Raising the profile of Rotary and connecting with the Rotorua community

 
Last weekend saw a huge effort by members of the five Rotary Clubs of Rotorua joining forces to raise the profile of Rotary with a stand at the Home & Leisure Show. The show was held 15 – 17 July at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre.

It provided a wonderful platform for connecting with the Rotorua community, having conversations about the causes we target to maximise our local and global impact through our differing occupations, cultures, and life experiences that give us a unique perspective. Our shared passion for service helps us accomplish the remarkable! 
 
 
We had professional signage displayed at the stand featuring Rotary’s mission and 4-Way Test; promoting the Rotorua Charity Luncheon and Auction with guest speaker Rob Wardell, ONZM NZ Olympic Chef de Mission; promoting local projects and fundraisers like the Oral Language programme, Rotorua Tulip Festival planting on Hospital Hill and the Saturday Markets @ Kuirau Park; promoting international projects and The Rotary Foundation through the Global Swimarathon for the End Polio Now Fund; plus information on how the community could get involved in Rotary in Rotorua.
The signage content and design were done by Rotarians, Sue Gunn and David Jones of the Rotorua Sunrise Club. 

There was a competition to win a digital camera and binoculars, kindly supplied by Rotarian, Mark Gould of the Rotorua Lakes Club. This was a great way to engage with people attending the show and giving them a flyer to take home to read.

Richard Evans, Immediate Past Assistant Governor did a great job in coordinating the whole stand, putting a roster together and working with the Rotorua Daily Post team who hosted the show.
We generated approximately 7 enquiries from people interested in joining Rotary and 5 interested in volunteering on our local projects such as the Oral Language programme at Western Heights Primary School and marshalling at the events.

The stand at the Home & Leisure Show is part of a bigger pitch to raise the profile of Rotary in Rotorua and celebrate The Rotary Foundation’s 100 years. In September we are publishing a special “Rotary Community” tabloid in the Rotorua Daily Post, presenting our successful stories about Rotary in Rotorua, Internationally and highlighting our collaborations, successful fundraisers and humanitarian projects that our five clubs are involved in.

We have the support of District Governor, Keith Owens and Assistant Governor, Todd Mountford plus all five Presidents. We are expecting active members to advertise in the tabloid and for every half page taken in advertising, we will get a half page editorial.

Copies of the Rotary Community tabloid will be given out to each club and will be available to upload to their websites, thereby enabling us all to link to a much wider audience and connect with the wider community.