Hi everyone.
I don’t know how many of you are aware, but Tim usually is the one who puts together the weekly programme, either writing it himself or posting up what other members have sent to him. He has been working hard all day and tonight he is out at the District 1100 Council, so I thought that it would make the world of difference if I took the bit between my teeth and prepared the programme myself. I would like to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who has given me a vote of confidence in becoming the President of our eClub in 2013-14.
We might only be into the 3rd week of the new year, but there is already a lot going on. So we thought it would be good to take time this week for us all to share the various discussions that have been taking place, meetings and events attended, ideas suggested. Some examples:-
- February is Heart Month, for which we are launching a Virtual Balloon Race. Can we have an update on what we need to do to be ready to promote this please.
- Plans are well underway for the Autism Workshop “Understand It, Make It Happen” on Saturday March 16th, for which we need your help to take the posters and advertise it, re-tweet notices put out about it, invite people via the facebook event page for it and/or join in the Linked In discussion.
- We had a fantastic time at Jimmy’s on Saturday 12th. It would be good to share with everyone the different things you all talked about, ideas and eClub feedback you discussed or maybe even revelations you had?? (I came to the conclusion I must be going deaf, it was Emma’s birthday and I was trying to talk to her while everyone else around the table were singing Happy Birthday to her and I didn’t hear them! Or maybe the eClub is just not destined to be a choir!!)
- There’s various things being planned for young/younger people (got to be careful how I word that, everyone seems young to me these days), please can members involved in these ventures give us some updates.
- In case you haven’t heard, Tim and I achieved loosing a combined 4 stone on our sponsored diet (Tim loosing most of it and now looking really amazing, but then I’m very biased). Tim is busy collecting in sponsor money.
I’m sure there’s other things I can’t think of at the moment, so please do share whatever you want to. Ask questions, make suggestions that you would like to put forward for existing or new projects.
We have had it said to us quite often that members have difficulty logging onto the website to join in with the programme, so to avoid the need to log in the other question I would like to ask is whether you would like a closed group in Facebook to use as a place of discussion for our weekly programme.
Added later in the week
In response to Mary’s point below about eClub shirts, I have done a draft simplified logo that I believe will work as a sewn logo (we’d need to check with the supplier). The blue background represents the shirt itself, so the yellow logo would be the sewn element. What do others think? Please add your response as a reply to Mary’s comment below.
Rachel has asked for a description of the Rotary organisation (see her post below). Here’s our interpretation, please do ask if you have further questions.
Hi all, i am wanting to buy sweatshirts and / or polo shirts with the e club rotary logo embroidered on.looking at the elaborate e club logo I think it is un likely that would fit on these garments if it was possible for them to do it, so I propose the same as RWB but saying District 1100 E Club below the rondel. What do you think?
Also what colour do you want, they can be the same and if so I propose Navy as most people can wear that easily, or we could all have different colours, for me the turquoise and the pink are very pretty! If you want to look at the web site it is http://www.logosew.co.uk. They don’t have the prices yet as it is a new catalogue but the sweat shirts are£13.75 and the polos are £11.30 then something for the logo and if they are all sent to me £9 for postage, I think people can then pay for the postage from me individually to make it simpler. There is no problem with nos they will do as few or as many as needed.
What do you think?
Mary
Sent from my iPad
Certainly two for me, I’ll ask Janice to have a look too
I would definitely buy a couple ~ must say, the Phoenix club have bright red and really stand out from the crowd at Rotary events ~ not suggesting we should go for red, but perhaps the turquoise or pink would be good?
I definitely think we need something available for those member’s who like sweatshirts/polo shirts. I would like something a bit more distinctive for the logo that uses our Click for Action tag line. I’ve drawn up a simplified version that I’ll ask Tim to post at the bottom of the programme for your feedback – it will need the shirts to be of a darker colour so that the yellow of our logo works.
