Saturday 11 February 2012

Maleny Rotary Bulletin Vol.53 No.30 for 15th February 2012

"THE RANGE" The Rotary Club of Maleny Inc Bulletin Vol.53 No. 30

Wednesday 15th February 2012

THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Maleny Hotel at 6:30 for 7:00pm with Guest Speaker Colin Sinclair on "Lions International".

Apologies

Please tender meal apologies to Karen Binstead by noon Tuesday.

DUTY ROSTERS
                             15th Feb        22nd Feb          29th Feb

Duty Officer           Lloyd L            Andy S            Bernice McL

Registration            Lionel T           Sherryl G         Malcolm B

ADO & Scribe      Charlotte G        Mike G            Jeff C

Fellowship             Brian A            John W            John McL

SAUSAGE SIZZLE ROSTER

18th February
Mike Gregory (Leader)  Sherryl Gregory  Chris Brooker  Karen Binstead

3rd March
Bernice McLennan (Leader)  John McLennan  Angela Griffin  Bill Hankinson

LAST WEEK’S MEETING

The meeting was opened by the Chairman Brian King at 7.00 pm.  He welcomed the 19 members to the meeting and introduced the visiting Rotarian, Tony Freeman from the Rotary Club of Samford Valley, who would conduct the "Survey Summary Session" later.

After Rotary Grace, The Loyal Toast and the Toast to Rotary International, the Chairman called for Director's Reports.

Angela G asked for volunteers to operate the BBQ at the Bunya's Dreaming Festival and suggested that the members might form a table at the MSRC Sports Awards Night.  Those interested to contact her.

Rick V advised members of the MCSR meeting and reminded them of the working bee to be conducted later at the MCSR.  Details to be advised.

Charlotte G asked for nominations from members for the Vocational Service Awards to be held on 2 May.  nominations to her as soon as possible.

After the meal was served, Sergeant Ric T conducted another of his fanciful sessions and managed to extract a little cash with his usual imagination. Unfortunately his jokes are not improving but he is trying.  Mike G was obviously disappointed that there was no "Heads and Tails" as he was after a "hat trick".

After a short coffee adjournment, the Chairman introduced Tony Freeman and  opened the Club Assembly.  Tony's summary of the comments and suggestions from Maleny Rotary member survey is given below in full..

There were 18 responses – but add 4 who are overseas and one on leave of absence; that leaves a few who did not respond.  So the 18 responses are probably a reflection of how the club as a whole feels .... so lets use that as the basis.

Everyone felt comfortable with sharing concerns with club leaders. (Good)

Most members have participated voluntarily in service projects – but there are a few more who want to do more in areas of Membership, Orientation & Education and International service projects.

The club Bulletin is described as:  Interesting, Informative and useful  (whew!!- Ed).... so it is a mouth piece for the club, but it can also be a mouth PEACE for the club too!  It is seen to contain about the right “Rotary” information (83.3% of those who answered this question).

General Partner responses were that there was pride in Partner's membership, but it sometimes took too much time.  There is also a desire for greater partner involvement – and this links directly to the fact that about 60% of respondents want more fellowship activities.

There are some serious areas that require work:

Of the 18 respondents, 15 answered  in relation to the level of satisfaction with participation in the club:
7 were satisfied, which is less than 50%, however 3 were “Very satisfied” and another 3 were “dissatisfied” – what some people like or are happy with, others are not.  The criticism here came from more than just the 3 “dissatisfied” respondents .... Personality conflict, cost rated highest, while lack of  leadership, time constraints and insufficient family involvement were marked.
(One simple solution here, is that partners and friends should be welcome at any time and made welcome – even when the member partner is away)

Fix the fellowship issue and more partners will feel like attending more often as they will feel comfortable.

Club’s Involvement:
Membership is critical here; of the responses, 83.3% identified that member development was insufficient and also member orientation & education were similarly insufficient (also 83.3%).
Member retention was highlighted and followed closely behind at 14/18 or a bit <80%.
The service projects, PR, actions and fundraising rated OK.

Weekly meetings:
61% said they generally enjoyed weekly meetings – but there were a few serious comments made even by this group. Comments here were also “mostly enjoyed meetings”.

The location of the venue was considered convenient and the meeting time was OK – but a couple of comments included suggestions that it should start 30 minutes earlier .

