Making Projects Bigger Helps Create Bigger Public Image

One of the major concern of the Rotary clubs, or for that matter any NGO is, to have a better public image, a good media exposure, and recognition of the efforts.

This requires responding to community needs, or 'pain points' with specific projects that help the larger groups of people to benefit.

Polio had been a case in point. The project grew from Philippines into a larger-than-life efforts to eradicate polio from the world. And year after year, we have seen this project grow reaching out to much larger beneficiaries, responding to a cause which was a major concern of the people around the globe.

A Rotary club should look at their city and identify crying needs of the society.  If one area needs a tree cover, look for all the areas in the entire city which requires tree covers.  Talk to the local government, the horticulture departments, engage with local schools and colleges, Rotaractors and Interactors, and plan the project that would have wider impact.

Media requires news.  Story that impacts larger numbers. Story, that is of larger public interest. Story that is shared with the media at the right time.

For further help and information just send me an email, Rtn. CJ Singh,Email Me

District 3080 honours Past Rotary International President Raja Saboo

Raja, as he is fondly known, was honoured by the Rotarians of District 3080 at the Intercity 'Look Beyond' organised near Ambala (Haryana) today, to commemorate 100 years of The Rotary Foundation.

DG Raman Aneja described the occasion as the most memorable one, while the chief guest of the day PDG Kamal Sanghvi, Regional Rotary Foundation Chair remarked that this day celebrates the commitment, dedication of Rajendra K. Saboo, towards Rotary, to humanity, to the world, to his country, and more importantly, to his own self.

He is an individual who is an institution in himself, showing the way to the people to 'Look Beyond Yourself', RRFC Kamal Sanghvi said.  In his inspirational address he touched upon the topic of the joy of giving.

It was 25 years before that the Rajendra K. Saboo of RI District 3080 held the world leadership of Rotary International in 1991-92, and this special occasion was celebrated by the Rotarians of District 3080 by honouring him.

Recalling the days and especially post-nomination the expectations everyone had from being an Indian as to what would be the advantages he would bring to India, and his response at one such prestigious reception in the Parliament House, hosted by the then Secretary General of Rajya Sabha, Sudershan Agarwal, provided the basis for his theme.

Raja Saboo recalled that on being asked by everyone at the party, he had to respond that though this position would be a matter of pride for the Indians and India as a country, but having born here with the value and culture of giving to others, this position would be an opportunity for me to look beyond my ownself, for the larger humanity.

"Later, as we were returning from the reception, my wife Usha asked me 'do you know what did you say there', and recalling my speech, she suggested that 'Look Beyond Yourself' would be the perfect theme for your Rotary year," he said.

Applauding the Rotary Club of Yamunanagar for adopting a girl child of a martyred army jawan, he implored every Club to look for such families of army jawans in their vicinity and adopt the child not as a formality, but for a life-time of commitment to see to it that all her education is taken care of, so that the girl remembers that her father is still respected and remembered for his sacrifice.

Opportunities Galore

Every month in Rotary offers newer opportunities for clubs to contribute to Rotary Public Image. 

The Clubs can create club projects of larger public interests during these months or around those activities that impact the community, that can attract media coverage too, besides of course, engaging club members.

DG Raman Aneja has circulated a list of the Rotary's designated months and activities schedule.

JULY 2016
1 July — Start of new Rotary officers year of service

AUGUST 2016
Membership and New Club Development Month

SEPTEMBER 2016
Basic Education and Literacy Month

OCTOBER 2016
Economic and Community Development Month
1 October — Deadline to submit nominations for the Rotary Service Above Self Award
24 October — Rotary's World Polio Day Livestream Event
31 October-6 November — World Interact Week

NOVEMBER 2016
Rotary Foundation Month
1 November — Service Award for a Polio-Free World nominations are due

DECEMBER 2016
Disease Prevention and Treatment Month
15 December — Early registration discount ends for Rotary International Convention

JANUARY 2017
Vocational Service Month
15-21 January — International Assembly, San Diego, California, USA
FEBRUARY 2017
Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution Month
23 February — Rotary's anniversary

