The Sergeant’s role itself is to ensure the meetings
are well-run to time, something some President’s choose to ignore to their
detriment. The Sergeant’s Session should
be short, fun, informational and motivational.
Far too often it is packed with inane ‘rituals’ week after week like
how far did I walk the dog last night (who actually cares) and
appalling jokes that are far too often borderline offensive and can in some
cases utterly ruin the good work of the membership committee at getting along
prospective members, now never to return. Almost always it is a money grab where instead
of actually getting meaningful facts about members activities they deteriorate
into group fines that really only have a place on the rare occasion. The excuse is that funds are used for those
small worthy applications that do not fall under normal service committee
support and that is fine in itself but where does it say you have to have a fund
target to reach or even that you have to have members dipping into their
pockets much at all ... don’t they contribute enough anyway, not the least with
their valuable time.
OK, you ask.
What might a good Sergeant’s Session look like? A thoughtful joke or quote. Recognition of member anniversaries and
notable successes. A piece of Rotary information from RDU magazine or the
district newsletter that will actually add to their useful Rotary
knowledge. A reminder about some aspect
of club administration, particularly where it relates to better meetings, can
be included as needed but with sensitivity as embarrassing people is not an
option (even if they deserve it). What
about, occasionally theming the session around an event, time of year or just
something ordinary like gardening. The
opportunity to surprise and be creative is endless.
And finally, not every Rotary event needs a
Sergeant’s Session. Can club changeovers
and similar events be about the event without the distraction of the Sergeant
collecting money ... if you just have to have a fun session leave the Sunshine
Fund out of it for once because even though you have lots of partners and
others along you can be assured, they have already paid enough to be there!
