Suggestion, made previously. For the good of the order.

As does eClub One, the New England eClub, eLondon and others: Require a comment from all who attend before they can received eClub attendance or visiting Rotarian makeup credit.

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

As much as I desperately wanted to say 'yes' I couldn't imagine myself in a club where I was required to stand up and say a few words after a meeting.

I wish that we could require both a comment AND a forum post.  But I just don't see it as realistic.  

In lieu of that, I wish that a core group could always meet up and discuss and comment, and that through example and leadership others would join in the fun.   

Trying to get without first giving is as fruitless as trying to reap without having first sown.

It does not do to leap a 20 ft chasm in two ten foot jumps.

Steph, I think you've missed my point. Think virtual! We need something that engages all of us. Walking into the meeting hall is suffucient in a terra club. We should expect something equal in cyberspace. We disagree on this, but we agree that many of our forty or so don't seem engaged in the process. An example in terra clubs would be members who sit in a corner watching TV during the meeting. A sense of presence is obvious in the terra club. We need something similar if we're to pass inspection in 2010.

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

Well, I believe that Steph might be right!  It may not be realistic for our eClub to require a posting after a meeting.  I really do not think that it should be necessary to have such a rule because members should be more conscientious about posting.  However, according to Jono, our eClub had an 86% attendance last month.  So, what can I say?

Other eClubs have this requirement. In addition it tends to create a sense that we're all present. Glad to hear our attendance is so high.

What I'm trying to encourage is a sense of community. It would be nice to virtually see the other members. The only way we have of that kind of conversation is the comments, either in the forum or after the meetings.

The other eClubs require comments to verify that visitors have actually attended. Some of the comments leave me wondering? Our secretary can also report that sometimes my time in a meeting is fleeting. However, I have usually reviewed the meeting at least twice while editing and amending my part, the Rotary Minute. So, my recorded time in the meeting is often very short, but at least I've left a comment.

Frank, Joe, Carol, Steve, and a few others always to as well, and it's the only time I can imagine seeing them. That's also why the photos and full names are so important, at least to me.

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

I wonder how many will get involved in this discussion.  I am perfectly confortable with the idea that not many would agree with us, but at least we should have some discussion.  Perhaps we are asking too much!  It may be that I am wrong, but during my academic career we always discussed a subject exhaustively until we reached a consensus or the person in charge would make a decision.  One of the reasons that I prefer an eClub is because the potential is available for us to discuss ideas and issues at length.  Maybe I am wrong, but I always think that I could be right.

I have said this in other places but TO KNOW IS TO GROW. To just attend and be invisible is not what Rotary is about and that is what we are talking about: being a part of a Rotary eClub (which means showing fellowship, contributing to the whole of the organization and serving the eClub.) Fellowship is the essence of that service. We do not, as a Rotary eClub give service to each other and to others outside our circle, play hide and seek with our fellow members. And that is the central point of this discussion. Stephen sees no problems with hiding (that is not contributing even a one sentence greeting or piece of information.) In one of my entries in this forum, I suggested three word responses to what a member was doing for the week (and even that was not accepted as a possible way to communicate.) If, as an eClub, we do not communicate with each other, make a comment on the meeting or the day or how we feel or what we are doing, then our eClub becomes a house of ghosts (etherial and showing no substance.) Rotary demands something for being a member (attendance, fellowship and service.) If we cannot even make a comment on a program (after 86% attendance by all members) then we are not fulfilling our mandate as a virtual eClub. In virtual space, you must document your existence. In real space, it is, for the most part, obvious (but even there, only those who give normally get recognition and join with others to serve.)

I totally agree that we should require a comment after a meeting to show that the member REALLY attended, REALLY is part of the eClub in spirit as well as physically, REALLY wants to be part of the Rotary eClub of the Southwest, USA, a brother and sisterhood of Rotarians who care about the principles of Rotary (or why are we members?) Virtual fellowship is different than a luncheon fellowship (and in so many ways deeper, more fulfilling and more rewarding.)

Joe

Tom and I always print out our meeting, and read it at our leisure, often at the kitchen table.  We don't always go back and make comments.  We could go back and attend again to make comments if this were a requirement. 

I would like to see a way we could get more members involved in dialogue

Carol Anderson

Hi Carol,

I would suggest that you might want to return and leave a comment. I would look forward to reading what you and Tom thought of the meeting. I can't see what all of us wouldn't want to do so. Now, it's as though 86% of our members came to a terra club meeting, but only four of five wish to greet each other, say hi, or shake hands.

The weakness in our eClub, from my perspective, is that we don't have a place to greet one another. The comment after the meeting is that place.

I don't see this as a requirement, but as a duty of Rotary membership. Other's who have been quite vocal with me, will disagree, but I miss seeing their greetings as well. I look forward to a gathering of friends who have faces and names.  

Personally, I enjoy reading the comments from the meeting and return there frequently throughout the week. It is the same as gazing around the room at my old clubs.

Again, this is just me, but I find the forums hard to track. There's a glitch that does not allow quick display of the most recent comment. However, in the comment after meetings, they are all there. All of them on one page. We see the folks who just jot two words, but there are also gems from visitors.

Very few eClub members are virtually present there. As Joe indicated, they may be technically present, but are hidden from view. It would be wonderful to see the responses from the entire club after each meeting.

Here's some thing that terra clubs cannot do! We can! That makes our eClub unique and worthy of continuing past 2010. Think about that.

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

Aren't there more members who might comment? I'm sure that there are others who would like to be present and visible, but maybe they're not sure how?

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

I have said it before and I will say it again now, the only word we need to tell ourselves to communicate and participate in the fellowship of our eClub is "YES!"

Wow, for me to write one sentence is an event to celebrate. Maybe some members would like to comment about my three sentences, "one sentence event."

Joe

PS To participate in our eClub is not a requirement or a bother, it is a privilege (which when not happening needs teeth to make it happen, and then if it does not, we question some basic ideas about Rotary.)

Joe Kagle, Chairman/President, Rotary Global History Fellowship, 2007-2009; member: Rotary eClub of the Southwest, USA and Roti; Professor of Art and Art History, Lone Star College-Kingwood, Texas

Right on! The privilege of belonging to Rotary. As one of a handful of Rotarians who has read everything ever written by the founder of Rotary, I really get this one.

I'm just waiting to see who else is willing to step up.

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA