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President Tom called the meeting to order today at 12:30 pm at the St. Catharines Golf & Country Club. Grace was said by Terry Wilkes, and Don Shaw gave us the perfect note to begin O Canada. Seated at the head table were
Guest Speaker Introducer: Bob Gosselin
Guest Speaker: Andy Skrypniak, District 7090 Director of Mebership
President: Tom Arkell
Sergeant-at-Arms: Vicki Rudachuk
Committee in the Spotlight: Membership Chair, John Potts
Guest Introducer: Peggy Davidson
Today's Guests were
VISITING ROTARIANS
Sheila Bristo – St. Catharines South
Andy Skrypniak – Hamilton AM
OTHER GUESTS
Jean Chabot - guest of Earl Alton
Raquel Solis – guest of Lezlie Murch
The membership committee was represented by John Potts, who gave us an update on the works of the committee. The Membership committee is charged with encouraging and retaining membership in our club, by reviewing proposed members. The committee has 13 members and is comprised of three sub-committees:
Rotary Information: meets with prospective members to explain their responsibilities as a Rotarian.
Classification: determines classification for each new member
Attendance: with the assistance of Joyce, maintains attendance records for the club, make-up tracking, and reporting to the district.
This year's membership goal for RI and our district was one net new member per club. Currently, our club has 151 members, with 9 net new so far in 2007-2008 and two more pending! Attendance goal is 50% for RI, but our club's goal is to exceed 70%. We were at 71.3% as of December. Our orientation and retention goal is to have no more than 5 Rotarians quit the club (excluding deaths and transfers to other clubs), and the committee promotes committee participation, fireside chats and activities to ensure that new members feel included.
John and Andy Skrypniak then presented pins to those members who had sponsored new members so far in 2007-2008.
Ray Bukovec – January 6, George Darte – January 9, Terry Kellar – January 12. Only Ray was in attendance to accept his birthday rose
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Greg Bodogh-Darte and Ice Dogs Mascot Bones |
• Greg Bodogh-Darte came forward to remind us that the Family of Rotary Committee is sponsoring a Rotary Day at the Niagara Ice Dogs' game on Sunday January 20 th against the Ottawa 67's. Tickets are $13 for adults, and the club will subsidize children's tickets for $8. Greg advised that “Bones”, the icedogs' mascot was due to make an appearance but was delayed as he was “off getting neutered”. Deadline for tickets is January 17 th and you can email Greg in the meantime if you would like to go.
• Foster Zanutto announced that, in conjunction with Brock University , the Family of Rotary is organizing a “voluntourism” trip to Costa Rica , March 28 th to April 10 th . Cost is $2900 per person. Flyers were on the tables. For more info, go to www.brocku.ca/edutravel , or contact Foster, or Wendy Laslo at 905-688-5550 X5188.
• Dave Haddow announced that the district interviews for prospective outbound Youth Exchange students will be held this weekend. Our nominee is Elizabeth Baxter. Youth Exchange is seeking host families for inbound students next year, usually a 3 or 4 month commitment. He encouraged new members to get involved, and there will be an information meeting in February where prospective hosts can meet with prior hosts to learn more. In addition, they are seeking “respite” families, who would host students for a week or so to get a taste of the experience. He pointed out that anyone who has ever hosted will tell you that the students become like extended family, and it is truly an enriching experience. If you would like to volunteer or want more info, please contact Kelly Buckley, Vicki Rudachuk, or Dave Haddow.
• There will be a World Community Service meeting on January 23 rd at 5:15 pm at the offices of Sullivan Mahoney.
• A stand up meeting of the Youth Exchange committee was to take place after today's meeting
• A stand up meeting of the Sports & Fellowship Committee was to take place after today's meeting to discuss our Valentine's meeting.
Were solicited by Brian St. Hilaire, who didn't have a joke, but was happy that it is 2008. At that moment, the newly neutered “Bones” showed up, and was greeted effusively by Greg Bodogh-Darte.
Tom Pekar paid $10 for the ten pounds he gained on a recent Caribbean Cruise...his wife is already talking about a cruise to Alaska .
