Chair for the day was Michael Stephens who kicked of the meeting with the usual toasts and Rotary grace. He then invited President Chris to address members and Guests. Pres. Chris welcomed guests Paul Choy and Patrick Pickett and noted apologies from Warren Walker, Phil Gresham, Jillanne Myers and Wal Bishop. More of Chris' address can be read above.
Chair Michael then called for spots. There was a diverse and lively discussion on the form which RCoB drought aid should take, with Contributions from PP Graeme Whitmore, Max Winders, Michael Stephens, Mark Williams, Pres. Chris and others. The view that we should do something was strong, but getting aid to where it is most needed is not as simple as it sounds.
IPP Daniel Vankov presented his findings from the social media experiment he conducted over the previous week along with some reaction to the conversation at the previous meeting about gender equality:
- "Following on last week conversation about gender equality and given that I try to raise two boys with the believe that being a man is not a sin (as quite often portrait in gender talk) I have pulled out some stats depicting the "advantage" the contemporary Australian men are in:In 2015, 187 of the 195 workplace fatalities (96 per cent) involved male workers (Safe work Australia, 2016). In 2014 more than 2000 men committed suicide, four times the rate of women. Men are:- Three times more likely to die in car accidents- Two times more likely to die from drug overdoses or cancer- Far more likely to be murdered or assaulted- Twice as likely to suffer from gambling addictions- Far more likely to suffer substance abuse.92% of prisoners are men.I personally think that true gender equality will be achieved when people are valued as people with no importance of their gender. Each gender has certain gender-specific problems to deal with and solving those is something our club can get involved in. However, labelling one gender advantaged over the other won't do any good.
- Second topic of discussion is our social media following my last week call for everyone to make a little effort and help out with results dissemination. Here is the result:
The specific post we tested, the 2018 Golf Day one, has reached 852 people (from 66 before the intervention) and its engagement jumped to 4% of that larger base from 1.5% initially on the smaller one. This is an achievement worth comparing with paid advertising and it is a great example how we can collaborate to let the outside world know about the wonderful achievements of our Club without incurring any additional costs. Thank you to all who assisted me in being able to show this example by getting involved and keep up the level of involvement! Mark shall make that easier for everyone from now on."
Following spots, we enjoyed a short period of fellowship before chair Michael invited guest speaker Patrick Pickett to the podium. (see separate article below).
Denise Schellbach was the holder of the winning raffle ticket, but even her vigilance in making sure the joker was actually in the pack didn't help her to draw it. The Joker laughed and the jackpot climbed.
President Chris closed the meeting with the singing of the national anthem at 13:55.
