Thank you.

Past District Governor Ann, Assistant Governor Gary, Past President Barbara, Rotarians from District 9500, special guests and fellow Southbank Rotarians.

When preparing this speech, I went in search of past president's changeover speeches to give me some guidance on what to say.  I quickly found a disparity between the speeches of the male and female presidents.  The male president's speeches were about 800 to 900 words and the female president's speeches were around 1700 to 1800 words.  What this means - I ... cannot say!  But I am a lawyer and I fully understand the value of long speeches, regardless of the substance of the speech or the attention span of the audience.  So, I will attempt to modify the statistics a bit.

Had I know the amount of challenges I would face just to prepare for my year as President of a Rotary Club, I may well have had second thoughts... and third ... and fourth thoughts on the matter.  And I have just started doing my changeover speech - with a whole year still to go!  The fact is, as Rotarians, we do this all the time - that is, we recognise the needs of others and we rise up to meet those challenges, one at a time.  In this case, a fantastic organisation called the Rotary Club of Southbank has a need of a President.  So I "rose to the challenge" - well, that sounded good.  The truth is, Barbara pinned me to the wall and said "are you going to be president elect" - so I said "Yes, boss!"  Laugh as you may, I live to tell the tale!

In the short history of the Rotary Club of Southbank, we have had many major successes, including the World's Biggest Garage Sale, The Bali Trust, the Xanana Trust Breakfast, YAA and a DG Changeover.  We have also had many smaller but no less significant successes, such as SHARC, Steps, Kilbur Domin Hostel of the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation, the Thanksgiving Picnics, the Maslow BBQs, RYPEN, the Golf Clinics and Super Sprint Marshalling Events.  These are just some examples of the many Southbank success stories of which our members should rightly be very proud.

At PETS, we were told to do a SWOT analysis of our Club, so I squatted down and thought about it.  What are the factors that made this Club such a success?  What is holding us back?  What is out there that we can take advantage of?  What problems loom in the horizon?  Our biggest and unchanging strength is our members.  Our successes were not generated by committees or sub-committees.  They were generated, like so many outstanding Rotary ideas, by individual members who has a passion for service.  Coupled with the support of other members of the Club, success follows naturally.

What is holding us back?  Well, let me put this in the simplest way but at the same time maximising my word-count - "us".  We are holding ourselves back in a number of ways.  First, there aren't enough of us to do all the things we want to do.  This leads to more responsibilities for each member to carry, and less time to enjoy our time in Rotary.  Second, we - and I mean all our members, to a greater or lesser extent, are waiting for others to come up with the ideas, or to bring about the changes we think are needed.  Third, some of us may, subconsciously or otherwise, fear that we will not be supported by the Club or that we are not 'required' in the Club, or that it doesn't seem to matter whether we are there or not.

As to the first point, it will be a major focus this year to recruit more quality members into the Club.  This is and must be the single most important project for this Club in the coming year.  We are not recruiting new members this year for this year.  Under the direction of Past President Barbara, it has already been demonstrated that we can operate effectively and outstandingly as a Club with our existing numbers.  It is for the future of the Club that we need to recruit more members - for the continued success of the Club in the next 3; 5; 10 years.

As to the second point, each of our members has the capacity to do great service in our community.  There is no need for others to tell you which committee you belong to, or what projects you'll be involved in.  There is only one thing you need to do ... DO SOMETHING!  You have the talent, you have the support of the Club - all you need is to ask yourself what areas of service interests you and - if you can't think of a way to serve the community, let me know and I will overload you with ideas!

As to the third point, each member of this Club is an important member of the Club and you are always needed to attend meetings, to provide ideas, to participate in Club activities.  Your presence is greatly appreciated by other members of the Club in everything we do and your absence is always noted and we do miss you.  We all recognise that each member has a busy life and we don't necessarily ask where you've been simply because we understand that there are other demands on your time.  Not asking where you've been does not mean that we didn't miss you or that we didn't care.  The Club wants you to be a successful part of Rotary and we want you to know every other member better, just as every other member is keen to get to know you better.  Once we get to know each other, it'll be so easy to exchange ideas and to serve the community together.  And so I call on all our members to "shine" and show the Club how we can achieve great success for the community, together.

Outside of our Club, are there opportunities?  The answer is an emphatic 'yes'!  The District Team, led by DG Jim, is a fountain of resources, ideas, and support for the Club and we will be tapping into that resource during the coming year to help us achieve our objectives.  The Foundation, International projects are just some of the areas where the District could provide us with valuable ideas and assistance.  Donations In Kind also presents a great fellowship and service opportunity for the Club.

