Monday: Presidents-Elect Summit

As I mentioned in my last post, we visited Warwick Castle last Sunday night. I'm finally in London and finally have a spare half hour to post some more - so here's the video of the trebuchet firing. Enjoy!

On Monday, Krista and I attended the Presidents-Elect Summit. RI President D.K. Lee addressed us, and indicated that a club's president is central to the life of the club. He assurred us that if we are enthusiastic and organized, our clubs will succeed.

He urged us to pay special attention to the issue of membership in a way that I personally appreciated. He reminded us that fellowship is an important component of our building our capacity to serve. If we are a vibrant club with plenty of opportunities to develop accquaintance, we have the raw potential to attract members. That's exactly our aim this year by dividing the club into six club service teams and asking each to plan at least one social event outside our regular lunch meetings.

The next step according to President D.K. is to draw qualified, skilled, motivated prospective members into contact with the club. Throughout my time at the conference, I learned of a few ways clubs did this successfully. I don't konw if our club has ever taken a structured approach to membership recruitment, but maybe it's time to try one. I have had an initial glance at the priorities Diane helped us gather before I left - the top three relate to attendance, social events, and recruitment of new members. I'm of the belief that "if we build it, they will come". Maybe that doesn't go far enough. Perhaps "if we build it, and if we ask them, they will come" is more appropriate.

Following President D.K.'s address, President-Elect John Kenny spoke about RI's focus next year, which hasn't changed (thankfully!). He urged clubs to focus on the following issues and called on Ron Denim from the Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group (WASRAG) and Rotary In Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) President-Elect David Fowler to elaborate on their importance:

1. Polio Eradication - we gave our word to the world that we would eradicate polio. Our reputation is on the line, and we will not fail in doing this. We have reduced the number of polio-endemic countries from 125 to 4 and we have immunized 2 billion children. It's time to keep pushing and finish the job.
2. Water - PE John suggested that we may all be able to live without oil, but none of us could live without water. Water will be the most important commodity in the 21st century. The 1.2 billion people in the world without access to safe water and the 2.6 billion without access to safe sanitation need our help.
3. Literacy - 800 million people worldwide cannot read or write. You would not be where you are in life today (you certainly wouldn't be reading this!) if you were not literate. Two-thirds of the world's illterate are women and three-quarters live in the developing world. Illiteracy leads to poverty. Poverty leads to hunger, pollution, poor health, political unrest, and terrorism. If Rotarians pledge support to educate people throughout the world, we can have a dramatic positive effect on all these problems.
4. Membership - P.E. John set a simple goal for club presidents - have more members at the end of the year than at the beginning.
5. Vocational Service - P.E. John suggested that this is often the "forgotten" avenue of service. More than ever, the world could benefit from high ethical standards in business and personal life. He urged clubs to find ways to start projects that centered around the four-way test.

That was Monday... and that was a light day. Tuesday and Wednesday were even more jam-packed. I'll talk to you later.