Ages ago I was asked to look into a badge which did not make a hole in clothes. I think a big badge which could also be worn around the neck would mean if you wanted to wear a similar ‘uniform’ you could be it would give more choice. I am thinking fridge magnet size.
Somebody had a source of such bages but I have lost the details, can anyone else help?
Sorry Janice, I’m really not keen on that logo, it looks a bit ‘Ann Summers’ to me ie a bit rude (!) It’s probably my mind, but I wouldn’t be comfortable wearing a sweatshirt with that on it ~ I think it would invite risqué comments.
Love Polly’s reply. Why don’t we have the plain Rotary Badge, at the top words that says E-Rotary and at the bottom, CLICK FOR ACTION. By making it generic we can sell to others.
I can’t that image out of mind now Polly!! Definitely no way we’ll use the design:0)
Hmmm, glad someone else pointed out that the logot does look a bit “phallic” in this particular case !
I’d be happy with a turquoise T shirt with standard logo and text as suggested above.
Hi I am not keen on any sort of uniform etc sorry! I won’t be buying anything item of clothing with a badge unless it reads prada 🙂
As a club we have had this discussion before and I don’t think we’ll ever get consensus. We have different tastes and need to each feel comfortable with what we wear. As quantity makes no difference to the price and Mary has a contact that can sew the Rotary logo, we have said for her to order her own shirt and I suggest that for those who have said you want one to contact Mary direct. I think it would be good to follow Tims’ idea above, as it is E-Rotary we want to promote and be talked about, no matter what club we belong to, we are a network of Rotarians, the important thing is that we do things!
Mary is going ahead a getting her own sweat shirts in the meantime we will continue to discuss and perhaps do some more designs.
I also would like you to know what a very interesting and humbling meeting we had (Tim Lynne and me) at Uplands Special School in Swindon Tim wants to start an Interact club at the school and they run a Charity Shop which I am interested in helping with. I say humbling because the staff are so amazing, they are working with children and young adults with the most challenging disabilities with patience and humour.we were invited to attend their school council, they were so enthusiastic , wanting to tell their class news and outing they want to organise later in the year.
The shop is run by a manager and the student help her run the shop including making jewellery etc to sell. The shop is a lovely bright place with 2 coffee shop tables, it looks like it is a very good introduction to work for these youngsters.
Please visit our eClub support page on Facebook, Lorna Breslin has put up some up-date posts about our eClubs support for the Uplands Special School post 19 25 new vocational initiative to establish an Enterprise Workshop, regarding collection of equipment for this project from Wiltshire Council. Hopefully once the lease is signed the project manager is going to arrange a visit to the warehouse for interested eClub members, where this project is to be established. It is hoped that eClub members would be interested in helping to paint the new acquired premises. Do you have a large DIY shop near where you live, if so please could you visit the manager and ask if we can have any paint that is being thrown away, for use at this new and exciting venture that will help those leaving Uplands School to start out in life. Thanks
Tim – it might be worth an appeal in the local paper for people to donate paint and brushes etc? I don’t know what the local paper is there – but people can be very generous if they know about a project.
We always used to get free paint from the Scrapstore. We used to have young people volunteering there all the time. I am not up to date with the Scrapstore so will ask at work. Kevin.
Thought you’d all like to know that we’ve received an email of thanks from Uplands as as a result of contacts eClub members had in Wiltshire they have been able to gain some free quality furniture for their Enterprise. This has saved them a huge outlay on equipping the place, meaning funds raised can be more productively used.
The Link for the virtual balloon race is here – http://www.balloonrace.com/Rotarye1100 it will open on 1st February and I would encourage everyone to buy a balloon and get all of your friends to buy a balloon too – the more balloons, the more competition there is for who can get the furthest!
The paypal details are set up, so it’s easy and safe to pay for your balloon.
You can buy balloons now if you like – the race starts on 1st February. I’ll add something to the district facebook group too – but in the meantime, get sharing…!
