How can district leaders, many of whom serve in their roles for only one year, create and implement a plan for the future that benefits clubs over multiple yeas? This session will present best practices in multiyear planning, based on the experiences of district leaders in Zones 30 and 31, which cover parts of the U.S. South and Midwest.

1. Best Practices
In Multi-Year District Planning
Greg Yank, Rotary International Director, Zones 30 and 31
Elizabeth Usovicz, Rotary Public Image Coordinator, Zone 31
26 June 2018

2. • Multi-Year District Planning Session
• Plan Implementation
• Best Practices and Lessons Learned
• Open Q&A
Today’s Discussion

3. 13of the 26 districts
in Zones 30 and 31
have conducted a
multi-year district
planning session
since 2016.

4. Start with Why
Think of a specific interaction, event, conversation or activity that
made you feel very proud or excited to be a part of your district.
Multi-Year Planning Sessions: Appreciative Inquiry

5. Multi-Year Planning: District Assessment Health Checklist

6. How do you think your district leaders would complete this assessment?
What items would you add/emphasize/change for your district?
District Assessment Health Checklist

7. District Leadership
Increase participation in the district conference
Develop 3-way communication:
district to presidents/presidents to district/
presidents to club
Establish a district award/citation for clubs
Standing district conference committee
*Expand responsibilities of AGs
Explore the possibility of a joint district
conference
Consider a paid district Executive Assistant
Foundation/Service
Have an active Rotary alumni
committee/ disseminate alumni
information
Initiate an annual Foundation dinner and
organize a $1 million dinner
Note: * indicates the ideas that received
the
most votes in dot voting
Common Themes
Developing Leaders
Awareness of Rotary activity in community
Club Visioning
Education and Training (members, clubs,
district teams)
Collaboration/communication
Strengthening Clubs/Membership Growth
Underutilized district resources
District Brainstorming
1-3 years
Training/Information Access
*Training on Rotary’s fundamentals for clubs/club
committees/Presidents (use RLI and technology
options for delivery)
Develop a district training team/expand the
Foundation team (regional reps)
Establish requirements/expected commitments
for positions (i.e., a president elect must attend
PETS)
Public Image
*More public/community awareness of what of
what clubs/Rotary is going
Develop a district PR team
Rotary District Multi-Year Planning Meeting
Potential Opportunities for the Next 1-3 yearsGroup Brainstorming and Dot Voting
*Assure 30-50% of clubs participate in club
visioning Encourage Club idea exchange
Increase participation of clubs in youth Service
Develop joint service opportunities between clubs
and youth service
Bring in new young professionals/engage them in
committees and in recruiting other young
professionals
Encourage collaboration among clubs district-wide
Encourage communication between clubs
Create a speaker’s bureau for club programs
(possibly in DacDb)
More speakers on Rotary/guidance from district
leaders on what Rotarians need to know
Back to Basics – we are the place for compelling
programs
Strengthening Clubs

8. Small Group Discussion and Reports
Increase
Public
Awareness
of Rotary
Activities Timeline Person(s) Responsible Next Steps

9. Pre-Mortem
What Did We Plan to Do?
Expand AG Responsibilities/ Develop AG Training
Increase Public Awareness of Rotary
Assure that 30-50% of clubs participate in club visioning
Train al clubs on Rotary fundamentals
What Went Wrong?
Not staying focused
Putting the plan in a drawer and ignoring it
Not making adjustments to the plan when needed
We didn’t get the right people to commit
Not reviewing every few months
Being afraid to take someone out of a role when they
don’t deliver
Common Themes/Action
Developing Leaders
Awareness of Rotary activity in community
Club Visioning
Education and Training (members, clubs, district teams)
Collaboration/communication
Strengthening Clubs/Membership Growth
Underutilized district resources
How Can We Manage
the Risks?
Have a calendar with our timelines defined
Publish the plan on the website where it is prominent and
visible
Make sure that the plan is always on the agenda for district
leadership meetings
Attach the plan when distributing related documents
Assign specific roles and interim timelines/due dates
Add assigning a champion to next steps
6
December 31,
2019

10. District 6740: Tennessee, USA District 6080: Missouri, USA
Debbie Alexander-Davis, DG David Bixler, PDG
Jim Roxlo, DGE Susan Haralson, DGE
Panel:
Best Practices
and
Lessons Learned

11. Questions and Comments

12. Rate this session in the Rotary
Events app, available in your
Apple or Android app store.

13. This presentation and others
from throughout the convention
are available through the
convention mobile app and on
SlideShare at
www.SlideShare.net/Rotary_International.

14. Thank You
Greg Yank
greg@gregyank.com
Elizabeth Usovicz
eusovicz@kc.rr.com