BULLETIN 25 JULY 2016

Alison Brown ( Deputy International Chair ) stood in for Service chair Charlie, and after the usual toasts and grace welcomed members and guests Brenton Johnson (Guest Speaker on Membership), Emma Berglund, Sean Pearson (Next Gen), Greg Penno (Bgo-Strath), and Greg Nunan (Bgo South).

Charlie Bovalino, Tim McCrohan, Peter Hull, Peter Taylor, Jill Barker, Rob Haughton, Kaylin Journeaux. Bob Wiseman,

    1 August. Foundation Cluster Seminar at Kangaroo Flat Club.

    3 August Poysers BBQ.

    8 August. Website Forum.

    15 August. DG Neville John will attend. Open Forum and Board Meeting. Ag Gary McClure may attend.

    22 August. Lift the lid on Mental Health.

    29 August President's Apology.

    7 September. Poysers BBQ.

Mens' Health, Still awaiting further information requested from Glenn Reilly.

Mental Health topic for 22 August.. Possibility of future guest speaker on this topic as it arises more and more.

Rotary Health Foundation Day is on 7th October,

DG Neville John will be with us on 15th August so make an extra effort to be here.

Tesselaar Tulip Festival 8/9-4/10 at Silvan.. Flyer received re bookings. Contact 03 97377722.

Rotary Down Under now available on mobile app.

Should We look at "Buddy Benches" program for schools? Places where kids needing some TLC can sit to let others know they are feeling needy,

Most important- we sang Happy Birthday to our Alison !!!!!

Youth Service Chair Roger reported on meeting with himself , president Jennie and representative of Crusoe College with a view to starting the selection process for two club sponsored students to attend the Science Experience. Cost is $120-$130 each. This has proved to be a very worthwhile course in the past and can be of 3 or 4 days duration. We may need a selection panel

RYPEN is on in October. Hopefully we will be able to get some local students there.

Chris Musk may also be helpful in attracting students to our RODEC program which may include some more mature participants ?

 

Foundation Chair Peter reported 23 acceptances so far for Foundation grant seminar.

 

Treasurer Colin requested members to pay subscriptions as soon as possible.

Roger reported Tafe BBQ on 21st July was a great success and about $1300 was raised. Thanks to Roger, Bob and Mary.

Greg Penno (Bgo -Strath) advised of two fundraisers to be run by his club:

1. Gina Hogan- Women of the Sixties at the Capital 2pm 31 July.

2 Guest Speaker Robert Walls will be the feature of a fundraising effort  at South Bendigo Clubrooms in conjunction with Sth Bgo Club on 17th August. Cost $4o per head.

Brenton is a former Rotarian and was attracted to Rotary principally by the RYLAH program. He held several positions at his club and resigned only due to the pressure of his growing consultancy business and other community interests. He is currently standing for election to Bendigo City Council in the Eppalock ward.

This was certainly a most interesting presentation and challenged whether  the way Rotary Clubs have functioned in the past will suffice for the future particularly having regard to the way means of communication and conducting business have changed and are continuing to change with ever increasing rapidity. The evidence suggests  we need to change.

The  reality is that the generation we are trying to attract is digitally savvy and likes to communicate and work that way. They do not see the need for meetings to arrange things and generally communicate as they can do it so quickly and precisely by the web, emails, SMS etc.

They do not like the idea of meetings and fees. Clubs should seek business to sponsor membership. This is very common in USA.

They do like engagement and On-Line collaboration.

We need to"get The right people in the right seat on the right bus" So we may need to headhunt particular skills or qualities.

Talk to potential members. Explain that Rotary makes good people better. They can connect and contribute through their Rotary network.

They can change the world through Rotary. Less meetings more doing. Use Digital.

Remember people join for service, not fellowship.

The ideal future club consists of Executive Group, sets policies. Club Support ie secretary, treasurer etc ( the pit team)

Project Leaders- drive projects. Community connection - involvement of community in projects.

Use joint Rotary/Community projects ideally 50/50'

.Use Friends of Rotary, Volunteering, enticements such as discount tickets to Club fundraisers,

Often specific people can be targeted from above groups. Make a connection. Make them an offer they can't refuse !!!

 

Brenton fielded several questions after his presentation. The "digital generation gap" was evidenced by the comments and questions from the floor. It was obvious that all present had been given a lot of food for thought.

 

President Jenny thanked Brenton profusely and indicated that he would always be welcome as a speaker on any relevant topic.

 

          Cashier-  Mary Stephens

          Bins     - Peter Hull.