COVID 19 has certainly put an uneasy dent in our Rotary endeavours to contribute to our community and reinvigorate our commitment to doing good in the world. In this current time, there will be many things that stand in the way between community involvement and service. COVID-19 has just been a stubborn one to get through! We are just jumping over the final hurdles before our real Rotary journey begins.
Battling Technology
This week we finally made it back to Holm Park for our first hybrid meeting. A nervous time for the tech gurus PDG Tim and PP Isobel, as they tested numerous configurations to see how it would work with Holm Park equipment. Unable to access the Holm Park WiFi because no one knew the password certainly tipped them into panic mode, as they frantically searched for how much data was left on their personal phone for hot-spotting. Needless to say, our tech team came through using some innovative ideas to make it all come together.
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We all had a plan on how it was supposed to come together seamlessly, but plans quickly come undone when old tech meets new tech!
PDG Tim will be away for the next two weeks, so if you are a Zoomer and cannot see or hear the next two meetings, don't be surprised. Tim has some serious talent on the hybrid meeting front.
The Physical meeting
Personally, it was lovely to see so many friendly faces in the flesh and actually have a conversation with several people at the same time. Sharing a joke, an idea, some inspiration and just general conversation all over a nice home-cooked dinner, just made what we used to take for granted before COVID into some special "thing" that was precious. We could lose this precious "thing" again at a moments notice, so we all made the most of every moment. Our gathering went past 9.30 pm, as we made the most of our dessert, coffee and wine. How good would it be if all our meetings had that special feel!
New People
I had met new member Greg Lee before COVID and also our almost new member, Andrew Somers, has been a friend of mine for years. Imagine both Greg and Andrew meeting members of the club for the first time in person! I hope you are all meeting their expectations on my behalf, as I have told them both how dedicated you all are to making the world a better place. Don't let me down!
Greg and Andrew are extremely switched on and capable people and are close to hitting the ground running once we leave the COVID fog behind. Our club must be responsive and agile to our current circumstances. Please take time to engage with Greg and Andrew. They are both very interesting people who will make a huge difference to the effectiveness of the club.
Your commitment
COVID has allowed me to analyse the commitment of every member of our Club. While that might sound a little weird, I need to know who I can count on and who I cannot. Attendance, active communication, developing ideas, commitment to projects, training, Rotary development and learning, and being active in the club are my key pointers to how our club's prospects and our ability to deliver good outcomes to our community will play out. It's pretty hard to do great projects if too many members are not ticking any boxes.
We are all in Rotary to be active in our community at the very least. Now is the time to access how you think you shape up. I need people trained up and ready for action. If you think you need a pep talk, please email me on David.button@Rotaryberwick.org.
