The 2018-2019 District Governor Elaine Thompson visited the Dryden club on July 4th. Elaine and her husband Ed, a former Past District Governor, were travelling home to Winnipeg by RV after visiting the Rotary International Convention which was in Toronto from June 23- 27th.
DG Elaine complemented the club on the strength of its culture and implored us to continue sharing it with our community by publicising our work and accomplishments.
Thompson also shared some startling statistics: membership has remained at 1.2 Million for the past 15 years when statistics reveal there has also been a 15% increase in the number of clubs and that over that same period 2.2 million new members were inducted.One has to wonder if clubs are not meeting the expectations of new members. At this year’s training session for DG’s, it was suggested to start work on member retention before a member joins by sharing the club’s values and interests with new members.
Our District Governor also reminded us of the importance of having a strategic plan and to let the District know what clubs are trying to achieve.
Among her goals for clubs was an increase of 10% (3 per club) and an increase in the number of members using Rotary resources available online.
Elaine concluded her remarks with an outline of some of the speakers for the 2019 District Conference which will take place the weekend of May 3-5, 2019 in Winnipeg.