The Rotary Club of Northampton Cuyahoga Valley hosted a prospective member event, “Discover Rotary”, on September 18. We are very pleased with our initial results.
Keys to our success: 1). Have a prospective member plan. Keep it simple. 2). Fill the room with Guests and Rotarians. (Make sure the venue’s room is a little smaller that you need). 3). Use an “ice breaker” to get guests and Rotarians to socialize. 4). Give a short video presentation about Rotary. 5). Then give a fast-paced video presentation about our Club and what service and other projects we do. 6). Follow up, follow up, follow up.
Club members were asked to invite a friend, or friends, to be their guest and learn about Rotary and TRC Northampton Cuyahoga Valley.
Heavy hors d'oeuvres and wine were provided for all guests and Rotarians. Our “Discover Rotary” event was held a Vinifera, an upscale, cozy Wine & Whiskey Bar in a private room big enough to hold around 30 people.
Our goal: attract 10 – 12 guest prospects. 16 guest prospects attended. 11 Members of TRC Northampton Cuyahoga Valley attended … as did invited Rotary members from the Passport Rotaract Club, the NEO e-Club, and a couple of District 6630 officers. The room was packed.
When Guests signed-in they were given a “Bingo” style card to use as an ice-breaker to mingle and visit with Rotary members to find out about Rotary. The Guest with the most squares initialed by Rotary members won a $100 gift card to Vinifera Wine and Whiskey Bar. This ice-breaker worked really well with all guest participating. We planned for a 30-minute ice-breaker. It went on for over 50 minutes before we moved on.
The video produced at the 2025 District Conference, “Why Join Rotary, District 6630 Answers”, was shown to give an overview of what and who Rotary was. Then a power point presentation was given to show and talk about what service projects TRC Northampton Cuyahoga Valley does and what causes we volunteer to help.
By the end of the event, 5 - 6 guests expressed interested in joining our Club and were invited by their Rotary friend to attend a future regular meeting.
The remaining guest are being contacted by their Rotary friends to encourage them to attend one of our future regular meetings to see more about what our Club does. Future follow up will be ongoing.
Expenses for the Discover Rotary event: $462.23 for food and wine and $100 for the gift card, totaled $562.23. $281.11 District 1:1 matching funds have already been received.
TRC Northampton Cuyahoga Valley felt the initial results of this event was excellent. We are eager to see how many of the 16 prospects can be turned into new members during this Rotary year.
Yours in Service,
Ray Krusinski
Rotary Club of Northampton Cuyahoga Valley