President's Remarks
President Paul noted the events that the Club has participated in since our last meeting at the Crown Plaza - Rotary of Guelph 100th anniversary, Louise and Graham's presentation at the Edelweiss, Meetings of the In Vino committee, a Car Draw meeting and Dine A Round.
Happy Jar
Louise Gardiner was happy that the Club allowed her and Graham to present their story of Graham's transplant. She also enjoyed the Dine a around at Karen Redman's home, and relayed the story of the two Jim Browns who were invited to and showed up at the event (we all know that there is really only one Jim Brown).
Cam Yule attended a special birthday celebration at his twin-brother's home. It appears that they both celebrated a bit too hard.
Wayne Boehler was happy to have celebrated another birthday last week.
Bell Ringer(s)
Ross Newkirk and Hubert Singh for representing the Club at Caborca.
President's Wine Quiz
One entry if you promoted the Club in social media and one entry if you know Rotary's March theme (water and sanitation).
Club Announcements
In Vino Caritas is quickly approaching (April 16). Tickets are available on the website and in person through Gary Parker.
On March 31, the annual Soupfest will be held at the Ken Seiling Museum to raise funds for the Children's Groundwater Festival. A sign-up sheet will be available for helping serve the soups/cleanup. Peter Gray noted that as this is the 25th anniversary of the Festival, and as it is the last day of Spring Break, they will have a mini-groundwater festival after the lunch. Signups and training will be available.
On March 30 (or possibly March 31) an Assembly will be held to solicit member ideas for the Club's 100th Anniversary.
The District one-day conference will be held at Bingeman's on Saturday May 30.
50/50 Draw
$418 was left on the table by Martin Jones, Bill Proctor and Mike Pollard.
Program Highlights
Social Media has become very important to the future of Rotary, as we continue to make efforts to get the message out as to what Rotary is able to provide to the world and how others can assist.
Our Club is registered on many of the media, but a quick survey found that the majority of us do not have Facebook, Linked In or other accounts.
As a quick primer. Louise explained that it is possible and good to have multiple Facebook accounts. For example, she has a family account (only family can access). a Rotary account, a business account and another account. However, it takes work to continually monitor multiple accounts.
The key to getting the word out is to our friends, and to have them pass it onto to their friends. For example, when Lumi presented her Who Am I, she passed it onto her friends, and it went out to more than 400 recipients.
One tip in posting pictures or comments is to ask a question. This encourages them to respond, and increases their involvement in the subject.
When making entries, write in short captions, rather than longer ones.
Also use hashtags (#) - subjects. When others are searching Facebook, hashtags draw them to your message (e.g. KWAWESOME). The @ sign is also useful to direct your message to a specific person or group eg @Rotary Club of Kitchener.
Louise noted that her one account was only intended to share messages and photos with family. This is done through the settings function. A Rotary account, on the other hand can be very open.
When you read a message you can simply leave the site or you can like it or even love it. Liking it is good, but loving it is more important as it moves it up the chain of importance to others.
Making Facebook (or other media) work positively for Rotary is not simple, especially for those of us who did not grow up with it. Approach others (including Louise or Darren) for guidance.
Closing Remarks & Reminders
No meeting next week, but the following week will be a regular meeting with Ron Gagnon, the new president at the Grand River Hospital, who will be speaking about the future of health care in KW. This may be of interest to your friends and associates.
