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Our speaker introduced by the nearly unrecognizable Programs Chair Jay Boatwright (photo left) because he just shaved off his mustache and beard after 20+ years. In spite of that Jay managed to introduce our speaker Mike Reinero who is our current District Membership Chair and Past Charter President of Rotary Passport One.
He is also Past President of the Rotary Club of Roseville which was voted the best large club of the year IN THE WORLD in his presidential year! WOW!
Michael's spouse, Leigh-Ann is currently the President of Rotary Passport one and they have two children who are both majoring in cinema arts, Sophia (20) at S.F. State, and Joe (18) at Sierra College slated to transfer to Biola University next fall. Professionally, Mike is president and CEO of Seatninja, a Front of House Software application for full-service restaurants to manage reservations, wait-lists, seating and servers. The company has installations in restaurants nationwide. Mike is from Santa Rosa who attended CSUS and never left.
Mike said that D.G. Ray Ward had asked him to be District Membership Chair 2 or 3 times and he said “no”, but then, when he thought about it, he thought he could contribute something to the subject.
Mike said that Rotary is growing all over the world except here in North America. In our little old Sacramento, the Region is booming, and population is growing but Rotary membership is down.
A statement was made in that regard in 2012 that “we don’t understand who we are.” It is still true today.
Mike suggests that we, ourselves, are our biggest impediment to growth. The problem is that we fall in love with what we have.
Mike suggested stages in rectifying our problem.
Stage I: Discovering about yourself. Mike asks, “how has Carmichael changed in the last 20 years? In population? In demographics? We need to know our community’s needs. If you want to know the needs, just attend some of the city council meetings. Are other non-profits taking over because they are filling the community needs better?
Stage II: Know yourself. Are you just a bunch of guys eating together, or do you try to put on a show to try to motivate and stimulate members to go out and talk to people about how great Rotary is and what is does for the community/world? How well do you know your members and their vocations and avocations? Your members have a well-spring of people they know who might be interested in Rotary.
Mike says that, in his mind, age, ethnicity, gender doesn’t matter because people regardless can find others who have the same interest and are interested in friendship and mentorship.
Mike said that there should be a creative membership “team” in every Club to go out and foster membership, not just one person.
Mike suggested a checklist:
- Do you have a “creative team”?
- How is your website?
- Are you on social media like Facebook, etc?
- Do you produce exciting messages about what your club does?
Mike says that if you do all these things, you will thrive, so – are you ready to own your own change? It takes work!
President Vicky proudly announced that "in honor of Mike's presentation" a book will be donated to the Carmichael Library.