Dear Everyone,
I hope this finds you happy and well.
Last Tuesday’s meeting was a good balance of the serious and the entertaining, and it was unfortunate that other commitments prevented some members from attending.
We were honoured to have Karl Hughes, Second in Charge of Toastmasters’ District 73 which encompasses Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania and a member of Rowville Toastmasters, speak about the format of productive meetings. Karl also sent us his PowerPoint presentation so that all could benefit from his expertise. Toastmasters International (f.1924)and Rotary International (f.1905) were both founded in the U.S. and are structured in a similar way. The aim of Toastmasters is to help people overcome the fear of public speaking which allegedly is second only to the fear of death. Like Rotary, it also focusses on leadership development.
It was great to learn that most of our members have a positive attitude to meetings, which Karl was pleasantly surprised by. That attitude shows that the running our various meetings is another thing that our Club does well.
Karl also conducted a fun “Round Robin”, a device used at the beginning of every Toastmasters’ meeting to warm up the audience and help prepare speakers for when they deliver a speech later in the meeting. The Sergeants’ Fines session does that for us in our Club. We all had to answer the same question in about 20 seconds, and it was interesting to learn more about one another and find common interests. Obviously the more closely bonded we are, the stronger our Club will be. Of course, if you don’t have an answer, you can pass. If you are happy to, I would like us to do “Round Robins” from time to time, and anyone can pose the question.
A reminder that there is a District Community Projects Forum facilitated by Trish Smyth on Sunday the 16th of August at 4pm. That Forum is also repeated on Wednesday 19th of August at 11am., if you do not want to attend Sunday’s one. It will be very interesting to learn what other clubs are doing to help their communities in this time of COVID-19.
I think you all would have received the flyer, reprinted below, for “Spring into Alice ... Virtually” - the Rotary Zone 8 Virtual Conference on the 19th-20th of September 2020. It’s 3 hours all up over the two days. And the speakers who have been engaged are amazing, beginning with RI President Holger Knaack, our own Past RI President Ian Riseley, Sarah Brown CEO of The Purple House, the home away from home for Indigenous dialysis patients in Alice Springs, Past RI President Barry Rassin speaking about The Rotary Foundation and “Doing Good in the World”, Past RI Vice-President Jennifer Jones on “A Modern Rotary” and on it goes. If you check out the program, you will realise you would be mad to miss it. So please register today!
Now let’s take a closer look at Jennifer E. Jones who has made Rotary history! At Tuesday’s meeting, I passed on news I received from PP Catherine. Jennifer, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, has been nominated to become Rotary International’s President for 2022-23, making her the first woman to hold that office in Rotary’s 115-year history. And Melbourne is the host city for that year’s International Convention, so we will get to meet her.
Next week:
A very exciting event is happening, former member Yvette Hayes is being re-inducted. Yvette was a member from 2013 to 2016 so is well-known to most of you. Yvette has a very impressive CV, and made a wonderful contribution in her time as a member, especially as Chair of Community Service and jointly organising a Pride of Workmanship evening with Ian Wakefield. We would like as many members as possible to attend to welcome Yvette back into the Club.
Our Guest Speaker is Cristian De Boer talking about the “Cambodia COVID-19 Response.” Cristian has helped to create Hotels Joining Hands
www.hotelsjoininghands.com an initiative to provide at least 400 meals per day to people in need in Siem Reap.
DGE Dr. Daryl Moran will also be a guest that night speaking in place of the “Know Your Rotarian” segment. Daryl is an inspiring speaker and will talk about Earlyact and Interact, clubs we will establish at Emerald Primary School and hope to establish at Emerald Secondary College in due course.
Until next Tuesday, stay safe, stay well and let’s be grateful for our good fortune.
Yours in Rotary,
Vicki.