Norm Kreger is happy to be going to Montego Bay next week and will certainly attend a Rotary meeting there.
Margaret Jarrell was happy to have survived her new job for six days, and described Hospice Niagara as a “wonderful, warm, and comforting place”.
Ray Bukovec was happy to be listening to everyone's travel stories, and advised he is taking a trip to Thorold South.
Carol Henderson was happy to be a new member of our club and thanked everyone for the warm welcome.
Eugene Gillies was happy to have received an email (at 4:44 am) from his son in Vancouver , who had apparently just received a promotion. Eugene is sure that the year his son spent in Italy after university helped him in his later life.
Art Wing was happy to welcome Andy to our meeting and thanked Andy for his many years of hard work for the district.
50/50 Draw : Kim Widdicombe had the winning ticket but drew the 9 of Clubs. The pot was $149... not bad for two weeks!
Bob Gosselin introduced today's speaker, Andy Skrypniak, from the Hamilton AM club and District 7090 membership director. Andy was born and raised and still lives in Dundas , with his wife Lorissa and daughter Tamara. They own and operate Turf Tamers, a lawn care company. Andy has been a Rotarian since 1991, club president in 2001-2002 and spent several terms as Assistant Governor for the district. Andy is also involved internationally as Project Coordinator for a 3H grant in Lyantonde Uganda .
Andy started by saying it was a privilege to attend our club meeting and based on John's overview of membership we are doing a great job and didn't really need his talk.
He is on a “magical mystery tour” visiting all 74 clubs in the district this year, experiencing the magic of Rotary while trying to solve the mystery of membership.
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Andy Skrypniak & President Tom |
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President Tom & Andy Skrypniak |
Membership has become the number one priority not only at the district level but at the international level as well. Andy attended a membership seminar in Nashville this summer and was joined by 275 other Rotarians from 26 different states including three Rotary International Presidents: Current President Wilf as well as Jim Lacey and Glenn Estess. All working and committed to improvement of membership.
Being from Hamilton Andy cited the steel business. There are two big steel mills: Stelco which has struggled over the years due in part to its battles with its union and employees while Dofasco is a shining star on the world steel stage. Dofasco's slogan is: our product is steel our strength is our people.
In the same way, membership (our people) is the backbone of our organization
There is a new structure at the District:
Gone are the 4 traditional directors:
- Vocational
- Community
- Club
- International
Replaced with 5 new directorships
- Membership
- Public relations
- Service projects
- Foundation
- Youth
Everywhere you look membership will be a top priority
He then cited some statistics:
63% of our membership is over 50.
59% of our membership has been in Rotary less than 10 years.
Membership in North America is on the decline. Since 2002 we have gone from 435,000 Rotarians down to 412,000.
Most troubling is that 40% leave within 3 years of being inducted
Until recently membership development was a committee of one at the District. Very soon it will be a committee of 18. But the real job really begins at the club level. The entire club must realize and embrace that membership is a priority and it is the responsibility of all the members. Only members can bring in new members. All our strength comes from a strong membership.
Make sure your club has an annual master plan. Not just for membership, but for fundraising, foundation, youth and vocation. The President Elect, in preparation for their year should speak with each club member. See where their interest lies and see what they like and dislike about the club. Surveying the members' level of satisfaction is vital. Our members are our sales reps for membership. If our sales rep is unhappy, how can they promote the product of Rotary?
The key to successful membership starts with identifying potential new members:
- Look at your business associates: lawyer, accountant, suppliers
- Look at your personal associates: dentist, pharmacist, insurance agent.
- ook at your circle of friends and then take it another step. Ask your circle of friends to review their circle of friends for suitable candidates.
- Principal, guidance counselor (excellent for RYLA and YE)
- Look at past guest speakers or donation recipients
- Talk to former members of the club, perhaps their circumstances have changed. Inform them of the changes to attendance requirements and the new flexibility.
- Review the people that already come out and support your club events/fundraisers.
- Look at the children of your charter members.
- Parents of former exchange students or RYLA participants. These last two will not need a lot of education on the benefits of Rotary.
- Speak with your local parliamentarian and ask for a list of community leaders.
- Create a list of vocations/classifications that you want to join your club.