Sorry – this should say that the balloon race will start on 1st February – you can buy your balloons any time between now and the close of the race (28th Feb) but obviously, if they are there when the race starts on 1st Feb, they stand more chance of getting further away and winning!
Within an hour of launching the sale of the balloons 26 sold and word is spreading rapidly. A virtual balloon race is appearing to be very appealing!
Each balloon is only £2. Facebook is working well to promote sales, but we need all eClub members to pass the word on and invite their friends to the event and I will also produce a quick leaflet for you to give out to friends or put up at work so that you can pass the web address on to people you talk to. All funds raised will be for the British Heart Foundation, apart from 10% which will go to The Rotary Foundation as we agreed earlier this Rotary year.
Close of my play on Friday evening and there’s 43 balloon’s sold, with an international participation. One person has commented on facebook “This is SUCH and abolutely BRILLIANT idea how could anyone NOT buy a balloon!!”
Using facebook we have publicised this event out to just short of 4,000 people. It has also been tweeted and retweeted by various people. In marketing it is recognised that only 0.1% of people will respond, so we have not yet done enough!! But an absolutely Brilliant start – well done to everyone involved so far, and a huge thank you to Rachel for getting it organised.
74 balloons sold now – thanks everyone for your enthusiam. Please share the balloon race with your friends and family – either by sending them the link, or inviting them to Tim’s facebook event.
I have boiught two balloons.
But from the website it not really clear how the balloon race works. Can someone enlighten me? is there a , or are we doing this just for fun?
Missing word should read PRIZE !
Sorry I have sticky keys on my laptop….
Hi Katharine – when the race officially starts (1st Feb) your balloon will start flying through the virtual sky – knocking up KM’s as it travels. The balloon that gets the furthest away by the time the race ends on 28th Feb will win a prize!
We’re into 3 figures, 101 balloons sold! Wouldn’t it be good if we could get into 4 figures?
Get spreading the word, use all forms of contact and social media possible, this is so easy and so cheap for people to take part, the invite to join needs to go viral!
Whilst we’re waiting for the race to begin it is fun looking through the list of balloons sold, looking at names and the messages they carry. I’m sure I’m not the only one doing this – so what a good form of advertising. There must be loads of businesses, ideas, organisations out there wanting such cheap advertising in connection with such good causes????? Then the more they ripple out the idea, the more people see their advertising …. Simples!
107 balloons purchased now and a very attractive offer from the man who runs the balloon race site…..! Watch this space for exciting news but please share the link to the balloon race with your friends/colleagues. Not just on facebook, but email too!
Just to let everyone know, I’ve been looking into developing a Young Writers’ Competition for The Worcestershire Literary Festival, hopefully in conjunction with our eClub, to be reciprocated in a potential eClub Young Writers’ Competition in November ~ the programme next week will explain this in detail 🙂
I am really excited about this project, it will be another example of how we can use our internet skills to help support our community.
Our 2012/13 eClub Rotary Year Plan included the starting of an Interact Club, to this end Tim, Mary and Lynne gave a presentation to the Uplands School Council on Tuesday, it was great fun. Whilst Tim explained the International side of things with Mary’s help using different hats, an apron and two Russian Dolls, Lynne talked about the Community giving side by using her crystals. I have asked Lynne to write something about the crystals and how it illustrates giving, as I sat there thinking what a good way to explain Rotary. The students were then asked to go back to their classes and share the news about Interact.
We hope to develop the Interact Club in conjunction with our support of the Coffee and Charity Shop and hope to launch the Club at the end of February. Anyone else interested in helping with this project on a monthly basis please let Tim know.
Sorry its me again, when we first started the eClub I always wanted it to be open for students to join and younger people, but I could see how we could get the subscription affordable. Just so you are all aware, I’m still pursuing the idea of the eClub having a Family Membership, but this is retrained by the RIBI and District costs, but I’m working on the idea in those arenas as well.
