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| Winning programs create energy and enthusiasm. |
Written by Robyn T. Braley
Quality
programs play a key role in sustaining Rotarian's interest while motivating, inspiring, challenging and sometimes entertaining them. Great programs go a long way to keeping club members engaged.
Meetings play a key role in
marketing the club at different levels. The first impressions made on visitors,
potential members and others impacts … well … a lot of things.
In Part 1 I laid the foundation by asking the question ‘Can
Your Club’s Speaker’s Program be Improved?’ In this post I provide tips for taking the next step in building a program strategy.
Why Develop a Formal Strategy
I recently spoke to a club of
about 30 members. Following my talk a Rotarian came to me with a look of panic
in his eyes and a quiver in his voice. He revealed he had just been appointed
to look after programs but had no experience. He had undertaken the task as a
courageous act of service.
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| Eliminate stress and uncertainty by developing a plan. |
We began a dialogue that
lasted a few months. I was able to help bring structure and predictability to his
club’s program. We also exchanged speaker contact information and I put him in touch
with program chairs at other clubs.
So, if the above description
fits you, let’s start at the beginning. Find an online or printed calendar or
scheduler. Let’s go to work.
Step One – Spotlight on Rotary
Club focused programs should
be given top priority in the schedule. That doesn’t mean committee chairs can
take advantage of program scheduling by procrastinating about booking their
program. It is not fair to expect you to cancel speakers booked long in advance
to accommodate their lack of planning.
Make a list of Rotary driven topics.
They might include;
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| Calgary West President Gail Williams |
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Youth exchange – outbound, inbound
·
Rotary Foundation
·
District Governor visit
·
Local projects, international projects
·
Club assemblies
·
Designated cancelations (holidays, etc.)
·
President changeover
·
Classification talks
Step 2 Developing Content Formulas
The next step is to identify benchmark dates that respond
to club, community or national occassions. Our club is located in Calgary,
Alberta, Canada, so I am using dates relevant to our club.
·
National
Independence Day (Canada Day)
·
Thanksgiving
·
Halloween
·
Canadian
Football League Grey Cup
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Christmas
·
New
Years
·
Calgary
Stampede
·
Valentine’s
Day
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| Rotarians don't always have to wear business dress. |
Our club schedules an annual
Ho Down to celebrate our world famous Calgary Stampede. We bring in a country
band, arrange for the Stampede Queen and Princesses to visit, and feature line
dancing, two step dancing and sometimes square dancing. We have a western meal
and members and guests dress in their best cowboy and cowgirl outfits.
For Halloween, we book a
magician. We ask members to wear costumes and add to the atmosphere and fun by
purchasing cheap masks for those who don’t dress up.
A former professional football
player or coach is booked for the week prior to Canada’s Grey Cup game. At
Christmas, we often schedule a choir from a school we support to provide a mini
Christmas concert.
A Valentine’s Day is often
difficult to book. You don’t want a “preachy” finger waving lecture on "real love" or a syrupy presentation.
While throwing ideas back and
forth in our committee, it was laughingly suggested we should book a divorce
lawyer. After the laughter stopped, we recognized that the subject had merit
for a future program.
We booked a marriage
enrichment program for valentines and the lawyer a few months later. Both
programs were excellent. The lawyer outdrew the councillor in attendance.
Step 3 Building it Forward
Now we can move to the
free-flow part of the strategy. Here, the possibilities are endless. The bottom
line is, what value will a program bring to club members? What are the
takeaways?
·
Relevance
– To some area of our daily lives.
·
Information
– Personal, family, business, or community living.
·
Interest
– What are club members interested in? What should they be interested in?
·
Education
– Science, history, literature, health, economics, politics, sports
·
Entertainment
– Sometimes we need break
·
Anniversaries
– Notable benchmarks in the club or community.
·
Motivation/Inspirational
– Uplifting, encouraging, enriching.
·
Timeliness
– of any topic is always good.
Step 4 Speaker Prospecting
So, where do you find great speakers? The answer is, pretty
well anywhere. I booked a speaker that I met at a funeral.
But in reality, having committee members who are connected
within different sectors in the community will pay off in spades. Including
sales professionals and others who cut a wide swath will also help.
The important dynamic is to develop an awareness and be
consistently thinking about program potential. When you find follow this plan you will soon find that you will have more potential speakers than you can use in one year.
·
Personal/professional
network.
·
Prospecting
(media features, online profiles, organization leaders).
·
Referrals
(other clubs, members, speakers).
·
Club
funded NFPs.
·
Select
other NFPs.
·
LinkedIn
or other Social Media
·
Specialists
within the club.
Develop a Prequalified List
When you meet a prospect and get an expression of interest
in speaking, make sure you exchange contact info. Sometimes it takes a year or
more for all of the stars to line up.
Don’t be shy. I
have found professional speakers who charge 5 figure amounts are often the
easiest to book because they have a high respect for Rotary. The only problem
is scheduling.
Caution! Not-for-Profits
I’ve left the most obvious until last. Rotary is about
service, so learning about needs in the community or the world is a no brainer. Topics like polio vaccinations,
micro-credit, clean water, troubled youth, families, abuse, homelessness,
hunger, aides orphans, youth sports, the environment and hundreds more quality
programs about topics like these will be available.
A quick word of caution. Every NFP in the world wants to
speak at every service club possible for obvious reasons; raising funds. Most Executive Directors
are excellent presenters who respect speaker protocols. Most are well prepared,
have engaging PowerPoints or videos with moving testimonies of those whose
lives have been dramatically saved or changed – you get the picture.
However, booking too many NFPs in a row, regardless of how
powerful their presentations, will soon become one too many.
On another side, I’ve heard NFPs come across as “canned”
and lacking in passion. The worst ones show their financials near the beginning
of their presentation. In our club, member attention switches are quickly
turned off.
This is what I suggest recommending.
· Tell
your story. Speak from your heart.
· Talk
about the benefits, lives changed or reclaimed. What difference does your organization
make?
· Emphasize
that the meeting is not the time to talk about money except for a brief mention.
Do not show financials, a breakdown of funding support, or anything remotely
related. Ever!
· Suggest that funding requests can come at a later date through the formal club process.
· Brochures,
newsletters and other informational documents should be freely available and be left on
each table.
Robyn Braley is a marketing specialist, keynote speaker and writer. He is also a Rotarian who is passionate about Building the Rotary Brand. Robyn has led two teams that received the Rotary International PR Award. He has also served as the PR Chair for District 5360.
Contact Robyn
Email: robyn@robyntbraley.com Connect on LinkedIn Follow on Twitter: @rtbraley_rotary
Other Blogs in the Series
Part 1 Why a Strong Rotary Club Speaker's Program is Important
Part 2 A Winning Strategy for Building Strong Rotary Club Speaker Programs
Public Speaking Tips for Leaders
Public Speaking Tips for Leaders
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