Rotary Conferences Aplenty

There is nothing like a Rotary Conference for bringing great people and great ideas together.  For Canberra Rotarians there have been two substantial conferences over the last two weekends.
 
Last week was the District (local region including the ACT and much of NSW) conference in Wagga Wagga.  There was a lot of energy at the conference, led by our young (in Rotary terms:))District Governor Geraldine Rurenga.  Two memorable highlights I have not seen at District conferences in the past include a) having the 200+ delegates singing (John Lennon's Imagine) at the start of the conference (reflecting Rotary International's year theme of Imagine), and b) having most delegates up dancing at the conference dinner (to wonderful indigenous artist Mitch Tambo, singing 'You're the Voice').  There were also plenty of stimulating presentations and displays of some of the great projects being undertaken.
 
Last weekend (28-30 October) was the Rotary and Rotaract Zone 8 conference (Zone 8 encompasses Australia, NZ and much of the Pacific),  There was a real vibe for the 600+ delegates throughout the conference. 
Throughout the weekend we had a range of presentations, workshops and showcases, covering all things Rotary and Rotaract.  Some highlights included:
  • hearing an inspirational story by Ken Hutt relating to his recent attempt to climb Everest and paraglide down all to promote Rotary's fantastically successful and oh so close End Polio Project,
  • several sessions on utilising Rotary grants, which is a wonderful force multiplier for Rotary projects that meet specific conditions and the impact of Rotary projects on our community,
  • some wonderful entertainment that you would normally pay large sums of money to see, and
  • great networking and reconnecting with old friends. 
 
 
 
  
 
Both conferences were wonderful snapshots of some of the great work that Rotary is doing in the world.  They are also tremendous opportunities for Rotarian networking.  And if there is anything more dangerous than a Rotarian with a great humanitarian idea, it is the power of networked Rotarians working together to multiply the impacts of our projects.