January 31, 2025 • 48 mins
James McQuillar, affectionately dubbed Chili, initially resisted joining Rotary due to time constraints and feeling out of place. Yet, after persistent encouragement from Mac Patel, Chili's journey took a transformative turn. Now, as the district and club membership chair, he draws compelling parallels between his role at Tinker Air Force Base and his Rotary work, emphasizing the transformative power of relationships and understanding in both spheres. Discover how stepping outside one's comfort zone can create meaningful connections that drive positive change.
Rotary's ability to connect people locally and globally is truly unparalleled. We'll uncover strategies for expanding membership and impact, starting with local community involvement and moving up to district and zone levels. Through personal anecdotes and mentorship stories, we'll explore how eliminating barriers and leveraging shared knowledge can exponentially increase influence. This conversation offers a deep dive into fostering a culture of continuous learning and engagement within Rotary, with a focus on dynamic growth and retention strategies.
Club culture is more than just retention rates; it's about creating an engaging and vibrant environment. We'll challenge the notion that high retention equals vibrancy and discuss the importance of energizing meetings to attract and retain enthusiastic members. By making club activities member-centric and focusing on community involvement, Rotary clubs can foster a more exciting atmosphere. Whether you're navigating the dynamics between traditional and newer members or seeking ways to enhance engagement, we'll provide insights into being a change agent and ensuring Rotary's continued vibrancy and impact. Join us on this journey of gratitude and growth within the Rotary community.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast.
I'm your host, brian Schreiger,and with me today is our guest
James McQuiller, also known asChili.
How are you doing today, chili?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I am doing wonderful.
Thanks for asking.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Of course, thanks for joining us.
So you are with the MidwestCity Rotary Club and you are
currently serving as thedistrict membership chair.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
That is correct, in addition to the club membership
chair also.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh, wow, okay, so tell us a little bit more about
your origin story.
How did you get exposed toRotary?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, our Rotary story and your Rotary story has
a common denominator.
My Rotary story probablystarted 12 years ago when I
started frequenting a businessin Midwest City and this one guy
was persistently telling meabout Rotary.
(01:33):
And I persistently told thisguy no, I was always.
I was already involved in othercivic organizations and I just
didn't have the time.
But this one guy was persistent.
He kept at it for two to threeyears, asking me to join Rotary,
(01:55):
asking me to come to differentclub meetings, and I always told
him no.
So finally, after about a twoand a half year period, I
finally went to a Rotary Clubmeeting.
I told him no at first afterthe meeting because the club
(02:17):
didn't look like me.
And he countered back to me ishow are you going to change
something if you're on theoutside looking in?
And that struck a chord with me.
And he also said that if Rotaryis doing everything that you're
doing in the community and youlike what they're doing, then
(02:37):
don't let this be a barrier toyou to make changes from within.
Make changes from within.
So that person sparked me tojoin the Midwest City Rotary
Club in.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
July of 2015.
And the rest is history.
So 2015,.
So you're coming up on your10-year anniversary.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I am coming up on my 10-year anniversary.
Uh, uh, this one person thatwe're I'm talking about, uh, uh.
He continues to pour into uhRotarians across the district
and he continues to advocate uhcommunity service, not just
being a Rotarian, but just beinga a good human being and doing
(03:23):
the right thing.
People, for people and for yourcommunity.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Of course and I don't think he's shy I'm going to
mention his name.
His name goes by Mac Patel.
He asked me quite a few timesmyself and has done quite a bit
for me and Rotary as a whole,and he's our upcoming district
governor.
So I don't think I've metsomeone as persistent and as
(03:50):
dedicated as Mac, to say theleast.
And you're right, our storiesdo connect.
Are you working on Tinker AirForce Base right now?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I'm still currently employed as a GS worker, a
contract officer, with the 552Air Control Wing and I just
manage and oversee all of thetraining contracts for the E3G
and the upcoming E7 aircraft forthe warfighters.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So for the typical civilian out there, tell us a
little bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Basically I'm just a facilitator between the
government and the contractor.
I have no say or no bias inwhat's written in the contract.
My job is just to make surethat the contract's being
fulfilled, that the governmentdoes not impose any other
additional requirements on thecontractor that's not written
within a contract, and I alsomake sure that the contractor is
(04:52):
fulfilling the written law ofthe contract.
And I also make sure that thecontractor doesn't do anything
beyond scope of the contract.
So it's all about people.
It's trying to findcollaboration between the
government and the contractor.
(05:13):
When there is a conflict or adispute on what's written in the
contract and most of the time,99% of the time we don't have to
go to arbitration Both partieswill come to a resolution and
find the best solution withouthaving to get legal involved in
it.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Okay, so you're more or less, you're a peace bringer.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
You know what.
I guess you can call me apeacemaker, but everything I do
is based upon relationships.
Just as in Rotary, it's easierto get collaboration from folks
when you have a relationshipwith them.
The time to collaborate or tofind to effect change isn't if
(05:57):
you don't know somebody.
You come in a place cold orwith no identity to them.
If they know you, they respectyou, they will listen to you and
a lot of good things happenfrom having great relationships
with people.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I like that you bring that up.
It's something that Rotary hastaught me If you understand the
world a little bit more and theplace place in which an
individual is and you know theirdevelopment space tied to all
areas of their life, it's easierto not react as quickly and
(06:36):
make a decision that is tied toa little bit more objective
analysis that is correct.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I think that you, we can speak from experience, but
we know that if we don't knowpeople and we don't know
circumstances, we don't knowtheir stages in life or what
they're going through, sometimeswe will do or say things that
are reactive, that will not bebeneficial to the situation.
(07:04):
And then later on we find outmore information and sometimes
we wish we had not pulled thetrigger so quick, if we had
known those things, if we had abetter relationship with those
people that were involved.
So it's all about relationships, all about getting to know
people.
It's all about doing more thanshaking hands.
It's doing things outside theconfines of your club, outside
(07:29):
the confines of your job,connecting with a person on a
personal level, finding a commonground.
If the person likes sports, wetalk about sports.
If you like pickleball, we dothat Books.
Just find a common ground toconnect with a person and the
world will be yours orrelationships will be yours.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, I like that a lot.
I still don't see the bigpicture in a lot of ways, but
every time I go to a Rotarymeeting or every time I do a
podcast or try something that'sslightly outside of my comfort
zone, I get an opportunity tomeet an extra person or an extra
group of people, so that socialcup gets filled a little bit.
(08:12):
But also in my finer moments Ihave an opportunity to give a
little bit more.
That consistency starts todevelop and the clarity starts
to become more of a constant.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And I'll agree with that.
Sometimes it's a push-pullmechanism when it comes to clubs
, looking beyond their, lookingbeyond their structure for,
let's say, for new members, andtrying to understand where your
(08:52):
new members, or your potentialnew members, where they're at,
in their station in life.
Uh, how can we involve?
How can we change to be moreaccepting?
How can we open up our earswithout reacting?
How can we really understandwhat they're trying to tell us?
And how do we not be soreactive and so egotistical and
(09:16):
dumping our chest and sayingwe've been doing this for the
last 20, 30 years.
It works.
But we also know that in orderfor Rotary to be effective in
the future, that Rotary has tochange, that clubs have to
change their models, that wehave to change our culture.
With the change we have to getwith the technology, we have to
just get out there and be more,be willing to connect with
(09:41):
people across different morethan just different backgrounds,
different walks of life, andclearly, clearly understand
where they're coming from.
If Rotary is to continue tosurvive, if Rotary is to
continue to be one of thepreeminent organizations out
there when it comes to communityservice and willing leader
(10:04):
servants out there.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, no, when you were, when you were talking
about that, I was thinking aboutthe fishbowl.
You know that's commonly talkedabout and you know, sometimes
lack of clarity or cleanlinesswithin the water, without you
know exposing other elements orbringing in clean water, so to
speak, the vision can get cloudy.
(10:27):
And also, you know I haven'tlooked recently but maybe a net
(10:48):
100, 200,000 every day orsomething like that.
I don't know exactly whatnumber it is, but it's
relatively close.
So our population continues togrow and I don't think you know
even a person that travelsconsistently.
They probably get more of thatchemical response.
But the awareness, unless we'relooking up into the sky or maybe
(11:08):
having a deep thought tied to arailroad track or looking out
into the water, some of thosebeautiful moments do exist where
we can kind of connect with therest of the world.
But I think it's very commonand I'm just speaking from
experience so I can't speak foranyone else but I believe that
it's a common human experienceto think that maybe the world is
just Midwest City and it's only50,000 people, or it's just a
(11:34):
subsection of a city out inMassachusetts that has maybe
4,000 or 5,000 people, and wereally don't understand.
