Among the presenters- -President Elect Ian Risely from Australia and Vice President Jennifer Jones from Canada
 

 
 
Club President Elect Phil Nash attended the 2017 President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) for presidents elect from clubs in four districts in our area, representing all of Iowa, Southern Minnesota, and Southern Wisconsin. The training was on  March 9 – 11 in Ames. The room and mileage were reimbursed by our club.
 
Here’s a short update to let you know that the investment was well worth it. Here are my takeaways:
1. Our International President Elect would like to have 1 tree planted for every Rotarian in the world. It is up to us to figure out the details. I will also be reporting some simple information to international, the dollars and hours we spend as a club on causes, whether in our community or abroad.
2. I have set priorities for next year. My goals are to re-engage existing membership, and to do a better job marketing the Rotary Foundation. During Lauren’s tenure we have begun to focus more on club activities and Rotary oriented service projects.
3. The networking alone was worth the trip. I got to rub elbows with:
 
a. Ian Riseley (Victoria, Australia) - Rotary International President Elect 2016-2017. This is me asking him what his membership pitch sounds like.
b. Jennifer Jones (Ontario, Canada) – Rotary International Vice President 2016-2017, Zone 28 & 29 Director 2015-2017
c. Bradford Howard (Oakland, CA) Zone 25/26 Director 2015-2017. Our club along with the Cedar Valley Club will be reporting to Brad and Niki Scott will be working on a new membership and cooperative club strategy
d. Niki Scott – Zone 28 Coordinator and Membership Director. Niki was awesome.
 
e. Here is the Cedar Falls, Cedar Valley and Waterloo Clubs posing with DG Jim Coloff and RI PE Ian Riseley.
 
I was surprised at the level of leadership that attended our PETS conference. I can’t imagine these folks make it to every conference.
The courses I took were OK. One thing I took away is that we have a larger than normal club, and that we are doing A LOT. You all should be commended for doing such fantastic work.
 
I will be starting an initiative to include the Cedar Falls and Cedar Valley Clubs to try and coordinate our efforts among all three clubs. Not sure what that will look like, but stay tuned!
All in all – this is a very eye-opening experience. I think anybody who likes Rotary and what we do should be in attendance. I got to chat with hundreds of passionate Rotarians that are doing a wide variety of service projects. There is a lot of passion out there that was contagious!
And no, I wasn’t the youngest one there.
 
President-elect Phillip Nash