Posted by Sam McCurdy
Last weekend, a Rotary Multi-District conference, was held over 2 days, consisting of a ground-breaking live stream event for over 3000 Rotarians located across Victoria. The live stream titled, “Virtual Victoria”, was streamed out of Nossal High School theatre in Berwick, from 11:00am – 1:00pm on both Saturday & Sunday mornings.
A large crowd attended the District 9820 mini-conference held at the School, at 3:30pm on Saturday afternoon. District Governor, Mark Humphries, expressed his delight at being able to gather face-to-face again after the year of restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He went on to advise that initially, this year’s conference was to be held aboard a cruise ship with entertainers and key speakers staying on board overnight. However, the pandemic put paid to that plan and the Mini-conference was arranged instead.
 |   |
On behalf of the Rotary Club of Berwick, President David Button accepted two District awards for contributions to the Rotary Foundation, which were:
- A bronze award for contributions exceeding US$100,000
- A banner for the 3rd highest contribution per capita in District 9820
After hearing from several key speakers, the DG Elect, Bill Degnan, advised that the 2022 District 9820 conference will be held on 26th-27th February at the East Gippsland Performing Arts Centre in Traralgon, which is currently under construction. Bill also reported that the contractors for the Centre are currently monopolising the accommodation in Traralgon, so attendees for the conference are advised to book their accommodation well in advance.
After the formal part of the mini-conference, attendees enjoyed relaxed fellowship over drinks and canapes before dinner was served.
 |  |
Music provided for the evening by students of Nossal High School was amazing. A Jazz combo, string quintet and a string orchestra all performed. There were also 2 solo performances by Hans Teh playing cello and Janice Lim on the violin. Both received standing ovations.
After all the musical numbers were played, the School’s Bollywood dancers entertained the audience. Everyone was in awe of the energy and performance demonstrated by the students.
The mini-conference was considered to be a great success by all the attendees.
