The Rotary Leadership Weekend (commonly known as PETS)

Members of our club attended the weekend activities, so what better way to learn what went on than to ask them to relate; Tamara and Debbie K. prepared the following scripts of their impressions, what they learned, ideas  that they thought we could try at our club and recommendations that they have for the rest of us. On behalf of our club, THANK-YOU Rotarians.

Tamara writes....

The PETS weekend was a great way to get a sense of the clubs in our district as well as the types of members, and they are truly an interesting bunch. The break-out sessions were interesting,  I learned, more than anything, where to seek information. It seems the international Rotary website is huge.

It was also interesting to listen to members of other clubs about their trials and tribulations as well as their successes.

Some of the discussion topics included things like conflict resolution and mentoring as well as developing leadership skills — these are all areas that we can apply not only to Rotary but our everyday lives as well.

There were two suggestions that I thought were really good ideas: To upload photos on our Facebook page of meetings and tag those members, which would go a long way in publicizing Rotary through social media. Also, inviting a member of  HHS' interact club to lunch, on a rotating basis. That should be beneficial to both entities and strengthen bonds.

Interesting as well was information about Rotary Leadership Institute. RLI is a new initiative. It is a grass roots education project to improve knowledge and leadership skills at all levels. These are actual, real live sessions and it is recommended that each club send two representatives who will in turn share their new knowledge and information with others. The first part of this workshop takes place in Barrie on May 11. It certainly might be worth a look, it is expected to help increase the number of successful projects each club engages in, develop more leaders in each club, increase membership retention and support RI, among other successes.

For all the newbies or those becoming a bit disengaged, this is a great way to get back into the groove of Rotary. There's also lots of cool trinkets available.

Debbie K. wrote & wrote & wrote......that's what she told me in the email....and I believe her.

I’ve been asked to report what I came back with from the Leadership weekend in North Bay, formerly known as PETS, which means President Elect, Treasurer and Secretary for those that don’t know.  It was originally developed to train for these important positions.  This weekend has evolved over the years to include training for Chair positions and a number of seminars to expand any interested Rotarians knowledge.  There are tables of Rotary supplies plus clothing - coats, vests, sweatshirts, golf shirts, sweaters.  Other paraphernalia includes playing cards, Rotary Wheel pins of every size and more pins, pens, coins, golf stuff…it literally can boggle your mind what is available.

Certain committees have particular training that they must attend but there are open times that you can learn about other areas, anything from Public Relations to Social Media and World Community Service among others.  It’s impossible to go to every seminar put on which is why this is my fourth year attending, there is always new things to learn.   Besides I love the night or two away at a resort.  Of course, North Bay is only an hour or so away, both Shannan and Tamara made the trip on Saturday and Sunday, so spending the whole weekend is entirely an option.  And remember – first time attendees get 50% off their registration at this particular weekend or the District Conference in October.

So, what did I learn?  I learned that Rotary has developed a new tool for Presidents to enter and track goal setting called Rotary Club Central, you all have access to view it on rotary.org, only certain positions can edit.  Once I have access, I plan on playing around in there.  It was well drilled into us that it is important to set goals, monitor goals and re-evaluate goals periodically to make sure we’re on track.  This program also allows us to share our projects with other Rotary clubs around the world. I learned a lot of President stuff that I won’t bore you with because there was more exciting news.

 India has had NO new polio cases this year!  All Polio statistics are improving; Pakistan and Nigeria each have only had one case reported.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and World Health Organization challenged Rotary to raise funds and they would match it.  Rotary raised millions which turned into even more millions, we are well on our way to the end of this crippling disease.  What will help push Polio over the edge forever?  Public awareness is crucial.   Of course I can’t put a whole talk in a few paragraphs but I was moved enough to promise myself that this Rotary Club of Huntsville is going to do something in my Presidential year to raise both awareness and funds for the fight against polio.  Lets…End Polio Now!

There was also a small presentation about Shelter Boxes.  I’d forgotten all about these gems.  We had a presentation at our own club years ago and we bought a couple to help families during a natural disaster.  I encourage you to simply Google Rotary Shelter Box and check them out or wait until DockFest to see one all set up.  I learned that our District has 2 complete boxes we can borrow, what a great event to do that. 

There was another talk about Youth Exchange; we’ve been actively involved in the international exchanges forever.  I learned about another exchange Rotary does called STEP.  It’s a shorter exchange usually just the summer and it’s two families that exchange their children with each other.  Why have we not got involved in this?  I will look into that.

Most of the club knows that we did a visioning process just over a year ago.  A very large majority of the club showed up and decided what was important to us and what direction the next 5 years was going to take.  Part of this was to put a portion of our proceeds aside for a bigger project in 5 years, this project has never been decided upon.  Another talk this weekend was about a wheelchair distribution, they cost about $20,000 to do.  We can save $20,000 in 4 more years can’t we?  Why don’t WE do a wheelchair distribution, us, our club/district?  That would be in the year 2017; we could take a group to…wherever they’re needed.  I’m just asking you to think about it.

PDG Brian Menton reminded all of us that if you want to learn about Rotary, one just has to look.  There is the Learning Academy, Electronic Learning, Rotary Leadership Institute, The College of Knowledge and simple GOOGLE just to name a few ways to learn more.

Ideas, ideas, ideas – they’re everywhere, around every corner; in most every conversation you have this weekend.  One really great idea, you know how we give mugs as our speaker gift?  Well, how about instead (once mugs are gone) we give a certificate that we will plant a tree in the speakers’ name.  Then once a year in the spring, we get a bunch of the seedlings and plant them somewhere as a fellowship work day.

I think I should end this here and encourage you to attend the District Conference in October which is being held in Orillia at Fern Resort with the big gala dinner/dance being held at Rama.  It’s an experience you’ll never forget.

Editor's Note: I was hoping that I would get a group photo of our delegates to PETS; didn't happen. So I'm including one from the meeting with our good Rotarian friend from Barrie andnew director on the Rotary Foundation Board, Bryn Stiles, in the front to the right.