The exit from our current lockdown will not be an easy affair this time around, so I would like all club members to pay attention as we work out a strategy towards a brighter Rotary Club of Berwick future.
On current attendance modeling, we will not be able to return to Holm Park. We have been bumping around at minimum attendance numbers for years and it is time to move on. I really like Holm Park as a venue. It has everything we want and need, but the members have spoken by not attending in the numbers we need to be a viable proposition. It is time to invent a new meeting model, this time one that is viable with our current makeup of members. In business, it is easy to see something is not working and pivot to a new model. In a Club environment, change is not so easy. A Club needs people, so if a change upsets the people, there is no Club. Let's say I get the dynamics. I see the people who perform, I see the ones who are finding their place and I see the ones who are not engaged.
Overall, we have tremendous talent in our Club. We have potential in every member of our Club, BUT we are not realising that potential in every member of the Club. Currently, I can think of four members with ZERO attendance for this Rotary year. I feel quite embarrassed that I have allowed this to happen. While we are all volunteers for Rotary, we still have obligations to fulfill including attendance in lieu of involvement in Rotary projects. Attendance keeps us together, especially when we have no alternatives except for the Zoom meetings. Yes, some of these members might be doing other Rotary work but without any connection to our Club they are not contributing to the strength of our Club.
So the point of this article is to inform that we are potentially homeless for the purposes of a face to face meeting place. We need to reengage the unengaged and get value from every member. This is not an ideal situation to be in but it is what it is. We are too small to be a viable proposition to a caterer, too big to float from house to house. We have our "People" working on a solution but it will mean that our return to Face to Face will not be a smooth journey.