Jenny Andrews
President Margie is on vacation, so Immediate Past President Jenny Andrews called the meeting to order at the Harbor Club in downtown Bellevue, high atop the Symetra Financial Center. As it turned out much of the meeting was a well-deserved pat on the back for some super club projects.
Aisha Kabani & Colleen Turner
Aisha Kabani gave the Invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance, though no flag was to be seen. Where was the Sergeant at Arms?
A few guests and visiting Rotarians managed to find the location, and they were warmly introduced by Colleen Turner.
Ruben Ladlad
Ruben Ladlad encouraged members to nominate their children for the Rotary Youth Leadership camp, to be held March 18-21. It is open to high school juniors and seniors. Please contact Ruben if you are interested.
Jennny Andrews added some encouragement by recounting that her son was offered a $16,000 scholarship at Gonzaga; one of two reasons the scholarship was offered was Ben's participation in RYLA! If that is not a wonderful incentive, I don't know what is!
Bob Bowen
Bob Bowen announced that the World Community Service Committee is giving a last call for anyone wishing to nominate any additional projects from which the Committee will choose. There are currently nine projects before the Committee. If you have a pet project, now is the time to send the information to Bob.
John Martinka
Speaking of international projects, John Martinka delivered an update on the Antigua computer project. This will be the third year that Computers for the World will be delivering computers to Antigua. Already 225 computers are ready to go, despite shipping problems. In addition, the team will be taking 2,000 British English dictionaries and, through a nice donation, four to five palates of general school supplies worth $15,000 wholesale will also be going.
The team, including 14 students from Newport High School and the assistant District Governor, will leave on February 9 for 10 days. This is a major activity and a fantastically successful program.
Curtis Cummings
As if the Antigua project were not impressive enough, Curtis Cummings provided an update, complete with pictures of the club's water project in rural Kenya.
The hand water pump that the project installed previously was worn out through overuse. So, the team, in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Aspen, CO, built a solar panel powered electric pump, lifting the well water to two 5,000 liter holding tanks mounted on a tower. They built 4 kilometers of piping with 12 taps to the local market and clinic. It is gravity fed, and the tanks are constantly full, providing full time accessible water for the entire community.
The tanks bear the logos of the BBRC and the Aspen Rotary Club and are extremely noticeable. Local folks provide around-the-clock security, so the tanks and solar panels remain secure.
In addition, the project provided soccer balls in Rotary colors and an island well and concrete floors for local schools. These two projects should make the BBRC quite proud, and they certainly provide tangible evidence that this is truly The Best Darn Rotary Club in the World!
Bob Moloney
Well it was Dick's 70th Birthday, and what could have been more appropriate than a super tribute from his old friend Bob Moloney. Bob reminisced about the heyday of Albert Ltd. and Dick's many contributions to the club, including the presidency, the ugly tie contest, newbie history lessons, and, of course, Dick's guarantee of good weather for any and all club activities. Dick received a well deserved Happy Birthday chorus from the club.
Howard Johnson provided the great news that the BBRC is well on the way to hitting its goal of 175 attendees at the monthly work parties. He is gunning for the Golden Doughnut award again for having the highest club participation. The great attendance so far this Rotary year was helped by Reuben Ladlad in November bringing 40 people and John Smolke, who brought his 43 officemates in December. Another fantastic performance!
Bob Moloney reported that Bill continues to improve and recently spent 15 minutes at Home Depot. Yes many would say that is 15 minutes too long, but considering Bill's recent health crises, it was good news indeed.
Getting & Keeping Customers Using Social Networks
Blaine Millet & Clay Loges
Colleen Turner introduced Blaine Millet and Clay Loges of WOM to the 10th power, or "Word of Mouth on Steroids!" Blaine and Clay provide consulting for CEOs, top executives and business leaders on how to capitalize on social networks as part of companies' media strategy. Their tag line is "Two Suits, No Tats, All Business."
Blaine and Clay presented a glitzy, fast moving PowerPoint presentation that documented the incredible success of social network websites like YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn and suggested ways to turn that success into an effective marketing strategy. According to them, the point that is lost on most businesses is the power of these sites to attract customers faster, cheaper, and deeper. Blaine and Clay see social networking sites as providing word of mouth marketing, which all acknowledge is the best way to obtain and keep customers. The power resides in the fact that the sites have many links among users, not just direct links but links to friends of others that are not even visible to users.
Clay Loges & Colleen Turner
Having the ability to provide testimonials about products and services turns social networking sites into forms of "pull" marketing as opposed to "push" marketing. This means that you are attracting people who are already interested in coming to you (the pull) rather than broadcasting broadly, mostly to people who are not interested in your products or services (the push). This makes marketing much more focused and effective.
The speakers made the point that search engines such as Google have changed the way companies' websites need to work. Search engines take you to the specific page in websites with the pertinent information on it so the first page may not even be seen. That page still needs to be there, but it becomes a library or repository of important information about your company rather than the page that attracts the interest in the first instance.
Of course, even if the sites offer many free aspects, the effective use of them requires an effective plan devised by consultants such as Blaine and Clay.
Courtesy of Jenny Andrews
THOUSANDS PROTEST GLOBAL WARMING
Courtesy of John Mix
A BEAUTIFUL MESSAGE ABOUT GROWING OLD
... CRAP ...
I've forgotten what it was.
