue on the water, at $10 per day.
Peter Murie has asked that if you have a club project to promote that you provide to him slides/photos and some copy of your event so that the 'news reels' can be made and played during the event on loop. Unfortunately, due to limited space, there will not be club project displays in a House of Friendship like we have other years.
Rotary Birthday - Global Illumination Event - for your diaries Thursday 27 Feb
At 8:30pm at Federation Square, there will be a Rotary End Polio Illumination 'switching on' ceremony where the Rotary symbol and End Polio Now will be in bright lights at Fed Square for the world to see. It will be an opportunity for Rotarians from all Districts to gather and celebrate Rotary's birthday and be part of a once-in-a-Rotary lifetime opportunity to be part of the illumination of the city. The photo taken on this night will go along with the other photos of the Rotary symbol displayed in London, and other cities - the images we know so well.
This is an opportunity to gather your friends, family and fellow Rotarians to come along to the city and be involved in this special night! The images will stay up for 3 days until 27 February so Melbournians can get the full appreciation of the message.
I'm planning to have dinner at the Young and Jackson's after work and then heading off to see the lights turn on in the city!
Dick Garner has asked for all club 's support to get as many people to this event!
Books for Babies
Jo Beilby talked about the literacy project available to all clubs. This is a full kit where this book, "Ten Little Toes and Ten Little Fingers" will be given to all mums who give birth on 12 March with a dedication from Rotary. It is an opportunity to work with your local hospital to provide this book to all mums on this day and spread the word of Rotary.
New Clubs in The Pipeline
(1) There is a new club starting at Swinburne University with the assistance of RC Wantirna and more information will be made available soon.
(2) Philip talked about a new District e-Club in formation called "Rotary eClub of Greater Melbourne" which will be an opportunity for those people who don't have time for meetings to attend meetings electronically and online. Once the website is up and running, there will be a promotion to the database of prospective members, previous members and the wider Rotary family to inspire interest. More information will come out soon but the aim is to have this up and ready on 30 June 2012.
(3) You may not know that our District has an Interact Club (14-18 Year olds) and it is the largest club in the District with over 70 members.
Group Study Exchange
There will be an outgoing team dinner to farewell the Aussies going to Texas hosted by the RC Doncaster on 21 March. More details will be out soon but it would be great if we had representation from our club to support Andrew Boast and wish him well. The outgoing team will be leaving Melbourne on 23 March.
The incoming GSE Texan team will be here on 25 March and the RC Mordialloc will be holding a 'welcome dinner' at the Dingley International on Tuesday 27 March. We will not be having a meeting on the Monday 26 and instead, will use the Cluster dinner as an opportunity to meet and enjoy the presentation at the Dingley for those people who are interested. More details to follow but please put Tues 25 March in your diaries.
New Members
There will be a new member's night at the Box Hill Golf Course on Thursday 1 March at 6:00-8:00pm
President Elect Training Sessions (PETS)
Given that I'll be President again in the new year, I'll be attending PETS on Sunday 4 March as a participant but also a presenter. DGE Brian has asked me to present the idea of the Business Networking Concept to the group to be rolled out on a wider scale across the clubs if they like.
There is opportunity for President Nominees to attend too but as we haven't planned down this far as to who will take over in 2013-2014...I'll leave that open. The choice is totally yours - do you want to act as President for the club for a year! It's a great job - with lots of support - and wonderful opportunities. If you haven't already considered it but you'd like to - then please, let me know because you can come with me to PETS!! Yay!!
DG Nominee Applications now Open
If you have loftier aspirations than just President, then how about DGN? Applications now open for DGN AND/OR the selection committee. More information in Newsletters soon or on the website.
District Governor Changeover Dinner Night
Will be on at the Box Hill Town Hall on Saturday 30 June 2012 if you're interested.
Business Networking Events
Just thought I'd add this in myself - it wasn't mentioned last night but you may or may not have seen the article in the American Rotarian magazine about how RC Rochester NY is using business events to drive membership. The article is called 'Open for Business' and here it is:
http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/TheRotarian/Pages/Business1201.aspx
I have contacted the RC Rochester to ask to speak to someone via Skype for an opportunity to share the knowledge, tools and ideas of what we could do to reconnect with our own business community and I'll let you know how that goes.
In the meantime, I have re-created District toolkit of tools and templates that should any club in our district (or wider) ask for how to plan for such events, will be made available. I have been asked by DGE Brian to be in the District role next year for Business Networking so if you have other ideas of how this concept can grow then please let me know.
Other News
Other than that, work has advised me that the upcoming months will be going to be hectic as the project starts gaining momentum and initiatives implemented. I have been warned that there will be many after hours work and weekend work to get through the workload. I'm anticipating that there will be Monday nights where I simply will not be available to attend Rotary and I ask your support in these cases. The business events are still my priority and I'm in the process of filling in one more speaker and a vocational visit to the ICU at Monash Hospital for our events in July.
However, there are other factors such as identifying alternative venues (we have already created the short list of places with the option of also 'staying at SOC' to be included if we can sway the management to keep us on if we join as SOC members to cover the cost of the big room). Standby for more information.
