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Rotary gives us an opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills, particularly leadership skills.  Next weekend President Elect Bettina will be attending PETS (Presidents Elect Training Seminar) at Echuca, where she will be able to equip herself for her leadership role next year.  PETS is a wonderful experience.  It gives all Presidents Elect a forum in which to network with their peers for the coming year, as well as learn from District Chairs and a range of experienced Rotarians about many subjects from finance, knowledge on the Avenues of Service to membership development and various other topics.  It will also provide an opportunity to firm up ideas for the next year and lay the foundation for the year’s planning. 

Another great learning experience within Rotary is District Assembly.  All of us are invited to attend this event to increase our knowledge of Rotary.  Whether you are a new or experienced Rotarian, and particularly if you are taking on a leadership role in the Club next year, I encourage you to attend District Assembly where you will hear from the District Governor Elect Iven Mackay and his incoming leadership group.  It will also give you the opportunity to network with Rotarians from other Clubs.

 The 2010 Assembly will be held on 16th May at the magnificent “Melbourne Grammar” venue commencing 8.00 am for registration with the first plenary session to commence at 9.00 am.  The day concludes at 1.00 pm. Melbourne Grammar is a world class venue with a long history of academic excellence and sporting prowess in Australia.  It offers state of the art facilities in an auditorium that can facilitate 700 people.  Parking is available in and around this very centrally located venue.  Coffee tea and nibbles will be available upon registration followed by a substantial morning tea at 10.30 am.  Gordon Hastie, our Club Service Director, will be advising us shortly on how we can register to attend District Assembly.

As you are aware, we have a business breakfast coming up on 20th April, which is another great opportunity to learn from Futurist, Rohit Talwar.  Please make sure you book if you haven’t already done so, and I encourage you to bring along a member of your network.

Have a great week in Rotary.

President Philip

Last Week's Meeting

Meeting 524 Scribe Notes

We had a great meeting with PP Tracey standing in as acting president and chairperson AND also doing attendance - talk about multi-tasking!

There were a number of guests for this meeting, particularly Ross whom we have not seen for a while and Bobbi brought along Jake who is probably one of, if not the youngest guest the club has ever had.

Member's moment was from Nick who did not share anything medically related this time.  Instead, he told of a story of waiting in a queue for 3.5 hours outside a museum to get in (having thought he'd get there 'a bit early' to ensure he was 'in front' of the queue.  Being with a group of people, it was fantastic as they could leave one person in the queue and the others could go and look at other stuff for a bit.

The 3.5 hour wait was not without its benefits.  Apart from being able to get into the museum in the end, he also bumped into some who owed him money!  The moral of the story is that there is a bright side to everything!

Our guest speaker was Inspector Lisa Hardeman who shared with us some of her experiences with Victoria Police (VicPol).  She mentioned the difficulties of being a female officer in a male dominated profession when she joined VicPol and compared it with the amazing changes that has come about since then, due in no small part to the leadership of Victoria's first female Police Commissioner, Christine Nixon.  In today's VicPol, female officers occupy positions at almost all levels of the organisation and the female officers have good support both from other female officers and the administrative system within VicPol.

Lisa briefly touched on the different teams of people she is responsible for in the two police stations she runs, including unsworn personnel and "CSI" the equivalent in VicPol.

Lisa recounted her trip to a bikie gang headquarters for a 'chat' - by herself.  She told the meeting she was later surprised to find herself invited to return to that headquarter for a Christmas barbeque.  On the second occasion, many bikie members were present in their 'uniforms' and so was Lisa - in a VicPol uniform.  Lisa gave much more information about the visit but to simplify it here, let's just say that the Christmas party was without incident.

Lisa also touched on the 'Underbelly' story as she was involved in some of the events that were related.  She did tell us that at least some of the events were fairly accurately depicted.  It was certainly a very interesting presentation and everyone present found it to be informative and enjoyable.