Oh, go ahead and we reallydon't understand.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Oh, go ahead.
Oh no, I'm agreeing with you.
Let's go back to Rotary.
When you talk aboutconnectedness and let's say
Midway City Rotarians or DelceyRotarians, or just name a
Rotarian club in Oklahoma thateverybody, you may think that
the world revolves around yourclub.
(12:05):
But unless you start visitingother clubs, connecting with
other clubs, strengthening otherclubs by participating in their
fundraisers, their events, youget to see that not only is
there a bigger, bigger pictureout there, but you also see that
(12:26):
there are a lot of moreresources to tap into.
You also find out that you'renot alone out there when you
have your individual clubchallenges, when it comes to,
say, change, when it comes todemographic change, when it
comes to membership upgrades,when it comes to let's just get
it to a simple level.
You know when you havepersonality conflicts within a
(12:48):
club, they're not germane orunique to your club, but you
don't know that if you don't getout there and experience what
other clubs have to offer inthis great, great world called
the Rotary world.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, no, I love that , and sometimes I get frustrated
, sometimes I think things areconstricted or there's more of a
limitation, prior to realizingthat it's myself that I'm the
limiter.
Uh, but the fact that rotary is1.2 million strong and the fact
that being in rotary actually,in a lot of ways ways, elevates
(13:25):
an individual's platform andgets them to connect with the
other you know, 8 billion plusin the world in and this is my
opinion in a much stronger way.
So it's not, it's not thissectioned off.
Hey, you know, I'm only goingto throw business to a Rotarian,
even though you know that'spromoted internally.
Or hey, you know, this persondoesn't want to join.
(13:46):
Let's stop loving on them.
And I'm not speaking foreveryone.
Everyone has their, you knowtheir own paths and development
stages and stuff like that.
But I think in a lot of ways,uh, our organization at least
from my experiences in thisspecific district it actually
helps us to connect and giveback to everyone outside of
(14:07):
Rotary too.
So it's not just this.
You know this really cool thingthat we're part of, where we're
only giving within our ownstructure.
It's literally enhancing ourability to give to the entire
world, and I think that's areally cool thing and I think
that in a lot of ways, theopportunities are endless.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And yes, I agree with that.
But when it comes to let'sbring it back down to, let's say
, for your membership, I get anew club member before I can
talk to him or her about thisbig beautiful world of Rotary
and and the big worldwideprojects that Rotary is involved
in.
Most of the folks coming inwant to know what is Rotary
(14:51):
doing in the local community.
So I start with you know we'llstart with the local community
and we'll build upon that and wewill build layers of, let's say
, layers of Rotary ship thatthere are things you do at your
club level and hopefully we'regetting our members involved
early.
Some clubs do a better job thanothers.
Some clubs don't do such agreat job, but it's getting
(15:13):
those guys and gals plugged inearly and something
community-wise, their communityfeet wet.
We tried to encourage them.
Or, as our mentor did to us, hedidn't encourage us really, he
kind of pulled us along with him.
He would just tell us Chili,brian, you're going to Cushing,
(15:50):
you're going to Gage, I'll pickyou up at 10 o'clock.
There was no room for errorwhen Lukash Patel wanted you to
be somewhere.
And I think sometimes as amembership chair or as a person,
as really leadership sometimeswe have to be a little bit more
like Patel is that you have toprovide the means,
transportation, provide thelunch, provide everything.
You take away all of theexcuses of why somebody can't
(16:13):
join you in your road toadventure and plus, on top of
that, you have a personalrelationship with them and it's
very, very hard to say no tothat.
So, club level get theminvolved.
Uh, we try to then take them toother clubs and hopefully they
get more rotorized and seeingstuff at the district level of
(16:35):
how things are connected at thedistrict and how I can forge
relationships with multipleclubs to get projects done not
only in in my community but intheir community, which in turn
enhances the state of Oklahoma.
Now they see that Now they cango to a zoned meeting and find
different districts, eight, ninedistricts all meeting together
(16:58):
at the zone level, and now yourworld opens up exponentially.
You see presidents andmembership chair people, pa
people that all have a commongoal, that we all have the same
challenges.
It opens up that reservoir,that bank of knowledge to you
and you now become more awarethat we are not alone in nothing
(17:20):
that we do here.
Nothing has been, there'snothing that hasn't been, and
then it has been done already byRotarian, that I don't have to
recreate the wheel all by myself, that I can go and call my
brother Rotarian and 6110.
I can borrow, benchmark hismaterial, give him credit for it
and bring it back to mydistrict or my club and use it
(17:43):
to benefit everybody.
Sure, so it goes.
It goes back to relationships.
It goes back to, uh, beingspecific and targeted and our
response to our members, andsometimes it's an arm twisting,
uh, and we've learned from themaster arm twister in a great
way of how to how to eliminateobstacles, how to make people
(18:06):
say more yeses and less no's toyou yeah, no, it's.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Uh, it puts me into deep thought, uh, and
appreciation.
I, in a lot of ways, the wheelwas getting me to think we don't
have to reinvent the wheel, butwe can literally use the wheel
of excellence to our advantageand also, in a way, a lot of
(18:33):
what's happening is systematicenlightenment the first
organization that I've reallybeen part of that has not only
taught me how it works, but alsohow things, how systems around
(18:54):
the system, work, like there'sno, there's really no limit as
to what can be absorbed and whatinformation can be acquired.
If I have a moment of clarityand I do appreciate that
platform because it justcontinues to give and it helps
me give in return- Excellent andit also it goes back to that
(19:21):
exponential factor of that.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
By myself, I can only do one or two things, but when
I start combining multiple clubsin a district, if I start
combining multiple zones in adistrict I mean multiple
districts in a zone my smallproject becomes larger.
I can impact a lot more peoplein my community when I band
(19:50):
together, when I get out thereand actually hold hands with my
fellow Orkarians to make changesin my community.
Once again, I don't have toreinvent the wheel, and you said
something earlier.
I go back and listen to it, butI'm going to take that as a
phrase.
It'll be one of my warriorcries when it comes to
(20:14):
membership about not reinventingthe wheel out there that there
are things that you can pullfrom and add to your toolkit to
make your club better, to yourtoolkit to make your club better
To follow up on that thought.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
what plans are in place to tackle District 5750
growth and retention?
Speaker 2 (20:37):
The biggest thing that we're going to do is, as we
talked about earlier, is thatin the past we try to create
events, create new events.
We spent a lot of money on somehigh-profile events that
(20:58):
yielded very little new memberparticipation.
What we're finding out now isthat there are events already
established out there that arelooking for vendors that will
give a Rotary table, either areduced fee or a free fee, just
to set up a table.
Tables and stands with roadiebrochures out at state fairs, at
(21:19):
county fairs, at a fair of theheart at February 26th, february
27th, there's a Band ofBrothers movie that's being
(21:41):
sponsored in part by 6750.
We're going to set up amembership table out there on
those two days to connect thepublic to what rotary is doing,
the connection with rotary andveterans and the connection of
rotary to mental health.
Any club or district that hasan event, we will have
(22:07):
membership tables out there.
In the past, all of theseevents at different clubs, be it
Spelling Beer, be it Ponca CityShrimp Oil, be it our Shrimp
Oil, be it the fundraiser inWeatherford, woodford Gage, we
have never, ever, had a separatemembership table to tell people
(22:27):
about Rotary.
So those are the things thatwe're going to do to get the
word out and to expand thepotential membership net of
Rotary out there.
The second thing that we'regoing to do is in some of our
rural communities, ruralcommunities that are really,
really struggling with a loss ofyouth in their community and a
(22:49):
loss of manpower.
We're going to look at all ofthose different companies along
their highways that are inagribusiness or oil welling and
we're going to talk to themabout corporate sponsorships
that perhaps they cannot send amember to the club on a weekly
basis but they can be partnerswith the Rotary Club in making
(23:14):
that community better.
So those are the two biggestthings that we're going to look
at from a membership team to notonly bring in more members but
also to make sure that the clubexperience is correct, in the
right climate for retaining yourmembers.
(23:39):
Some clubs have a high retentionrate.
A high retention rate does notnecessarily mean that your club
culture is conducive for yourmembers and we can speak about
that.
I know several clubs that I'vebeen to.
I look at their numbers it's100% retention rate.
