Mark Maloney, Rotary International President, gave his thoughts about the future of Rotary.
We were fortunate to be invited to participate in a Zoom meeting in which Rotary International President Mark Maloney was the guest speaker. The meeting was hosted by Rotary Freshwater Bay and we were joined by the rotary Clubs of Kalamunda, Matilda Bay and Morley, with about 60 people attending in all. Mark is an attorney and both he and his wife Gay are members of the Decatur Club in Alabama. He joined Rotary in 1980, and prior to be District Governor, Mark led a GSE team to Nigeria. Citing Sir Winston Churchill, he said we "should never waste a good crisis", and so Mark urges Rotarians to keep in touch with one another and particularly to communicate with those who have not yet been able to join a virtual meeting. He said that the current situation presents us with opportunities and now is the time to attract younger members who are often time poor, and already communicate in a virtual way. He said we should keep on connecting with communities through service. He thought that the shape of meetings would change in the future with more virtual meetings and fewer speakers. Instead of prescribing to the young people, we should invite them in and get them to tell us what they would like. Ri is also looking at different models for membership. The RI Executive is now meeting through Zoom and although he has had to cancel the RI Convention in Honolulu, he hopes to attract 50 000 virtual attendees via the internet. It was a very successful meeting.