What are the threats to our Club?  The overall reduction of numbers in service clubs around the world is one factor we should be aware of although the District Team, including our own Philip Archer has already made some major headways in promoting Rotary.  For our Club, the challenge is to keep what we do relevant to our community and not to sit still in an ever changing environment.  This will mean a frequent review and comparison between what we are doing and the needs of the community.

One important group within the Family of Rotary is the partners of Rotarians.  This year, I hope to encourage all the partners to participate more in Club functions.  A number of 'Partner's Nights' have been planned so that the partners of our Rotarians will have opportunities to get to know other members and their partners better.  This also means our members will not be torn between going home early and having a few drinks at JJ's!

What is in store for the Club this year.  Well, originally I wanted the Club to do very little this year, other than the existing projects that we are involved in and then may be 1 or 2 worthwhile projects that our members will enjoy but ... there is just too many fun stuff to do!  Here is a list of the ones we have so far:

• Membership Recruitment Program - an initiative aimed at recruiting a significant number of new members - one of the best ways we can serve the community is to introduce new members to Rotary;
• Southbank Socialites - an opportunity to get to know other members better and have fun at the same time;
• Thanksgiving Picnic - great fellowship great food, stupid flies;
• Homeless World Cup - assist in organising the HWC in Melbourne as well as sponsoring a team, this is a project that the Club has been working on for almost 2 years in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Melbourne and we will be showing the world what Southbank Rotary can do;
• Rotary Anniversary on the Library Greens - invite other Clubs, Rotarians, their families and friends to celebrate Rotary and to visit the State Library - a great opportunity to promote Rotary to friends and family and make it a great day out;
• Fix Up Australia Day - getting involved with Fix Up Australia Day;
• YAA - a fantastic project for us to be involved in - mentors often get as much out of this as the kids;
• Donations In Kind - one visit to DIK to pack containers and have fellowship;
• Lyn's Books - this is a fundraising, literacy and new generations project all in one!  A fantastic opportunity to make a real impact to kids  It's a home grown project we should all support;
• Celebrate the Club's 10th Anniversary - our Club's 10th Birthday will be celebrated in the Southbank Tradition of style, laughter and fellowship!

There are, of course, other programs that will be continuing such as the Hanover BBQs and the Bali projects.  There is still room for members to suggest new projects and we will have a great time serving the community - together.

I will now introduce the Rotary Club of Southbank 2008-2009 Leadership Team:

President Elect - Philip Archer;

Vice President - Leigh Harry;

Secretary - Charles Stuart;

Treasurer - Tracey Browne;

Director of Membership - Barbara Adams (also Immediate Past President and Protection Officer);

Director of Club Service - Troy Gay;

Director of Club Promotions - Richard Clark (also Public Relations Officer);

Director of Service Projects - Wendy Bennett;

Director of Service Projects - Bettina Harlos (also Director of Foundation);

Bulletin - Dean Fakira; and

Webmaster/On to Conference - Stuart McArthur.

Please join me in welcoming the Leadership Team.

The next 2 meeting of the Club are crucial for what we will be doing in the next 12 months, so I ask all our members to make an effort to attend.  If you are unable to attend, I will be contacting you separately to keep you informed of what our progress because it is vital to the success of this Club that our members are fully informed of what is happening in our Club.

At next week's meeting, I will present to the Club the Club Plan for 2008-2009.  The Club Plan is a working document which guides us towards achieving the Club's goals.  But it is not my Club Plan, it needs your input.  At the following week's meeting, our Club Assembly, you can make a real difference by actively discussing what should or should not be in the Club Plan.  I look forward to you shaping a Club Plan that truly belongs to all our members.  The Club Assembly will be attended by our Assistant Governor Gary Goldsmith.

Thank you all for attending this Changeover which is not only a changeover but is also a fundraising event and the money you have paid for tonight will go straight to Club funds for our service projects - so please be generous with the auction and raffle still to come.  This year, Southbank Rotarians, we will rise to the challenge of serving our community and each Southbank Rotarian will be encouraged to show their true colour and "shine" so that we can demonstrate how truly special this Club is.  In other words, Southbank Rotarians - "Rise and Shine!"

On a final note - the word-count is at 2020 - I think I'm gonna get paid!  Thank you and please enjoy the rest of the evening!