I was very happy to have had the opportunity to sit in on two of the on-line Learning Webinars on Saturday 23 May. As a fairly ‘new’ Rotarian, I was keen to learn more about some of the areas that we as a group offer the community…both near and afar.
I found Ramala Ladge’s talk on ‘Millennials and Rotaractors Are Key to Your Club’s Future’ very informative and thought-provoking.
A few interesting points on how to attract young secondary school students/ young professionals to be part of the Rotary community and see the benefits for themselves and at the same time, for others in need were:
- Find ways to have fun engagement with the young people. Look for opportunities to connect informally as well.
Know your audience. We need to remember and ealise that when mentoring young professionals, they need to feel included & be able to gain something in return.
- Understand the importance of building a relationship with the young professionals. E.g. help them with moving house, giving them networking opportunities etc.
- Link the young people with senior professionals in their line of business/career.
- Give the young people the opportunity to manage the clubs Fb page, Instagram etc. These are areas that come naturally to them.
One important aspect that stood out for me was that as Rotarians we need to have a positive public image at all times….professional, relevant & consistent.
The other presentation that I enjoyed was the ‘Rotary Youth Exchange Programme’ by Lynne Philips.
Again, a few interesting points:
As Rotarians we need to dispel a few ‘Host Family’ myth – busters. They include …being too old, or too busy, or not currently having young adults in the house.
Older people have so much to offer e.g. valuable life experiences that youth want to hear about & will learn from.
With regard to being too busy to host a Rotary Exchange Student… the young person will be busy too and will not be reliant on the Host family for a majority of each day.
I found it useful to go back on-line and listen to these speakers again, as well as a few of the others.
The presentations are currently available on-line.
I very much appreciate having been a part of these on-line Learning Programmes; from which I acquired some valuable information.
Kamini Hermon