Other than that, RYLA is going to be asking for applicants soon and I'd ask that you consider applicants for that. The GSE Malaysia applications will also soon be open and Jayde (our guest speaker from Monash Health) has expressed an interest to join GSE and join Rotary afterwards and I'd be encouraging her to do the program first.
Have a great weekend and see you on Monday night for our Connecting Business with Community Business Networking Event!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Helen's Headlines - Monday 6 February 2011
How to Engage Your Customers Using Social Media was our first presentation for our Connecting Business with Community Networking Events for the month of February. Presented by online marketer Priya Chandra, we saw the majority of the audience were visitors over Rotarians last night which goes to show the importance of this hot topic.
You may have seen the article in the 'Rotarian' this month called, "Open for Business" and it mentions the Rotary Club of Rochester who does similar events to attract new members with an old tradition. They have a motto at the club, "It's great to do business with a Rotarian" and have various events such as business networking events, B2B expos, "Ask an Expert" column in their newsletter about 5 things about a Rotarian's area of expertise; and a 'Business Before Hours' where they have a get-together at a Rotarian's place of business before work for a tour and preentation of their facility; as well as a business directory. They say, "we encourage our members to bring guests to all our evenings to promote the Rotary Club of Rochester and to let people know that along with our community service work, we are also helping people expand their business." I'm going to get into contact with RC Rochester to find out more about how to further tweak our events to make them that more attractive to business.
I had a call from our Member's office Elizabeth Miller to advise us that she will be attending one of our events so standby! It was lovely to see our GSE participant Andrew Boast who is getting ready for his trip to Dallas and to introduce him to Jayde Lovell, our guest speaker from last Monday night who has expressed an interest to apply for the Malaysia GSE this year. Jayde and I are in progress with organising the vocational tour for the Business Events in July which will be to the Monash ICU - a fascinating behind the scenes tour and presentation of this area; and having a speaker on another night talk about how businesses have contributed to community through charities - and some techniques on how they can work with not-for-profits to promote, sponsor and support charitable events and activities. July Business Networking Events are promising to be just as interesting as the ones we've had already and our database of local business contacts are now steadily growing.
Last night, we had some repeat visitors from last November's events but also some new faces and having a chance to speak to our visitors, they relayed that they got som tips, techniques and hints about what they could do for their own business. One person mentioned that what they thought they could use for their business, they changed their mind simply because it wouldn't have been the right tool.
Our second speaker Snigdha Gurrala, our sponsored NYSF participants charmed them. It was a perfect close to an evening where she explained the benefits and the value that the NYSF held for her. She openly explained her passion for biomedical sciences and you could see how excited she was to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I hope to see Snigdha again, even as a future Rotaractor or Rotarian simply because she has seen the opportunities and learned more about Rotary. At our table, she was also giving us information on how the NYSF was using social media to keep in contact with other participants of NYSF long after the event as a way of still re-inspiring their passion in science and friendship.
So thank you to everyone who has helped in this evening to Philip and Jason for walking around to businesses to promote the events and give out flyers; to Ian who set up the room last night; and to Graeme for dealing with the crowds at the doors. Thanks to Philip again for chairing and creating the Member Packs and to Susan for the certificates.
Next week we have Laurence Guttledge (it was going to be Paul Whelan however he has another job now) a representative from VECCI to talk about the impact of the carbon tax to businesses. Although the turnout will be smaller than last night, I do ask that you actively promote this event to your friends and colleagues.
You may have seen the article in the 'Rotarian' this month called, "Open for Business" and it mentions the Rotary Club of Rochester who does similar events to attract new members with an old tradition. They have a motto at the club, "It's great to do business with a Rotarian" and have various events such as business networking events, B2B expos, "Ask an Expert" column in their newsletter about 5 things about a Rotarian's area of expertise; and a 'Business Before Hours' where they have a get-together at a Rotarian's place of business before work for a tour and preentation of their facility; as well as a business directory. They say, "we encourage our members to bring guests to all our evenings to promote the Rotary Club of Rochester and to let people know that along with our community service work, we are also helping people expand their business." I'm going to get into contact with RC Rochester to find out more about how to further tweak our events to make them that more attractive to business.
I had a call from our Member's office Elizabeth Miller to advise us that she will be attending one of our events so standby! It was lovely to see our GSE participant Andrew Boast who is getting ready for his trip to Dallas and to introduce him to Jayde Lovell, our guest speaker from last Monday night who has expressed an interest to apply for the Malaysia GSE this year. Jayde and I are in progress with organising the vocational tour for the Business Events in July which will be to the Monash ICU - a fascinating behind the scenes tour and presentation of this area; and having a speaker on another night talk about how businesses have contributed to community through charities - and some techniques on how they can work with not-for-profits to promote, sponsor and support charitable events and activities. July Business Networking Events are promising to be just as interesting as the ones we've had already and our database of local business contacts are now steadily growing.
Last night, we had some repeat visitors from last November's events but also some new faces and having a chance to speak to our visitors, they relayed that they got som tips, techniques and hints about what they could do for their own business. One person mentioned that what they thought they could use for their business, they changed their mind simply because it wouldn't have been the right tool.
