Open day for principals, head teachers, teachers, youth group leaders, school board members, parents in your community

The objective of an open day is to inform the local schools and youth groups of what is available to them from Rotary (mostly free of charge and with assistance from Rotarians) and how Rotary can help them and the students make a real difference in their community. Hold an open day at all 3 meal times to facilitate the busy schedules of principals, head teachers, school board members and youth group leaders in your community.

How do you get started in organising this day? Work closely with the club membership chair and all the members in the club that have contacts in schools and youth groups. To assist in drafting up a guest list, here is a ‘who do you know, that is…’ sheet, which can be passed around at your next rotary meeting and all the members can contribute with their contacts. At this point you don’t need to worry whether these guests would make good Rotarians, what you do want them to have is contact with young people and to attend the open day to find out what Rotary can offer for young people in the community.

Once you have a list of names, either ask the respective Rotarian to invite the individuals on the list and/or send out invitations with an rsvp number, e-mail or postal address to each name on the list. Make sure you also invite all the schools and youth groups you already work with. The ideal time for posting these invitations is late August with a view of having the open day in the first 2-3 weeks of September 2009.

Then organise a venue that is central and easy to find for the schools and community groups. Make sure there are a number of Rotarians that can help you on the day, maybe even establish a rota for members to make sure you cover the 3 times and make sure they know their roles for the meetings: welcome duty, speaker, registration, tea/coffee & food liaison, handouts & information packs etc. If you have had successful youth project in your area or you had young people take part in youth leadership, young chef, interact, etc. do your best to invite one of them to help you sell the rotary message first hand.

On the same day have a breakfast, lunch and dinner to allow for availability of teachers and principals, which may be outside your standard Rotary meeting times and use the assembly presentation to show what is available and add in any local projects that aren’t included. Make the event free to attend and provide coffee/tea and scone or sandwich, so your guests don’t have to go back to work hungry.

On the day have 2 Rotarians welcoming guests and taking their contact details as well the school or youth group they belong to, so you can stay in touch when news comes in from the different youth competitions and events. Make sure you have handouts and application forms ready for teachers to take away. Keep the presentation short and lively, if you have a young person coming to speak, make sure they also know how long to speak for and what points to bring across. Feel free to use the district assembly presentation and adapt it to reflect the areas your club will focus on for the current school year.

A well run open day may equally increase membership. I would recommend that each school and youth club has a dedicated Rotarian to look after them and not just the Youth Officer, that way the whole club will feel more involved with all things youth. Remember young people come with excitement and enthusiasm that can revive your enthusiasm as Rotarians to make a big difference locally.

Things to mention on the day are the various free competitions, interact, youth camps, Gaisce & Duke of Edinburgh, youth exchanges and international opportunities, as well as local youth projects you already run in your club. Also mention the ‘Thanks for life’ campaign run by Rotary Foundation in the district, which is an easy one to implement in all the schools. Equally project ‘shoebox’ under the International portfolio is a very relatable project for teachers and principals. I have summarised the various youth activities for you in one handout, you may want to adapt this handout to suit your club and include the contact details of key people in the club, such as the youth officer in particular and your regular meeting time and place in case guests may want to become members.
link to handout: what does Rotary do for young people

The key is to make it easy for your guests to take part in Rotary youth activities.