9 May Meeting Report
RCM Meeting notes 9 June 2020
President Warwick opened the meeting and welcomed members and guests.
Chairman Suvam Ganguli proposed the toast to Rotary International, and introduced the Guest Speaker, Trish Shilton
Guest Speaker, Trish Shilton – Reclaiming your creative power
Trish is the founder of The Mind Gallery, a boutique business that helps organisations to develop and exploit innovative ideas in the workplace. Her start-point for her business was the question: “When ideas pop into your mind, are they immediately followed by reasons not to do it?” She explained that this is what happens with most of us – we experience a reflex action that snuffs out the idea.
The use of painting to trigger the process was not well received by potential clients, so Trish did the natural thing and focussed on football to generate traction in her new business. Kevin Sheedy and the Essendon Football Club was her first client, and his testimonial was the springboard that allowed Trish to kick-start her business in corporate Australia. Trish’s Team Murals are now hanging in corporate boardrooms across Australia.
Why do we snuff out ideas - time/confidence/process etc? Trish asserted that by about seven years of age most of our innovation has been suppressed. But it has only been supressed and can be recovered. “Doing a few things differently” can stimulate creativity – listening to different music, taking a different route to work, etc, The COVID-19 pandemic is a great example of how we are doing things differently on a mass scale.
Trish shared two tools that can increase creative potential:
- A X10 tool to trick your brain into generating ideas – how to generate ten new ideas in three minutes, while keeping your logical brain at bay. The tool is used to create and prioritise ideas, with a focus on the top one-to-three ideas.
- Utilise the unconscious mind to visualise a goal or an objective: tell your reticular activating system what is important to you and to bring your vision into sharp focus. The more people you can bring along who believe your Vision the more you can increase the collective creative potential of the organisation.
Trish was thanked for her presentation by Suvram and Warwick.
Special General Meeting to authorise the new Constitution and Bylaws.
Chaired by President Warwick the new model Constitution was developed by Rotary International and District 9800 and was endorsed unanimously by RCM members. The new Bylaws were similarly endorsed unanimously by RCM members.
Director’s Report – Youth
Elias Lebbos spoke about progress in developing the relationship with Prince’s Hill Secondary College, five students from which were sponsored to the Science Experience at Melbourne University in January 2020. RCM sponsored a student to attend the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra in January 2020, and we supported an aboriginal child from Kerang Primary School to attend the Somers Camp.
RCM continues to support the Silk Miller Scholarship.
Brett Jones conducted his inquisition of Anne King
Anne arrived in Australia as a six-year-old when her parents immigrated from the UK. She spoke about her admiration for her parents in making such a huge decision. Her mother initially hated Melbourne and the family soon moved to Adelaide where Anne went to school at Salisbury high School. It was a rough school, and she left as soon as she could. Anne then spent 29 years in the Commonwealth Bank.
Anne is a seasoned backpacker – England, Egypt, the Greek Islands, South America, India, and Thailand were the destinations for her very first trip as a backpacker with a friend. She has been a member of three different Rotary Clubs – Adelaide, Wagga Wagga and then Central Melbourne.
Club Admin Report
Gerard Hogan reported the following Rotary anniversaries:
Alison Chan: 3 Years – 15 June 2017
Cecily Neil: 5 Years – 9 June 2015
Stella Avramopoulos: 6 Years – 10 June 2014
Member Announcements
Therese reminded members that the formation committees for 2020/21 is underway. Please speak to your committee chair if you would like a change.
President’s Announcements
The Virtual Changeover is due on 26 June – please confirm your attendance so that the appropriate invitations can be sent.
Warwick thanked member in attendance and closes with the reminder that “Rotary connects the world in difficult times”.