Rotary public image coordinators and Rotary coordinators joined together on Monday, 3 March for the first day of their annual training institute. The day began with opening remarks from Rotary International President Ron D. Burton and RI President-elect Gary Huang.
Attendees later broke into small discussion groups, where RPICs and RCs engaged in action-oriented discussion about their role and the year ahead. Coordinators shared best practices, success stories, and challenges from their region.
Coordinator discussions included the importance of utilizing social media expertise, training district and club leaders on how to effectively tell the Rotary story via social and traditional media, the efficiency afforded by online training sessions across vast geographical areas, as well as strategies for bringing all four regional leadership groups together to support the strategic plan.
In the afternoon session focused “Rotary Resources,” coordinators and staff specialists reviewed and practiced Rotary’s online resources with a focus on how these tools can be used for greater impact in the field. These tools include the Brand Center (one-stop shop for Rotary’s new brand materials, voice and visual identity), Idea Platform (a crowd-funding site for Rotarian projects), discussion groups within My Rotary, and other programs such as SlideShare and Facebook.
Rotary coordinator Gayle Knepper shared that she uses Rotary Club Central to start a conversation with a club or district. According to her, it helps those in the coordinator role to be more effective in their region.
At the end of the day, coordinators shared the lessons learned in each session before coming together for an evening of networking and fellowship.
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