Your Voice, Your Solution for planning interesting meetings

At 11:46AM on 17 August 2009, Aisha Hoffmann wrote: This past June our Club started assigning each member the responsibility of bringing in a program on a rotational basis. We've had a few bumps in the road but not many. We're finding that it gives our members ownership and an active interest in the programs. The diversity of our members careers and interests is evident in the topics of our programs. We're still early in the process but have found that by assigning program to our members this way we are building better fellowship, stronger & more active members, and greater interest to our program topics.

At 10:21AM on 29 July 2009, Sushant Singhal wrote: Sometimes I feel that Rotarians lacking in leadership qualities are elevated to the post of Club President & Secretary. I think there should be rigorous training sessions for Rotarian and only those who undergo this training successfully, should be made eligible for Club presidency etc. The basic requirement is aptitude for learning and ability to motivate others - and not just theoretical knowledge of Rotary.

At 1:57PM on 6 July 2009, Sushant Singhal wrote: All clubs have within them a wealth of talented people who are in effect great asset to the Club, only if they are used imaginatively. A conscious attempt should be made by the Clubs to dig into the profile of each member trying to find out what are his/her unique talents and how Club / community / other members can be benefitted with it. If various members are approached and requested to take the lead by using their skills, not only the Club and the community would be benefitted but such members would also feel highly elated and obliged. People desire such exposures and recognitions but only good Presidents/ Secretaries give such recognitions to their members. One doesn't have to be a member of the Board to show one's skills. Hope I have been able to express myself well.

At 9:53AM on 2 June 2009, Parthibeshwar P Timilsina wrote: The president and or Secretary or any one of the past presidents or past secretaries need to contact the member individually on telephone or email and request to give the neme of the resource person or speaker. The member has to predetermine whose speech will be beneficial to all the members and whom he or she can bring to the club to deliver the lecture. This I had practiced when I acted as President of my club. It helped to increase the attendence in the club. PP Timilsina RC Dillibazar RI 3292 Nepal

At 2:54PM on 1 April 2009, ROBERT wrote: SPEAKERS SHPOLD TALK ABOUT NO MORE THEN 15 MINS. GOOD SPEAKERS ARE IMPORTANT TO KEEP MEMBERS COMING TO MEETINGS. IT SHOULD NOT ALWAYS BE SOMEONE WANTING SOME MONEY FROM THE CLUB. I HATE IT WHEN I HEAR PEOPLE BEGGING WEEK AFTER WEEK FOR MONEY.

At 10:55AM on 23 March 2009, MohanaChandran P wrote: 1.Try to host the weekly meetings by members in connection with their Bithdays or WAs and assign the host to invite other members. 2.Appoint a Past President or a senior Rotarian to invite all the members for the weekly programmes. 3.Try to involve club members in all the activities & recognize them properly...

At 10:42AM on 10 March 2009, Rtn Dr sam pushparaj yercaud dist2980 wrote: appraisal of all the activities by the club member in the week,special speakers to be called on to talk on the current issues,

At 9:25AM on 27 February 2009, RTN.SHRINIVAS MALU, RC SHIROLI M.I.D.C., ,R I DISTRICT 3170 wrote: Suggestions received from Rotarians during the close meeting , Board meetings, Club assemblies should be given more weightage while deciding agenda for the weekly meetings for making meetings more interesting. Rotarians should feel that meetings are planned as per their suggestions and this will create belongingness with the meeting agenda & turnout will be more.

At 9:27AM on 19 February 2009, PDG Doug Vincent, D7080 Canada wrote: I have had the pleasure of visiting Zony's Waling Waling Club on various occasions and they always have a lot of energy and enthusiasm to share. It is a "cart before the horse" dilemma, since you need a good attendance number to attract good speakers and only if you have excellent programming will the members come. My observation is that many clubs report what happened last week in their newsletters. But if they promoted future programs and speakers in advance, it may make a motivating difference. Members would say "I don't want to miss that meeting" or "My friend would enjoy this topic, so I'll invite him/her." A good public relations effort can also help to elevate the image of Rotary, when special speakers come to town. That can also encourage more participation and possible new members.

