Dave Curry

Concept Two - Hold Town Meetings

As Governors, especially of large districts, it is a significant effort to attend all of the Official Governor's Visits. While attending the Governors training in Indianapolis (1998), I saw the significant commitment required of those Governors and decided to duplicate that effort in the Montana District by visiting each town that had a Kiwanis club (35 visits) in addition to our 9 Official Visits. So, in conjunction with the Lieutenant Governor in each division, we scheduled what we called "Old Fashioned Town Meetings", Kiwanis style, in each town.

Instead of the traditional Governor Visit topics, we emphasized the following at those Town Meetings:

Kiwanis Local Community Efforts
Young Child Priority One Efforts
Sponsored Youth Leadership Programs & Involvement
Kiwanis International Focus (IDD as an example)
How Community Service Leads To A Successful & Balanced Life
Leadership Opportunities
Who We Are Looking For (Good Souls)
And, lastly, Why Be A Kiwanian?

We requested that the Club President & Secretary provide treats - and that these Town Meetings were an excellent opportunity to bring prospective members, invite the local media for Kiwanis Exposure, and energize general membership for the year ahead. A District Chair coordinated the events, and what transpired was indeed gratifying! At one meeting five individuals joined that Kiwanis club on the spot, one location had TV station coverage (many had newspaper coverage), and at one location the turnout was phenomenal because they had not had a Kiwanis Governor visit their club in over 10 years. Overall it was a success and was one of the items that set the tone for that year. Here are some considerations:

Hold the Official Visit on the same day as the Town Meeting. To really get efficient use of your time, hold a division council meeting between the Town Meeting and Official Visit (5:00 Town Meeting (45 min.), 6:00 Council (30 min.), 6:45 Governor's Visit).
Whenever possible hold the Town Meeting at a regularly scheduled meeting for the best turnout.
Set the meetings months in advance, so that you can efficiently schedule back-to-back locations.
Use Council Meetings to build up the Lieutenant Governor and to serve as a template and teaching mechanismto promote future council meetings with the Club Officers in that Division.
Larger Districts - effectively use the same format for just the cities where you have Official Visits.
Smaller Districts - have meetings & visits done by the end of November to set the tone for the year early.

Sometimes the most effective leadership is using your time wisely to: set the tone; think outside the box for getting new audiences and Kiwanis exposure; create renewed interest with new events; and lead by example.

For more information contact:

Name: Dave Curry
Address: 1204 W Woolman
Butte, MT 59701
Phone: (406) 723-8067
email: Dave Curry

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