MARCH 2017
Water and Sanitation Month
1 March — Rotarian Spouse/Partner Service Award nominations (from district governors only) are due
13-19 March — World Rotaract Week
15 March — Significant Achievement Award nominations (from district governors only) are due
31 March — Preregistration discount ends for Rotary International Convention

APRIL 2017
Maternal and Child Health Month
30 April — Rotary International Convention registrations and ticket cancellations are due

MAY 2017
Youth Service Month

JUNE 2017
Rotary Fellowships Month
The Rotary Foundation's 100th anniversary
10-14 June — Rotary International Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
10-14 June — The Rotary Foundation's Centennial Celebration, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
30 June — Last day for Rotary and Rotaract clubs to report activities to earn a Presidential Citation
30 June — Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award nominations are due
30 June — Rotary Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award nominations (from zones) are due
30 June — Rotary Alumni Association of the Year nominations (from zones) are due

Learning from Rotary's Branding Process

Today biggest brands in the world, like Coke, Nike, Microsoft, have their market value many times over their net worth.   And this is all because of the strong identity, a powerful brand that they hold.

These commercial brands are now being promoted by many celebrities, who infact, might not even be using those products. Or might not be fully engaged with those brands in their actual life.

It is Rotary, in the world of voluntary work, that is increasingly having impact on the lives of the people across the world with their strong and powerful 'product'...the humanitarian service.

And what more.  No brand in the world would have 1.2 million Ambassadors.  Each one of us as Rotarians are the brand ambassadors who carry the values, and convey the trust to the people across the globe with our work, our selfless service, and our generous contributions to make this world a better place.

Rotarians every where are working locally on a global scale to create lasting positive change.

The Challenge
We as Rotarians are endowed with the ability to share the great Rotary values, our strength to tackle toughest human problems, and diversity to bring in expertise to find sustainable solution. The challenge is to continue to communicate our credibility, our competence and capabilities to the world around us.

One simple way is to follow the branding guidelines.  Wherever we put our signature for having done good, maintain the guidelines that Rotary has created painstakingly so that unified look remains universally recognisable.

Imagine how you can profit from it. 
Go through the Rotary guidelines carefully and you can adapt the same process for your own organisation.  Big or small, check out whether your own organisation has a visual identity manual? A set rule of specifications about the font, the color schemes, and whether it is being uniformally translated into your stationary, advertising, packaging, outdoor signage, etc.?

Maintain and follow the same for your Club. Check out all signage, stationery, newsletter, and see whether it conforms to the guidelines specified in the Rotary's guidelines.

Download here.  Rotary's Visual Identity Guidelines.

But again, you would require your MyRotary account. Hope you have one. Cheers!

Think. Are you travelling or...on a pilgrimage?

This is a beautiful and impactful message from Past Rotary International President Rajendra K Saboo which he left for the installation function of Rotary Club of Chandigarh Midtown yesterday.
A must-watch for every club leader.

If by any chance you are unable to watch it here, please click this link. 

It's a Monday...and a Smiling Week ahead.

It’s Monday, and another week ahead to accomplish a lot for the Rotary Smiling Team 2016-17.

Many of you have had your installation meetings while others are getting ready for the same.
This is the opportunity for you to reach out to media, and have the installation function covered.

Here are a few steps:
a. Prepare a list of the media persons in your area, complete with their mobile numbers and email id.
b. Distribute the printed invite as well as send an email inviting them over for the coverage of the event.
c. Make sure that you give the exact time when the programme would start, and strictly follow the time schedule.  Media people, especially the photographers would not wait endlessly if the programme gets delayed.
d. Prepare a background note on your Club’s activities last year, and the future plans by the incoming leadership.
e. Have the background note translated in Hindi and/or Punjabi.  Some of your local journalist friends may help you out with that.
f. Keep the copies ready or have it sent out to the media on the day of the event. (since many of them might not be able to attend the late evening function, the advance information can help them prepare a story)
g. Depute a Rotarian to handle the media people when they arrive.  Note down their contact details, and hand them over the background material.  The TV news channels would like to talk to the outgoing and incoming President about their projects and record their bytes which can be arranged before the start of the event.
h. In case there is a VIP/Celebrity joining in at the function, ask another Rotarian to note down his key message, which should be incorporated into the press release already prepared by you.
i. Email the revised press release to the media with at least two or three photographs.
j. Next day have the entire coverage monitored, and shared with the District and other Club members.

