I had the opportunity to serve as a facilitator at last Thursday and Friday's all virtual President-Elect Training Session ("PETS") involving five Rotary Districts covering all of North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and parts of Wisconsin and Ontario. One advantage of a multi-district PETS is that it can attract Rotary International's leadership to make presentations. In this case, we heard from both Gordon R. McInally, a member of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, Lothian, Scotland, the nominee for RI President in 2023-24, and incoming RI President for 2022-23, Jennifer Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, the first women to hold the RI presidency in Rotary's 115-year history. Her theme for the year is "Imagine."
Since attendance at PETS by a president-elect or his designate is a requirement to serve as President of a Rotary Club, there were some Rotarians from far away Districts that also participated because they could not make their own District's PETS. My group included president-elects from Pocahontas, Iowa; Farmington, Lakeville and Wadena, Minnesota; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and two individuals from two different clubs in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. I was assisted by a Rotarian from the Stillwater, Minnesota Rotary Club. With 4½ hours of group breakout time, it was a fun way to get to know Rotarians from other communities, reminding me of the value of attending another Rotary club's meeting and not just for a make-up. Zach Stach also attended on behalf of President-Elect Ken Harty but we were not in the same discussion group; hopefully he found the training worthwhile.