An excerpt from the Public Image Zone 8 webinar to be broadcast on Sunday 30 July, 2023.

Article by PDG Jennifer Scott

It was about three or four years ago when I was talking with our Rotary International president, Jennifer Jones that she said “Who are we?” and she said “We are people of influence, people of action and people of purpose.”

What is a person of influence?

Well, we call it an influencer. You see that term on social media all the time now.

But why us? How are Rotarians people of influence? Well, it’s because we make things happen. To make things happen means people listen to us.

One of the first people of influence I know was Sir Clem Renouf, when he was president of Rotary International. He heard and saw in the Philippines that they were eradicating polio in the Philippines and he said, “If they can do it in the Philippines, we could do it around the world.” He spoke internationally to organisations who didn’t actually believe to begin with. And he said, “We will show you we can do it.” So, what an influencer he was! When he got not only the world behind that, because we believed him, because we are people of action.

We got people like Bill and Melinda Gates behind us. We have now got Global Citizen behind us, working because we influence what happens in the world.

Let’s look at malaria. When the government say, we will support you and fund you and partner with you Rotarians, it’s because they trust us. Because when we talk about it, people listen.

And when we do it, people see the results. So, we are influencers.

But to be an influencer, you’ve got to start talking about it and your message has to be not just who we are, but what we do and what we have achieved. So, you have to tell your story and keep on telling it and telling it and telling it in pictures, telling it from the heart.

… Enrol now to access the full message from PDG Jennifer, which will be broadcast on Sunday 30 July. Her message will be followed by nine other guest speakers, exploring the influence we have as Rotary volunteers, working together.

To register: please click ''HERE''.