2013 District Assembly

District Assembly 1010
Glenrothes, Sunday 28th April 2010

This was attended by Neil Spriddle and Douglas Scott. The day was really well delivered and provided good value for the time investment made by the Roraians who attended.

A video clip was shown of Incoming RI President
Rotarians don't always stay in Rotary for the reasons that they join Rotary.
Theme will be "Engage Rotary Change Lives".  Inspire members to do the most they can. Rotary service must be the same for everyone in Rotary. all must feel that they are making a contribution and that contribution is valued.

District Governor elect Jim Houston followed that addressing an old chestnut. Membership is as simple as asking somebody.
Rotary is about communities, it is not about weekly meetings in a local hotel. We're for communities is the theme that should be promoted, not just this year but every year. Get someone interested but the Club must walk the walk, important that the Club is considered a good use of everyone's time.
We need to change. The specie that survive is the one that is the most adaptable to change" Charles Darwin.
Rotary is about working together.  Club Assembly should be the most exciting time, an opportunity to engage members.
Future Vision
Rotary grants have been simplified with program's and processes. Focus service efforts to increase impact.

Focus on
Peace
Disease Prevention
Water and sanitation
Maternal and child care
Basic education
Economic Development

Polio Plus: no cases in India for last 18 months and could be eradicated within the next Rotary year.

We're for communities will enable a picture to be painted of what Rotary does. The theme gives Rotarians an instant memorable answer to the question What does Rotary do?

MPRC session was run by Gary McAllister and the session started with Rotary GB&I Membership DVD Imagine the difference. There is a stack of Rotary videos on YouTube.

Enhancing Public Image and  Awareness
Presentation that was given to PETS  was shown.
Support clubs
Increase humanitarian service
Enhancing public image
Why ? External credibility , raise the profile of Rotary and your club, attract support, attract new members, position your club in the community. Explain Rotary 's purpose.
Create internal credibility  - people like to see success, celebrate success. Ensure your Clubs history is not lost.

In a wider Rotary GB&I, advertising campaign 18965 had clicked through from Google. This as a result of daily newspaper campaign.  Telegraph and Times used because they were cost effective. Press and Journal will soon carry same ads.
The conversion rate was 6% so it could have been one in every club.
What do people see when they Google us? What are we doing as clubs to be as attractive as possible?

An option to consider - an integrated team incorporating all Media, Web, Archives.
An MPRC Convenor should ensure catching the attention of all media.
It should have a hook, something to attract editor to run the story.
A picture speaks a thousand words. New District magazine is 48 pages now, second in Rotary GB&I contest but let down by lack of dynamic impact. A picture gives you 95% of impact.
Ties, cheques, chains not wanted. St Andrews website held up as best practice.
Social Media is used by 1010 Facebook and Twitter.  Erik Qualman video from YouTube highlighted the benefits.

How can we use PR to be attractive to potential members and to attract community and business support for club projects?
Use events ,  adopt a media partner - meet editor of Dunfermline Press for lunch and  discuss. Perth St Johns used honorary membership of Black Watch to highlight club, target membership from the big local industry. Quality PR and quality photos. International, community etc cross over so a library of photos would help. Photos of children and animals seem to get better coverage.

Is an integrated MPRC team the way forward or is there another way?
Yes but practicalities make this difficult because of lack of numbers and lack of skills and lack of time. Alternative other than finding a retired person who can do it all, this is not easy.  Rotary GB&I have templates of press releases on their website.

How important is your web to your club's image?
Very, because it can be the first impression. Website can be good archive for club achievement. Website not only attracts unsolicited approaches for support but also by speakers looking for places to speak. I made the point that the content  management system has become far too complicated.

Is Social Media a fad or should we embrace it and if so how?
Hard to encourage members to post. YouTube gets more hits.

What else could Rotary GB&I and / or the District MPRC team do to support clubs?
Resistance to change with the times. Make it easier to get messages out.  Now can communicate within the website eg DG can email all the international chairman of clubs by one click

David Robertson of the Dunfermline Carnegie club presented on use of Social Media
Allows you to get out to audiences who would not usually listen to you.
Ask all members to like Rotary in Scotland Facebook page.

Media Crisis Management

What happens when the media are asking difficult questions?
If you don't handle a crisis, the PR can be worse than the event.
Scenario could be an accident during a Rotary event, impropriety etc. firstly involve the Club President who should speak to DG and MPRC Chair. Rotary GB&IPR officer can then be contacted and advice issued.
This year two events involve District. Gather facts, establish what happened, start a log and keep it updated, decide who will be the spokesperson, establish who is primary source of information, discuss line to take with Rotary GB&I PR Officer.

Prepare and agree a statement that acknowledges the incident. Don't be proactive, only release statements when asked.  Don't say "can't comment" but say cant comment for legal reasons, confidentiality etc.
Use  ABC
Acknowledge the question
Bridge the question
Communicate the message

After lunch the presentation was entitled "Get your house in order - be Media Savvy."  This was extremely well made by Saadia Usmani, Public Relations Manager at CHAS. She has vast experience of media work including at the BBC. It is about everyone in an organisation not just senior management.
Need PR for reputation building, attracting donations, volunteers, influence, credibility.
Media relationships  need to be formed before needed.
Social Media now generates many news stories. Needs set people looking after these things so that responses are good, considered and well made. Dangerous to start off conversations if things get nasty.

There is only one pie and so how do you get a slice of it. Need to think like a journalist and serve up your story on a silver platter. Headline must catch attention.helps when it comes from a name they know. You need collateral available when you speak to a journalist.
News = People, People = News
Need good case studies to pass on. What is powerful is statistics.
Powerful quotes and great photographs I.e. not static photographs. Need to be more creative, avoid grey suits and cheques.
Prepare for a crisis situation to cover processes in place prior to a crisis. Make sure that there is consistency and trained spokespeople.

Build a narrative that must be:-
1. Clear and appealing
2. Should engage your audience quickly
3. Should be easy to remember

Message should include  - Stories, Stats, or Sound bites.
People won't remember what you say to them. They won't remember what you do but they will remember how you made them feel.
Hooks:- impact, celebrities, magnitude, tied to an event, local connection, conflict, oddity.

Hottest Feedback requirements in interview techniques:-
Tone of Voice
Painting pictures with words - emotion/feeling, stories / lists
People can sense you smiling on a radio interview
Car park test, say there are three things then launch into  them.
Call to action - go to website
Bridging, if in an awkward situation say I am more interested in
Memorable interview
Use the word "imagine"
7% of people remember don't remember what you say.
 More that 50% remember what you say

Can be more damage done to you if you do not put out your message.

Peter Leyland dropped in to make a plea for everybody to use the facilities of the District website

The session concluded with a final video What's Rotary Michael Angelo Caruso. A great example of selling Rotary. Claims Rotary is the best decision he ever made. When asked why he had the audience interested.

District has a goal of one member per club increase
3100 members in 1010 by June 2014
To be more representative of your community
We're for Communities

The Presidential citation is a road map and encouraged to apply. Only quarter of clubs in 1010 applied this year.

Clubs working together is the goal. Jim Houston DG elect looks forward to visiting all the clubs in District.

District Conference in 2013 was introduced by Billy Anderson on accordion! He hoped to see everyone at Aviemore from 1st to 3rd November.  This is a different time from normal.  Friday night will have a Taste of Scotland dinner and White Heather Club party.  Saturday is a working day rewarded by  a Saturday dinner plus two top Scottish acts.  Didn't catch the names but they sounded good. The impression was that the weekend's entertainment was at the top of the agenda. Don't miss out.

If you you do not enjoy Rotary, you are not doing it right!