Membership Strategy Meeting at HQ

This past Monday I was invited to a Zone 34 membership meeting at R.I. Headquarters in Evanston. It was actually a workshop where the participants more or less laid out a new membership strategy. Three groups worked independently and the results are curently being compiled. Zone 34 will be the first zone in the world to take this new approach so it is quite exciting. On Tuesday morning two of us had a tour of the headquarters building and met with Ed Futa and Ray Klinginsmith, which was cool.

I am looking forward to being part of this new strategy. I hope we will turn around the membership free fall we have been experiencing in North America and will report more on this later.

District Conference Wrap Up

District Conference was a big success.

First, the Thursday evening cocktail hour where I made my guitar debut after 38 years was a lot of fun. It truly was.

The conference was held at a resort on the Gulf of Mexico. Thursday night was the cocktail party for the "Nifty Fifty" which is the first 50 signing up for the conference. It was a nice evening of fellowship.

The conference had a new format. The plenary sessions ended at noon and everyone had the afternoons off to relax and enjoy family and friends. (Well, almost everyone. The governor corp had additional meetings in the afternoons.) I polled my AGs after the conference and nearly all liked having that down time although a couple would have liked some planned social activities.

Friday evening was the Governor's banquet with his awards given out. Saturday evening was DGE's banquet with the changing of the guard ceremony. I received my DGN pin during that ceremony but I cannot wear it until July 1st.

The conference was so well attended that my conference chair is again looking for a venue. The one we had tentatively selected may not be large enough.

One last note. The plenary sessions had excellent speakers and were not instructional classes but a look at what Rotary has achieved.

All in all it was a very nice conference.

District Conference this weekend

Wow, I am scared to death! For the first time in 38 years I will be playing my guitar (bass) in front of a live audience. This Thursday some of us Rotarians are going to jam after the paid band ends its gig. One hour of fun. My knees are shaking. More next week. :)

Zone Conference, 2010

As the chair for my class dinner at Zone this year I have emailed to all requesting information on whether or not they and their significant other will be attending and will they be coming to our class dinner. I have heard back from almost a third in the past three days, which is good. I learned that each group of District Governors is considered a class and they get together for years after their DG year to share friendship. Pretty cool. I have 25 DGNDs in Zone 33 & 34 to pull together and I am sure we will all be friends after the Zone Institute in October.

Rotary's Camp Florida

Saturday I was officially elected to the board of directors of Rotary's Camp Florida. My time committment is one meeting a month plus whatever committee I am assigned to. The camp, which serves special need children from Aids to MS is really a great project so while this appointment will cut into my already thin time, it is well worth it and I look forward to serving my year. All DGNs in my district are expected to spend their DGN year on the board.

District Conference May, 2013

Hard to believe but the planning for my conference is already under way. Over the past few days I queried my AGs to see if they would prefer land based or a cruise. We have found cruises to be less expensive but limiting on attendance. The Governor before me is having a cruise so our group decided on land based.

I passed that information on to my convention chairman, who works in the travel industry, and he is busily obtaining quotes so we can lock in a venue. In the lead right now is the Lido Beach Resort. LBR has a neat peace of trivia in that it was the basis for Stephen King's book Duma Key and it offers a GPS tour of other locations mentioned in the book, none by their real names of course.

I mention my conference because it just amazes me how fast things come at you once nominated. I can see it is going to be a very busy 2.5 years.

Another Job

I just found out I am going to be the Coordinator for Zone functions/reunions for my class of DGs. The Zone is next meeting in Naples, Florida, which is in my district and hense the call. I have no idea what I have to do or how time consuming it will be. I will update when I know more.