MY WORD
with Ryan Luckman
Rotary Club of Waimate
Our club is fresh off the successful launch of The Quantum Advantage Whitehorse Big Easy . there used to be a team event called the “ Whitehorse Challenge ”, combining running and biking .
The event started as a germ of an idea 12 months ago , after the Waimate Rotary Club sponsored a new 7km mountain bike track running up to the famous “ White Horse ” on the hill behind our town . As part of Rotary ’ s funding , the directors negotiated the right to hold a joint fundraiser at some point in the future …
Ryan Luckman
So , we began with a sparse brief – we had a new mountain bike track that we wanted to launch and get on the map , plus a goal to raise some funds . I ’ d love to say that the blueprint was clear from the beginning , but , in reality , this was outside the scope of anything our club had tried before . I was chair of the committee … and didn ’ t even own a mountain bike !
Our first step was to find out what other organisations were doing . We found people amazingly helpful and willing to share , both from within Rotary , as well as from outside organisations . While really useful , this new-found knowledge also showed us that we were considering holding an event fraught with challenges . These types of events required huge volunteer numbers , weren ’ t necessarily massive money spinners , brought significant health and safety burdens , and there were a LOT of events already . People we talked to stressed that this last point meant , if we wanted to hold a successful event , we would need a clear point of difference .
It was looking to be filed in the ‘ too hard basket ’ … but , then , I attended a Rotary public relations training day , sponsored by District 9980 . The course material itself was great and well worth the trip . However , what was even more invaluable on this day was the networking . About this time , the district ’ s first In Gear magazine had come out . One of the feature articles was about a Hospice fundraiser that Vicki Mosely , district Public Image chair and one of the training day ’ s facilitators , had been involved with where riders were required to raise $ 1000 to enter . After a good amount of time grilling Vicki , I was pretty sure that having a dedicated charity section could be our point of difference .
Once we had that idea , which we felt would set our event apart and get it over the line , everything fell in place around it . In fact , we ended up expanding to hold a run as well , after someone mentioned that years ago
I won ’ t bore anyone with the rest of the process , but there are definitely a few things we did ( often by sheer dumb luck ) that I plan to carry on with for future Rotary projects I ’ m involved with .
Firstly , we ended up with five non-Rotarians on our organising committee . These people volunteered to come on board at different stages throughout the planning process . They brought a skill set that filled any deficiencies within our Rotary team , but , even more importantly , because they believed in the event and had volunteered to help , they injected an incredible amount of energy and motivation around the table .
These community-focused ( younger …) people are exactly the ones we are being asked to target for membership . Joining a committee structure on a Rotary project will , hopefully , be the first step in this process for many of them ( even if it takes a few years of convincing !)
As we look to the future of alternative membership options , I think it ’ s not a bad way to put feelers out and get people involved , without them fearing they ’ ll have to ‘ commit ’.
It was looking to be filed in the ‘ too hard basket ’ ... but , then , I attended a Rotary public relations training day , sponsored by District 9980 .”
Ryan Luckman , Rotary Club of Waimate
Our second bit of serendipitous luck involved our website . One of the rules we created as a committee very early on was to use the event to help grow the Waimate economy . So , we commissioned Kate O ’ Connell , a local website designer , to make our www . whitehorsebigeasy . co . nz site . It turned out that she was not only a designer , but also had a marketing degree , and a sister who used to run Facebook in New Zealand . When she volunteered to join our committee and run the marketing , we said : ‘ Yes please !’