Pre PETS and Area Leadership Training

Wow. These past couple months have been brutal as we, the District Training Team, put together presentations and handouts for two major training programs. The were combined into one day, one in the morning, one if the afternoon, as part of our goal to take fewer days away from Rotarian families for training. It was also meant to cut down on duplication of information.

Pre PETS was made up of all the President Elects and the incoming Assistant Governors. Area Leadership Training included this same group, plus the other two upcoming classes of Assistant Governors.

Pre PETS is training that the President Elects will not receive at PETS and three subjects were covered. Preparing for PETS, How to Run a Successful Club and Meeting and The Club Leadership Plan. There was a general session at the beginning where the incoming Governor introduced her team, went over her experience at the international assembly and introduced the club leadership to the R.I. President's theme for the upcoming year. As a part of the training team I was responsible for creating and delivering the Successful Club/Meeting presentation. We set up three rooms in RLI format and broke the attendees into three smaller groups. The the three presenters moved from room to room, delivering the same presentation to each group.

The afternoon was set aside for Area Leadership Training. This is a new title replacing what used to be called District Leadership Training. In the past, each District Chair got a couple minutes to mention their program and it was decided to eliminate that. It was determined that time did not permit an adequate presentation, so why bother. Instead, we will get that information out in another format. The purpose of the Area Leadership Training was exactly what is sounds like, to get each area working as a team. Again there was a short general session followed by three topics. Goal Setting, Communication and The Area Tri-Leadership Plan. I was responsible for the tri-leadership program which received a major face lift this year. It is not a secret that it was not a successful program and each past governor has tried to make it more rel event and, as a result, the program is getting better. This is the most current attempt help areas get the information they need to be effective. Since I designed this latest incarnation, it is likely to only receive a minor tweaking next year for my training, but I am sure our DGN will keep a close eye and make any changes he sees as being helpful. Anyway, from the program I created a presentation and, as in the morning session, delivered to to each of three groups.

All in all I think it was a very successful day and, again, the incoming governor is to be commended on coming up with the idea of a training team for continuity from year to year. The one thing we did decide was three presenters giving six, forty minute presentations is probably too much - and definitely too much standing. While you learn each time you make a presentation, and probably get a little better each time, you also start to wear physically and that can pull some enthusiasm from the presentations. Next year we will use multiple presenters. But I thought the format was excellent. The small groups really was powerful as opposed to a large gathering. Thank you Rotary Leadership Institute.