The 2022 Virtual District Conference " Shaping our Future, Together" took place on Friday evening and Saturday morning with an attendance of 131 from District 9940 and beyond.
The following excerpt was taken from the Rotary Club of Wellington North's bulletin. President Stephen Spence reports.
Friday evening’s session was a virtual cocktail party hosted by DG Mark Wheeler with the Hon Grant Robertson and guest panellists Sir Anand Satayanand 
and Dominion Post Editor Anna Fifield. Each panellist chose a charity to receive a portion of the conference registration fee and said who they most admired as doing good in our community. The panellists went on to answer a range of questions from the audience and gave thoughtful replies for us to reflect on. The Saturday morning session included a review from DG Mark Wheeler, listing the projects where Rotary has been a leader over the last 100 years. This was hugely impressive and made me proud to be a Rotarian. Of particular note was Rotary's role in worldwide vaccination programmes with the flagship success of the Polio Plus initiative.
We then heard from the soon-to-retire Ashley Bloomfield about his experience as lead health adviser to the government since the Covid outbreak in 2020. Typically unassuming, he proffered the advice that "The only role of power is to empower others". If only Vladimir Putin had registered for the conference!
A highlight was an inspirational video presentation from incoming RI President Jennifer Jones, the first woman to hold the position in the 115-year history of Rotary. A clip of the video is to be made available for wider viewing. Last but not least were breakout sessions led by four talented subject experts on themes of Membership; Service and the Community; Fellowship and Collective, and Diversity and Inclusion. These sessions produced stimulating discussions from participants. In particular I thought the discussion on how to make Rotary more diverse, inclusive and attractive to the upcoming generation was especially relevant. DG Mark Wheeler closed what was an enjoyable, thought provoking and well organised conference and a credit to the hard work of all involved. A great effort.