To: Englewood Rotarians
From: President Gary Sears
Re: 2020-2021 President Elect Conference (February 28-March 1, 2020)
Dear Englewood Rotarians,
This weekend, I completed the President Elect Training Conference (PETS) for the 2020-2021 Rotary year, in which Susan Van Dyke and I will be sharing President duties for this next year, along with a third President. The Conference was very interesting and informative, with Rotarians from seven Rotary Districts, including Rotarians from Utah, Montana, Nebraska Wyoming, and all of Colorado, comprised of approximately 500 Rotarians.
Many Rotarians traveled a long way to attend the conference, but were rewarded with excellent training sessions, interesting discussions with Club leadership from the District leadership including our Assistant Governor, Ken Hope, and a variety of speakers including the interesting and articulate President-Elect of Rotary International, Holger Knaak, from Herzoglum Lauenburg-Molin,Germany. Holger loves skiing in Colorado, and he travels to Denver often, and is considering our invitation for him to speak at an upcoming District Conference next year. A session you should plan to attend.
Most importantly, the conference had many breakout sessions focusing on Club issues and providing guidance and planning for the upcoming year. The critical issues addressed in these meetings that affect our Club included: our declining membership across the District, some retention methods that Clubs should consider to attract and keep good Rotarians, the proposed District Budget in which the District is not proposing any increases for member dues for 2020-2021, individual Club member surveys, and visioning programs to develop and implement specific Club goals.
In this regard, I should note that our Club has successfully completed a very helpful member survey under Linda Spear’s hard work.
Also, featured in the training sessions were some discussions about a few fund-raising ideas which included wine or beer tasting programs, increasing peach sales, and working with other clubs for bicycle events with contributions for miles bicycled.
Based upon my participation at the conference, my plan is to review our current goals with the Board, along with goals regarding membership, budget, fund-raising, projects, and other issues for next year, and then present our ideas to members for consensus and direction for 2021. I also will do a brief presentation in an upcoming Club meeting to discuss this plan, after our Board meeting in March.
As members of the Englewood Club, I would ask you to think about the future of Club, especially regarding what type of Club we want to become (our Brand), our meeting location events and times, our budget (including funding Polio Plus and The Rotary Foundation funding), fund-raising activities that we currently do or should consider doing, and other ideas you may have to help our Club to continue to be a positive experience for all of our members.
Thank you for your service as a Rotarian and for your assistance in continuing to make the Rotary Club the best for 2021.
-- Gary Sears
Suicide Prevention Symposium
I encourage you to attend the suicide prevention program I have been working on through Rotarians for Mental Health. It is this Thursday, March 5, from 8:30 to 11:20 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, 7800 E. Tufts Ave., Denver.
There is an excellent one-hour training in QPR, which stands for Question, Persuade, Refer -- how to talk to people who are thinking about suicide.
There is no charge for the symposium.
-- Patty
