President's Letter

 

The job of scheduling our weekly programs is much more difficult than it might first seem. Rotarians want “high-quality” programs. No matter how one approaches the task, there is the unavoidable fact that one member's great program can be another's lousy program. In confronting that challenge, each administration – and particularly each program committee - has the prerogative to devise its own solution.

 

It is easy to understand that some of the poor quality programs in the past were due to taking something - anything - to occupy a spot that had to be filled pronto. It was perhaps the only way out for the program committees, admittedly all volunteers, to grab whatever was readily available. And there are dozens of quick programs, particularly charities looking to make a pitch (direct or indirect) to our members. It is a fact that we could fill every program every year featuring local non-profits. Nearly all those groups are not "official" RCOT-supported organizations. But isn’t there a danger that too many (fill in your satisfaction level) of these type programs make members reluctant to attend and/or feeling overloaded with pleas for dollars?

 

Part of maintaining quality is not being in the position of having gaps in the near future that have to be filled in a matter of hours. But there is another, incompatible, side to the job.

 

Sadly, absolutely wonderful topics come up on relatively short notice. If they are "too good to pass up" (which is a subjective call in itself), we do the delicate dance of asking a scheduled speaker to yield. In an admittedly extreme example, we would obviously call a presenter to say we have to bump his/her program because the President of the United States is available to speak. It's a matter of judgment and trying to be fair to those we have previously agreed to put on the Wednesday podium.

 

To add to the program committee's challenges, we have club members who have become accustomed to being able to secure a program slot one to six weeks in advance. Nearly all are very good topics, if not “obligatory” topics. Should we hold one or more Wednesday presenter slots "just in case" of such opportunities? Maybe so, but how long do you hold off? Up until one week out? That would be great for flexibility, but terrible for quality in those cases where no adequate program pops up and we then have to get something less than appealing to fill a meeting.

 

In the end, like so much in life, it's a trade-off. One approach is to keep many open slots in the very near future to be able to handle last-minute requests and opportunities. But some of those slots will have to be filled with low-quality programs when nothing good comes up and we are seven days out. The other end of the spectrum is to book way ahead with only (what we judge will be) great programs. While we will rarely then be in the "take whatever we can get situation," we will also miss out on some admittedly better presentations that either arise on short notice or weren't thought about soon enough by the program committee or a club member.

 

There is a third approach: book way ahead while telling all presenters we reserve the right to bump them if need be. It is difficult to think that wouldn't be more harm than good in most cases. Yes, we want our Wednesday slots to be coveted by our presenters; but we also don’t want to get a reputation of regularly reneging on our invitations.

 

We all understand that every program – scheduled well ahead of time or not – will not be a home run. What looks good on paper can turn out to be mediocre or worse. Its human nature to say after the fact "wow, couldn't we have done better than that?" and cite examples which would, in all probability, have been better (at least on that same paper).

 

Such are the challenges of the program committee. Our 2015-16 effort is led by Ken Tucker. Ken and his committee are doing a superb job! The line-up looks outstanding for months to come.

 

Do you know of a program you believe would be well-received by the club? Send your suggestion to Ken. He will consider those as he fills out the schedule through June of next year. He also keeps alternatives in his back pocket in case of programs that cancel (we’ve had one already this year). Plus, he’ll forward the list of potentials to the 2016-17 Program Committee to help that year get underway.

 

Our club offers a premiere platform for speakers covering a huge spectrum of topics – arguably the #1 platform of its type in Tucson. Rotary International’s research revealed that weekly programs are a key factor in member satisfaction. Our club takes these opportunities seriously. We think the results are one part of what makes Rotary valuable to you.