Our second speaker Snigdha Gurrala, our sponsored NYSF participants charmed them. It was a perfect close to an evening where she explained the benefits and the value that the NYSF held for her. She openly explained her passion for biomedical sciences and you could see how excited she was to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I hope to see Snigdha again, even as a future Rotaractor or Rotarian simply because she has seen the opportunities and learned more about Rotary. At our table, she was also giving us information on how the NYSF was using social media to keep in contact with other participants of NYSF long after the event as a way of still re-inspiring their passion in science and friendship.
So thank you to everyone who has helped in this evening to Philip and Jason for walking around to businesses to promote the events and give out flyers; to Ian who set up the room last night; and to Graeme for dealing with the crowds at the doors. Thanks to Philip again for chairing and creating the Member Packs and to Susan for the certificates.
Next week we have Laurence Guttledge (it was going to be Paul Whelan however he has another job now) a representative from VECCI to talk about the impact of the carbon tax to businesses. Although the turnout will be smaller than last night, I do ask that you actively promote this event to your friends and colleagues.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Helen's Headlines - Monday 29th January 2011
Apologies for a belated post due to pressing demands at my new work which have started! After spending a few weeks learning the ropes at the new place of work, meeting new people and the teams and being inducted, the time has come to actually do some work. I'm finding that I've been spending longer hours at work and not been able to access personal emails to attend to Rotary simply because I can't squeeze them into the day. It doesn't help having this hot weather and the last thing I want to do when I get home at 6pm sometimes 7pm, to check my emails!
But not to worry, we will get there!
We had a wonderful speaker last Monday night. Jayde Lovell from the Monash Health Foundation gave us a rundown of the fundraising her organisation co-ordinates to ensure that funding is provided to the various community centres in our area. Speaking to Jayde on the night, she told me of her fascinating work in Indonesia for the last four years and how she is looking for a community service club to join. She speaks fluent Indonesian and Malay and I thought that she would be a worthy applicant for the GSE going to Malaysia in 2013. She expressed an interest in GSE and already, I contacted the GSE committee for information and Jayde advised that she will be submitting her application for GSE Malaysia this year.
Jayde will also be joining us at all our business events and will be coming along to meet the GSE Team from Texas at our Cluster meeting in late March. Please make her feel welcome to all our meetings.
The business events are now finalised. All information has been sent out to those people who will be taking part - either as guest presenter or assistant on the night with set up, chair or door person. Thanks to those people who make sure these events run smoothly in the background. Numbers to date is that we have 16 new visitors registered on the registration site but we are expecting drop ins for the first event where Priya Chandra will look at how Businesses Engage Customers Using Social Media. She will be using Bill's business as a case study on what can be done, so there's going to be some practical applications that will be of interest to anyone in business.
Also in progress are searching for alternate venues. Myself and Philip went out and saw La Cassatta Restaurant last Tuesday night and spoke to them about our requirements; similarly, he and Graeme also spoke and saw the venue out at the Sandbelt Hotel. We will be providing recommendations to Board in due course but watch this space.
I wish you all a great weekend and see you on Monday at our Connecting Business with Community networking events!
But not to worry, we will get there!
We had a wonderful speaker last Monday night. Jayde Lovell from the Monash Health Foundation gave us a rundown of the fundraising her organisation co-ordinates to ensure that funding is provided to the various community centres in our area. Speaking to Jayde on the night, she told me of her fascinating work in Indonesia for the last four years and how she is looking for a community service club to join. She speaks fluent Indonesian and Malay and I thought that she would be a worthy applicant for the GSE going to Malaysia in 2013. She expressed an interest in GSE and already, I contacted the GSE committee for information and Jayde advised that she will be submitting her application for GSE Malaysia this year.
Jayde will also be joining us at all our business events and will be coming along to meet the GSE Team from Texas at our Cluster meeting in late March. Please make her feel welcome to all our meetings.
The business events are now finalised. All information has been sent out to those people who will be taking part - either as guest presenter or assistant on the night with set up, chair or door person. Thanks to those people who make sure these events run smoothly in the background. Numbers to date is that we have 16 new visitors registered on the registration site but we are expecting drop ins for the first event where Priya Chandra will look at how Businesses Engage Customers Using Social Media. She will be using Bill's business as a case study on what can be done, so there's going to be some practical applications that will be of interest to anyone in business.
Also in progress are searching for alternate venues. Myself and Philip went out and saw La Cassatta Restaurant last Tuesday night and spoke to them about our requirements; similarly, he and Graeme also spoke and saw the venue out at the Sandbelt Hotel. We will be providing recommendations to Board in due course but watch this space.
I wish you all a great weekend and see you on Monday at our Connecting Business with Community networking events!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Helen's Headlines - Monday 23rd January 2012
Happy Australia Day!
I hope everyone had a lovely day to celebrate our national holiday. Mine was spent at home catching up with the jobs around the garden in particularly cleaning out the gutters of dead leaves.
It was nice to see everyone back at our first meeting at the SOC. Thank you to Jason for giving us a fascinating account into his childhood and student years in South Africa. We were all enthralled with his story and it gave us a great insight into the 'man behind the badge'.