But when you walk in the clubthe club environment is not
(24:06):
conducive for if you want tokeep members there, if you want
to keep young members engaged,we have to figure out a way to
energize those meetings, to lookbeyond the numbers, look beyond
100% retention rate.
Why are you at 100% retentionrate?
Why are you at 100% retentionrate?
Are you static at that number?
(24:28):
Are you actually getting moremembers that are reflective of
your community or is it just thestatus quo that are just
staying there and as they getolder and unfortunately, they
pass on?
Are their roles being filled,backfilled?
I use the word back, so that'sa bad term.
Do you have a plan attritionplan to replace members?
(24:53):
Do you know what your growthrate is?
Do you know what your attritionrate is?
If you got attrition rate of 7%, is your membership plan
reflective of that?
Are you going after moremembers to bring your club to
make sure that you have theright number of people to
continue to serve your communityand the right number of people
(25:13):
to continue to support our greatfoundation of rotary foundation
?
I think, once again, those arethe two big but great.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt.
Sorry, go ahead, I was done.
Oh, I think one of the biggesttricks to learn and I make the
mistake of doing this too one ofthe differences I've seen
between the clubs with andwithout Atmosphere is making it
about the members and also theoutside world the members and
(25:44):
also the outside world the morestatic clubs or the club
experiences are.
Typically, let's see, you wantto shy away from being like
really negative, but I'll youknow, is it the truth, right?
So that's okay.
Sometimes it's tone deaf andalso it's also too much about
the club or and I might getstruck by the Rotary gods for
(26:06):
saying this too much aboutRotary.
At the end of the day, thepeople that are drawn in, I
believe, are the people thatrealize that not only do we care
about them, but the rest of theworld.
So if we let the conversationbe about non-Rotarians, I've
learned that on this podcast, alot of our district, not to say
that like there's going to be aton of really valuable
(26:28):
information in this conversationspecifically.
I know that I'm 100% confidentof that.
In most of the episodes I cansay very similar things and I
appreciate everyone whoparticipates, but the more that
an episode let's just take it asa kind of a metaphor for a club
the more that the episode isabout someone outside of Rotary
(26:51):
or their experiences outside ofRotary and letting an
individual's imagination connectthe dots between Rotary and the
rest of the world and lettingthem realize that they're on a
big planet and letting theirmind wander.
There's more oxygen to breathe,there's more excitement tied to
possibility.
It's not just you know theprinciples and Paul Harris and
(27:17):
you know I can list 10 morethings that are really important
, that mean something to me butwill take a little bit of time
for the new member to absorb themore that an individual who's
welcomed in or someone who's aprospective member, let's say
even someone who's never goingto join Rotary, but adds value
to the meeting because they'rebringing a story tied to their
community involvement which addsa ton of value to the meeting
(27:41):
and the organization as a whole.
That's the kind of stuff, in myopinion, that adds to vibrancy.
If you make it too much, in thesame way that with two
individuals I've learned thismany times with you know my, my
failed romantic pursuits If Imake it too much about Brian,
that relationship's going tofail.
Even if Brian is important andBrian's my favorite word because
(28:02):
I'm Brian Someone's going toget tired.
So if you make it specificallyabout the club or specifically
about the district, orspecifically giving kudos to too
much of a person and you forgetthat you're on planet Earth,
it's going to make someonesuffocate.
So I think one thing that I'velearned as a New Rotarian and
also as a Rotary Spark podcasthost, is to get excited and
(28:26):
welcome the elements ofeverything outside of Rotary,
because without the world,without the people that are not
members, rotary wouldn't evenexist.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
That's a great point you brought up about.
I use the term rotarized.
Great point you brought upabout I use the term rotorized
is that everybody comes intoRotary.
Everybody comes at differentlevels of what they want from
Rotary and I can't expect abrand new member to want to be
inundated with all the bigpicture about Rotary, polio,
(29:03):
paul Harris Foundation, how tobe a sustaining member, a
sustaining member club those areall great, great, great things
to be a Rotarian.
But a new member doesn't needthat.
When they first come to a club,I think they need to know that.
What is their why?
You know why Rotary and whyRotary versus, say, being an
(29:31):
alliance or Knights of Columbusor a Mason or just name any
other civic organization outthere why do you want to be a
Rotary?
And once we get their why, it'sup to us to make it fun for
them, to make sure that yourmeeting, your one-hour meeting,
(29:53):
that's an investment of theirtime.
You have to respect their timealso.
And how do I respect their time?
Is I got to make that meetingas engaging, as informative as
possible?
Meeting as engaging, asinformative as possible?
If I don't make it as engaging,as informative as possible, I
may have a problem of.
I may have a club directorymembership of 74, but I
(30:16):
consistently only have 31 thatshow up.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, dingding.
There's something wrong in thatpicture that perhaps I need to
look at.
What am I offering my members?
Why do I have such a low whatdo you call that a low
(30:37):
attendance rate?
It should be a little bithigher.
If my club is excited, I shouldbe looking forward to going to
Rotary.
It should be something on mycalendar that I've circled, that
I want to be a part.
I want to fellowship with thesemen and women.
I want to find out what otherprojects we're doing.
I want to find out what I cando to help my community If I'm
(30:57):
not there.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, the attendance is easy to figure out.
I know that it can be morecomplex, but at the end of the
day, if the attendance is low,it means that people don't want
to show up.
You can ask yourself why.
You know, maybe it's boring, oryou can attach really easy
labels to tied to the experience, but for whatever reason, uh
and and everyone in the club ordistrict and or district,
(31:18):
depending on what which onewe're talking about is
responsible.
So, whether someone has aposition or not, if I would say
that it's the responsibility ofeveryone within that group, if
someone doesn't want to show up,they just they don't see value
in showing up, like I don't.
Personally I don't show up tothings that I don't want to be a
part of.
If people don't believe inthemselves or don't believe in a
(31:41):
group that they're part of.
I know that that energy iscontagious and since you know,
as a developing human being, Ibelieve in myself and a lot of
the things that and individualsthat I'm connected with, I want
to be around that energy so thatwhen I have moments of doubt
and despair, I can, I can hit aplatform that springs me back up
(32:02):
a little bit quicker.
I don't really.
You know I've, I've aged enough, I'm, you know, I'm not super
old, but it's all relative.
I want to have an environmentthat uh has a higher morale
because, um, in ways I'm selfishand also, in being selfish, I'm
allowed to be selfless at timesselfish.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
I'm allowed to be selfless at times, but once
again it goes back to what Andresaid in his podcast.
I'm going to paraphrasesomething he said about.
He had something similar wheremembers weren't showing up and
the solution is a lot of folkswant to sit there and just make
a judgment based upon no fact.
Well, they're not coming to themeeting.
You know we shouldautomatically kick them out of
(32:50):
the club.
Andre said to him well, haveyou called them?
And that's my position is.
Before I do any action, I wantto find out why aren't you
coming to the club meeting?
What can we do to make it moreinviting?
And I have to be willing tolisten to that feedback.
Uh, unfortunately, sometimes wedon't listen to the feedback or
(33:13):
we're slow to respond to thefeedback and we may lose members
that way.
So I got to do a better job ofinternalizing each club member's
concerns for what they wantfrom their club experience and,
as Andre also said in hischanging a club culture, it's
(33:37):
sort of like you know you'rewatching a big aircraft carrier
turn in the middle of the ocean.
It takes a lot of room, ittakes time to turn that big
aircraft carrier around andsometimes to change the club
dynamics or a club that's 70years old or older to change
some of the conventions.
(33:58):
It may take time and sometimesthe instigator or the initiative
of the change will not be thebenefactor of it.
It'll be people coming afterhim or her.
They will be the benefactors of, of the change that they
planted the seed of.
So hopefully, hopefully, I willtake that at heart to take
(34:24):
those inputs back to your boardsto make sure that at least
they're being heard.
Number one Can things be changedand implemented?
There's some small things thatcan be done to change the
culture of a club almostinstantaneously that won't
offend your old guard or yournew guard.
I use those termsaffectionately because most
(34:46):
clubs have an old guard and anew guard and that is the
challenge of trying to findcollaboration between changing
conventions that the old guardhas been used to for 30 years.
The new guard wants action.
They just want to do stuff.
I want to do a project.
(35:09):
I'm not necessarily tooconcerned about the meeting
format.
I could care less about thelunch.
The old guard likes the socialaspect of Rotary.
That's important to them.
Younger members may not likethe social aspect, at least not
in that club environment.
They like another avenue.
Maybe let's do a social offsitesomewhere and just let's just
(35:31):
just just let our hair down alittle bit.
