Greater Victoria Rotary Public Relations Committee

GREATER VICTORIA ROTARY PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday May 2, 2013 Bev Hoag’s house at 5297 Parker Avenue, Saanich.

Present: Beverly Hoag (Royal Oak); Ben Smillie (Royal Oak); Joan Peggs (Oak Bay); Jock Halliday (Brentwood Bay); Amy Kezes (Royal Oak); Bob Leitch (Sidney by the Sea); Eric Young (Rotaract Victoria); Troy Alexander (Harbourside); Rashna Charania (Saanich) Guest: Jason Scriven, Advertising and Sales Manager, Times Colonist

Regrets: Harry Abrahms (Saanich); Therese Gaschler (Colwood); Gerry Pash (Victoria)

Call to Order by Jock Halliday 7:10PM

Discussions:

Publishing Rotary Centennial Year Article in Times Colonist - Jason Scriven discussed the requirements for publishing this article. - Times Colonist can publish an 8-page feature if Rotary can find $15,000 in advertising sponsorship. - Some benefits of publishing the article include high visibility in the community, permanent archive in TC, and the ability to overrun extras for keepsake. - Jason recommends we get a list of potential clients to buy business card sized ads (2”x2” ads for $185, 4”x4” ads for $300, and ¼ page ads for $700). - Aim to have materials ready by end of September for publishing in November 2nd (first Saturday).

Calendar - Eric Young will postpone development of the consolidated calendar. Kevin Watt (Harbourside) has begun working on a “public-facing” website for all Rotary Clubs in Victoria: http://yyjrotary.org/. Eric will be in touch with Kevin Watt to work this calendar concept into the new site.

Rotary Fair May 25 - Summary of Rotary Fair: 8 tents on display (PolioPlus, Literacy, Membership, Local Projects, International Projects, ShelterBox, Children’s Entertainment, and food) - Rotary Clubs have submitted 10 years worth of project work – all of which will be displayed on maps at the Fair. - The Fair Committee has also asked that 5 volunteers from each club help to staff the event for the day. Volunteers will be needed between the hours of 8AM-6PM (this includes setup time). Fair is open 11AM-5PM. It is estimated there will be need to be 3 shifts of 3 hours. - Still needing bands/choirs to perform throughout the day. - Rack cards will be distributed. - Rashna Charania requested a budget of $2500 for the Rotary Fair. Ben seconded. Motion was passed unanimously. Note that cost savings may be achieved by receiving more food donations. - Bob Leitch presented the t-shirt colours and design. Committee voted to go for the more boldly coloured “gold” shirts. Cost is $10 per shirt, plus GST & PST. IMPORTANT: all Clubs must find out how many shirts to order immediately. Would be ideal to phone members for quick responses. Order must be in before May 8th in so they may be ready for the Parade (20th) and Fair (25th).

Victoria Day Parade May 20 - Just a reminder to assemble at Mayfair Mall parking lot at 8AM on Monday, May 20th for the Rotary Fair. - Joan Peggs to look into finding a Rotary banner to carry down the parade.

Community Leadership Awards - Troy Alexander discussed the annual Victoria Leadership Awards. It’s generally led by Harbourside, but they would like to see wider club participation. Costs about $5000 to stage. Historically other area clubs have supported it with contributions of approximately $500-$1000 each. Troy is looking to the combined PR committee for assistance with this. - No updates in May.

Oak Bay Flag Program - Program has already launched. - This is Oak Bay Club initiative. Joan Pegg described this project as selling subscriptions to Canadian flags on poles posted on household lawns around and about Victoria Day (May 25), Canada Day (July 1) and Labour Day (First Monday in September) The flags are then retrieved to be used again. The funds generated go to a variety of Community, Youth and International projects supported by Oak Bay Rotary. There is a subscription form available at oakbayrotary.com

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm

Next Meeting Thursday June 6th at Beverly Hoag’s Residence