Business Networking Events
Thank you to those members who have registered online through the website as you will have saved me time in creating a door list manually. For those who haven't already signed up, please ensure you do so at: www.trybooking.com/17704 It is simple to do and shouldn't take much of your time. This way it will allow us to keep an accurate record of who attended each night. Already we have the following numbers of non-Rotarian guests coming (except 2x guest speakers per night)
Mon 6th Feb: Social Media (8)
Mon 13th Feb: Carbon Tax (4)
Mond 20th Feb: Business Mentors (8)
Mon 27th Feb: Cell Care (2)
Please feel free to bring along a guest or two on the evenings. May I ask that whoever is at the door, GET A BUSINESS CARD AND GIVE THE CARDS TO ME at the end of the night so that I can update our database.
Also on these evenings, please gather outside at the bar and welcome guests first as doors will be closed until 6:25pm when we open for registration. Any other business can be done during the break or outside Rotary hours.
Group Study Exchange Day: Monday 26 March - FOR YOUR DIARIES!
As mentioned we will have a team of 5 Texans on Monday 26th March and we will host them with a day out in the city. I have planned the following:
I need at least 3 people to help out on the day to escort the team around. If you would like to have a nice day out and show these Texans our beautiful city, then please let me know.
If you want to read information on the GSE Program then look here: http://operations.9810rotary.org.au/the-rotary-foundation/group-study-exchange/
Otherwise, someone asked the question on who Andrew and I would be hosting in our home for the week of 24 March to 31 March from the Texan team. Her name is Anne Pape and she is aged 28, an Outreach and Development program co-ordinator for Interfaith Ministries.
Next week we will have Rebecca Lovitt from the Monash Health Foundation and our guest Amy Hayes who we sponsored through a unit of a Diploma in Youth Services. Her interest is working with youths and she recently completed a work placement for her studies that she will talk about.
Until then, have a great week!
I hope everyone had a lovely day to celebrate our national holiday. Mine was spent at home catching up with the jobs around the garden in particularly cleaning out the gutters of dead leaves.
It was nice to see everyone back at our first meeting at the SOC. Thank you to Jason for giving us a fascinating account into his childhood and student years in South Africa. We were all enthralled with his story and it gave us a great insight into the 'man behind the badge'.
Business Networking Events
Thank you to those members who have registered online through the website as you will have saved me time in creating a door list manually. For those who haven't already signed up, please ensure you do so at: www.trybooking.com/17704 It is simple to do and shouldn't take much of your time. This way it will allow us to keep an accurate record of who attended each night. Already we have the following numbers of non-Rotarian guests coming (except 2x guest speakers per night)
Mon 6th Feb: Social Media (8)
Mon 13th Feb: Carbon Tax (4)
Mond 20th Feb: Business Mentors (8)
Mon 27th Feb: Cell Care (2)
Please feel free to bring along a guest or two on the evenings. May I ask that whoever is at the door, GET A BUSINESS CARD AND GIVE THE CARDS TO ME at the end of the night so that I can update our database.
Also on these evenings, please gather outside at the bar and welcome guests first as doors will be closed until 6:25pm when we open for registration. Any other business can be done during the break or outside Rotary hours.
Group Study Exchange Day: Monday 26 March - FOR YOUR DIARIES!
As mentioned we will have a team of 5 Texans on Monday 26th March and we will host them with a day out in the city. I have planned the following:
- 0830 Hosts to drop off their team members at Cheltenham Train Station
- 1000-1130 Morning tea, behind the scenes tour and presentation of State Parliament by MP Bruce Atkinson
- 1130-1420 Lunch and wander around Bourke Street Mall
- 1430 - 1600 Afternoon tea, behind the scenes tour and presentation of City of Melbourne Council by a local Councillor TBA
- 1700 Hosts to meet and take their team members back home from Cheltenham station
I need at least 3 people to help out on the day to escort the team around. If you would like to have a nice day out and show these Texans our beautiful city, then please let me know.
If you want to read information on the GSE Program then look here: http://operations.9810rotary.org.au/the-rotary-foundation/group-study-exchange/
Otherwise, someone asked the question on who Andrew and I would be hosting in our home for the week of 24 March to 31 March from the Texan team. Her name is Anne Pape and she is aged 28, an Outreach and Development program co-ordinator for Interfaith Ministries.
Next week we will have Rebecca Lovitt from the Monash Health Foundation and our guest Amy Hayes who we sponsored through a unit of a Diploma in Youth Services. Her interest is working with youths and she recently completed a work placement for her studies that she will talk about.
Until then, have a great week!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Helen's Headlines - Friday 13 January 2012
Hope you are having a nice January and not letting this freezing cold miserable summer get you down. I know I'm feeling it especially when I had grand visions of spending time at the beach during my holidays and instead, I had to pull out my winter woollies to wear!
Although having this time off has afforded me the opportunity to do the things around the house that I have neglected. I have replaced tap washers; weeded the garden; laid pine bark chips in the garden; mowed lawns; cleaned gutters; spider bombed the garage and roof spaces; cleaned out the garage; pruned all the trees in the front and back...the list goes on. It's been wonderful to have all this time during the day to do the little jobs that just get put off during the year.
