Learning, Leading, Action - Showcasing the Wonderful Impact of Rotary
Learning, Leading, Action was this year’s Zone 8 conference theme, putting a spotlight on the essence of Rotarians and the way we get things done. The speakers are leading our organisation and our impact, and taking action to change lives in our communities. Viewers were inspired to Lead Learn Act in new ways that deepen our engagement and increase Rotary’s impact.
This year’s conference with its theme of ‘Learning, Leading, Action’ is designed to connect with Rotary’s Areas of Focus as well as the wealth of Rotary projects and activities.
- ‘Learning’ is for the positive growth mindset Rotarians bring to solving problems.
- ‘Leading’ is for the vital leadership role all Rotarians play within their communities.
- ‘Action’ represents the action and positive impact we all make THROUGH Rotary.
The conference gave the opportunity to share our stories with a larger audience and bring a first class line-up of local and international speakers, made possible by the online environment.
MEDIA AND ROTARY
Every person or organisation has a story to tell which will interest the media. We need to increase public awareness and understanding of Rotary to set the stage for membership growth, fundraising and collaboration.
Rotary members are actively working to improve communities around the world and have so much to share with an external audience so they can learn about Rotary and also hopefully join in our efforts. The positive news is that media needs stories now more than ever - journalists require fresh information to plug into websites, papers, radio slots and television slots. Time zones and printing schedules don’t limit the media anymore and most news outlets have a 24-hour news cycle to meet the growing demand to deliver news as it happens.
The challenge is to package and present stories in a way that will get them covered by media.
Here are a several factors that can determine whether a journalist will be keen on a story.
- News hook: A clear reason for telling a story at a particular time. Does the story relate to current events, trends or observances?
- Timeliness: News that is about to occur, ongoing or near completion.
- Proximity: News that pertains to issues, people or events to occur within the location of a media organisation and audience.
- Prominence: News that involves public figures, celebrities and notables.
- Human interest: News that elicits sympathy or emotional response.
- Consequence: News about the result of something that has significant impact on the news organisation’s audience or influencer’s followers.
- Visually compelling: New or unique and attention getting images that dramatically convey the message.
- Data: Relevant statistics and research that support the story.
Handy tip: do the following two things if you’d like to learn more and stay up to date with what media tend to write about or how you could fit into the mix.
- Get to know your local media by reading the local newspaper, watch the evening news, listen to the radio to discover what stories are being shared.
- Also, follow their social media channels to identify where your story might fit in to their mix.
For further information on how to create a pitch please contact angela.stavro@rotary.org
Sandi Fulcher organised writing sessions with Jeanette Leigh who is an author, journalist, copywriter, blogger and screenwriter. If you don’t know Jeanette’s books, you may remember her as a journalist for The Age. Jeanette has asked participants write a 350-word piece on one of our club’s projects. Jeanette then provided feedback on each submission adding value . Sue, Pam and I all took part in the sessions and found it to be very instructive.
Interestingly, the platform that has the biggest impact is Facebook. We need to get very savvy about its use. When I say we, I mean you.