Trevor Pang and Andrew Hogan: Outcomes from changing Club meeting times
Trevor
The RC of Richmond is 50 years old. For the first 30 years it was a businessmen’s club. However, as Melbourne expanded, the club members moved with their businesses further out and membership was declining.
For 3 years the Club held 50% of their weekly meetings at lunchtime and 50% at dinnertime to try to accommodate to members’ availability. However, this just resulted in 2 small groups – the lunch timers and the dinner timers , with just around 5-10 members attending per meeting.
The Club held a forum to discuss a new direction. Friends of Richmond Rotary (FORR) were engaged in many more ways. The meetings were held in the evenings and called a Club Dinner (not a meeting). The atmosphere was changed, and the length of the meeting & the cost were increased. Younger FORR were invited to attend and also engaged in many short projects. There are challenges with keeping up with sufficient short projects for the younger friends.
In 1997 there were 65 members, 2002 – 53, 2007 – 44 and since 2012 has remained at 34 very active members.
Andrew
The members of the RC of Brunswick mainly work for organisations and do not run their own businesses. Thus they do not have much control of available time during working hours. The club has been running 2 lunch meetings and 2 dinner meetings each month. Usually the same members attend the lunch meeting and another group of members attend the dinner meeting. Thus each meeting has smaller numbers. It is time for the club to decide what it wants – lunch or dinner meeting times.
A partnership with Brunswick Secondary College has resulted in a focus on mental health issues.