SYNERGY - The Theme of the District Conference
By Foundation Chair Bill Maule
While most of our Club members were slaving away at the Golf Tournament, I was enjoying life at the District 5020 Conference in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. To compound that injustice, I want to tell you how much fun a District Conference can be! I also hope to persuade a few of you to attend the 2016 District Conference in Olympia.
I can include only the highlights – those that may provide a general impression and show that District Conferences comply with the fifth element of our Club’s Four Way Test. For me, the most fun came from meeting and chatting with the inbound Long Term Exchange Students sponsored by Clubs from around the District. These bright lads and lassies were distributed among the tables at meal times, providing the opportunities to meet several of them. Earlier they had made an impressive sight in their “grand entrance,” each proudly bearing a full size flag of the home nation. The posted flags served as a colorful backdrop for the rest of the conference. The students had also produced a video of themselves, walking towards the camera at an accelerating pace, each in turn making the familiar thumb and finger gesture accompanied by “We’re This Close” in the home language. They and their counterparts here at home and around the world are the future, which they have well in hand.
While most of our Club members were slaving away at the Golf Tournament, I was enjoying life at the District 5020 Conference in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. To compound that injustice, I want to tell you how much fun a District Conference can be! I also hope to persuade a few of you to attend the 2016 District Conference in Olympia.
I can include only the highlights – those that may provide a general impression and show that District Conferences comply with the fifth element of our Club’s Four Way Test. For me, the most fun came from meeting and chatting with the inbound Long Term Exchange Students sponsored by Clubs from around the District. These bright lads and lassies were distributed among the tables at meal times, providing the opportunities to meet several of them. Earlier they had made an impressive sight in their “grand entrance,” each proudly bearing a full size flag of the home nation. The posted flags served as a colorful backdrop for the rest of the conference. The students had also produced a video of themselves, walking towards the camera at an accelerating pace, each in turn making the familiar thumb and finger gesture accompanied by “We’re This Close” in the home language. They and their counterparts here at home and around the world are the future, which they have well in hand.
Of course, there were the requisite speeches, but they were much more than tolerable. After “welcomes” from the Mayor and the local First Nation (Tribe) chief, most of the presentations revolved around the concept of “Synergy”, the theme of the Conference. When Clubs work together, the benefit achieved by the group is greater than the sum of efforts made by the individual Clubs. We also heard from our new District Governor, Rose Bowman. She and her husband have very recently recovered from serious health setbacks. I wish her well as she rushes about the District to visit us all.
The Special Representative of the Rotary International President inspired us with tales of her life in Rotary. Johritas Solari is a hard-hitting no-nonsense lady who gets things done. She was the first woman to brave a traditionally all male Rotary Club in Orange County, California. Now she is a welcome leader of that Club. Another determined lady inspired us. Michelle Stillwelll is the local MLA (equivalent to a member of Washington State’s House of Representatives.) She did not let paralysis end her athletic life. She holds multiple world records in Paralympic events in two sports, Basketball and Athletics. A video showed her trouncing the field in the 200-meter sprint. Her racing wheelchair was moving so fast that, given wings, it would surely have gone airborne. My best estimate is that those back wheels were whirling at two to three revolutions per second!
Thirteen Clubs presented rapid fire accounts of their projects, using a qurky but effective format. At the main “studio” of the RBC (Rotary Broadcasting C[RM1] ompany) which occupied the extreme left of the platform, a commentator held forth. He called in remote reports from
on-site correspondents at projects around the world, all magically reporting from a microphone far away on the extreme right of the platform. This held presentations to s standard length and kept the conference right on schedule.
District Governor Nominee Joanne Croghan, a lady well known to our Club, conducted the usual emotional ceremony honoring members of Clubs who had died in the past year. A member of the Club involved walked forward with a single rose and placed it on the platform to the sound of a soft single chime. Simple and effective.
We heard about the synergy developed by two multi club groups on Vancouver Island. The Mid-island Group has the more integrated program. Every year, each Club deposits $500 into the Group’s bank account. The group as a whole seeks projects, obtains grants and administers the projects. The Victoria group of Clubs operates more informally. An individual Club finds a project then obtains additional funding from the other member Clubs. In each instance, the result of the group’s efforts is greater than if the Clubs had acted separately. Synergy indeed. (See comment below)
Other actives were available, including tours. At other conferences, there has been the opportunity for home hospitality, but not this time. After the Saturday night banquet there was dancing to “The Elderly Brothers” band. Yes, the musicians were elderly, but their music was anything but elderly. Many Rotarians did justice to the music that was a tad too youthful for me!
After a Friday afternoon session, a full day and evening on Saturday, and a closing Sunday morning session, I left with much to think about, especially about how our Club might reinvigorate efforts to profit from the synergy of multi-club activity.
Keep some of this in mind when it is time to register for the next annual District Conference. I hope that some of you will join me in Olympia.
Note: There is a semi-active Club group in our area that was originally assembled by our own Club. Our financial contributions have necessarily been small. I hope that we can regain the momentum enabling us to profit with a bit of that synergy.
The Special Representative of the Rotary International President inspired us with tales of her life in Rotary. Johritas Solari is a hard-hitting no-nonsense lady who gets things done. She was the first woman to brave a traditionally all male Rotary Club in Orange County, California. Now she is a welcome leader of that Club. Another determined lady inspired us. Michelle Stillwelll is the local MLA (equivalent to a member of Washington State’s House of Representatives.) She did not let paralysis end her athletic life. She holds multiple world records in Paralympic events in two sports, Basketball and Athletics. A video showed her trouncing the field in the 200-meter sprint. Her racing wheelchair was moving so fast that, given wings, it would surely have gone airborne. My best estimate is that those back wheels were whirling at two to three revolutions per second!
Thirteen Clubs presented rapid fire accounts of their projects, using a qurky but effective format. At the main “studio” of the RBC (Rotary Broadcasting C[RM1] ompany) which occupied the extreme left of the platform, a commentator held forth. He called in remote reports from
on-site correspondents at projects around the world, all magically reporting from a microphone far away on the extreme right of the platform. This held presentations to s standard length and kept the conference right on schedule.
District Governor Nominee Joanne Croghan, a lady well known to our Club, conducted the usual emotional ceremony honoring members of Clubs who had died in the past year. A member of the Club involved walked forward with a single rose and placed it on the platform to the sound of a soft single chime. Simple and effective.
We heard about the synergy developed by two multi club groups on Vancouver Island. The Mid-island Group has the more integrated program. Every year, each Club deposits $500 into the Group’s bank account. The group as a whole seeks projects, obtains grants and administers the projects. The Victoria group of Clubs operates more informally. An individual Club finds a project then obtains additional funding from the other member Clubs. In each instance, the result of the group’s efforts is greater than if the Clubs had acted separately. Synergy indeed. (See comment below)
Other actives were available, including tours. At other conferences, there has been the opportunity for home hospitality, but not this time. After the Saturday night banquet there was dancing to “The Elderly Brothers” band. Yes, the musicians were elderly, but their music was anything but elderly. Many Rotarians did justice to the music that was a tad too youthful for me!
After a Friday afternoon session, a full day and evening on Saturday, and a closing Sunday morning session, I left with much to think about, especially about how our Club might reinvigorate efforts to profit from the synergy of multi-club activity.
Keep some of this in mind when it is time to register for the next annual District Conference. I hope that some of you will join me in Olympia.
Note: There is a semi-active Club group in our area that was originally assembled by our own Club. Our financial contributions have necessarily been small. I hope that we can regain the momentum enabling us to profit with a bit of that synergy.