Update on Business Events
The promotion has started! For the last couple of days I have spent a few hours every morning walking to the industrial estates along East Bentleigh shops (near East Boundary & Centre Road), Chesterville, Warrigal and Cochranes Road door knocking, chatting with people at these factory sites and handing out flyers. Admittedly, when they see me they think I'm going to flog some product but when I open up with "I'm in Rotary and we would love to see you at our Business Networking Events where local businesses such as yourselves have an opportunity to promote your products and services while networking with other businesses from the local area."
Once I open up with this statement, in all cases, people are interested in the flyer, stand there and read the key topics and genuinely look interested in it. This morning, I will continue the walk as I believe this is the best and only way to establish a presence by speaking to people directly - in the process, I have seen many factories here in my local area that I otherwise would have driven past and never know what these businesses contribute to the Victorian and Australian economy.
This morning I will continue the flyer drop and I do hope that others from our club can do the Bentleigh Shops. It could be appreciated if people can let me know what flyer drops they are doing so that we don't double up. Similarly, if we aren't doing any flyer drops, let me know so that I can get out there and do the Bentleigh shops which are a main business area we should be targetting - so let's not forget them!
So far, the online registrations are slowly coming in. It could be appreciated if Rotarians can register their attendance online at:
http://www.trybooking.com/17704
It takes a few minutes of your time and you register once for one or all of the events you want to attend in the one shot.
I've only had a couple of the club members register so far so please, make the time to get into the above site and register as it gives us a better idea for numbers.
International Interest in Business Events
The concept of the business networking events are gathering momentum overseas - okay, slight exaggeration. However the RC Cambridge, UK and RC Tecoma Narrows, Seattle Washington USA liked our concept of these events so much that they contacted me for more information. I have sent them the tools and templates of what tasks and co-ordinating need
Their feedback to me was that these tools were exactly what they needed. Both clubs now are proposing the concept and giving the tools to the Board for approval. RC Tecoma Narrows wrote to me two days ago to say that they are now setting up a small team to use my tools and templates to plan and roll out their own business networking events for their local area. The idea of bringing the 'vocations back into Rotary' is one that sits well with many Rotary clubs and it seems that internationally, everyone seems to have the same issues with membership.
Presentation to RC Ringwood
I had the pleasure to be the guest speaker to the Rotary Club of Ringwood to present on the concept of the Business Networking Events as they too are looking at how to encourage local business owners to join. Their club is similar to ours in size and age and the majority are retired.
The presentation went well as there were many questions from the floor but one of the things I did note is that on the onset, the co-ordination of such events does look time consuming [and it was to set it all up but that lessens over time the more you do. There is also a hesitation in the amount of promotion with local business and councils and 'computer' work that needs to be done - internet, LinkedIn etc ]. However, from the people there who had small businesses for themselves, they loved the idea and they relayed that they would like more people like themselves in the club.
But they have a different membership idea. One of their membership drives is a space they have at Eastland Shopping Centre where they sell raffle tickets. When they sell raffle tickets, they asked people if they wanted to know more about Rotary and took down their contact details. They created a list of over 30 people and started phoning each of them up and invite them over to a meeting every week. The have new faces at their club every week through this simple list. At the meeting on Wednesday, they had 2 potential members from this drive who signed up to Rotary that night.
I thought that this was a wonderful idea - they simply ASKED. By using a Rotary public activity, they simply asked people if they wanted to know more information about Rotary.
Maybe we should get into the community ourselves and start asking too?
District Role
DGE Brian Martin has given me the District role for Business Networking and so I will be the District contact for how to support clubs to run these events. I will be working closely with Tim Treeby and his small group of pilot clubs for the Rotary Corporate Membership Program and in effect, DGE's vision is that a variety of programs such as business networking and corporate membership can be developed to attract businesses into Rotary.
For my own vision, these business networking events are specific in function and there's a reason as to why they are monthly and three times per year. If we provide a consistent calendar of events that don't chop and change, businesses in our local area will instantly know that there are networking events they can attend every February, July and October every year. They will then know their local Rotary Club and what we do and we can continue the relationship through consistency. It's easier to advertise and promote 'Business Networking Months' than one off networking events that require a greater personal effort for one guest speaker. In effect, my aim is to establish a longer term relationship with business owners and operators and have them coming back every week of that month - and then following them up by email of ongoing events.
The District role is still in its infancy but to prepare for this, when I get some time, I will create an Information Pack for clubs and re-tweak the tools and templates so they are generic enough to be used by any club around the world.
Group Study Exchange Visit on Week of March 24
This year our international visitors will be from Fort Worth Dallas Texas. The team of 4 plus their Rotarian Team Leader will be coming to Australia and we're all eagerly awaiting for them. Andrew and I will be hosting one of the young team members, Anne Pape for the week starting Saturday 24 March. During the first week, they will have an active calendar of events visiting local industry, government and arts and cultures from our District.