You can follow the same process for planning media coverage of any of your club projects or activities.

Showcase... “Rotary Serving Humanity”.

Ideas You Can Use

Rotary has numerous resources and idea bank that the Club leadership can utilise to make their clubs effective, vibrant, and visible.

The term 'public', for the practising Public Relations professionals, as well as marketers or business communicators, refers to the specific groups of people that an organisation deals with.

For example, you can list out the 'publics' for a Rotary Club.  Take a piece of paper and write down all the 'publics' that your Club has to work with.

We classify these 'publics', broadly, as INTERNAL and EXTERNAL.

List out the Internal Publics.  This would include in your club:
Board of Directors, Past Presidents, Past RI Officers (if any), Rotarians, Spouses, their children and families, Club's staff, Rotaractors and their respective institutions, Interactors and their respective schools, parents of Rotaractors and Interactors, Inner Wheel, other partners in service projects both within the community and outside, as well as your international partners for Global Grants, Rotary International's South Asia Office, and the Headquarter, etc. etc.

In fact, once you start listing them out you would be surprised to know the diversity of 'publics' that your Club interacts with.

External publics, for example, are : prospective Rotarians, neighbouring Rotary, Rotaract and Interact clubs, other NGOs, local community, local government and municipal corporation, media, educational institutions, libraries, banks and financial institutions, prospective sponsors and corporate sector, hospitals and nursing homes, blood banks (if not promoted by the Club), local MLAs and MPs, municipal councillors, etc.

Each of these groups of people, whether internal or external, have typical communication consumption requirements.  In order to work and contribute to the success of the Club, each one of these groups are significant stakeholders whose active participation, and support is sine qua non to the Club's strength.

And this strength, support and cooperation emanates from a positive public image of your club in the minds of the 'publics' it interacts with.

Enough of gyan :).  I have uploaded on this blog some of the Resources that the club leadership can make use of.  Click Here to land on the Resources' page on the blog.

You are welcome to send me an Email whenever you have any doubt or wish to seek clarification. 

Let us use this forum to strengthen Rotary's image.

You have the power for doing greater good in the world

Hello my fellow Rotarian friend: 

As I continue to work with you and our dynamic District Governor Raman Aneja, I shall be in touch with you regularly, sharing whatever little I know, to help you and your Club in achieving the visibility Rotary deserves in your community. 

Public Relations and Public Image has often been used interchangeably, whereas the public image is the outcome that you achieve by using the tools of public relations.  

However, I must reiterate, public relations is not the panacea for everything.   And public relations is not having your photograph in the media. It is a much larger management tool that you can deploy productively to improve communication with different groups of people with whom your club interacts. 

Nevertheless, the time for all the preparations and learning that you have had in the last almost six months through various training programmes is over.   The time now is for ACTION.  From 1st July onwards, the Rotary leadership around the globe has got activated and already many lives have been touched through meaningful projects. 

SHARE YOUR STORY
The time now is to talk about your projects, and the people whose lives you are touching. 

Share your story with the media.  You will have numerous opportunities to get your Club under the media spotlight.  Here are some of the occasions where you must work with the media: 

• Installation function. Highlight the achievements of the last year and plans for the year ahead. 
• Media interaction with the club leadership to share their story and vision.
• Governor's Official Visits, would be another opportunity. 
• Publicise various Rotary programmes like Youth Exchange, RYLA, etc. 
• Arrange a visit of the media to your project.

During PETS/SETS and other District training visits, some of you had shared the challenge of getting the newspapers to report your club's activities.  I shall discuss it further with you in the subsequent posts. 

In order to receive it regularly, just SUBSCRIBE by putting in your email in the box on the right hand side box, and confirm the email, and we shall be linked. 

Please do share your concern and we shall together find the answer. 

Best of luck to you on the new Rotary year. 

Do you want media to write about your Club?

The biggest challenge before the Club President is to have the news of their Club published in the media... especially the newspaper.

Many of us perhaps look at it as the opportunity to have their own photographs appearing on the front page.  May be a personal link could get you covered on the front page; but not everytime.

