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| Robyn Braley speaking at a District 5360 event |
A strong speaker program is key to sustaining a healthy and vibrant Rotary club. Meetings are a time for coming together, being refreshed, renewed and re energized.
Every time I tweet the following from our BTRB twitter account I receive retweets.
“If you want to develop a positive outlook, hang out with positive people. Rotarians know that positivity is positively contagious. That's a positive!"
-Robyn T. Braley
It is safe to assume you have experienced more than one occasion when you were going through a rough patch in your career or personal life. As a Rotarian, going to your meeting or anywhere else was the last thing you wanted to do.
But you went. Unexpectedly, the speaker that day said something that lifted you up and caused you so see things differently. Their topic had no relevance whatsoever to what you were going through.
I've had troubled times when stimulating conversation with fellow Rotarians around our luncheon table raised my spirits. More than that, the discussion caused me to think differently about my problems. I found a solution when I thought one was impossible.
The Heart of Rotary
The heart of Rotary is service. Our club, the Calgary West Rotary Club, does amazing service projects locally in our city and around the world in developing nations.Strong meetings keep existing members engaged. They also provide a reason to invite potential new members.
That energy and enthusiasm we experience in our meetings inspires us to do what Rotarians do; make a difference and change lives forever through our acts of service.
Below are just a few of the projects my club does. I suspect the list is not unlike you clubs'.
- Volunteer at, and fund, the food bank
- Help manage not-for-profit golf tournaments
- Build houses for the poor in Mexico
- Raise funds for a therapeutic garden for people living with Alzheimer’s
- Volunteer in Africa for polio vaccination programs
- Build stoves and schools in Guatemala
- Install innovative water filter systems in the Dominican Republic
- Support and visit micro-credit programs in Ghana, Nepal, and other nations
- Provide world-wide Rotary leadership for Micro-credit initiatives
- Fund programs for recovering addicts
- Fund and volunteer youth-at-risk programs
- Much more
Tips for Engaging Members Through Meetings
This post links to 8 posts that are part of a series on how to improve meetings. They are packed full of ideas and tips about how to raise your Rotary Club’s programs to a new level.Do you have more ideas? Please comment at the bottom.
Part 1; Can Your Club’s Speaker’s Program be Improved?
A strong Speaker’s Program plays an important role in keeping Rotary clubs healthy and vibrant. Strong programs help keep members engaged. But, exceptional programs don’t just happen. They require careful thought and planning. More...Part 2; Building a Winning Rotary Club Speakers Program
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. More...
Part 3 Insider Tips for Building a Strong Rotary Club Speaker Program; The Mechanics
Quality meetings add value to the Rotary experience by keeping existing members engaged. The provide a reason to invite prospective members and other guests.A strong program will also provide opportunities to create public relations events that attract mainstream media and can be promoted on social media. More...
Part 4: Field Trips Play an Important Role in Rotary Programs
Field trips provide an opportunity to “experience it firsthand” rather than just hearing about it from a representative speaker in a meeting. Field trips to manufacturing plants, public infrastructural facilities, agricultural facilities, human service organizations, a research center or other destination can provide background and understanding about important things could not be gained through a talk or video alone. More...
Part 5; Tips for Packaging Promotable Speakers into a Signature Series
Bundle select programs and promote them to your community. Great programs can also play a significant role in attracting new members and raising the club profile in the community. You might choose one outstanding speaker to build a promotion campaign around. Another approach is to bundle 3-4 programs that represent the variety of topics offered during a typical Rotary year. More...
11 Tips for Producing Rotary Meetings that Attract Younger Members!
How can you add pizzazz to your meetings? What has your Rotary Club changed within the past 10 years to make your meetings better?Buckle up and get ready for significant change. Marketing to millennials, aged 25-40, requires a shift in thinking about how we communicate the power of Rotary. In this post I provide 11 production tips. More...
Are Your Rotary Meetings Visitor Friendly?
Rotary clubs put great effort into PR initiatives to
attract members through raising awareness in the community. But, what is the
visitor’s impression the first time they visit your club? Are your meetings
visitor friendly? Do they feel welcomed directly and indirectly? Are they
embraced or do they feel like an outsider? More...
Are You Scared Silly About Speaking Before an Audience of Two or More?
At some point, every leader must speak to more than
one person at a time otherwise known as a group. This post is for you. If
you...
- Chair
meetings
- Must
occasionally move people to action through an uplifting speech
- Share
good or bad news to employees, shareholders, congregants or club members
- Publicly read
reports
- Describe compelling
personal or group experiences to an audience
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.
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