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Editor's Notes

• #2: (Start 2001 theme with light up Rotary. Click twice, then third time to advance slide)
• #3: Please stand and join me in Rotary¡¯s Four-Way Test plus1
• #4: And number 5: IS IT FUN? Introduce Nancy, John, Connie Is it Fun?¡± A very important question for all Rotarians. Demonstrate saying it with hand movement in three parts: left hand, right hand, both arms.
• #5: Stand and say Is It Fun in your language when I point to it. Demo ¡°Es divertido? (Spanish).¡± 24 languages, so do it quickly. We won¡¯t have all of these languages present, but we¡¯ll have some. Take this back to your clubs and say Is It Fun with the hand gestures. Let¡¯s make this a worldwide 5th element of the 4-way test.
• #9: Fun is not just all giggles and laughter. Fun was hearing Human Nature. Fun was seeing the Premier of Austrailia walking down to hug his father, a 40 year rotarian in front of 11,000 people. How heartwarming and inspirational! Fun was President Ron Burton speech, which was made even more amazing by the timely display of wonderful Rotary images. Not fun is boring.
• #10: Having fun can be hard work. Club and district leadership has to emphasize the importance of fun. If they don¡¯t, members will not put out the effort and your Rotary experience may not be that much fun.
• #11: There is something about music and gives us all a shared and enjoyable experience. Let¡¯s try it. Sing it twice, the second time softly until the end. (Have Smile video ready to play in browser. Click on smiley face.) Don¡¯t you feel better?
• #12: President Ron Burton has made the point that membership has been static for 12 years. He didn¡¯t identify the cause, but I would propose that there is a direct relationship between membership and fun. Having fun in Rotary translates to growing memberships and better retention.
• #13: Everyone please stand. Now, everyone over 45, please sit down. We have yet to tap into the next 2 generations of Rotarians. Would you children or grandchildren join your Rotary club. We can be a lot of fun, we just have to make the effort.
• #14: Rotary must be competitive in the business of FUN. We need to be at least as FUN in all that we do in Rotary as the other options for future Rotarians. There are many reason people leave, including cost, don¡¯t have time, and family commitments, but all to often the unsaid reason is they were not having any fun,
• #15: Boring is the same in any language and any country. And it has no place in Rotary if we are to grow and prosper. Participation is key. People who were dancing at their seats at the first Plenary with Human Nature. Wasn¡¯t that fun? Let¡¯s try it. Change whatever is not fun, even if the boring issue is a member. One obnoxious member can stifle membership for years. Invite the Sergeant at Arms to talk with people who are disruptive or being less than good Rotarians.
• #16: Aussie Aussie Aussie (3 1 1 3) (use laser) Let¡¯s turn our attention from Not Fun to Fun! I know everyone but (lower left). Who is that? Could it be Elvis? Let¡¯s take a closer look.
• #17: Yes, yes it is Elvis Presley. He is alive and looks better than ever. Elvis was a guest at our club last year.
• #18: We love Frank, our club photographer, especially the ladies. No limit to the number of official photographers a club can have. Everyone has a camera all of the time. Use them! Use a panarama of audience take by Nancy. Open in email.
• #19: Women are creative and have terrific ideas about to how to do what we do better. And, they add a lot of fun to any club. Would a picture of Frank with 4 guys be as much fun? Every new women adds a bit of of fun to a club. Most Clubs are less than 50% women. Ours is at 38%. Another 12% would be 25 more wonderful Women. The short answer to having more fun and more members is more women.
• #20: Don¡¯t the amazing images make the plenary sessions more enjoyable? They also make the talks and musical performances more vivid and alive. (Highlight projector with green laser). The projector is one of the best expenditures a club can make. Remember: size and positioning of the screen matters. Often your meeting facility will install a permanent one if you just ask them¡ªnicely. Here we are having a Skype discussion with an outbound youth exchange student in Germany. Use it for announcements and, on occasion, to embarrass and have some fun with members.
• #21: Have a collage of pictures from the last meeting on the screen to greet member when they walk in the room. We usually have it up for about 30 minutes before the bell to start the meeting.
• #22: Put the words to your songs on the screen. And sing away! We sing all kinds of song. We sang a medley of Johnny Cash song before a program entitled ¡°Johnny Cash and the Law.¡± I Walk the Line, Folsom Prison Blues. Burning Ring of Fire.
• #23: Use it to introduce the speaker.
• #24: Use images to promote and feature club projects.
• #25: When it comes to informing the club about projects, a picture truly is worth 1000 words. Most of our club members have never handed out dictionaries.
• #26: Periodically, associate names and faces with new members within the past few months.
• #27: Keep the club inbound youth exchanges in front of the membership throughout the year.
• #28: Feature and honor who have made significant contributions. Lewis, a philanthropist in our club, has his name 2 major buildings on the University of Arkansas campus and even has a highway named after him. I know Lewis well. He is a polio survivor and I think, though, that he feels is most important philanthropic effort is saving children from the horrors of polio.
• #29: This type of slide is not particularly funning, but it is heartwarming to see Lewis give his first immunization. Heartwarming is definitely fun, too.
• #30: The premeeting slide show. Images of a project of a fundraisers are great for slide shows before the meeting. We have 44 veterans and pictures of most of them in the military.
• #31: Now president of two software firms: Dale Oliver.
• #32: Fayetteville city afternoon: Kit Williams
• #33: Retired United States Air Force Colonel: Jim Stewart
• #34: If your club is not participating in social media, it is probably not going to be attractive to potential new members under 40. And they are having less FUN than they could be having. Facebook can be a lot of FUN. How many clubs have a Facebook page? Twitter? Other social media? Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram may not be absolutely necessary to a club¡¯s existence, but not having them means you are not taking advantage of this opportunity to have FUN and you are demonstrating to young potential member that you are not current their culture and basic technology for communication.
