We're putting our hearts on a 6-foot banner!

The Team

Lennie is the ‘production manager’. Paul is the "creative director”.   We will use the BBRC’s normal designer, Carolina Torres, for the graphic design.

The Process

Now let’s talk about the process.  Obviously this is the first time that we’ve done anything like this, so bear with our wrinkles, but this is what we have so far:  The idea is to tell the story of our dedicated members who are passionate about service.  This is where you come in.  You’ve each identified a particular cause or area of service that you are proud to support.  However, we need two sponsors before we can create a panel.  Once we have two sponsors, Lennie, myself, Laura, and Carolina will work with those two sponsors on an awesome design.

What we need from each sponsor:

1. A hi-resolution headshot
2. One or more hi resolution pictures that could be used as the background.  These should be related to the cause of course!
3. Some bullet points about the cause, why it is important, what it is.  You might include some statistics etc.  We'll be pulling a central theme from this, as well as using it to create info-graphic elements.
4. A quote about why you personally care about this.

Current Status.

Completed

1. Logo / Mission (printed three times)
2. Four Way Test Logo banner (tall)
3. 2016 Golf Sponsorship
4. Alan Pratt (Polio) and Paul Osborn (Malaria)
5. Kim Shrader and Jeff Cashman (The Rotary Foundation)
6. Martin Clavijo (Colombia Water) and Steve Roberts (Haiti Water)
7. Paul Harris Recognition
8. Desiree Yuzawa (Rotaract) and Susan Beals (Interact)
9. John Martinka (Computers for the World) and Mitch Freedman (Scholarships)
10. Howard Johnson/Morris Kremen (Rotary First Harvest)
11. Chuck Kimbrough (Adoption Party) and Steve Peters (Day Center)
12. Colleen Turner (Youth Exchange) and Tanya Franzen-Garett (Student of the Month).
13. All In For Autism sponsorship banner

“A Powerful Way to Communicate to Guests ‘Why Rotary’” and "Why THIS Club"

PROBLEM: Guests who come to meetings are subjected to a business portion of the meeting that is not normally inspirational, and a program portion that is often on an interesting, but not philanthropic subject.  The meeting rooms are often generic, with perhaps a single Rotary banner to let them know they are at a Rotary meeting.  Guests/prospective members therefore leave with little or no idea as to why they should join Rotary, or why this particular Rotary Club is any different from others.  Additionally, especially in larger clubs (ours has 90 members), it is often the case that many members are not aware of all the projects that the club is undertaking, or why these projects matter.

SOLUTION: In order to address this, the Bellevue Breakfast RC undertook an internal PR project to produce a set of seven self-standing, retractable, double-sided banners.  Funded partly from Club admin funds, and partly from individual member sponsorship, each banner explores one or two projects related to an Avenue of Service.  Additionally, event sponsors are displayed on their own banners (in our case, a Gold Tournament and 10K.5K), and several logo banners which display the ‘new’ branding, our Mission statement, 4-way test etc.  Members who sponsored banners put a face to a cause or project, aain why they care, and the main benefits of the service project are highlighted,

RESULTS:  

• Members were excited to have a way to evangelize their passion within the club.  Each sponsor paid $100 for half a banner
• Guests have a better idea of what Rotary is about, and in particular what our club really cares about, leading to (we anticipate) higher conversion rates.
• The meeting room space can be blocked out/rearranged by use of the banners as dividers, which are easy to set up and move.
• The meeting room can be themed (not all banners are displayed at any one time - they are double-seed)
• By taking the banners to outside events (such as our 10K/5K) we can professionally and consistency tell the story of what Rotary does and why.
• The artwork has been reused on our website https://bbrc.net, which increases ROI and reinforces our message.

CONCLUSION:

Professional retractable banners, and the design/artwork that goes into creating them, provide a good return on investment for clubs.  They tell the Club’s story, reinforce the modern and professional Rotary branding, and set the club apart for both Guests and members.