Convener's Report (PR) AGM 2017

With the help and support of my committee I believe the last year has taken our communications and publicity approach to a new level.

We set out to maintain the heartbeat of what has served the Club well, but to venture into social media at the same time as refreshing the support and information material available to us.

Robin’s work has seen our website refreshed and even more press coverage across a number of local titles as well as arranging press attendance at the Low Valleyfield Purple4Polio Planting.

Douglas’ innovative approach has built the Club’s Twitter presence – not just through regular ‘tweets’ but also creating short picture video clips.

Our step into the world of Facebook, admittedly with reservations from a number of members (including myself) has been an incredible journey.As well as a regularly updated news feed supplemented by impactful photographs and other images, we have repeatedly seen the power of ‘linking’ to other local organisations.

As we build more connections, followers, likes and shares we are seeing our reach significantly exceed our membership base. Crossford Primary School’s recent quiz win reached 607 people and our Community Exhibition launch 292.A typical week sees around 200 people visit our page.

But as well as keeping a regular flow of news across our 4 communication channels, we have created our Club Branding (that’s the dark blue background with gold and yellow text!) which has provided a common identity.

This has been successfully used for:

-       Members Business Cards

-       Community Exhibition Posters

-       Membership Recruitment Flyers

-       Membership Evening Presentation with a Common ‘Look and Feel’

And on top of this we: 

-       Refreshed our Information Leaflets

-       Created the ‘Year in Rotary’ Animated Slide Show

-       Obtained Event Coverage on Kingdom FM

-       Leveraged Culross Community’s Newsletter and Emails – including a test Recruitment Advert

-       Obtained Charities Trust Authorised Status

-       Submitted Articles to D1010

-       Created our own PA and Media Projection Capability

Where I have seen us be at our most effective and successful is through partnering with other Convenors and Initiatives – the support we were able to provide to Purple4Polio, Community Exhibition, Remembrance Wreathes, Membership Recruitment and the Charity Spring Dance I believe has been impactful and beneficial.

 So what next?

Largely more of the same, with our bringing further focus to creating linkages with other local clubs and societies, and I hope even closer partnering to my fellow convenors.

We now have an impressive communication tool kit and sound and vision capability, but are totally reliant on being fed great stories to help us promote our Club.