At 10:11AM on 16 February 2009, PP Zony Reyes, Rotary Club of Waling Waling, Davao Philippines wrote: Suggestions: 1. Know your audience well and what they like to listen to every week, 2. Use interactive activities instead of just listening. We play games sometimes and its fun, 3. Try some themes, color motif or bring me items - 4. try change sitting arrangements to encourage fellowship. 5. assign a group each month to prepare the bulletin, programme, and speakers to invite, don't forget to acknowledge their efforts.

At 9:23AM on 16 February 2009, Rtn.PP.PHF.S.Navaneedhan wrote: I was the president of my club, Rotary Club of Tirupur Metal Town of RI District 3202 in the year 2002-03. At that time our club membership strength was 28 in the beginning of the year. I added 29 more new members and got Membership Development Award from RI for more than 100% increase in membership. I had planned all my meetings well in advance with every week a good speaker who deliver the speech interestingly. Useful and best speaker meetings attract members easily. In my suggestion, every president elect should plan his year atleast 4 months before he takes charge. He should plan with his office bearers and club members for attractive speaker meetings and good projects. Family involvement is also most important need in Rotary. Atleast one family get together meeting in every month and good speaker meetings in the remaining weeks should be arranged. And also some good projects and programmes will attract members to attend the weekly meeting regularly. In overall, if we understand Rotary well we must be get involved in Rotary well.

At 9:25AM on 16 February 2009, Helene Kalfuss D-5330 wrote: Programs should be "customer driven" just like our businesses. Getting your member's input is critical to keeping them interested. Make them a part of the program committee by surveying their ideas, interests and wishes. Allow them all to become members of the program committee and assign them a specific role in the weekly program process. All members need to have a vested interest in what happens at the club level and they can get that by sharing in the efforts required to satisfy the membership.

At 9:26AM on 16 February 2009, Bob Higgins wrote: You could look upon the club members as customers of the Weekly Programme Chair and as such he/she has some direct feedback to digest and act upon. So, why not ask the members what would be interesting and different as well as what they do not want; there are lots of well understood ways of dong this. Also consider surprising them or even challenging them with speakers or activities that get “under the skin” of local/international community issues. The aim is to educate the members and to stimulate the growth of new club projects. The speakers are also potential new members.

At 3:21PM on 3 February 2009, Constance Howard wrote: I am President of the Vallejo, C A club. This is a trying time for our city as we face possible bankruptcy. I decided to focus on all the good things happening in our community for my programs. We have heard from other service clubs, non-profit organizaitons and fraternal organizations all who are doing great things in our community. We have heard from Lions, Kiwanis, Elks, Moose, Boys & Girls Club, etc. Every group in Vallejo, CA is competing for the same dollars and we are finding that by learning what other groups are involved in and sharing what our Rotary Club is doing is making a better, stronger commuinity for everyone. Besides, all the speakers are local and they have invited me to a speaker at their meetings too.

At 11:49AM on 2 February 2009, richard rohe wrote: members shd identify their city and country of membership

At 9:48AM on 28 January 2009, wael rashed wrote: i guess diversity is the solution to uninspiring meetings ,i must diversify meetings between speakers talking about things close to my members interest .

At 11:42AM on 26 January 2009, Rtn.Dr.P.K.Mukherjee wrote: All rotarian have to devaloped realbrotherhood and real devotee of R.I.'s planned social upgradation program and be a honest and man having real thruth in every field of job.tk u. makes the dream real

At 11:48AM on 20 January 2009, RTN. SYED AZMATULLAH RC: CHENNAI PHOENIX RD: 3230 wrote: There may be two main reasons for weekly meetings uninspiring: 1. The topic is irrelevent 2. The speaker is not equipped. As Chair of Weekly Programs, first, I will choose topics relevent to respective months e.g. October is Vocational Service Month and so the topics of the month will be Vocational Services; second, I will list out speakers who are experts in the field and arrange them for the meeting. I will have the plans made a month in advance and be prepared with alternative for any disturbance in the plans e.g. if the speakar does not turn up, I will have the meeting changed as discussion forum. By such planning, I hope, I can be a successful Chair of Weekly Programs and make the Club grow and serve better.

