PETS 2022 in Denver a success
By Victoria Emmons Bouzina, AG, Area 2
The air was surprisingly warm when our United flight touched down in Denver earlier this month. I had packed for winter and a surge of spring weather greeted us instead. District Trainer Lori Cummings, president of the Rotary Club of Hamilton, and I were on the same flight and shared an Uber ride to the Westin Westminster where PETS 2022 was to be held. For those who don’t know, PETS stands for Presidents-Elect Training Seminar. It’s a time for Rotarians elected to lead their Rotary clubs as president beginning July 1 to learn all about their new role.
I have attended several PETS over my Rotary lifetime, having served as a club president in 1996 in California and again in Montana in 2020, year of the pandemic. Rotary requires that presidents-elect attend PETS. They encourage president-elect nominees to attend, as well, acknowledging that it’s helpful to work together as club leaders plan their year.
The first time I attended PETS long ago, I had to learn all the acronyms that Rotary hurls at you, beginning with the acronym PETS. As a new member back then, it was hard to absorb all the Rotary jargon. I heard references to PEs, PENs, AGs, AGEs, DGs, DGEs, DGNs and more. We really need a Rotary dictionary of terms! One likely exists and I just don’t know about. Today you can search most anything online and find out what it means, but a cheat sheet on Rotary acronyms would be helpful.
PETS is primarily for PEs (presidents-elect); but there was also training for AGs (assistant governors) like me. We started our training on Thursday, a day prior to the PEs. [Got that? Presidents-elect.] I was named AG for District 5390’s Area 2 in September and I am still learning the job. My role is to help the Rotary club leadership in my area, which includes the four clubs in Missoula, one in Bigfork, and one in Polson. Consider an AG to be a kind of consultant to the club presidents, PEs and PENs. [Too many acronyms? Have I lost you yet?] AGs also support the DG (district governor).
Rotary International is made up of two separate entities: The Rotary Foundation, which has its own Board of Trustees to govern activities, and Rotary International with its Board of Directors, which is divided into clubs, districts and zones. There are 35,000 different clubs, 529 districts, and 34 zones worldwide. By grouping clubs into districts, it makes local administration easier. In addition to club presidents, each Rotary district also has a district governor and assistant governors, as well as key district officers and committee chairs. Each zone is grouped in pairs for ease of governance and support, and each zone has its own leadership. The Rotary Club of Missoula is in District 5390, which is part of Zones 26/27.
Rotary clubs are the foundation of Rotary International and the good work we do. Each district in the world is numbered and ours is 5390, which fortunately includes the entire State of Montana. Some states are chopped up into various districts, but thus far, Montana has been able to retain our culture, one that mirrors the state, in District 5390.
PETS has its own organizational structure, too, and our district is part of what is called High Country PETS. Each PETS around the world seems to have its own moniker. To take advantage of economies of scale, some districts have come together to share in PETS training. In addition to District 5390 (Montana), High Country PETS volunteers serve District 5420 (Utah); District 5440 (Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Driggs, Idaho, and Scottsbluff/Gering & Morrill, Nebraska); District 5450 (Denver Metro Area and surrounding counties); District 5470 (Southern 2/3 of Colorado); and District 5630 (Western ¾ Nebraska).
Training took place from Thursday through Sunday with special district-specific breakout sessions where attendees learned from their own district leadership, as well as sessions where participants from all districts shared training sessions, often specific to PEs, PENs or AGs, and sometimes divided up by club size. Sessions were offered on teamwork, leadership, public speaking, creating change, club management, how to run a meeting, strategic planning, goal setting and more.
Missoula’s club treasurer Kathy Schulte served as a facilitator for High Country PETS. Our club’s PE Royce Engstrom attended all sessions, as did Missoula Rotaract President Austin Parson who is also an ex officio board member of our club. The club supported Austin’s education with a scholarship grant to attend since the district does not cover Rotaract for PETS. I attended as AG, so the district covered my expenses, and I presented a session on club management.
We were fortunate to have several Rotary VIPs whose speeches inspired the crowd, including Rotary International President Nominee 2023-24 R. Gordon R. McInally, of Rotary Club of South Queensferry, Scotland, along with his wife Heather, past president of the Rotary Clubs of Linlithgow Grange and Kelso; RI Director 2020-2022 Suzi Howe of Rotary Club of Space Center, Houston, Texas; RI Director 2021-2023 Vicki Puliz of Rotary Club of Sparks, Nevada; Rotary International President-Elect Jennifer Jones (via satellite) of Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, and RI’s first female board president; and former hotel industry executive André Hall who suddenly lost his eyesight in 2011 and began a new career as a professional speaker on motivation, change management and staff development.
Each day of the conference, a different district governor led the breakfast, lunch or dinner sessions with all attendees, introducing their district’s PEs in a fun manner. The last morning session on Sunday was led by our District 5390 Governor-Elect Barrie Matthews, Rotary Club of Miles City. Barrie, decked out in sunglasses and biker clothing, invited all the District’s PEs to join him on the stage to recognize them. Each PE wore sunglasses and, boy, did they all look cool!
Our current District Governor Mike Mayott was also at PETS, helping out with IT, answering questions and offering support.
Throughout the week, participants networked with others, shared ideas and projects, met with vendors like Shelter Box, Polio Plus, and Russell Hampton, which sells Rotary paraphernalia.
Each year, the incoming RI president selects a theme for his or her year. In Jennifer Jones’ speech, she announced her new Rotary theme for 2022-2023: Imagine Rotary. The colorful logo bearing a violet and grass green color scheme, will be introduced to our club by PE Royce.
“I enjoyed PETS and the opportunity to get to know the other people who are PEs and PENs, especially in our district,” said Royce. “And I enjoyed hearing from the national and international leaders. I can understand the huge amount of time people put into making it a helpful conference.”
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