I will be seeking support from our club members to act as 'drivers' for Anne in the mornings. The role involves picking up Anne from our home and dropping her off at the team point at the park near Southland every morning; and then (not all days) picking her up in the afternoons from the same place and dropping her off to our place. Andrew and I would have been able to do this however, we are both working at this time and will kindly seek your support. I will have more details when the GSE Committee sent out the timetables and then we can allocate people for certain days.
Club Day with Group Study Exchange Team Participants: Melbourne - For Your Diaries Monday 26 March 2012
On Monday 26 March, our club will act as host to the team for the whole day. I have organised a trip into Melbourne to see how our state and local government works and will be seeking a couple of volunteers from our club to act as hosts for the day.
The itinerary is as follows:
0830 All team members to meet at Cheltenham Train Station
1000 Commence tour and presentation by MP Bruce Atkinson at Parliament House (tea and coffee will be provided)
1200 Lunch in city and tram/walk to Bourke Street Mall for shopping and perusing
1430 Commence tour and presentation at City of Melbourne Council (tea and coffee provided)
1700 Rotarian host families to pick up their team members from Cheltenham Train Station
I'm still negotiating the tour at the City of Melbourne so it's yet to be confirmed. So if you are interested in getting a 'behind the scenes' tour and presentation of our government and act as wonderful hosts to our beautiful city and the Texan tourists, then please let me know. I would have been involved on the day but as I'm starting a new job, I cannot guarantee any leave from now on.
Venue Situation
When I emailed the South Oakleigh Club to confirm bookings of the large room for our Business Events early this year, they advised me that they have increased their prices to $50 for the small room; $150 for the large room and $50 screen hire every week. This came as a shock as it was unexpected and we hadn't been formally communicated of this change. I was disappointed as I believed our relationship with the SOC was such that we had open communication to be advised and then be in a position to negotiate these changes.
Philip has kindly offered to negotiate these terms as the prices will hurt us in the long run. In the meantime, I have contacted other venues in the area who have been quite open and accepting of our club's requirements so there are options to consider going forward. So far, La Cassetta Restaurant and Buckingham International are two possible contenders - with the former offering us a free hire of a private function room every Monday night and minimum $20 for a full range of meals to consider. Buckingham offers the same although they may have to move us depending on other functions or room bookings on the night.
Our main priority is to stay at the South Oakleigh Club and do our best to negotiate the terms so that it is a win-win for both parties. However, if it doesn't work, then the possibility is that we will move.
So that's all the update with the news so far. I will see everyone at the park on Monday night but I may be a tad late. I will be starting my new job on Monday and have done my best to do as much Rotary work during my leave so that I can focus 100% on work from now on...(okay 95%)...
Enjoy the weekend, hope it warms up!
Although having this time off has afforded me the opportunity to do the things around the house that I have neglected. I have replaced tap washers; weeded the garden; laid pine bark chips in the garden; mowed lawns; cleaned gutters; spider bombed the garage and roof spaces; cleaned out the garage; pruned all the trees in the front and back...the list goes on. It's been wonderful to have all this time during the day to do the little jobs that just get put off during the year.
Update on Business Events
The promotion has started! For the last couple of days I have spent a few hours every morning walking to the industrial estates along East Bentleigh shops (near East Boundary & Centre Road), Chesterville, Warrigal and Cochranes Road door knocking, chatting with people at these factory sites and handing out flyers. Admittedly, when they see me they think I'm going to flog some product but when I open up with "I'm in Rotary and we would love to see you at our Business Networking Events where local businesses such as yourselves have an opportunity to promote your products and services while networking with other businesses from the local area."
Once I open up with this statement, in all cases, people are interested in the flyer, stand there and read the key topics and genuinely look interested in it. This morning, I will continue the walk as I believe this is the best and only way to establish a presence by speaking to people directly - in the process, I have seen many factories here in my local area that I otherwise would have driven past and never know what these businesses contribute to the Victorian and Australian economy.
This morning I will continue the flyer drop and I do hope that others from our club can do the Bentleigh Shops. It could be appreciated if people can let me know what flyer drops they are doing so that we don't double up. Similarly, if we aren't doing any flyer drops, let me know so that I can get out there and do the Bentleigh shops which are a main business area we should be targetting - so let's not forget them!
So far, the online registrations are slowly coming in. It could be appreciated if Rotarians can register their attendance online at:
http://www.trybooking.com/17704
It takes a few minutes of your time and you register once for one or all of the events you want to attend in the one shot.
I've only had a couple of the club members register so far so please, make the time to get into the above site and register as it gives us a better idea for numbers.
International Interest in Business Events
The concept of the business networking events are gathering momentum overseas - okay, slight exaggeration. However the RC Cambridge, UK and RC Tecoma Narrows, Seattle Washington USA liked our concept of these events so much that they contacted me for more information. I have sent them the tools and templates of what tasks and co-ordinating need
Their feedback to me was that these tools were exactly what they needed. Both clubs now are proposing the concept and giving the tools to the Board for approval. RC Tecoma Narrows wrote to me two days ago to say that they are now setting up a small team to use my tools and templates to plan and roll out their own business networking events for their local area. The idea of bringing the 'vocations back into Rotary' is one that sits well with many Rotary clubs and it seems that internationally, everyone seems to have the same issues with membership.