So that's the collaborativeeffort that we have to look at
it and sustaining Rotary for thefuture to keep us viable, to
keep us viable to keep thesefresh new faces coming in, these
fresh new ideas, so we don'tget stagnant and we die on the
vine.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
As we've been told many times, if you don't change,
eventually you're going totrick yourself out and become
useless in your community.
That's really good insight.
Uh, from your perspective, doyou have any?
Uh, let's see as as we wrap up,do you have any tips for new
(36:12):
rotarians?
Speaker 2 (36:15):
uh.
But my number one tip for newrotarians is to get involved
early.
We keep saying that's that'skind of a trite, overused uh uh
statement.
Get involved early.
What does that actually mean?
Get involved early?
It means that every club has alist of projects that they're
(36:36):
already involved in that youlike and get attached to it.
If the club does not have aproject that you like and you
have an idea for a project, byall means don't be shy about
sharing your ideas with yourclub.
(36:57):
And of course we talked earlierabout old guards versus new
guards.
Sometimes our old guard may notbe receptive to some new
projects.
Don't get discouraged by thefirst initial response that you
may not be able to get yourproject done.
Work within that club structureas best you can to make a
(37:20):
change.
If you start coming to themeetings every week and it feels
like it's an obligation, youhave to check yourself and check
your club.
Perhaps that is not the rightclub for you and there's nothing
wrong with that.
There are other clubs out therethat we can make sure that we
(37:46):
find the right broaderexperience for you.
Or maybe you don't want to beinvolved in the club but you
want to be involved in all ofthe projects the club is
responsible for.
We will put you on a mailinglist that will keep you posted
on every and all of our projectsthat you can be involved in
(38:06):
without having to be a Rotarian.
Perhaps later on that becomes.
You can start a new club basedon a cause, based on a project
club.
So once again, my whole thingis for new Rotarians is to get
involved.
Number two is at any opportunitythat you have, especially here
in Oklahoma City area.
(38:27):
I mean we're home to about 15clubs.
I'm counting UConn, uconn,norman that's a different
district but we can still go totheir club down in Norman.
More, we have multiple clubs,lots of clubs in our area for
(38:49):
you to go visit.
Just because you can't make ameeting at your club, there are
other clubs to go to.
To build more relationships inthose clubs.
Look at how they're doingthings.
You can say, holy crap, I lovethe way they're doing this or
hey, I like the way my club isdoing this.
But bottom line is you canshare information with each club
(39:09):
, you can bring stuff back toyour old club and you can make
your club better.
Number three is somewhere downin your second year, go to a
district event.
Um, go to a district event, beit pets.
Uh, be at your, your districtconference.
(39:29):
Your district conference issomething I encourage every
rotarian to go to.
It's paid for by your district.
The only thing you have to dois get your transportation there
.
But it's not.
It's another opportunity foryou to be exposed to members
from all 32, 33 clubs in yourdistrict and it shows you the
connectedness of your Rotariansin your district and your club
(39:55):
and you form more and morebetter relationships and
friendships by participating inthese district events.
So that would be my advice,advice for new Rotary members
and once again, don't bediscouraged by if change doesn't
happen fast in your club.
(40:15):
If you go to a club that is aconventional club and when I say
conventional club, when I sayconventional, conventional,
we're talking about a club thatthat sings a song, pledge of
allegiance, a prayer and thefour-way test.
And if those things don't suityou, uh, there are other clubs
(40:44):
out there that don't do all ofthat and we will find the right
club for you to thrive in.
So, once again, don't bediscouraged by the lack of
change in a conventional club.
Don't be discouraged that thisis a sign of what Rotary is.
Just look at yourself and thinkabout.
I can be that change agent.
(41:05):
I can be the person to plantthe seed of change in this club.
I may not see the change, butat least it'll get that big ship
, that big aircraft carrier, tostart shifting momentum and
changing in the right directionto stay relevant in the future.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Sure, yeah, that's a lot of really good information
and, from personal experience,that seems to make a lot of
sense.
For anyone who wants to exploreother clubs, then it's a great
thing.
I transferred within my firstcouple of years and it was a
great decision.
It doesn't mean that allRotarians are.
It doesn't really mean anything.
(41:46):
It just means that there aremany different opportunities
that all of us can explore andand yeah, I really like
everything that you said there'salways an opportunity to stay,
transfer, pivot and create asatellite club or even a new
club.
I'd recommend you know, as I'mfinishing up my second year, if
(42:07):
you're not sure what you want todo, speak, speak to your
closest mentor and kind of mixthat with your own gut instinct
and and and just go with it,because whatever, whatever's
inside that's going to push youto do whatever it is, regardless
of what anyone else has to say,it it it's going to be the
right move.
(42:27):
Um, so oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
No, I'm saying good Cause I think I think my job as
a membership chair is to try totry to remove obstacles as much
as I can within the confines ofmy, my club culture.
Um, if I can't find, uh,something within the confines of
my club culture, if I can'tfind something within the club,
I don't want to lose a person asa Rotarian, especially when I
(42:52):
know that they'd be greatRotarians and good Rotarians.
It's just to find them theright club out there, and I
can't be egotistical to have apossessive nature while we're
losing a member.
No, we're not losing a memberat all, we're gaining a member.
We're gaining a member who'sgoing to be happy in another
club.
(43:12):
We're gaining an asset that'sgoing to thrive, which is going
to make the Rotary better andmake your community better.
I'd rather do that than todismiss a person and then they
have their fist balled up aboutRotary and they won't share
anything about Rotary.
It's all going to be negativeabout Rotary.
(43:33):
Our job is just to make surethat we're helping people to be
better Rotarians, either in yourcurrent club or in somebody
else's club.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Of course, and I like that you mentioned, you know,
holding onto, because you knowwe forget, I forget sometimes.
All the clubs are temporary andso are our lives.
So as the planet, so as I meanyou know there might not be an
immediate benefit to this, butso is Rotary International at
the end of the day, you know,just appreciating the energy as
(44:03):
it transfers through all ofthese temporary vessels in the
healthiest way possible to makethis experience in this world,
you know better, for as manypeople as possible, I mean,
that's really the best all of uscan do.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
I can't, I can't, I can't even say it better than
that, brian.
That's all we can.
That's all we can do, only be.
I can only try to be a goodhuman being.
If I'm a good human being and agood spark, hopefully that'll
rub off on the next person in mycircle.
I can only be that in my circleof influence.
Just be a better human being.
(44:42):
If you're a better human being,you'll have a better community.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
You'll have a better world and life will be a whole
lot better.
Well, that's a great way towrap up.
I'm just going to make a fewannouncements.
I want everyone who wants toknow about any of the events
that are going on to do twothings.
I want you to go torotary5750.org Check out some of
the events that are going on,to do two things.
I want you to go torotary5750.org Check out some of
(45:12):
the events that are listedthere.
It's a combination betweendistrict and club events.
I also want you to go to theclub directory, which is on that
district, and check out eachindividual website tied to each
individual club and find outthrough there kind of what's
going on.
That'll give you a chance toplug into their social media.
If you see that there's nothingor limited information there,
(45:33):
don't be shy.
Pick up the phone, maybe givethem a call.
They might be getting theirsocial media together or just
restructuring.
In some ways.
It doesn't mean that there'snothing going on.
It just means that each club isdeveloping at its own pace.
So a few things that are comingup the Spelling Beer on
February 28th for the MidtownClub.
(45:55):
We also have Pets coming up.
I believe it's March 20th,which will give everyone an
opportunity to learn aboutleadership, and then we also
have the April 26th crawfishboil for the Ponca City
Trailblazers.
Like I said, there areadditional events, club and
(46:15):
district specific, within themonth of January.
On rotary5750.org, if you reachout to the district
administrator or anyone in thedistrict chain really any
Rotarian you can find outexactly what's going on.
There are events that arehappening all the time and I
also want to take thisopportunity to to just thank all
(46:37):
of the listeners out there as Igo through the stats and see
the different regions anddemographics tied to each and
every individual listener.
Just know that, regardless ofwhat pace this project grows at,
I love each and every one ofyou.
I don't necessarily know all ofyou, but I'm aware of most of
(47:03):
you.
Know all of you, but I'm awareof most of you, and I just want
to let you know that I'mthinking about you, regardless
of what direction this projectgoes in, and I really appreciate
your support.
We have eight subscribers rightnow.
We've gotten close to 700downloads.
Every single download, everysingle moment that you listen to
this.
It means a lot to me.
It's my opportunity and, as wegrow, our opportunity to share
(47:28):
the message of Rotary and howour district communicates with
the rest of the world.
