Sydney Convention Report

Posted by Paul Murray

on Jun 10, 2014

Paul Murray, Doug Conkey and Peter Crozier gave a report on the 2014 Rotary International Convention held in Sydney at the Olympic Park. Over 18,000 Rotarians from all over the world attended with entertainment provided by Australian groups The Ten Tenors, Human Nature and Marina Prior. If a Sydney Convention video does not appear...click here to see the video.

Paul reported that Wollundry members

David Benn, Doug Conkey, Peter Crozier, John Egan, George Thomas and himself attended the convention in various capacities. Some as registered members and others as representatives of Rotary organizations in the House of Friendship. Paul was very positively impressed with the convention, especially with the opening and closing sessions. He was particularly pleased with the breakout session dealing with “Making Rotary Fun”. He notes that Wollundry was already using many of the suggestions that come out of the session, specifically the strong use of a video projector and member’s photos.

Doug Conkey was less complimentary of the Sydney convention having been at the Bangkok convention. He thought that the opening and closing sessions were outstanding, however, one criticism he had was that the House of Friendship was restricted to Rotarians. He made the point that it would have been better to open it up to non-Rotarians to use the opportunity to promote Rotary. He also felt that an opportunity had been lost by only providing fast food in the House of Friendship and not including the wide variety of ethnic and local foods and wines Australia has. John Egan pointed out that Rotary could not allow alcohol to be served at the convention.

Peter Crozier was also reporting on the Conference and thought it was a great event. He commented on the excellent variety of Rotary stalls that were included in the House of Friendship, especially the Rotary Singles Stalls which he said he would provide details to any of the members if they were interested. He also picked up a number of "Proud Rotarian" bumper stickers which he said he would make available to any members after the meeting.

Paul stated that Wollundry was one of the best represented clubs in the district and the total number from district 9700 was approximately 60 to 70.

A photo album of the convention is available above under the Photo Albums heading or by clicking here. It includes photos of the District 9700 Diner Cruise and Vivid light show, Opening session, Closing session and a variety of Rotary stalls. The last photo is of our exchange student Nelson who happened to run into Paul and Carolyn Murray.