Client: Rotary District 7980 Centenial Year
Industry: Nonprofit

Publicizing 100 Years of Service

Rotary, the world’s largest service organization, was founded in 1905, and when 2005 rolled around, Akins principal, Pam Akins, served as the Governor of Rotary District 7980. The district covers the four southern counties of Connecticut and is comprised of 63 clubs. With publicity being one of the major thrusts for the Centennial Year, the Akins agency dove into developing high profile materials to promote the Rotary themes within District 7980. This involved a variety of leadership training materials, event promotions, mailings, district-wide communications and conference planning and execution.

Before the Centennial Year began, the agency produced a 100-page district handbook featuring 63 club presidents and 60+ committee chairs. For leadership training, the agency developed training session content and produced handouts, display materials and PowerPoint presentations. The training sessions held throughout Connecticut and in Nashua, NH, focused on separate training for assistant governors, district committee chairs, club presidents and club leadership. The agency also created a free-standing booth display and color flyers to promote the district’s conference held at year-end. The display was used at a variety of district-wide events as well as during the governor’s visit to each club.

During the Centennial Year, agency personnel planned, prepared materials, managed registration and executed two full-day district-wide events: the Council of Presidents and a Mid-Year Symposium. The agency also produced five district-wide newsletters which were mailed to 2900 Rotarians. The newsletters were placed as downloadable pdfs on the district website and emailed out to district leadership. Additionally, 25 bi-weekly e-newsletters were produced and emailed to keep district leadership and club presidents informed and focused on the Centennial Year activities.

To create publicity for the Rotary Centennial and club service, the agency worked with four newspapers, the Connecticut Post, the Waterbury Republican, Voices and The New London Day, on the development of supplements featuring the Rotary Centennial and the projects and activities of the clubs in the publications’ market areas. This included providing contacts for both content and advertising, writing articles and providing images as needed to illustrate programs and projects.

The culmination of the Centennial Year in the district was a four-day conference held in Long Branch, NJ. The theme of the conference was the Rotary Ranger Round-Up which featured an Islands Night, with lobsterbake, Texas Night with barbeque and western swing band, and a black-tie Centennial Gala. For the conference, the agency designed and printed over 1000 color registration forms, managed an 800-piece promotional mailing, planned and arranged for program content, contracted for three evenings’ entertainment, and managed a committee of Rotary volunteers. The committee handled decorations, an interfaith service, a children’s program, club displays, awards, a hospitality room, slide presentations, a conference newsletter, and a service project in New Jersey. The agency also produced color nametags, signage, gift totes, tent cards and award certificates for the conference, which hosted 300 people, including young professionals from Chile and Lithuania.

Conference attendees raved about the conference site, program content and fellowship opportunities. One past district governor, who has attended 35 conferences and even managed several Rotary conferences, said this was the best conference ever!