So I just really want to letyou know that my heart is in
this and I really appreciateevery single person that's
connected to this world, sothank you for that.
I also want to thank IT Sparkfor being the vessel that we've
(47:51):
utilized occasionally to developthis project.
Rotary District 5750, also 5280, albert Hernandez is going to
be actually as the districtgovernor is going to be with us
next week.
He inspired this project andI'm trying to think did I forget
anyone?
Bricktown Rotary Club?
(48:11):
I'm a new member, so thank you,bricktown Rotary Club.
You've been fantastic.
Thank you for welcoming me intoyour club and with that, thank
you again, chili, and I hopeeveryone has a great evening and
a great weekend as well.
Thank you.
Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast.
I'm your host, brian Schreiger,and with me today is our guest
James McQuiller, also known asChili.
How are you doing today, chili?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I am doing wonderful.
Thanks for asking.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Of course, thanks for joining us.
So you are with the MidwestCity Rotary Club and you are
currently serving as thedistrict membership chair.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
That is correct, in addition to the club membership
chair also.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh, wow, okay, so tell us a little bit more about
your origin story.
How did you get exposed toRotary?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, our Rotary story and your Rotary story has
a common denominator.
My Rotary story probablystarted 12 years ago when I
started frequenting a businessin Midwest City and this one guy
was persistently telling meabout Rotary.
(01:33):
And I persistently told thisguy no, I was always.
I was already involved in othercivic organizations and I just
didn't have the time.
But this one guy was persistent.
He kept at it for two to threeyears, asking me to join Rotary,
(01:55):
asking me to come to differentclub meetings, and I always told
him no.
So finally, after about a twoand a half year period, I
finally went to a Rotary Clubmeeting.
I told him no at first afterthe meeting because the club
(02:17):
didn't look like me.
And he countered back to me ishow are you going to change
something if you're on theoutside looking in?
And that struck a chord with me.
And he also said that if Rotaryis doing everything that you're
doing in the community and youlike what they're doing, then
(02:37):
don't let this be a barrier toyou to make changes from within.
Make changes from within.
So that person sparked me tojoin the Midwest City Rotary
Club in.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
July of 2015.
And the rest is history.
So 2015,.
So you're coming up on your10-year anniversary.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I am coming up on my 10-year anniversary.
Uh, uh, this one person thatwe're I'm talking about, uh, uh.
He continues to pour into uhRotarians across the district
and he continues to advocate uhcommunity service, not just
being a Rotarian, but just beinga a good human being and doing
(03:23):
the right thing.
People, for people and for yourcommunity.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Of course and I don't think he's shy I'm going to
mention his name.
His name goes by Mac Patel.
He asked me quite a few timesmyself and has done quite a bit
for me and Rotary as a whole,and he's our upcoming district
governor.
So I don't think I've metsomeone as persistent and as
(03:50):
dedicated as Mac, to say theleast.
And you're right, our storiesdo connect.
Are you working on Tinker AirForce Base right now?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I'm still currently employed as a GS worker, a
contract officer, with the 552Air Control Wing and I just
manage and oversee all of thetraining contracts for the E3G
and the upcoming E7 aircraft forthe warfighters.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So for the typical civilian out there, tell us a
little bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Basically I'm just a facilitator between the
government and the contractor.
I have no say or no bias inwhat's written in the contract.
My job is just to make surethat the contract's being
fulfilled, that the governmentdoes not impose any other
additional requirements on thecontractor that's not written
within a contract, and I alsomake sure that the contractor is
(04:52):
fulfilling the written law ofthe contract.
And I also make sure that thecontractor doesn't do anything
beyond scope of the contract.
So it's all about people.
It's trying to findcollaboration between the
government and the contractor.
(05:13):
When there is a conflict or adispute on what's written in the
contract and most of the time,99% of the time we don't have to
go to arbitration Both partieswill come to a resolution and
find the best solution withouthaving to get legal involved in
it.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Okay, so you're more or less, you're a peace bringer.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
You know what.
I guess you can call me apeacemaker, but everything I do
is based upon relationships.
Just as in Rotary, it's easierto get collaboration from folks
when you have a relationshipwith them.
The time to collaborate or tofind to effect change isn't if
(05:57):
you don't know somebody.
You come in a place cold orwith no identity to them.
If they know you, they respectyou, they will listen to you and
a lot of good things happenfrom having great relationships
with people.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I like that you bring that up.
It's something that Rotary hastaught me If you understand the
world a little bit more and theplace place in which an
individual is and you know theirdevelopment space tied to all
areas of their life, it's easierto not react as quickly and
(06:36):
make a decision that is tied toa little bit more objective
analysis that is correct.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I think that you, we can speak from experience, but
we know that if we don't knowpeople and we don't know
circumstances, we don't knowtheir stages in life or what
they're going through, sometimeswe will do or say things that
are reactive, that will not bebeneficial to the situation.
(07:04):
And then later on we find outmore information and sometimes
we wish we had not pulled thetrigger so quick, if we had
known those things, if we had abetter relationship with those
people that were involved.
So it's all about relationships, all about getting to know
people.
It's all about doing more thanshaking hands.
It's doing things outside theconfines of your club, outside
(07:29):
the confines of your job,connecting with a person on a
personal level, finding a commonground.
If the person likes sports, wetalk about sports.
If you like pickleball, we dothat Books.
Just find a common ground toconnect with a person and the
world will be yours orrelationships will be yours.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, I like that a lot.
I still don't see the bigpicture in a lot of ways, but
every time I go to a Rotarymeeting or every time I do a
podcast or try something that'sslightly outside of my comfort
zone, I get an opportunity tomeet an extra person or an extra
group of people, so that socialcup gets filled a little bit.
(08:12):
But also in my finer moments Ihave an opportunity to give a
little bit more.
That consistency starts todevelop and the clarity starts
to become more of a constant.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And I'll agree with that.
Sometimes it's a push-pullmechanism when it comes to clubs
, looking beyond their, lookingbeyond their structure for,
let's say, for new members, andtrying to understand where your
(08:52):
new members, or your potentialnew members, where they're at,
in their station in life.
Uh, how can we involve?
How can we change to be moreaccepting?
How can we open up our earswithout reacting?
How can we really understandwhat they're trying to tell us?
And how do we not be soreactive and so egotistical and
(09:16):
dumping our chest and sayingwe've been doing this for the
last 20, 30 years.
It works.
But we also know that in orderfor Rotary to be effective in
the future, that Rotary has tochange, that clubs have to
change their models, that wehave to change our culture.
With the change we have to getwith the technology, we have to
just get out there and be more,be willing to connect with
(09:41):
people across different morethan just different backgrounds,
different walks of life, andclearly, clearly understand
where they're coming from.
If Rotary is to continue tosurvive, if Rotary is to
continue to be one of thepreeminent organizations out
there when it comes to communityservice and willing leader
(10:04):
servants out there.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, no, when you were, when you were talking
about that, I was thinking aboutthe fishbowl.
You know that's commonly talkedabout and you know, sometimes
lack of clarity or cleanlinesswithin the water, without you
know exposing other elements orbringing in clean water, so to
speak, the vision can get cloudy.
(10:27):
And also, you know I haven'tlooked recently but maybe a net
(10:48):
100, 200,000 every day orsomething like that.
I don't know exactly whatnumber it is, but it's
relatively close.
So our population continues togrow and I don't think you know
even a person that travelsconsistently.
They probably get more of thatchemical response.
But the awareness, unless we'relooking up into the sky or maybe
(11:08):
having a deep thought tied to arailroad track or looking out
into the water, some of thosebeautiful moments do exist where
we can kind of connect with therest of the world.
But I think it's very commonand I'm just speaking from
experience so I can't speak foranyone else but I believe that
it's a common human experienceto think that maybe the world is
just Midwest City and it's only50,000 people, or it's just a
(11:34):
subsection of a city out inMassachusetts that has maybe
4,000 or 5,000 people, and wereally don't understand.
Oh, go ahead and we reallydon't understand.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Oh, go ahead.
Oh no, I'm agreeing with you.
Let's go back to Rotary.
When you talk aboutconnectedness and let's say
Midway City Rotarians or DelceyRotarians, or just name a
Rotarian club in Oklahoma thateverybody, you may think that
the world revolves around yourclub.
(12:05):
But unless you start visitingother clubs, connecting with
other clubs, strengthening otherclubs by participating in their
fundraisers, their events, youget to see that not only is
there a bigger, bigger pictureout there, but you also see that
(12:26):
there are a lot of moreresources to tap into.
You also find out that you'renot alone out there when you
have your individual clubchallenges, when it comes to,
say, change, when it comes todemographic change, when it
comes to membership upgrades,when it comes to let's just get
it to a simple level.
You know when you havepersonality conflicts within a
(12:48):
club, they're not germane orunique to your club, but you
don't know that if you don't getout there and experience what
other clubs have to offer inthis great, great world called
the Rotary world.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, no, I love that , and sometimes I get frustrated
, sometimes I think things areconstricted or there's more of a
limitation, prior to realizingthat it's myself that I'm the
limiter.
Uh, but the fact that rotary is1.2 million strong and the fact
that being in rotary actually,in a lot of ways ways, elevates
(13:25):
an individual's platform andgets them to connect with the
other you know, 8 billion plusin the world in and this is my
opinion in a much stronger way.
So it's not, it's not thissectioned off.
Hey, you know, I'm only goingto throw business to a Rotarian,
even though you know that'spromoted internally.
Or hey, you know, this persondoesn't want to join.
(13:46):
Let's stop loving on them.
And I'm not speaking foreveryone.
Everyone has their, you knowtheir own paths and development
stages and stuff like that.
But I think in a lot of ways,uh, our organization at least
from my experiences in thisspecific district it actually
helps us to connect and giveback to everyone outside of
(14:07):
Rotary too.
So it's not just this.
You know this really cool thingthat we're part of, where we're
only giving within our ownstructure.
It's literally enhancing ourability to give to the entire
world, and I think that's areally cool thing and I think
that in a lot of ways, theopportunities are endless.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And yes, I agree with that.
But when it comes to let'sbring it back down to, let's say
, for your membership, I get anew club member before I can
talk to him or her about thisbig beautiful world of Rotary
and and the big worldwideprojects that Rotary is involved
in.
Most of the folks coming inwant to know what is Rotary
(14:51):
doing in the local community.
So I start with you know we'llstart with the local community
and we'll build upon that and wewill build layers of, let's say
, layers of Rotary ship thatthere are things you do at your
club level and hopefully we'regetting our members involved
early.
Some clubs do a better job thanothers.
Some clubs don't do such agreat job, but it's getting
(15:13):
those guys and gals plugged inearly and something
community-wise, their communityfeet wet.
We tried to encourage them.
Or, as our mentor did to us, hedidn't encourage us really, he
kind of pulled us along with him.
He would just tell us Chili,brian, you're going to Cushing,
(15:50):
you're going to Gage, I'll pickyou up at 10 o'clock.
There was no room for errorwhen Lukash Patel wanted you to
be somewhere.
And I think sometimes as amembership chair or as a person,
as really leadership sometimeswe have to be a little bit more
like Patel is that you have toprovide the means,
transportation, provide thelunch, provide everything.
You take away all of theexcuses of why somebody can't
(16:13):
join you in your road toadventure and plus, on top of
that, you have a personalrelationship with them and it's
very, very hard to say no tothat.
So, club level get theminvolved.
Uh, we try to then take them toother clubs and hopefully they
get more rotorized and seeingstuff at the district level of
(16:35):
how things are connected at thedistrict and how I can forge
relationships with multipleclubs to get projects done not
only in in my community but intheir community, which in turn
enhances the state of Oklahoma.
Now they see that Now they cango to a zoned meeting and find
different districts, eight, ninedistricts all meeting together
(16:58):
at the zone level, and now yourworld opens up exponentially.
You see presidents andmembership chair people, pa
people that all have a commongoal, that we all have the same
challenges.
It opens up that reservoir,that bank of knowledge to you
and you now become more awarethat we are not alone in nothing
(17:20):
that we do here.
Nothing has been, there'snothing that hasn't been, and
then it has been done already byRotarian, that I don't have to
recreate the wheel all by myself, that I can go and call my
brother Rotarian and 6110.
I can borrow, benchmark hismaterial, give him credit for it
and bring it back to mydistrict or my club and use it
(17:43):
to benefit everybody.
Sure, so it goes.
It goes back to relationships.
It goes back to, uh, beingspecific and targeted and our
response to our members, andsometimes it's an arm twisting,
uh, and we've learned from themaster arm twister in a great
way of how to how to eliminateobstacles, how to make people
(18:06):
say more yeses and less no's toyou yeah, no, it's.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Uh, it puts me into deep thought, uh, and
appreciation.
I, in a lot of ways, the wheelwas getting me to think we don't
have to reinvent the wheel, butwe can literally use the wheel
of excellence to our advantageand also, in a way, a lot of
(18:33):
what's happening is systematicenlightenment the first
organization that I've reallybeen part of that has not only
taught me how it works, but alsohow things, how systems around
(18:54):
the system, work, like there'sno, there's really no limit as
to what can be absorbed and whatinformation can be acquired.
If I have a moment of clarityand I do appreciate that
platform because it justcontinues to give and it helps
me give in return- Excellent andit also it goes back to that
(19:21):
exponential factor of that.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
By myself, I can only do one or two things, but when
I start combining multiple clubsin a district, if I start
combining multiple zones in adistrict I mean multiple
districts in a zone my smallproject becomes larger.
I can impact a lot more peoplein my community when I band
(19:50):
together, when I get out thereand actually hold hands with my
fellow Orkarians to make changesin my community.
Once again, I don't have toreinvent the wheel, and you said
something earlier.
I go back and listen to it, butI'm going to take that as a
phrase.
It'll be one of my warriorcries when it comes to
(20:14):
membership about not reinventingthe wheel out there that there
are things that you can pullfrom and add to your toolkit to
make your club better, to yourtoolkit to make your club better
To follow up on that thought.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
what plans are in place to tackle District 5750
growth and retention?
Speaker 2 (20:37):
The biggest thing that we're going to do is, as we
talked about earlier, is thatin the past we try to create
events, create new events.
We spent a lot of money on somehigh-profile events that
(20:58):
yielded very little new memberparticipation.
What we're finding out now isthat there are events already
established out there that arelooking for vendors that will
give a Rotary table, either areduced fee or a free fee, just
to set up a table.
Tables and stands with roadiebrochures out at state fairs, at
(21:19):
county fairs, at a fair of theheart at February 26th, february
27th, there's a Band ofBrothers movie that's being
(21:41):
sponsored in part by 6750.
We're going to set up amembership table out there on
those two days to connect thepublic to what rotary is doing,
the connection with rotary andveterans and the connection of
rotary to mental health.
Any club or district that hasan event, we will have
(22:07):
membership tables out there.
In the past, all of theseevents at different clubs, be it
Spelling Beer, be it Ponca CityShrimp Oil, be it our Shrimp
Oil, be it the fundraiser inWeatherford, woodford Gage, we
have never, ever, had a separatemembership table to tell people
(22:27):
about Rotary.
So those are the things thatwe're going to do to get the
word out and to expand thepotential membership net of
Rotary out there.
The second thing that we'regoing to do is in some of our
rural communities, ruralcommunities that are really,
really struggling with a loss ofyouth in their community and a
(22:49):
loss of manpower.
We're going to look at all ofthose different companies along
their highways that are inagribusiness or oil welling and
we're going to talk to themabout corporate sponsorships
that perhaps they cannot send amember to the club on a weekly
basis but they can be partnerswith the Rotary Club in making
(23:14):
that community better.
So those are the two biggestthings that we're going to look
at from a membership team to notonly bring in more members but
also to make sure that the clubexperience is correct, in the
right climate for retaining yourmembers.
(23:39):
Some clubs have a high retentionrate.
A high retention rate does notnecessarily mean that your club
culture is conducive for yourmembers and we can speak about
that.
I know several clubs that I'vebeen to.
I look at their numbers it's100% retention rate.
But when you walk in the clubthe club environment is not
(24:06):
conducive for if you want tokeep members there, if you want
to keep young members engaged,we have to figure out a way to
energize those meetings, to lookbeyond the numbers, look beyond
100% retention rate.
Why are you at 100% retentionrate?
Why are you at 100% retentionrate?
Are you static at that number?
(24:28):
Are you actually getting moremembers that are reflective of
your community or is it just thestatus quo that are just
staying there and as they getolder and unfortunately, they
pass on?
Are their roles being filled,backfilled?
I use the word back, so that'sa bad term.
Do you have a plan attritionplan to replace members?
(24:53):
Do you know what your growthrate is?
Do you know what your attritionrate is?
If you got attrition rate of 7%, is your membership plan
reflective of that?
Are you going after moremembers to bring your club to
make sure that you have theright number of people to
continue to serve your communityand the right number of people
(25:13):
to continue to support our greatfoundation of rotary foundation
?
I think, once again, those arethe two big but great.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt.
Sorry, go ahead, I was done.
Oh, I think one of the biggesttricks to learn and I make the
mistake of doing this too one ofthe differences I've seen
between the clubs with andwithout Atmosphere is making it
about the members and also theoutside world the members and
(25:44):
also the outside world the morestatic clubs or the club
experiences are.
Typically, let's see, you wantto shy away from being like
really negative, but I'll youknow, is it the truth, right?
So that's okay.
Sometimes it's tone deaf andalso it's also too much about
the club or and I might getstruck by the Rotary gods for
(26:06):
saying this too much aboutRotary.
At the end of the day, thepeople that are drawn in, I
believe, are the people thatrealize that not only do we care
about them, but the rest of theworld.
So if we let the conversationbe about non-Rotarians, I've
learned that on this podcast, alot of our district, not to say
that like there's going to be aton of really valuable
(26:28):
information in this conversationspecifically.
I know that I'm 100% confidentof that.
In most of the episodes I cansay very similar things and I
appreciate everyone whoparticipates, but the more that
an episode let's just take it asa kind of a metaphor for a club
the more that the episode isabout someone outside of Rotary
(26:51):
or their experiences outside ofRotary and letting an
individual's imagination connectthe dots between Rotary and the
rest of the world and lettingthem realize that they're on a
big planet and letting theirmind wander.
There's more oxygen to breathe,there's more excitement tied to
possibility.
It's not just you know theprinciples and Paul Harris and
(27:17):
you know I can list 10 morethings that are really important
, that mean something to me butwill take a little bit of time
for the new member to absorb themore that an individual who's
welcomed in or someone who's aprospective member, let's say
even someone who's never goingto join Rotary, but adds value
to the meeting because they'rebringing a story tied to their
community involvement which addsa ton of value to the meeting
(27:41):
and the organization as a whole.
That's the kind of stuff, in myopinion, that adds to vibrancy.
If you make it too much, in thesame way that with two
individuals I've learned thismany times with you know my, my
failed romantic pursuits If Imake it too much about Brian,
that relationship's going tofail.
Even if Brian is important andBrian's my favorite word because
(28:02):
I'm Brian Someone's going toget tired.
So if you make it specificallyabout the club or specifically
about the district, orspecifically giving kudos to too
much of a person and you forgetthat you're on planet Earth,
it's going to make someonesuffocate.
So I think one thing that I'velearned as a New Rotarian and
also as a Rotary Spark podcasthost, is to get excited and
(28:26):
welcome the elements ofeverything outside of Rotary,
because without the world,without the people that are not
members, rotary wouldn't evenexist.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
That's a great point you brought up about.
I use the term rotarized.
Great point you brought upabout I use the term rotorized
is that everybody comes intoRotary.
Everybody comes at differentlevels of what they want from
Rotary and I can't expect abrand new member to want to be
inundated with all the bigpicture about Rotary, polio,
(29:03):
paul Harris Foundation, how tobe a sustaining member, a
sustaining member club those areall great, great, great things
to be a Rotarian.
But a new member doesn't needthat.
When they first come to a club,I think they need to know that.
What is their why?
You know why Rotary and whyRotary versus, say, being an
(29:31):
alliance or Knights of Columbusor a Mason or just name any
other civic organization outthere why do you want to be a
Rotary?
And once we get their why, it'sup to us to make it fun for
them, to make sure that yourmeeting, your one-hour meeting,
(29:53):
that's an investment of theirtime.
You have to respect their timealso.
And how do I respect their time?
Is I got to make that meetingas engaging, as informative as
possible?
Meeting as engaging, asinformative as possible?
If I don't make it as engaging,as informative as possible, I
may have a problem of.
I may have a club directorymembership of 74, but I
(30:16):
consistently only have 31 thatshow up.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, dingding.
There's something wrong in thatpicture that perhaps I need to
look at.
What am I offering my members?
Why do I have such a low whatdo you call that a low
(30:37):
attendance rate?
It should be a little bithigher.
If my club is excited, I shouldbe looking forward to going to
Rotary.
It should be something on mycalendar that I've circled, that
I want to be a part.
I want to fellowship with thesemen and women.
I want to find out what otherprojects we're doing.
I want to find out what I cando to help my community If I'm
(30:57):
not there.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, the attendance is easy to figure out.
I know that it can be morecomplex, but at the end of the
day, if the attendance is low,it means that people don't want
to show up.
You can ask yourself why.
You know, maybe it's boring, oryou can attach really easy
labels to tied to the experience, but for whatever reason, uh
and and everyone in the club ordistrict and or district,
(31:18):
depending on what which onewe're talking about is
responsible.
So, whether someone has aposition or not, if I would say
that it's the responsibility ofeveryone within that group, if
someone doesn't want to show up,they just they don't see value
in showing up, like I don't.
Personally I don't show up tothings that I don't want to be a
part of.
If people don't believe inthemselves or don't believe in a
(31:41):
group that they're part of.
I know that that energy iscontagious and since you know,
as a developing human being, Ibelieve in myself and a lot of
the things that and individualsthat I'm connected with, I want
to be around that energy so thatwhen I have moments of doubt
and despair, I can, I can hit aplatform that springs me back up
(32:02):
a little bit quicker.
I don't really.
You know I've, I've aged enough, I'm, you know, I'm not super
old, but it's all relative.
I want to have an environmentthat uh has a higher morale
because, um, in ways I'm selfishand also, in being selfish, I'm
allowed to be selfless at timesselfish.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
I'm allowed to be selfless at times, but once
again it goes back to what Andresaid in his podcast.
I'm going to paraphrasesomething he said about.
He had something similar wheremembers weren't showing up and
the solution is a lot of folkswant to sit there and just make
a judgment based upon no fact.
Well, they're not coming to themeeting.
You know we shouldautomatically kick them out of
(32:50):
the club.
Andre said to him well, haveyou called them?
And that's my position is.
Before I do any action, I wantto find out why aren't you
coming to the club meeting?
What can we do to make it moreinviting?
And I have to be willing tolisten to that feedback.
Uh, unfortunately, sometimes wedon't listen to the feedback or
(33:13):
we're slow to respond to thefeedback and we may lose members
that way.
So I got to do a better job ofinternalizing each club member's
concerns for what they wantfrom their club experience and,
as Andre also said in hischanging a club culture, it's
(33:37):
sort of like you know you'rewatching a big aircraft carrier
turn in the middle of the ocean.
It takes a lot of room, ittakes time to turn that big
aircraft carrier around andsometimes to change the club
dynamics or a club that's 70years old or older to change
some of the conventions.
(33:58):
It may take time and sometimesthe instigator or the initiative
of the change will not be thebenefactor of it.
It'll be people coming afterhim or her.
They will be the benefactors of, of the change that they
planted the seed of.
So hopefully, hopefully, I willtake that at heart to take
(34:24):
those inputs back to your boardsto make sure that at least
they're being heard.
Number one Can things be changedand implemented?
There's some small things thatcan be done to change the
culture of a club almostinstantaneously that won't
offend your old guard or yournew guard.
I use those termsaffectionately because most
(34:46):
clubs have an old guard and anew guard and that is the
challenge of trying to findcollaboration between changing
conventions that the old guardhas been used to for 30 years.
The new guard wants action.
They just want to do stuff.
I want to do a project.
(35:09):
I'm not necessarily tooconcerned about the meeting
format.
I could care less about thelunch.
The old guard likes the socialaspect of Rotary.
That's important to them.
Younger members may not likethe social aspect, at least not
in that club environment.
They like another avenue.
Maybe let's do a social offsitesomewhere and just let's just
(35:31):
just just let our hair down alittle bit.
So that's the collaborativeeffort that we have to look at
it and sustaining Rotary for thefuture to keep us viable, to
keep us viable to keep thesefresh new faces coming in, these
fresh new ideas, so we don'tget stagnant and we die on the
vine.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
As we've been told many times, if you don't change,
eventually you're going totrick yourself out and become
useless in your community.
That's really good insight.
Uh, from your perspective, doyou have any?
Uh, let's see as as we wrap up,do you have any tips for new
(36:12):
rotarians?
Speaker 2 (36:15):
uh.
But my number one tip for newrotarians is to get involved
early.
We keep saying that's that'skind of a trite, overused uh uh
statement.
Get involved early.
What does that actually mean?
Get involved early?