Media requires a story...a story that they can share with their readers.  A story that tells a human story and the impact of the work which Rotary is doing.

Installation is one such occasion when the Clubs vie for space in the newspapers.  It is more challenging when there are more than three clubs in the city.

In order to get share of your voice in the newspapers, it is essential that the story is irresistible. It is worth writing about.  Either there is a celebrity presence at your function, or you have a project bigger than life.

I remember an Indian tv commercial for bulbs, when the person goes to a shop to buy the bulb; but in order to make an impact in his home, he demands many.  Shopkeepers quizzed looks meet with his prompt quip, "Saare ghat ke badal daloonga" (Would change in the entire home).


Think big...for any project. How can you multiply the impact and reach out to a larger audience. Or something that would touch the life of certain section of the society more effectively.

Rotary Club Chandigarh's #Heartline project was inspired by the helplessness of Rotarians when the patient for whom the money was being collected, died, because the fund-raising took time.

The Rotarians took a pledge that no child should die for want of money. And today, more than 600 free heart surgeries on children have been done since 1999.

As a Club president do you have a major project that would have big outcome?  Can you enlarge the scope of your project idea?

That would make news.  And if you launch that project during installation, that also gives every member in your Club to rally together to work for it.

Wait for my next blog post.  I would share some tips on successfully working with the media. How to think like a journalist, and frame a story like one.  

It would help you also in your business too !

And I do hope you have your 'MyRotary' Account opened.  Lots of Rewards await you. To know more, send me an email now.

You have the power for doing greater good in the world

Hello my fellow Rotarian friend: 

As I continue to work with you and our dynamic District Governor Raman Aneja, I shall be in touch with you regularly, sharing whatever little I know, to help you and your Club in achieving the visibility Rotary deserves in your community. 

Public Relations and Public Image has often been used interchangeably, whereas the public image is the outcome that you achieve by using the tools of public relations.  

However, I must reiterate, public relations is not the panacea for everything.   And public relations is not having your photograph in the media. It is a much larger management tool that you can deploy productively to improve communication with different groups of people with whom your club interacts. 

Nevertheless, the time for all the preparations and learning that you have had in the last almost six months through various training programmes is over.   The time now is for ACTION.  From 1st July onwards, the Rotary leadership around the globe has got activated and already many lives have been touched through meaningful projects. 

SHARE YOUR STORY
The time now is to talk about your projects, and the people whose lives you are touching. 

Share your story with the media.  You will have numerous opportunities to get your Club under the media spotlight.  Here are some of the occasions where you must work with the media: 

• Installation function. Highlight the achievements of the last year and plans for the year ahead. 
• Media interaction with the club leadership to share their story and vision.
• Governor's Official Visits, would be another opportunity. 
• Publicise various Rotary programmes like Youth Exchange, RYLA, etc. 
• Arrange a visit of the media to your project.

During PETS/SETS and other District training visits, some of you had shared the challenge of getting the newspapers to report your club's activities.  I shall discuss it further with you in the subsequent posts. 

In order to receive it regularly, just SUBSCRIBE by putting in your email in the box on the right hand side box, and confirm the email, and we shall be linked. 

Please do share your concern and we shall together find the answer. 

Best of luck to you on the new Rotary year. 

I am back.

Hi friends, I'm back after almost, umm 5 years now.

During the District leadership of PDG Shaju Peter, and PDG Madhukar Malhotra of District 3080, I had the opportunity to share the activities and ideas that our District leaders had in their minds.

But now onwards, I would be sharing ideas that can take your Club from the Good to Great.

And you can because of several compelling reasons.

One, you have just come out of the Rotary year, that inculcated in you the beautiful reality...that you are a Gift to the World.  And you have shown it tremendously well under the stewardship of Immediate Past Rotary International President K R Ravindran, and our District leader David Hilton.

Now is the time to take it further and embrace humanity with service;  to realise that all of us living on this little home (which is a small spec in the vast universe), are interconnected, and more than merely labelled with different tags of nations, religions, colors and what not, we are humans.

So let us shine.  Know our strengths.  Discover our Potentials.  Explore and reach out to the people in need.  And make a difference, for 'Rotary Serving Humanity'.