Presentation to RC Ringwood
I had the pleasure to be the guest speaker to the Rotary Club of Ringwood to present on the concept of the Business Networking Events as they too are looking at how to encourage local business owners to join. Their club is similar to ours in size and age and the majority are retired.
The presentation went well as there were many questions from the floor but one of the things I did note is that on the onset, the co-ordination of such events does look time consuming [and it was to set it all up but that lessens over time the more you do. There is also a hesitation in the amount of promotion with local business and councils and 'computer' work that needs to be done - internet, LinkedIn etc ]. However, from the people there who had small businesses for themselves, they loved the idea and they relayed that they would like more people like themselves in the club.
But they have a different membership idea. One of their membership drives is a space they have at Eastland Shopping Centre where they sell raffle tickets. When they sell raffle tickets, they asked people if they wanted to know more about Rotary and took down their contact details. They created a list of over 30 people and started phoning each of them up and invite them over to a meeting every week. The have new faces at their club every week through this simple list. At the meeting on Wednesday, they had 2 potential members from this drive who signed up to Rotary that night.
I thought that this was a wonderful idea - they simply ASKED. By using a Rotary public activity, they simply asked people if they wanted to know more information about Rotary.
Maybe we should get into the community ourselves and start asking too?
District Role
DGE Brian Martin has given me the District role for Business Networking and so I will be the District contact for how to support clubs to run these events. I will be working closely with Tim Treeby and his small group of pilot clubs for the Rotary Corporate Membership Program and in effect, DGE's vision is that a variety of programs such as business networking and corporate membership can be developed to attract businesses into Rotary.
For my own vision, these business networking events are specific in function and there's a reason as to why they are monthly and three times per year. If we provide a consistent calendar of events that don't chop and change, businesses in our local area will instantly know that there are networking events they can attend every February, July and October every year. They will then know their local Rotary Club and what we do and we can continue the relationship through consistency. It's easier to advertise and promote 'Business Networking Months' than one off networking events that require a greater personal effort for one guest speaker. In effect, my aim is to establish a longer term relationship with business owners and operators and have them coming back every week of that month - and then following them up by email of ongoing events.
The District role is still in its infancy but to prepare for this, when I get some time, I will create an Information Pack for clubs and re-tweak the tools and templates so they are generic enough to be used by any club around the world.
Group Study Exchange Visit on Week of March 24
This year our international visitors will be from Fort Worth Dallas Texas. The team of 4 plus their Rotarian Team Leader will be coming to Australia and we're all eagerly awaiting for them. Andrew and I will be hosting one of the young team members, Anne Pape for the week starting Saturday 24 March. During the first week, they will have an active calendar of events visiting local industry, government and arts and cultures from our District.
I will be seeking support from our club members to act as 'drivers' for Anne in the mornings. The role involves picking up Anne from our home and dropping her off at the team point at the park near Southland every morning; and then (not all days) picking her up in the afternoons from the same place and dropping her off to our place. Andrew and I would have been able to do this however, we are both working at this time and will kindly seek your support. I will have more details when the GSE Committee sent out the timetables and then we can allocate people for certain days.
Club Day with Group Study Exchange Team Participants: Melbourne - For Your Diaries Monday 26 March 2012
On Monday 26 March, our club will act as host to the team for the whole day. I have organised a trip into Melbourne to see how our state and local government works and will be seeking a couple of volunteers from our club to act as hosts for the day.
The itinerary is as follows:
0830 All team members to meet at Cheltenham Train Station
1000 Commence tour and presentation by MP Bruce Atkinson at Parliament House (tea and coffee will be provided)
1200 Lunch in city and tram/walk to Bourke Street Mall for shopping and perusing
1430 Commence tour and presentation at City of Melbourne Council (tea and coffee provided)
1700 Rotarian host families to pick up their team members from Cheltenham Train Station
I'm still negotiating the tour at the City of Melbourne so it's yet to be confirmed. So if you are interested in getting a 'behind the scenes' tour and presentation of our government and act as wonderful hosts to our beautiful city and the Texan tourists, then please let me know. I would have been involved on the day but as I'm starting a new job, I cannot guarantee any leave from now on.
Venue Situation
When I emailed the South Oakleigh Club to confirm bookings of the large room for our Business Events early this year, they advised me that they have increased their prices to $50 for the small room; $150 for the large room and $50 screen hire every week. This came as a shock as it was unexpected and we hadn't been formally communicated of this change. I was disappointed as I believed our relationship with the SOC was such that we had open communication to be advised and then be in a position to negotiate these changes.
Philip has kindly offered to negotiate these terms as the prices will hurt us in the long run. In the meantime, I have contacted other venues in the area who have been quite open and accepting of our club's requirements so there are options to consider going forward. So far, La Cassetta Restaurant and Buckingham International are two possible contenders - with the former offering us a free hire of a private function room every Monday night and minimum $20 for a full range of meals to consider. Buckingham offers the same although they may have to move us depending on other functions or room bookings on the night.
Our main priority is to stay at the South Oakleigh Club and do our best to negotiate the terms so that it is a win-win for both parties. However, if it doesn't work, then the possibility is that we will move.