- Review the top employers in town and create a list of people in charge to contact.
- Do you have an up to date pamphlet to handout?
- Can you list all of your clubs past accomplishments. Your current projects and plans for the future.
- Do you have a website to expand on ideas? Is so make sure it is up to date. Better to not have a website than one which is out of date.
Businesses have a plan, a strategy on where they want to be one year, five years or ten years from now. We should be no different.
The product is Rotary we have to sell it. There are many knock offs, much competition. But we are the original; we are the oldest service club in the world. Rotary is not about self, but sometimes people need to hear those personal benefits, so tell them about:
- Friendship and fun
- Professional networking
- The opportunity to serve
- World understanding
Impress the candidate do not intimidate.
We've all heard the excuse that I'm to busy to join Rotary… well Rotary is full of people who do not have time, but they take the time to serve. You must ask someone to join: it is the biggest reason people cited why they did not join Rotary…nobody ever asked them. So, ASK!!!!! Get your ask in gear! A good rule of thumb is take the number of years you have been in Rotary and divide by 3, this should be how many members you have brought into Rotary.
Only one person joined Rotary without being invited….our founder Paul Harris.
Orientation is also very important. Small steps, small doses. Rotary can be very overwhelming. We need to educate prospective new members, tell them what our club does, locally, district wide or internationally, fundraising and fun events, hands on events. What will it cost to belong to Rotary? Dues, initiation, fines, weekly meals, which is usually the biggest cost in Rotary. Make sure you know what they expect and that they know what you expect.
Now you have this new member, don't forget about them after induction. We need to start the process of changing them from simply being a Rotary member to that of being a Rotarian. There is a huge difference.
- Immediately involve them on a committee
- Have their sponsor involved
- Assign a mentor (someone other than sponsor) to give a different perspective
- Go to a make up together
- Make them the greeter for a couple of meetings
- Fireside or follow up meeting in 2 to 3 months
- Discuss expectations, concerns. Get feedback on what they need to know.
Remember 40% leave within 3 years. We have invested the time to recruit and educate, now we must retain the members. Keep mew members involved, but be balanced. Do not overwork or financially over burden the member. Andy cited some examples of burnout:
• At assembly he heard a new member say she joined just over a year ago and is already secretary and last month told him she was now president elect.
• At the District Conference, a Rotarian of 18 months said she was thinking of resigning. Chair of three club committees and had about 4 functions to perform at the district conference.
Occasionally a Rotarian must leave. An exit interview is a must. Why did they leave? Learn from their feedback. Go back to Rotarians who left over the last 2 years and ask them their reasons.
If we keep meetings interesting and shake things up from time to time, we keep the passion alive.
We must keep attendance, and follow up with members who miss meetings, preferably by phone. Like a family member who misses a couple of family events, we don't send a letter and threaten to throw them out of the family.
It all comes down to fun and follow up.
If members' attendance is slipping, it is a good sign the member might be in trouble
Andy closed by giving President Tom a book called “Frank Talk II”. Tom is to read it and pass it around so that all members have read it within the next year.
Jaquelyn Clark thanked Andy, and pointed out that his talk was relevant to all members, not just newer ones.
President Tom added his thanks, and followed up on Andy's theme by telling us that next week's meeting will be entirely conducted by new members.
The topic for next week's meeting is
Classification Talk by Serge Paquin
Notice to club members:
10 day notice for Jean (John) Chabot – Classification Real Estate Sales – sponsored by Earl Alton.
There is less than six months left for you to register for the Rotary International Convention. The location this year is in Los Angeles, California. This Pacific coast city is a place of movie stars, beaches and sun. Why not consider taking in the convention and staying a few extra days as a vacation. Book a cruise, stay at a resort or rent a car and head north or south along the coast. Go to Rotary2008.com and find out how you can be part of this annual celebration of Rotary throughout the world. If you have been to a Rotary International Convention before, then you know what to expect. If you have never attended before, then you are in for a Rotary experience that will motivate you to new heights.
I hope you will seriously consider attending this year’s convention and I look forward to seeing you there.
Ralph Montesanto, DGE
Chair, District 7090 RI Convention Promotion
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