• #35: Members have more FUN when they are informed and know what is happening in their club. Also, the first place anyone under 45 considering joining a club is does is check out the website. A website is an excellent communication tool, within your club and to those outside your club, including potential members. How many have a website? How many have a website that is up-to-date? Your website us your club¡¯s face to the world. Make it good. Make it fun.
• #36: The meeting room should have a Rotary feel. As soon as you walk in, you should know you are at a Rotary meeting.
• #37: We have on display over 300 club banners from around the world covering 2 walls. The 4-way test and our club banner surround the speaker. The projected image is always about Rotary.
• #38: Pay attention to food. Food is one of the main complaints about Rotary and we don¡¯t pay enough attention to having quality and fun food. We moved venues because of the quality and variety of the food. Best thing we ever did. We do make suggestions on a regular basis to fine-tune food: Carrot cake with grated carrots story.
• #39: There are 100 plus suggestions I could make here, but I¡¯ll just emphasize these three. Let¡¯s take a minute to greet and meet the people around us. Now don¡¯t you feel more a part of this breakout. Guest enhance in meeting and should be encourage by club leaders. Often guest have no idea what Rotary is or how much fun we have. Talk about visiting Aussie lawyer. Club pays for first visit by a potential member.
• #40: Accept that some people are colorful and encourage them to let their personality flow. If the tradition of the club is stuffy, then the colorful among us are dormant. Who are the colorful people in your club?
• #41: Name that Rotary is a terrific way to have fun and introduce another side of a members personality who may have been in the club for decades.
• #42: Assistant governor Chuck in college and today.
• #43: (Go into audience and honor Norah Webster: Global Events Learning Specialist, Learning and Development Rotary International 2004?¨C Present?(10 years)Evanston, IL, USA, Responsible for the creation, development and implementation of multiple program elements for the annual International Convention (15,000-45,000 registrants) and annual International Institute (500 registrants). I oversee content development, promotion and execution for 50-100 concurrent convention breakout sessions, interfaith service programs for RI events, and ticketed meal/reception programs. I create, distribute and analyze program evaluations for many of these events. I also serve as project liaison for the International Institute: managing the budget, promotion, program development, and evaluation. Volunteers at many sporting events; ceramics artist
• #44: 200 nonprofits in our area, all of whom want to speak at our club and ask for donations. We do a nonprofit expos, 1 or 2 per year.
• #45: An alternative to having a speaker is a club competition, which can be a fun as it gets. The Rotary Quiz Bowl (3 clubs within 10 miles).
• #46: Rotoract won in their first try because they still remember how to study!
• #47: (Click on Cog Hogs) Do people in your club sit at the same table and interact with the same people. It is a lot more fun to mix it up, perhaps using special-interest groups or random seating every once in a while. Every club has a lot of interesting people and you may as well know all of them.
• #48: Outstanding students, perfect attendance (if you have 50 years of perfect attendance, stand! 45! 40!), veterans of their country¡¯s military stand, anyone with a birthday today or during the convention (Sing happy birthday). How many clubs sponsor youth teams.
• #49: Can anyone give me an example of a festival or special day in your country and what you do at Rotary to celebrate it?
• #50: Wear red on Valentine¡¯s Day.
• #51: Club tradition can be a wonderful legacy or a disabling ball and chain.
• #52: How often have you heard ¡°But we have always done it this way! You probably know what traditions need to be eliminated or modified.
• #53: President Ron Burton challenged us to find out why we are not growing and why we are losing good members. When evaluating Rotary traditions and procedures, try to mirror the thought process of your children and grandchildren. Everything a club does and the way they do it should be examined every year and, at a minimum, assessed at this level. It works, it could be improved, or it doesn¡¯t work.
• #54: If it isn¡¯t fun, do you really need it. Can we do something else instead? Some of the things we do administratively are not fun. Not fun is manually entering attendance reports. Fun is scanning a bar code on the back of a members badge as they enter so that attendance recording and reporting is done online.
• #55: There are thousands of wonderful projects and fundraisers. But they must have an element of fun to be of interest to potential members. Nothing is as heartwarming and gratifying as placing a young girl in her own wheelchair for the first time. Tell us about it DGE Herb Orr and Carol. Organizing and running a girls softball tournament can be a blast for people of all ages.
• #56: For many Rotarians, their club is the extent of their Rotary world. Club and district leadership need to reminded members that we are truly international with 1.2 million Rotarians in over 200 countries. We are an organization of the world. Stand up if you have hosted a youth exchange student or you are a youth exchange student. Stand if you have been on a GSE team (ask for the exchange countries) or a vocational team. Stand up if you have been on a Rotary Friendship Exchange. How about an international mission of any kind, such as NID? How about participation in the International Travel and Hosting Fellowship?
• #57: Tell year members about how much fun they can have participating in RI fellowships. We¡¯ll be staying Jim Galt and Gordon Stevenson in New Zealand next week via the International Travel and Hosting Fellowship.
• #58: Rampaging Razorback on a Rotary wheel, a Hog on a Cog. It is unique to our club and our region. It is handmade and inexpensive. Yet, we always end our meeting with the joy of our speaker getting a Hog on a Cog. When you plan your speaker gift, do so with the idea that you can end your meeting with a wonderful moment that your speaker will talk about for years if you give him or her an imaginative gift.
• #59: (Repeat by good back and forth) Click Light up Rotary image to play Human Nature¡¯s Uptight.
• #60: Click Sound on/off as needed.
• #64: <MODERATOR> While we¡¯re answering your questions, you can also check out the resource slide on your screen for helpful email addresses, websites and a reminder about downloading the convention app.