So that's all the update with the news so far. I will see everyone at the park on Monday night but I may be a tad late. I will be starting my new job on Monday and have done my best to do as much Rotary work during my leave so that I can focus 100% on work from now on...(okay 95%)...
Enjoy the weekend, hope it warms up!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Happy New Year!
Hello everyone
I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family and now looking forward to all that 2012 has to offer.
Andrew and I spent our Christmas with his family in Canberra and it was lovely to see our many nephews and nieces all of whom must have had a growth spurt since we saw them last. We are now back at home and as well as dealing with his hot weather, doing various odd jobs around the house that were put aside simply because we didn't have time during the year. I'm looking forward to starting my new job at the bank on Monday 16 January so until then, I'm crossing off a long list of household and gardening duties that were left aside last year.
I'm happy to report that all our guest speakers for our Rotary 'Connecting Business with Community' business networking month for February are locked in. They promise to be quite interesting and engaging and I'm sure there'll be plenty of Rotarians in business who will also find the topics pertinent for them. I'm going to use the mornings of the next week to go around to businesses in my local area at Chesterville Road to heavily promote these events and get even more people to attend. I'd love it if I can get your help and support to promote it too. We simply need more people to get out there and 'be the face' of Rotary and personally invite people to come along.
All the information is currently on our website and of course, people can book their attendance online through www.trybooking.com/17704
These business events are slowly gaining traction and I have been asked by Tim from RC Ringwood to present to their club about how they can also do the same. Tim is looking after the committee on Rotary Corporate Memberships and I will also be participating in this committee to see how we can get the vocation back into Rotary.
Over the break, I wrote an article for the Rotary Membership newsletter that is emailed out to all Australia and New Zealand and our zones to inspire some interest in the concept of business events and it has been heavily advertised in Linked In - a social media professional networking online group to which I had been contacted by a Rotary Club in Cambridge UK for the tools and templates that we currently use to organise these events so that they too, can run them at their own club...so slowly, these are gaining some international momentum. Although the concept is nothing new - it's merely going back to the roots of Rotary - I strongly believe that our unique selling point is that we have an international connection of business men and women who use their knowledge, skills and talents to serve the community. There is no other business club like it in the world - so what's not to like?
On January 11th, I have been invited to the RC Ringwood to be a guest speaker to talk about the concept of the business events and also been asked by DGE Brian to have a more active involvement in bringing vocations back to Rotary. You may also be interested that our first guest speaker at our November events, Bruno, is also looking at how we can incorporate these events plus our corporate membership so with his contacts in business, we can widely promote Rotary.
So it's all baby steps now, but I hope that it re-opens a door that had been long closed and locked, to a new world of potential new membership opportunities within the business world.
I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family and now looking forward to all that 2012 has to offer.
Andrew and I spent our Christmas with his family in Canberra and it was lovely to see our many nephews and nieces all of whom must have had a growth spurt since we saw them last. We are now back at home and as well as dealing with his hot weather, doing various odd jobs around the house that were put aside simply because we didn't have time during the year. I'm looking forward to starting my new job at the bank on Monday 16 January so until then, I'm crossing off a long list of household and gardening duties that were left aside last year.
I'm happy to report that all our guest speakers for our Rotary 'Connecting Business with Community' business networking month for February are locked in. They promise to be quite interesting and engaging and I'm sure there'll be plenty of Rotarians in business who will also find the topics pertinent for them. I'm going to use the mornings of the next week to go around to businesses in my local area at Chesterville Road to heavily promote these events and get even more people to attend. I'd love it if I can get your help and support to promote it too. We simply need more people to get out there and 'be the face' of Rotary and personally invite people to come along.
All the information is currently on our website and of course, people can book their attendance online through www.trybooking.com/17704
These business events are slowly gaining traction and I have been asked by Tim from RC Ringwood to present to their club about how they can also do the same. Tim is looking after the committee on Rotary Corporate Memberships and I will also be participating in this committee to see how we can get the vocation back into Rotary.
Over the break, I wrote an article for the Rotary Membership newsletter that is emailed out to all Australia and New Zealand and our zones to inspire some interest in the concept of business events and it has been heavily advertised in Linked In - a social media professional networking online group to which I had been contacted by a Rotary Club in Cambridge UK for the tools and templates that we currently use to organise these events so that they too, can run them at their own club...so slowly, these are gaining some international momentum. Although the concept is nothing new - it's merely going back to the roots of Rotary - I strongly believe that our unique selling point is that we have an international connection of business men and women who use their knowledge, skills and talents to serve the community. There is no other business club like it in the world - so what's not to like?
On January 11th, I have been invited to the RC Ringwood to be a guest speaker to talk about the concept of the business events and also been asked by DGE Brian to have a more active involvement in bringing vocations back to Rotary. You may also be interested that our first guest speaker at our November events, Bruno, is also looking at how we can incorporate these events plus our corporate membership so with his contacts in business, we can widely promote Rotary.
So it's all baby steps now, but I hope that it re-opens a door that had been long closed and locked, to a new world of potential new membership opportunities within the business world.
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