At 9:09AM on 20 January 2009, Dave Handy wrote: Our club assigns each meeting to a specific member...and with Business meetings, Club Assemblies, etc. , it means each member is responsible for a program a year...not a hard task, and the President and Secretary assist members if they are having trouble filling their program date. It works for us...

At 9:09AM on 20 January 2009, Dave Handy wrote: Our club assigns each meeting to a specific member...and with Business meetings, Club Assemblies, etc. , it means each member is responsible for a program a year...not a hard task, and the President and Secretary assist members if they are having trouble filling their program date. It works for us...

At 9:27AM on 19 January 2009, Anthony Pearce wrote: I find it helps to have a cycle. One week a month to focus on meeting with no speakers, one week to focus on Rotary -related issues - maybe hear about the foundation, Polio-plus, GSE, etc - that means there are only 2 other weeks to fill. We have started a leadership development program in our club of Stockholm International - where once a month one of our more experienced members gives a presentaiton on the theme of leadership. We use Rotary's leadership development manal as a guide for topics and structure. The aim is to promote intergenerational dialogue and mentorship on these issues - so that the younger members can learn from the experience and thoughts of the older ones. But back to the question, if members have complained about meetings, why not do a survey and find out what they are interested in.

At 9:28AM on 19 January 2009, Susan McLellan wrote: Our club has a varietyof fabulous speakers - we plan to have speakers that will follow the months of the Rotary year. We also like to invite District people in to our meetings to outline the projects going on at the District Level. Ambassadorial Scholars, Youth Exchange, local Youth groups, health groups, new health initiatives... we don't seem to have enough weeks in the year. Just email me if anyone would like to have some ideas... there are too many to mention in this place. I would love to hear from anyone with questions. Susan

At 9:29AM on 19 January 2009, Raimond Gatter wrote: 1.Visit other clubs. You'll get a lot of inspiration there. 2.Invite Rotarians from other clubs to present their projects/companies/profession. 3.Change the place of your meeting. What do you think about an soup lunch eg. in a factory?

At 9:30AM on 19 January 2009, Christine Singer wrote: Our club has a committee which solicits our ideas and creates a schedule. Anyone who suggests a speaker that the committee feels would be a good one for more members is then asked to assist in setting up the date and to introdue the speaker. I would also like to see an evaluation by the speakers as a follow-up to see how they likes our meeting, whether we were hospitable and they felt welcomed and whether they may want to know more about Rotary as a potential new member.

At 9:31AM on 19 January 2009, Awal wrote: This is really a tough job to keep the people inspired. Making the to-do list long is one of the thing we can consider. I have seen when we have a number of projects, the members are more involved and are more inspired to join the meeting. When there are not many projects then we can think of speakers on different topics.

At 9:43AM on 19 January 2009, David Bisbee wrote: Each year we set up committee for each month and also assign a theme for the month. Committee works with the theme to attact qualified speakers. In addition every 3 months we hold a club assembly to discuss what the club did past 3 months and what we will be doing in the future. In addition we make sure that a new member does their classification talk within 3 months of joining the club, this makes is so the committee knows when they meet 6 weeks prior to start of their month, if we need classification talks. This works, our meetings are always entertaining and educational. We have very few members leave when speaker is introduced. Speaker is limited to keeping with our time limit, we have our speakers mentioned in our weekly log, so that again you know at least for next 4 weeks who is speaking and topic.

At 9:44AM on 19 January 2009, "Wunmi Oyewole,President RC Agege D9110 Nigeria wrote: Let me just share a bit of what my Club does : On weekly basis ,a member or friend of the Club comes to talk about an agreed topic not necessarily Rotary matters.Thsi Topics like STRESS MGT, EMBATTLED ECONOMY,FAMILY ISSUES even Rotarians Vocations. 2.This year the Club introduced the RAFFLE Draw where a winner emerges and a percentage of the proceeds of the sale of the Raffle is given as the winning. 3. The SAA is the aspect that actually climaxes the day's activites.Very lively segment of the meeting 4.sweets /snacks are brought in for members' delight 5.At the last meeting of every Month,we celebrate' birthdays of members for that particular month and the celebrants must dance and raise funds for the Club. 6. There's a FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK page in the weekly bulletin where the activities of the Club are highlighted,other issues of note especially from the Rotary website and some jokes or Words of Wisdom You cannot afford to be bored at my weekly meetings With all of these in place,I think the weekly meetings for the next year would be exciting enough for members except the member is 'Boring" on his own. To all Presidents-Elect ,I wish you Great moments in your tenure.

