GUEST SPEAKER - DGE DYLAN MURRAY
Last month our Rotarian and District Governor Elect Dylan Murray and fiancee Rotarian Rebecca Aitchison headed off to America for International Assembley "finishing school for incoming DGs"
First stop was Chicago and a visit to Rotary 1 Headquarters, where they got a personal tour around the board room, RI Presidents office, and checked out the Paul Harris statue. Chicago also provided an opportunity to visit a protest at Trump Towers, and a piccie with the legendary Micheal Jordon statue. Being the big Basketball and Ice Hockey fans that they are they couldn't resist the opportunity to catch a Chicago Bulls game and a Chicago Blackhawks game. Ice skating in Millenium Park was a dream realised for Rebecca. A wee detour found the pair of them in Iowa where they spent 4-5 hours watching a whole lot of American Bald Eagles brooding.
Detroit, Michigan (the Motor City) was next on the tour and the initial impression was that it was not such a safe place as Chicago (not helped by an armed response right outside their restaurant window!). Rebecca did get to see her beloved Redwings play however, and not to be outdone they also checked out a Detroit Pistons game. Around 15-20000 go to these games!
Las Vegas was not really Dylan's thing with him describing it as "excessive and sometimes horrifying". Too many fake replicas of things like the Eiffel Tower which didn't compare to the originals. Cannibas being smoked everywhere was a bit unsettling for our Senior Sergeant who had to resist the urge to scrag them by the collar. a fine example of the excess was the Heart Attack Grill restaurant where if you weighed over 350 pounds you ate for free. Yes there were scales, the waitresses wore nurses uniforms, customers wore hospital gowns, drinks were in drip bags...! Yikes!
San Diego - the home of the International Assembley. The beaches were amazing with a great vibe, free yoga etc. Craft beer was available in hundreds of different varieties, and Dylan didnt have to taste the same one twice on his market research expedition. Good food and craft beer did result in finding a few kgs however.
Arriving to sign in - Dylan found he was quite possibly the only Rotarian in T Shirt and board shorts but he soon conformed. 540 DGEs from around the world were present and when you added in the partners, RI Board members, speakers etc etc there were around 1400 people.
This is run every year so they have everything running like a well oiled machine, and it was a very tight agenda. The flag ceremony was amazing and a lot of places represented were unfamiliar.
As attendees were from all over the globe each person had a headset so translators could do their thing. Each day there were 4 breakout sessions with 10-15 people in each on a range of different topics including leading with vision.
All the who's who of Rotary International, Past RI Presdients, current, and future RI Presidents etc were in attendance so it was a really big deal. The 2020-21 theme was announced by RIPE Holger Knaack as "Rotary Opens Opportunities". Dylan was very impressed by Mr Knaack from Germany, and he also met Mr Peter Kyle who is from NZ but now lives in Washington DC and will be on the Rotary International Board.
Past RI President Mr Ian Reisling spoke of the need to seriously think about environmental factors when doing projects now, and used the devastating Australian Bushfires as an example.
Parntners (Rebecca) got to enjoy their own breakout sessions to learn more about Rotary, and learned a lot with the specialist trainers. They also held a cultural exchange, with minties prooving popular on the NZ stall.
One floor of the venue was solely dedicated to a market place where things like Shelter Box, conventions, merchandise etc were promoted.
The Grand March of participants was another big event, and having to meet and mingle so much was a learning experience for Dylan that he knew would be one of his challenges he had to tackle as part of his DG journey.
The days were long going from 7am to 10pm but provided a great variety of speakers. One that he particularly enjoyed was Jason Brown on Make Membership Memorable. Jason spoke on a range of things including the 4 barriers as he sees them being - Lack of connection, status quo, information overload, and lack of engagement.
One night, as an option, you could be taken out by local Rotarians which they choose to do and ended up dining at the wonderful San Diego Yacht Club.
On the Thursday 100 Rotaractors (including 2 from NZ) joined them. This is a push for a stronger relationship between Rotary and Rotaract. A couple were assigned to each breakout session to give their ideas, which was enlightening. They talked about the importance of lookinc at them for Board and District roles as well.
Festival Night was a very colourful event, with the NZ contingent choosing to sing 3 waiata. The Brazilians were the most "enthusiastic" and wouldn't leave the stage as they were in party mode.
The last night was the Gala Dinner and Dylan and Rebecca got their opportunity to meet RIPE Holger Knaack and his wife.
It was an amazing experience for the pair of them - roll on 2020-21!
PARTING THOUGHT - "A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't want to go, but ought to be" - Roselyn Carter