It means that every club has alist of projects that they're
(36:36):
already involved in that youlike and get attached to it.
If the club does not have aproject that you like and you
have an idea for a project, byall means don't be shy about
sharing your ideas with yourclub.
(36:57):
And of course we talked earlierabout old guards versus new
guards.
Sometimes our old guard may notbe receptive to some new
projects.
Don't get discouraged by thefirst initial response that you
may not be able to get yourproject done.
Work within that club structureas best you can to make a
(37:20):
change.
If you start coming to themeetings every week and it feels
like it's an obligation, youhave to check yourself and check
your club.
Perhaps that is not the rightclub for you and there's nothing
wrong with that.
There are other clubs out therethat we can make sure that we
(37:46):
find the right broaderexperience for you.
Or maybe you don't want to beinvolved in the club but you
want to be involved in all ofthe projects the club is
responsible for.
We will put you on a mailinglist that will keep you posted
on every and all of our projectsthat you can be involved in
(38:06):
without having to be a Rotarian.
Perhaps later on that becomes.
You can start a new club basedon a cause, based on a project
club.
So once again, my whole thingis for new Rotarians is to get
involved.
Number two is at any opportunitythat you have, especially here
in Oklahoma City area.
(38:27):
I mean we're home to about 15clubs.
I'm counting UConn, uconn,norman that's a different
district but we can still go totheir club down in Norman.
More, we have multiple clubs,lots of clubs in our area for
(38:49):
you to go visit.
Just because you can't make ameeting at your club, there are
other clubs to go to.
To build more relationships inthose clubs.
Look at how they're doingthings.
You can say, holy crap, I lovethe way they're doing this or
hey, I like the way my club isdoing this.
But bottom line is you canshare information with each club
(39:09):
, you can bring stuff back toyour old club and you can make
your club better.
Number three is somewhere downin your second year, go to a
district event.
Um, go to a district event, beit pets.
Uh, be at your, your districtconference.
(39:29):
Your district conference issomething I encourage every
rotarian to go to.
It's paid for by your district.
The only thing you have to dois get your transportation there
.
But it's not.
It's another opportunity foryou to be exposed to members
from all 32, 33 clubs in yourdistrict and it shows you the
connectedness of your Rotariansin your district and your club
(39:55):
and you form more and morebetter relationships and
friendships by participating inthese district events.
So that would be my advice,advice for new Rotary members
and once again, don't bediscouraged by if change doesn't
happen fast in your club.
(40:15):
If you go to a club that is aconventional club and when I say
conventional club, when I sayconventional, conventional,
we're talking about a club thatthat sings a song, pledge of
allegiance, a prayer and thefour-way test.
And if those things don't suityou, uh, there are other clubs
(40:44):
out there that don't do all ofthat and we will find the right
club for you to thrive in.
So, once again, don't bediscouraged by the lack of
change in a conventional club.
Don't be discouraged that thisis a sign of what Rotary is.
Just look at yourself and thinkabout.
I can be that change agent.
(41:05):
I can be the person to plantthe seed of change in this club.
I may not see the change, butat least it'll get that big ship
, that big aircraft carrier, tostart shifting momentum and
changing in the right directionto stay relevant in the future.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Sure, yeah, that's a lot of really good information
and, from personal experience,that seems to make a lot of
sense.
For anyone who wants to exploreother clubs, then it's a great
thing.
I transferred within my firstcouple of years and it was a
great decision.
It doesn't mean that allRotarians are.
It doesn't really mean anything.
(41:46):
It just means that there aremany different opportunities
that all of us can explore andand yeah, I really like
everything that you said there'salways an opportunity to stay,
transfer, pivot and create asatellite club or even a new
club.
I'd recommend you know, as I'mfinishing up my second year, if
(42:07):
you're not sure what you want todo, speak, speak to your
closest mentor and kind of mixthat with your own gut instinct
and and and just go with it,because whatever, whatever's
inside that's going to push youto do whatever it is, regardless
of what anyone else has to say,it it it's going to be the
right move.
(42:27):
Um, so oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
No, I'm saying good Cause I think I think my job as
a membership chair is to try totry to remove obstacles as much
as I can within the confines ofmy, my club culture.
Um, if I can't find, uh,something within the confines of
my club culture, if I can'tfind something within the club,
I don't want to lose a person asa Rotarian, especially when I
(42:52):
know that they'd be greatRotarians and good Rotarians.
It's just to find them theright club out there, and I
can't be egotistical to have apossessive nature while we're
losing a member.
No, we're not losing a memberat all, we're gaining a member.
We're gaining a member who'sgoing to be happy in another
club.
(43:12):
We're gaining an asset that'sgoing to thrive, which is going
to make the Rotary better andmake your community better.
I'd rather do that than todismiss a person and then they
have their fist balled up aboutRotary and they won't share
anything about Rotary.
It's all going to be negativeabout Rotary.
(43:33):
Our job is just to make surethat we're helping people to be
better Rotarians, either in yourcurrent club or in somebody
else's club.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Of course, and I like that you mentioned, you know,
holding onto, because you knowwe forget, I forget sometimes.
All the clubs are temporary andso are our lives.
So as the planet, so as I meanyou know there might not be an
immediate benefit to this, butso is Rotary International at
the end of the day, you know,just appreciating the energy as
(44:03):
it transfers through all ofthese temporary vessels in the
healthiest way possible to makethis experience in this world,
you know better, for as manypeople as possible, I mean,
that's really the best all of uscan do.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
I can't, I can't, I can't even say it better than
that, brian.
That's all we can.
That's all we can do, only be.
I can only try to be a goodhuman being.
If I'm a good human being and agood spark, hopefully that'll
rub off on the next person in mycircle.
I can only be that in my circleof influence.
Just be a better human being.
(44:42):
If you're a better human being,you'll have a better community.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
You'll have a better world and life will be a whole
lot better.
Well, that's a great way towrap up.
I'm just going to make a fewannouncements.
I want everyone who wants toknow about any of the events
that are going on to do twothings.
I want you to go torotary5750.org Check out some of
the events that are going on,to do two things.
I want you to go torotary5750.org Check out some of
(45:12):
the events that are listedthere.
It's a combination betweendistrict and club events.
I also want you to go to theclub directory, which is on that
district, and check out eachindividual website tied to each
individual club and find outthrough there kind of what's
going on.
That'll give you a chance toplug into their social media.
If you see that there's nothingor limited information there,
(45:33):
don't be shy.
Pick up the phone, maybe givethem a call.
They might be getting theirsocial media together or just
restructuring.
In some ways.
It doesn't mean that there'snothing going on.
It just means that each club isdeveloping at its own pace.
So a few things that are comingup the Spelling Beer on
February 28th for the MidtownClub.
(45:55):
We also have Pets coming up.
I believe it's March 20th,which will give everyone an
opportunity to learn aboutleadership, and then we also
have the April 26th crawfishboil for the Ponca City
Trailblazers.
Like I said, there areadditional events, club and
(46:15):
district specific, within themonth of January.
On rotary5750.org, if you reachout to the district
administrator or anyone in thedistrict chain really any
Rotarian you can find outexactly what's going on.
There are events that arehappening all the time and I
also want to take thisopportunity to to just thank all
(46:37):
of the listeners out there as Igo through the stats and see
the different regions anddemographics tied to each and
every individual listener.
Just know that, regardless ofwhat pace this project grows at,
I love each and every one ofyou.
I don't necessarily know all ofyou, but I'm aware of most of
(47:03):
you.
Know all of you, but I'm awareof most of you, and I just want
to let you know that I'mthinking about you, regardless
of what direction this projectgoes in, and I really appreciate
your support.
We have eight subscribers rightnow.
We've gotten close to 700downloads.
Every single download, everysingle moment that you listen to
this.
It means a lot to me.
It's my opportunity and, as wegrow, our opportunity to share
(47:28):
the message of Rotary and howour district communicates with
the rest of the world.
So I just really want to letyou know that my heart is in
this and I really appreciateevery single person that's
connected to this world, sothank you for that.
I also want to thank IT Sparkfor being the vessel that we've
(47:51):
utilized occasionally to developthis project.
Rotary District 5750, also 5280, albert Hernandez is going to
be actually as the districtgovernor is going to be with us
next week.
He inspired this project andI'm trying to think did I forget
anyone?
Bricktown Rotary Club?
(48:11):
I'm a new member, so thank you,bricktown Rotary Club.
You've been fantastic.
Thank you for welcoming me intoyour club and with that, thank
you again, chili, and I hopeeveryone has a great evening and
a great weekend as well.
Thank you.
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