Saturday, August 16, 2008
Singing
Before I begin on the very touchy subject of singing at our meetings, let me say I was very surprised to see that Rotary International singled out my blog in the "Blogs We Like" section of Rotary Interactive. I am flattered. Must not be much competition.
Well, now lets talk about singing.
If you were at Rotary this week, you know I announced that instead of singing at every meeting, we will sing as a group every other week. This is what the reaction was like.
Seriously, there were boos and cheers of about equal volume. And you know, that is pretty much the reaction I get whenever I bring the subject up, either polling members individually, or in smaller groups. It's about half and half.
So why bother at all? We could just let things be. We'd get by for another year. Nothing would change and I could leave the issue to the next president.
But, you may remember that we did a survey before I started my term in July. Every member was given the opportunity to participate and 112 of you did.
We asked broad questions like, "Do you have specific suggestions for improving our meetings?" or "What are the things you enjoy least about Rotary?" These questions did not beg any particular response. Yet, figuring conservatively, almost 20 percent volunteered they did not like singing.
I am not an expert on such things, but I believe this is statistically very significant. We did not even mention singing anywhere in the survey. So the compliant was unbiased and spontaneous. I believe it is fair to assume there are many others who just didn't think to mention singing but who don't really like it or are ambivalent.
When asked "What are the things you most enjoy about Rotary?", not one member said singing.
Clearly, we need to acknowledge and respect what our members want. Although the survey was completely blind (we do not know who responded and how) I have a feeling the stated objection to singing came mainly from our younger members.
It is extremely important to the future of our club that we attract and retain young members. So by singing every other week instead of all the time, I hope we have reached a fair compromise that honors our traditions while respecting a widespread desire for change.
Most important, none of this is written in stone. This is just something we are trying for now. We'll see how it goes.
If you're interested in my opinion, I kind of like singing. But, you definitely don't want hear me do it.
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3 comments:
I love the traditions of Rotary and really enjoy the singing. ( I think I said that in my survey.) It reminds me of being a child and singing these songs with my family or in chorus in high school. I may be dating myself as a "40 something" but I am sad to hear we won't sing every week.
Rich,
I am the President of Elmira Rotary and I have also started a blog for my year as President www.genxrotary.blogspot.com
I look forward to reading about your experience, good luck!
PS I am still on the "high"
I'm one of those who really don't like the singing. Doesn't remind me of anything really... But, I'd rather spend the time talking in fellowship with my table than spending it "singing" (quotes because I abuse the term if we call my vocalizations singing! ;-).
I, unfortunately, have talked to younger folks who have visited our club specifically NOT joined our Rotary club because of the singing, which made us seem corny (in their eyes) and kind of weird. It's a small thing, but it creates an impression on people.
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