Joint District Membership Seminar

13 November.  The two Districts 1140 and 1250 (which will be merging at the end of my year of office) co-hosted a meeting this evening in Guildford, which I was invited to honour with my presence. The DG also tagged along. The purpose of the meeting was basically to discuss current thoughts and plans on increasing membership levels of clubs in the two Districts, which are stagnating at present.  I duly prepared a 20 minute speech on my plans to develop the role of Consort to the District Governor (it included a sentence or two in which membership was mentioned, so I think my presentation was relevant to this meeting). When I told the DG of my plans she scoffed at them.  ‘You can’t make a speech, you haven’t even prepared any notes’, she said. ‘That’s because I will deliver it in the style of Ed Miliband’ I replied ‘and wander around the stage without notes, engaging with my audience, rather than hiding behind a lectern’.

                                                                              Ed Miliband

Anyway, the meeting was to be held at the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, and Neil Rorie, Membership Chair of District 1140, asked if I could get there for 6 p.m. to assist with registration of delegates. As the DG and I were picking up Janet Matthews, Shepperton Aurora’s membership chairman en route, we thought we would leave at 4.50, pick up Janet at 5 p.m. and get to Guildford easily in time for 6 o’clock. The journey would normally take about 40 minutes, but it was sensible to allow extra time because we would be driving through the rush hour. As it turned out, the journey was a nightmare. There had been a horrendous road accident near Sunbury Cross earlier in the day, causing some major roads to be closed all afternoon. As a result there was traffic everywhere, and there was no escape from it. The 2 mile journey to Janet’s house took 20 minutes, then we took another 30 minutes getting to the M25, which was doing one of its frequent impressions of a car park.

                                                           Surrey Sports Park

The result was that we arrived at around 6.30 p.m. and too late for my registration duties. We were, however, just in time for the refreshments, and I was able to calm my frayed nerves with some cheese and onion sandwiches and a cup of tea. I spoke to a chap from the South Coast who had got there quicker than me, despite travelling more than twice the distance I had. It was pleasant catching up with some friends from around both Districts, including Ron Daniels, John Brewer and Kevin Mack.  Also present was Doug Price, DG of District 1250, with his lovely Consort Rosemary.  Doug has only 4 clubs left to visit of the 60-odd clubs in his District, whereas my DG still has around 15 left to visit. Interestingly, Rosemary has accompanied Doug on every one of his club visits. She must be fed up with Rotary chicken by now. I spoke briefly to Peter Davey, the President Elect of RIBI (he follows Peter King), who was one of the Keynote speakers tonight, and one of the few people there who actually outranks me.

                                                        Expectant audience, with Janet in front

The meeting was well attended, with probably 100 or so Rotarians from the two Districts present, mostly club membership chairmen, with a few Presidents.  The event was led (or ‘facilitated’ in the current vernacular) by Neil Rorie and Simon Crowther, his opposite number in District 1250. I sat in the front row to make sure Neil knew where to find me when the time for my speech came.  Neil explained to everybody  that we would have two main speakers, Peter Davey, and then Robin Brown (RIBI Membership Chairman), then later there would be a Question and Answer session. He didn’t mention my slot, but I assumed I would be called upon to close the meeting.

                                                     Neil Rorie introduces the evening

Peter Davey spoke for around 20 minutes, and I was very impressed with him. His message to the Rotarians present was that  ‘We need to engage with people’, meaning that people want to get involved in their local community but don’t always know how to go about it. We should be asking people what they want to do, and then enable them to do it. Surprisingly, for a man in his position, he urged us not to be hidebound by rules, and if it feels good, do it, and if necessary seek retrospective approval. He gave us the startling statistic that 25% of all new Rotarians leave within the first year, because we don’t engage with them, and get them involved with activities that interest them.  He finished with the rallying cry ‘ The only thing holding us back is ourselves’.

                                                         Peter Davey speaks

Robin Smith was next up. I have always enjoyed his style, ever since he oversaw an excellent training session for the DGs on the subject of Public Speaking in Birmingham earlier this year.  He showed some statistics, including the many ways we can recruit new members, including satellite clubs, e-clubs, Corporate membership, associate membership  as well as regular members.  ‘Don’t be afraid’ he urged us ‘to ask the question’. Apparently in a recent survey 86% of Rotarians said they joined  ‘because they were asked’.

                                                       Robin Smith speaks

Questions and observations from the audience were very good, ranging from the ‘We’re for Communities’ slogan, which appears to have been ditched, to the merits of holding recruitment evenings, Social media, joining local Chambers of Commerce and our core value of Diversity.  A wide ranging discussion and useful exchange of ideas and views, and everyone was very positive. Of course whilst this was going on I was mentally preparing for my keynote speech to close the meeting, sending the delegates away full of enthusiasm for their recruitment activities. However this task was undertaken by the DG and by Doug Price, who were given 2 minutes each to address the audience. You can imagine my feelings when Neil Rorie then stepped up to thank everyone for coming along and declared the meeting closed. I was flabbergasted to think that I hadn’t been called up on stage. I was on my feet in an instant and heading for the stage to remonstrate with the organisers when I realised that people were already hurrying for the exit, so there was no point in pursuing the matter any further. I consoled myself with the thought that as no-one had heard it yet I could save the speech on my plans to develop the role of Consort to the District Governor for another occasion, when there may be a larger audience.

                                                          The panel prepare for questions

As we were leaving the venue, I looked around and realised what a fantastic place the Surrey Sports Park was. The facilities, both indoors and outdoors, are state of the art, and I saw climbing walls, football pitches, swimming pools, dance studios, squash courts to name but a few. And the place was buzzing, with  people everywhere indulging in their chosen sport. It makes the old Leisure Centres I used to frequent in my younger days seem rather tame by comparison.

                                                       Climbing walls at the Sports Park