Conferences, Conventions and Council

The month of May heralds in the fellowship spirit of Rotary when many Districts around the world hold their District Conference. A district conference is a time to celebrate the year’s success and to honour and acknowledge clubs and individuals who have gone beyond the call of duty in their endeavours to assist those in need. It is also the time to reconnect and rekindle friendship and a wonderful opportunity to “catch-up” with the many friends from other Clubs.

My home District D9370, celebrated its conference aboard the splendid cruise liner MSC Opera during April this year. The organisation was good and the cruise liner was really great with on-board service a marked improvement from previous experiences. The daily floor shows were spectacular with the programme director whose wit and great humour being the favourite of the shows. One of the highlights of any conference are the keynote speakers and this Conference surprised all by not having any. Instead the novel idea of presenting two leadership videos proved to have limited success. Once school of thought was that they wished to have a key note speaker with whom they can see, feel and engage with and some felt that the video provided an alternative to the rising costs of engaging keynote speakers at a Conference held on a cruise liner.

By the time you read this article D9350 would have held their conference in Knysna and D9210 will hold their conference in Nyanga, Eastern Highlands, Zimbabwe later in May. In mid-June D9400 will hold their conference in Polokwane. Both of these conference straddle the Rotary International Convention to be held in Sydney in the first week of June. I look forward to attending some of these events in May and June.

The Rotary International Convention is the annual worldwide attraction held in a host city which is selected at least 5 years prior to enable the Host Organising Committee to plan and host a convention that usually attracts 20 000 convention goers. One can imagine the organisation that goes into organising an event of this magnitude and the logistics that need to be available to make it a successful one. Overall it is great fun and a tremendous honour to host such an event. We are all keeping our fingers crossed as Africa is still a talking point in RI headquarters for a future convention and Cape Town has been invited to submit a memorial to the RI Board indicating their willingness to host such an event, perhaps in 2020.

Talking of memorials it is also time for Districts around the world to select it’s COL representative. The Council on Legislation (COL) is Rotary’s legislature. It meets in April every three years to consider changes to the policies that govern Rotary International and its member clubs and it holds the authority to amend Rotary’s constitutional documents. The Council is made up of one representative from every Rotary district. These representatives are the voting members of the Council.

The next Council will sit in Evanston, Chicago in April 2016 and Districts are required to select their representative by no later than 30 June 2014. The date and procedure for the selection is determined by each District and is usually co-ordinated by the District Governor. So how then does all of this work?

The Council considers proposals from Rotary Clubs, Rotary Districts,  RI officers and the RI Board for changes in the way Rotarians operate at every level of the organisation. At District level, legislation may be proposed by a Rotary club or via the District Conference. Club proposals must be endorsed by the District before it can be sent to the Council. Proposed changes to legislation is submitted in the form of enactments or resolutions. A club or district may also submit a petition (also known as a memorial) for consideration by the Board at any of the planned meetings if these suggestions do not change constitutional documents. If your Club would like to submit legislation to be considered by the 2016 Council then you would need to think about the type of issues for legislation, determine whether the issue to be addressed has a universal impact affecting Rotarians around the world or whether it is limited affecting only a small percentage of the members. If the issue has a broad effect then consider a proposal of legislation. If the issue will have limited effect then consider a submitting a petition. The most important factor though is to seek the assistance and guidance of your COL representative whose primary responsibility is to assist Clubs prepare proposals in the correct format and to act as objectively as possible as a legislator.

Finally we are coming to that time of the year when the changing of guards begin to take shape and plans are being put in place to induct the incoming President and Board. It is also an opportune time to look at your Club’s strategic plans and to consider what has worked and what can be done differently. Perhaps it is also the time to become creative and innovative and to make changes that would attract younger people into the organisation.

So if you are conferencing, convention going or just involved in council matters then I wish you all well. Make the best of it. Rotary’s best years ahead are in your hands.

Natty Moodley

Rotary Africa

May 2014