President Mandy was away in Florida this week (having enormous amounts of fun!), so Martin Labossiere took over for her. President-Elect Martin asked Dave Morris to do the honours with starting O Canada and Rotary Grace. The sarge was then handed the meeting.

 

S.A.A.; Sarge Mike Dudar was back with us this week. We had only one guest tonight, Kelly Clements (wife of Jeff Kulikowsky).

 

 

Nancy Morris asked everyone to start thinking about prizes for the annual LobsterFest event. Nancy usually has Mur Sutherland (wife of Jack Wilson) help her with the prizes for the auctions. Mur will not be able to help this year so Eira Braun-Labossiere has offered to step in and take her place. Nancy advised that club members usually donate prizes and/or donate cash through the foundation for the purchase of gifts at places like Costco etc. Gift baskets are already sourced from Shoppers and Safeway by Rotarians. The customary amount of cash donations for auction item prizes is ~ $1000.00. Nancy and Eira will be going to Costco on March 16^th to purchase items. Please make cash donations early so that they know how much they are working with (cash donations are welcome at ANY time). Nancy also asked that auction prizes / item donations should be handed in at least 2 weeks before the event (LobsterFest June 1^st.) It is too hectic if items are brought in any later. Prize groupings need to be arranged to create basket themes and description cards.  Silent Auction prizes are usually items of greater value such as art, Fort Garry Brewery fridge, large lobster (if sent in package) etc.

 

Bob Antymniuk advised that the tickets for LobsterFest are at Dave’s Printing ready for pick-up on Friday. He will be arranging ticket bundles and then be ready to hand them out at next week’s meeting, with all going well. Bob stated that, “the easiest way to sell a ticket is to ask someone”.

 

Acting President Martin had the following reminders:

Prizes for the Silent Auction at the conference are also required. Please consider a donation. Also, items for the ‘Handbags’ are requested as well;

• Gently used handbags/purses • Socks • Warm Mitts • Gloves • Hats • Shampoo/Conditioner • Sanitary Napkins/Tampax • Deodorant • Kleenex • Soap • Brushes/Combs • Granola bars • Hard candy • Gum • Tea • Soup packages • Bus tickets • Small denomination gift cards • Pre-loved jewellery • A note of good cheer can also be included in the package

 

The world of social media is moving very fast. New apps and ways of communicating are being added on a frequent basis. Facebook seems to still be the way most 30+ year-old people online post and interact. For those under 30 years of age, Twitter and Instagram are very popular today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

 

There are a lot of people that use Facebook as a source of news and facts. It should not be used for this. The site is really just a viral effort to get likes and views. If you are suspicious of anything said online then plug the information into SNOPES to check if it is true.

 

There has been a 30% increase in follow-ship since spring, for the Rotary Club of Charleswood Facebook page.

 

P.-E. Martin expressed the power of ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ on Facebook. If each member of the club had a Facebook account and Liked and Shared a post, this would be shared out to their followers. These people would then have their own followers that would see the post. The post would then propagate out to hundreds of people very quickly. This could lead to new people following the site and perhaps contacting the club and coming out to a meeting. They would certainly get exposed to the various events that we are putting on.

 

The goal is ‘Social Connectivity’. We want to attach ourselves to others on Facebook so that they are then Sharing into their community.

 

If you are interested in Instagram, please talk to Peter Tonge. This site is visually based. The first task of setting up a post on Instagram is to decide on a photo that will catch people’s attention. Peter is busy reposting Facebook stuff from the Charleswood account to Instagram.

 

P.-E. Martin then went online to show how to create a post. The 3 vertical dots on the page open various options for you to attach photos and more to the post. There is even an option to ‘Make a Donation to a Non-Profit’. P.-E. Martin suggested this could be used for when it is your birthday and would wish people donated instead of gifts to you.

 

If you ever get a second ‘Invite’ from someone already one of your Friends, do not accept it. The first thing to do is contact that real friend/person you know and advise them that someone is trying to co-op their account. Then report the request to Facebook. They have a procedure to follow in this instance.

 

Businesses should only post a few new posts at a time. Do not flood your followers with a series of posts just because you now have time for Facebook posting. If someone is flooding you with posts you can; Unfollow | Snooze them for 30 minutes | Turn off Notifications. Use the three dots.

 

When using your News Stream hit the ‘Most Recent’ tab.

 

Q/A

1.-Bob asked who set up the Facebook page initially?

A.- Rod Delisle started the page. Eira and P.-E. Martin are now looking after the posts on the Club Facebook page.

 

2.-Glenn asked P.-E. Martin to advise regarding ‘Like’ vs ‘Share’.

Sarge Mike Dudar was present to watch for any infraction and ensure that the planned schedule was followed.

 

 

 

Kelly Clements informed on herself that another year has passed. Happy Birthday! No singing was requested by Kelly.

 

Brian Campbell announced that he and Janet Spence are celebrating their 6^th Anniversary. He was in a celebratory mood and requested that we try singing a Happy Anniversary rendition of the classic birthday song.

 

 

Sarge Mike asked Bob A. to pull the potential winning ticket stub. # 589 was pulled and found a match with that held by Brian Campbell. His attempt at finding that blue marble failed tonight. The cash pot grows for another try next week.

 

 

Sarge Mike felt that we all behaved tonight, so no fines were handed down.

 

1.-Jack Wilson wanted to clarify that the group that Glenda knits with from her residence have donated the following hand knitted items to Westgrove School children;

2.-Ed Thompson advised that Senator Marilou McPhedran will speak at the Rady Centre on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 PM. She will speak about whether an unelected Senate making final decisions on laws passed by the elected members in Parliament advanced democracy. Late addition > On Tuesday night D.G. Elaine advised this writer, that the Senator’s answer was “Yes, but.....”.