Programme came in for some attention:  3 thought good; 6 thought it was adequate and 5 thought “poor”  ..... that is always an issue to find good speakers that keep everyone happy and interested.  One way round this would be to allocate weekly programme on rotation through the members so they all get a chance to have a topic of choice and share an interest with all members.  In reality this means that each member has to find an interesting guest speaker about  once a year ..... if you have 50 meetings, less a few forums/assemblies, less a few other specific meetings like the DG visit, etc ..... BUT EVERYONE HAS TO PULL THEIR weight on this.  You can have a few back up programmes because there will be the inevitable illness or late cancellation (as there is now).  Of  course Club Directors might also be encouraged to arrange additional information nights (Vocational, TRF, Community etc).

Meeting frequency is delicate :  44% say weekly meetings are right but 56% say its excessive – this also links back to programme, fellowship etc and comfort of members.

Rotary content  of the weekly meetings was generally OK (10/18) but 1 considered it excessive and 3 said insufficient  ( there is no identification here how long each of the respondents have been members and this may be important)

Length of weekly meetings:  3 = excessive;  10=OK and  1 = not long enough

Changes to Improve Club Meetings:
Variety of programme topics       11
Better Speakers                        10
Focus on Fellowship                    8
Vocational Information                 6
Involve Family                            5
Better Time management              5
More leadership opportunities       2

These responses are not surprising – programme, speakers and fellowship.

Costs of membership: excessive reasonable inadequate
 Dues                             5             10
Weekly Meetings             3             11                   1
Club Fines/assessments                  11               2
Voluntary contribution
To service projects             1             9                       2
Voluntary to TRF             4             7

Voluntary contributions should not be excessive – that is, donate what you are comfortable with; particularly people on limited income.

Aspects of the Meeting Place:
Decor/Atmosphere 10
Meal Variety     9
Meal Quality         8
Service   3
Parking                      1

To get 31 comments from 18 responses shows that either a heart to heart with venue owner or new venue are required urgently.  Comments such as atrocious meals, disgusting meals and service are simply not acceptable.  Need to form a committee urgently to find a new venue in the immediate area and to talk with
management of the current venue.

Although Tony's address passed mostly without comment, there was an adverse reaction from the floor to his final remarks which appear to be sharply at odds with his earlier summary; "The location of the venue was considered convenient and the meeting time was OK." - see above.

PP Rick pointed out that there had been a extensive survey conducted by the Club in 2010/11 of possible meeting locations which had concluded that the Hotel was the best available option and, lacking any new evidence, he believed that this was still the case.

The Chairman thanked Tony for the time and effort that he had put into the Survey and expressed our Club's gratitude for his involvement.

The meeting was closed at 8.35 pm.

FUTURE MEETINGS & EVENTS

22nd Feb  Flaxton Gardens at 6:30 for 7:00pm - Joint meeting with Nambour 76 and "Ethical Hypothetical" by John Boyd.

25th Feb  Working bee at Mary Cairncross Park.

29th Feb  Maleny Hotel with a 6:30pm for a 7:00pm for a Partners' Night. The guest speaker will be David Crewe. David is an interesting and inspirational speaker. He will share his worldly experiences which include working for the Queen, writing songs and being involved in Theatre. David’s wife Helen will also be attending. The cost of the meal will be $20 as usual. It will be great to see Club members and their partners at this Partner’s Night.

14th Mar  Probus 25th Anniversary Tea.

23-25th Mar District Conference at the Events Centre, Caloundra.

BIRTHDAYS FOR FEBRUARY

2nd Shirley L  14th David E  18th Jeff C  28th Marlene H

NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT

FROM OUR TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT

If you've ever had an Indian taxi driver (or not) you will hopefully enjoy this one ......



A drunk woman, stark naked, jumped into a taxi at a Durban Cab Rank.

The Indian driver opened his eyes wide and stared at the woman. He made no attempt to start the Cab.

"What's wrong with you Luv, haven't you ever seen a naked woman before?"

"I'll not be staring at you lady, I am telling you, that would not be proper, where I am coming from".

"Well if you're not bloody staring at me Luvie, what are you doing then?"

"Well, I am looking and looking, and I am thinking to myself, where is this lady keeping the money to be paying me with."

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