ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT RON BURTON On Google Hangout Streamed Live October 1, 2013 youtube/watch?v=N0WkIX6Yp18 Notes: By Mark Zober First president of Rotary International to have a “Hangout” with Panel of five: Alex Cuadrado (San Francisco Bay area) (RYLA, work with Colorado, Iowa, Cape Cod), Bilal Al Ayoubi (Rotaract Lebanon), Erin Wagner (was Rotaract in Salt Lake City now Rotarian in Minnesota, Kristi Govertsen (East Portland) Rotarian D5100 District Membership Chair, Mitty Chang (Rotaractor California) Most important Rotary experience – attending Salt Lake City Convention. 1. Burton going to Chennai for first of 5 New Generations Conferences. 2. Introduction of the Panelists – asked how they have been changed by their Rotary involvement 3. Bilal Al Ayoubi Rotaract...there is one national RYLA in Lebanon annually 250 participants also from Jordan and Egypt. Sent him message on Facebook suggesting he connect with our Rotaract Clubs in Haifa and Nazareth. 4. Alex speaks to RYLA…ideal for 16 and 17 year olds. Recommends getting this younger group exposed to RYLA earlier. 5. Kristi: Their D5100 RYLA is for 19—28 year olds run by Rotaractors. Rotarians give some leadership direction. Most RYLAs are high school age in USA. 6. Mitty: Focus of Rotary on membership. World population is under 35. Most Rotary clubs are lunch clubs. But young professions cannot leave work for a lunch meeting. Sunrise clubs also are not good for young professionals. Meeting during HAPPY HOUR after work would work best for young professionals. NEED HAPPY HOUR SATELLITE ROTARY CLUBS 7. Ron: I am on your side Mitty. I ask members of clubs if they would join their club today. If not, why not? What are you willing to do about it? Ron would love to see a Young Gen Happy Hour Club chartered and he would love to be the speaker at the Charter event. Ron spoke at the Evanston Lighthouse Club in the morning and said the “New Generation Rotary Clubs are not our future, they are our now. We better figure this out and do something about it and make that transition. We need to make becoming a member as easy as possible. We must treat them as equals.” Alex, at the Hawaii Peace Forum, the message was that youth are the leaders of TODAY. 8. Ron: THE FOCUS OF ALL FIVE NEW GENERATIONS CONFERENCES: When I go to Chennai, I do not want to hear old men like me talking to other old men like me. I want to hear from the young generation on how we can make Rotary relevant and attractive and how we can make the transition to Rotary membership as easy as possible and as welcome as possible. We have a spectrum of New Generations Programs: Youth Exchange, Rotaract, Interact, RYLA plus “alumni” – we have not done a good enough job of attracting Ambassadorial scholars, Group Study Exchange (GSE) Team members – these are all nice and good people we have put an investment into and we have not tried to incorporate them into our programs. It is time that we did that. Ron: what additional value do these programs provide Kristi: It is a playground to try out new ideas. There is a lot of creative opportunity. Erin: Her Rotaract club assisted in fundraising and building of a school in Chile. Mitty: Rotary International Conventions are a great experience. An untapped opportunity is when you ask Rotaractors and Interactors to get involved at a Rotary level. There are a lot of young professionals who could take on Rotary roles. He suggests that Rotarians call on Rotaractors to take actual Rotary Club (assistant) positions – e.g. Social Media Coordinator… Ron: What should Rotarians understand about involving young people in their Clubs, Districts, Zones, International as well. Erin: Institutions have changed: Organizations need to serve the young persons as well as ask the young person to serve the club. Sell the positive value of being in Rotary. The important part of Rotary is in the BACKGROUND where you meet outside the Club to have a real impact, to plan projects, carry out activities. Do a weekly role call in your Club during the weekly meeting. Call on the various Committee Chairs to let them report on what is happening in their area. This keeps your members informed and lets visiting Rotarians and guests know how much is HAPPENING IN THE BACKGROUND. Projects: There may be a Club “Legacy Project” and others under consideration. In the Minneapolis South Rotary Club projects our an extension of the professional organizations where the Rotarians work. Kristi: Attracting and keeping young professionals requires getting to know them, their interests, talents. New Generation potential members have a lot of options for where they can spend their time. You need to be more connected on an emotional level with them. They are very INFLUENTIAL. They will share their experience (positive or negative) far and wide to friends and family. Older members should no jump to conclusions about new members…get to know them and their interests. Alex: You need to start with the youth to succeed in launching a Interact or Rotaract Club. You need to find a student/young person who is PASSIONATE about starting the Club. Let the student be the founder, the person in charge. You do not want the Club to be “imposed on” the youth. Let the students be the INFLUENCE. This is true with RYLA as well. The connection between the young members is essential…not only or primarily relating to someone who could be your grandparent. Mitty: Pride in membership is important. Can you show off your club website, Club projects? If the answer is no, chances are the Club will not attract young members. Example: Keep your website updated. Ask: Get professionals more involved. Ask them to get involved. Get new members involved early in their membership. There should be Interactors and Rotaractors on the Council of Legislation and RI Board of Directors? Ron: The idea of having a seat for New Generations on the RI Board, TRF and COL needs to be considered. Has not been discussed as far as Ron remembers. Ron: Started with Key Club (Kiwanis) in high school. It was the year that Interact was founded. He became a Rotarian when he was ASKED. Ron: New Generations Conferences: Chennai, India in October, Kampala, Uganda first weekend in November, March in Rosario, Argentina, and later in March in northern California (TBA) and finish in April in Birmingham, England. This is where we will be listening to what the New Generations are telling us, try to get a change of mindset or the Rotarians and Rotary clubs to try to make them more welcoming and to be a little more flexible (e.g. starting satellite and evening clubs where this can work). Ron is asking all Rotarians to be more inclusive to open to New Generations members, to include them as equal partners, to work together on Rotary, Rotaract and Interact projects. He seeks a smooth transition to bringing New Generation members to Rotary.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 10:54:59 +0000
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