At 9:44AM on 19 January 2009, s.sudhakar rao wrote: It must be made compulsory for the District officers to attend each club's meetings at least once in a month. Their presence will make the meetings interesting and there will be supervision. crosschecking that the meetings are held and in aproper way

At 9:46AM on 19 January 2009, dinesh raj sharma wrote: Every Rotarian do have plenty of resource, may be not what senior ones want to be heard or see. Give one day of meeting as his/her day and and assign around 20 minutes to run on his/her way, may be talk by oneself or by invited speaker, no domination by seniors only facilitation. Keep on rolling plan for next weeks. dinesh raj sharma, RC Kathmandu, RID3292

At 9:47AM on 19 January 2009, PP Walfrido "edu" Manzano, RC Davao, RP wrote: RC Davao, Philippines is one of the oldest Club in our country but our President a 68th year old Doctor of Medicine does'nt know how to administer a Rotary Club. Our weekly meeting since he assumed as Club President were a dull and boring meetings. We are 60 strong members Club but during weekly meeting only about 20 members attend...a very poor attendance. The club structure is in place but the Pres. did not impliment. Our Club is helpless we elected a wrong Pres. but we cannot do anything because he was supported by clique of golfers, his golfmates, who is playing a king maker in the club. I am sharing this club experience so others may be aware of the pitfall. Our option is only to wait for a countdown of 5 months till June '09 and good riddance.

At 9:47AM on 19 January 2009, David Payne wrote: Our club assigns each committee a month to provide speakers. Each committee has two months each year to find speakers. This helps keep things interesting and does not put too much pressure on any one member. We also post the speaker schedule in our weekly news letter for the next 3-4 weeks as well as listed on our website.

At 9:24AM on 19 January 2009, Donna Blair wrote: As a past program chair, I think that the idea of spreading the program responsibility amongst the entire club membership is a great idea! This opens up member interaction as well because someone could put out an SOS about not being able to get someone and another member could step up to help. More group responsibility for the success of the Club.

At 3:42PM on 16 January 2009, Elizabeth Johnson wrote: Look in the Government section of the phone book. There, you will find listings for all the county and municipal (local) agencies in your area. Just start calling. Many of them have outreach & information programs for veterans, local commerce, education, travel & tourism, and all kinds of other agency business. Many are just looking for an audience, and have lots of handouts to share. Local businesses are another source. Invite a speaker, perhaps s/he will become your club member.

At 12:10PM on 16 January 2009, Jean O'Brien wrote: The President chooses all the speakers. Never once have we had a speaker about Rotary. Numbers seem more important than quality. As long as they pay their dues, it doesn't matter if they never attend

At 9:20AM on 16 January 2009, Betty Burke wrote: I find that the more community events I attend, the more potential speakers I meet. Recently attended a Green-Expo and picked up 3 speakers in an hour's time. When I meet someone who might be of interest to the club, I get their business card & email or call within the week to set up a date.

At 4:35PM on 15 January 2009, Eric Lewis wrote: Our club assigns the speaker / program schedule at the beginning of the year, and each member gets an assigned day to either be, bring, or arrange for a program, speaker or otherwise inform or entertain the club. We post this list on our website as well as in our weekly bulletin. If people complain, its their own fault.

At 9:23AM on 16 January 2009, Eric Lewis wrote: Our club assigns the speaker / program schedule at the beginning of the year, and each member gets an assigned day to either be, bring, or arrange for a program, speaker or otherwise inform or entertain the club. We post this list on our website as well as in our weekly bulletin. If people complain, its their own fault.