Thanks to everyone who made the District Conference in Plymouth a great success.
To see a slideshow of the conference -- check out slideshow on  homepage of East Hartford Rotary's homepage

I am closing down the blog now  -it's time for you to follow a new Governor.
Eileen Rau begins her term July 1, 2012.
Best to her.

Video of highlights from District Foundation Dinner, March 29, 2012

See video by clicking here.

District Foundation Dinner

Thanks to everyone who came out for our very much delayed District Foundation Dinner. Believe it was well worth the wait. Thanks to keynote speaker, Trustee-chair Bill Boyd, we are now armed with both a three-minute elevator speech about TRF but also have stories for coffee breaks and lunch!
Check out the district website for more about that.
Chez Josef did a great job. And the Foundation Dinner Committee, chaired by PDG Bob MacDonald, ensured the event ran very smoothly.

We did show the conference promo video. If you have not seen that yet, you can view it on our District's Facebook Page. If you do not have access to facebook, it's also available directly on youtube, just click here on movie.

Rotary Awareness

Jerry Kristafer, Your Town host on Sunday mornings on January 15, 2012
interviewing Gov Sue

January Wrap Up

This month has flown by -- from the NEPETS Planning Committee meeting, first Saturday of the month,to Northeast Link meeting, third Saturday, for outbound GSE teams from northeast districts, and, of course, events just for District 7890 and our clubs, I have been on the go. Adding to the busy-ness, planning for the NID Team's trip to India. We head out February 14th. I will be with my valentine, aka Peter, on a 14-hour flight from Newark to New Delhi. We are so excited that we will be able to attend a two-day polio summit near the end of the trip. Also, in addition to the three to four days we will spend vaccinating children in rural areas outside Kolkata, we plan to spend a day at a clinic providing LN-4 "hands" to amputees. If you do not know about this miraculous Rotary project, check out their website. I will be bringing a hand to Mid-Year Presidents Meeting on Feb. 7.
I hope to return on February 28th to good news, i.e. record-setting registrations for the district conference. Please sign up now. Registration form is available as a download from our District Website.
Right now, I am in the midst of a series of conference calls with club presidents. These calls are intended to keep us all in touch, to help answer questions which arise, and to remind clubs through their presidents of important events coming up.

New Generations

Just back from the New Generations Exchange in Boxborough, MA. Over 60 Rotarians from districts around the northeast sharing best practices, and learning through Q&A. Excellent experience.
Why care? Rotary needs to grow to survive. RI Director Ken Grabeau informed us of the Board's goal of growing by 3% by June 30, 2015, i.e. from 1.2 million to 1.3 million Rotarians worldwide.

see a short video about new generations on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYZ_eI1S_qo&feature=digest_sat

Service Above Self -- learn about Rotary and District 7890 through video

http://blip.tv/bbrc/ep024-service-above-self-this-year-in-rotary-5726499

Clicking on link above will take you to the blip.tv page where video of an interview with Governor-elect Eileen Rau and myself can be viewed.

New date for our District Foundation Dinner with Trustee Chair Bill Boyd

The District 7890 Foundation Dinner, featuring Trustee Chair Bill Boyd, has been re-scheduled for Thursday, March 29th. Foundation Dinner Committee Chair Bob MacDonald and our entire committee are so delighted that Chair Bill has been able to adjust some dates in his spring visit to the United States to make this work. We hope everyone who registered for the dinner last Thursday, November 3rd, will be able to attend on this new date. If not, please request a reimbursement check from District Treasurer, Ray Evans. Ray's contact info is in our district directory. Send requests via email including name for the reimbursement check, a USPS mailing address and phone number. The deadline for requesting reimbursement is Monday, November 28, 2011.
Also, some of you who were not available for the November 3rd date may be able to attend on this new date, Thursday, March 29th. I hope so. With that in mind, there will be a new registration form for new attendees available on the District Website by the end of this week.

World Polio Day and Our District's Facebook Page

District Facebook Page

After our first Facebook Seminar, October 22nd, I changed our presence on Facebook from a Group to a Page.
Check it out;  hope you like it.
While there, click on link to column in Hampshire Gazette re. polio.

Share Your Passion for Rotary -- Refer a Member Today

In the last 10 years, more than 50,000 men and women have completed the Prospective Member form to find out how they could get involved in their local Rotary club.
Imagine how many more members we might attract if every club and district included a link to the form on their websites and Facebook pages.
“I’ve had 50 to 75 people complete the Prospective Member form in the past two years,” says Winston Connolly, membership development committee chair for District 7020 (Caribbean), whose district website includes a link to the form. “Many of them have gone on to become members.”
Whether it’s community work, networking, or friendship, potential members are drawn to Rotary for a variety of reasons. 
After a prospective member completes the form, that person’s contact information is forwarded to the district governor and district membership development committee chair, who send the information on to one or more clubs in the area. If a club is interested, it invites the prospective member to a meeting.
Read more about building membership in Rotary at www.rotary.org.