So when I attended the RIBI Membership and Retention Workshop in London just before Christmas, it was good to hear James Lovatt, Chair Elect for GB&I Rotaract talk about how he wanted to see Rotaractors and Rotarians working much closer together in an integrated way. So in early January I had a meeting with Tracey our Youth Officer and Steph Brander someone I’d met as a student at Wiltshire College and who was interested in Rotary, to discuss trying to create an online Rotaract Hub within our eClub. We are currently exploring whether we can get 15 people 18 to 30 year olds to get involved in this venture see page under the Welcome Menu – Rotaract Hub, plus I will put a link to pages on Facebook we are using. I would emphasis this is very much work in progress, but my hope is that the provisional Rotaractors who join, will want to help us with our Service Projects, plus they will have other ideas that I hope our Rotarians will get involved with.
This week myself and Janice also had an exciting meeting at Zurich because they were interested in encouraging younger professionals in getting involved with Rotary, we will keep you up-to-date with these developments, but they were enthused with Rotaract Hub idea.
Please help us promote the Rotaract Hub on your social media and to anyone you feel might be interested, we need to make it visible also in FE Colleges and Universities.
I think that is fantastic to have the connection with Zurich Insurance. If you could persuade everyone in that office to buy a Virtual balloon that would be a great start. I am sure they are already committed to a charity of the year agreement but a small fun fundraiser would be a good start.
There has been a really exciting response to Rotaract, we have 4 provisional members already. We welcome them to our website (please do make friends with them) and do become contacts of theirs on facebook.
Tim – I think it might be useful to have a Rotary structure for those who aren’t familiar with Rotary – at the moment, I hear lots of things about districts and zones and rotoract without really understanding what it’s all about – is there a simple flow diagram to explain how Rotary works?
At the bottom of the main post I have added a quick image of the structure of Rotary, hope it helps, let me know if you have further questions.
I’m not so sure about the structure of Rotaract, but would assume it works in the roughly the same way. Rotaract is Rotary for young people 18-30. Although part of Rotary, they run as an independent organisation.
We are also talking about Interact, which is Rotary for senior school students. Each club is supported by a Rotary Club ie. one of the club’s service projects, so therefore is part of the Rotary structure.
For information there is also Rotakids, which is for younger children in junior schools.
You may also hear people talk about Inner Wheel. This is the organisation for wives of Rotarians, set up originally long before women were allowed to join Rotary itself. Having developed so far, it also has become an organisation in its own right and now also recruits women who are not connected to a Rotarian.
Forgot to say, we’ll add the image to the main site somewhere so it is part of the description of Rotary that is permanently available.
Thanks Janice – that’s really helpful, and clear! It makes sense to me now, thanks for educating me!
It helped me to understand it as well!
The other thing that is being talked about at the moment is a group visit to North Italy for eClub members and friends/family. September has been proposed, does this suit those who have said they are interested?
We will put together as best we can some idea of costs.
I understand you want to use the unique logo Janice but I think it needs to be clear that it means the e club, I think I will try to show it to people and see if the get that the click relates to a computer .
I would use an closed Facebook page but not everyone uses Facebook and I think it is still good to have an official website. It will help the other Rotary clubs to take us seriously.
I would use a closed facebook page more often than using the official website but i agree with Katherine not everyone is able to use FB and we would still need the content on the main website.
I would like to emphasise that the Facebook programme page would not replace the website, but provide a medium for quick and easy discussions to take place as that seems to be how a lot of members operate. Tim at the moment is starting a Linked In discussion each week, which gets some comments. The way I see it is that any club operates all the time, chats here and there, phone calls, emails, social meet ups, etc, etc, then any key things that need club attention are brought up at the weekly meeting. I think in our bid to ensure everyone has view of everything we are constraining discussion and preventing natural flow. To enable quick and easy chat on facebook, discussions of interest to business on Linked In and essential points being posted on our website, we will open up communication and involve more members.
Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the discussion this week, it has been an active and productive week.