Report on Rotary District 9780 Assembly for 2012
Posted by Harry Bracegirdle
on May 7, 2012
Four members of the Port Fairy club attended the Rotary District 9780 District Assembly in Stawell on Sunday 6th May 2012.
President Elect, Margaret Whitehead along with three of her team members for Rotary year 2012/13 - Harry Bracegirdle (Secretary), Adrian Crosier (Treasurer) and Margaret Broers (Membership) - travelled to Stawell by bus along with members from the various Warrnambool and Mortlake Rotary clubs.
Although a 5.30am wake-up, to allow us time get to Warrnambool to meet the 7am bus was a bit of a challenge, the day was both rewarding and informative for those who attended what was a very well organised District Assembly.
We arrived in Stawell around 9.10am with the first of three sessions starting at 10am. The Assembly was attended by approximately 300 Rotarians from all over the 9780 district who were broken up into relevant groups depending on the roles we would assume from 1st July. Although Marg Whitehead, Harry and Adrian were relative newcomers to Rotary administration, Margaret Broers was called upon to present at the Assembly and pass on words of advice on membership and recruitment. This was in recognition of her excellent work and success in boosting the membership ranks of the Port Fairy Rotary Club.
In an era of constant change it was not surprising that changes to government legislation - particularly in regard to the Associations Incorporations Act in Victoria, OHS and gaming related matters and other legal obligations - would impact on club operations in the next 12 months. There was an excellent presentation on the growing use and benefits of using ClubRunner for club administration, whether it through a club-owned ClubRunner website or by logging into the District 9780 site to record membership, attendance and other records. All clubs were encouraged to embrace the power and benefits of ClubRunner.
Whereas the first two session were targeted to Club administration for PEs, Secretaries and Treasurers, the third session saw us broken into about ten, topic-specific groups that covered a plethora of issues affecting clubs. These covered a diversity of topics ranging from conflict management, fundraising, Rotary Foundation, ClubRunner and using the district website, club leadership, use of social media and how to attract younger members. We had to choose one topic to attend in this final session and it is fair to say that it would have been good to attend a number of these smaller sessions. However, time was always an issue and the organisers maintained a strict timetable to ensure the Assembly finished at the designated time of 3.30pm and enabled all participants to get on the road for what was for many a lengthy trip home. In this regard, the organisers are to be congratulated on running a very smooth, timely and well organised event.
The Port Fairy crew got home around 6.15pm after a long but rewarding day and are now better armed, in part at least, to take over the operations of the Club after the forthcoming changeover dinner.
We arrived in Stawell around 9.10am with the first of three sessions starting at 10am. The Assembly was attended by approximately 300 Rotarians from all over the 9780 district who were broken up into relevant groups depending on the roles we would assume from 1st July. Although Marg Whitehead, Harry and Adrian were relative newcomers to Rotary administration, Margaret Broers was called upon to present at the Assembly and pass on words of advice on membership and recruitment. This was in recognition of her excellent work and success in boosting the membership ranks of the Port Fairy Rotary Club.
In an era of constant change it was not surprising that changes to government legislation - particularly in regard to the Associations Incorporations Act in Victoria, OHS and gaming related matters and other legal obligations - would impact on club operations in the next 12 months. There was an excellent presentation on the growing use and benefits of using ClubRunner for club administration, whether it through a club-owned ClubRunner website or by logging into the District 9780 site to record membership, attendance and other records. All clubs were encouraged to embrace the power and benefits of ClubRunner.
Whereas the first two session were targeted to Club administration for PEs, Secretaries and Treasurers, the third session saw us broken into about ten, topic-specific groups that covered a plethora of issues affecting clubs. These covered a diversity of topics ranging from conflict management, fundraising, Rotary Foundation, ClubRunner and using the district website, club leadership, use of social media and how to attract younger members. We had to choose one topic to attend in this final session and it is fair to say that it would have been good to attend a number of these smaller sessions. However, time was always an issue and the organisers maintained a strict timetable to ensure the Assembly finished at the designated time of 3.30pm and enabled all participants to get on the road for what was for many a lengthy trip home. In this regard, the organisers are to be congratulated on running a very smooth, timely and well organised event.
The Port Fairy crew got home around 6.15pm after a long but rewarding day and are now better armed, in part at least, to take over the operations of the Club after the forthcoming changeover dinner.