“What is Rotary?”

RRIMC Jim created an exercise that may be useful at your next membership presentation (try it yourself.)

Imagine that you are a fresh-out-of-college advertising firm employee, had just joined a local civic organization and were assigned to the PR committee. Immediately the chair asked you for a lead paragraph for the organization's PR brochure, and wanted it tomorrow because they were supposed to have something for tomorrow night's board meeting. Frantically you scanned your college notes and found this exercise:

Fill in the blanks from the selections below:

(A) ____________ is the (B) ___________ with more than (C) ____________.
(A) ____________ members are volunteers who work (D) _______________ to combat

(E) _______________ under the motto (F) ____________.

A. (Name of organization) Engineers without Borders, Doctors without Borders, Lion's Club, Kiwanis Club, Sertoma, Dentist without Borders, Red Cross, Child Fund International, The Gates Foundation; World Vision, Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO), Girl Scouts, United Way, Food Banks, YMCA, YWCA, Boy's and Girl's Club, Heifer International, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, (and the list goes on.)

B. (Pick the phrase that matches) only engineering organization, only doctor's organization, world's largest service organization, only organization of ordinary people performing extraordinary work, premier service response organization, Sharing Skills – Changing Lives, World's largest organizations for boys and girls, world's only organization dedicated to -----, etc

C. (Specify the number of volunteers/members/donors)

D. (Specify the regions that the organization serves)

E. (Specify the cause that matches) water- and sanitation-borne illnesses, contagious diseases, malaria, blindness, ignorance, starvation, farming, normal childhood problems, HIV&Aids, Education, Health and Social Well-being, Disability, Governance, birth defects, heart defects, cancer, etc.

F. (Specify the organization's motto) Service to Mankind; Serving the Children of the World; Provide Leadership, Experience, and Opportunity; Be Prepared; People helping children; Ordinary People helping Disadvantaged Children; etc

You filled in the blanks with appropriate wording; the ecstatic PR chair presented it to the board. They liked the statement because it is written for John Q. Public, is politically correct, and tells something about what the organization does. The board unanimously approved the brochure for printing. But in your hurry, you missed the fact that this exercise was from the class, "Subtleties that will get you fired."

An adverting firm would be severely reprimanded if their executives approved the statement and submitted it to me or to Jack Welch who, in his Six Rules for Success, states "If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete." Now I am not even close to being in the same league as Mr. Welch, former GE president and CEO (1981-2001.) He is a "Tiger Woods" of industry; I don't belong in the same state where Mr. Welch plays. But I do know that the above statement is bland because it does not catch anyone's attention or give any organization an advantage. Try this simple exercise: Fill in the blanks as if it was for your Rotary club. After you do that, change the statement to where it is specific to your club's target audience (prospective members) and points out your club's distinctive position (competitive advantage.) If you do not know either of these, well - - can you, should you, compete?

So the next time someone asks you what is Rotary, how would you answer in a way that would give you a competitive advantage over another organization for your target audience's time, talent, and/or treasure?

Muse about this and discuss it at your next club board meeting!