Service is our message, our mission

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. In the US, it is a day to celebrate his life and

accomplishments and to acknowledge the importance of inclusion and the civil rights movement. It has also become a day of service and an opportunity to encourage people to get involved in their communities. Many of King's inspirational speeches have been reduced to memorable quotes. Among them are some of my favorites:

• Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'
• Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
• The time is always right to do what is right.
• Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

This year, I've added another to my list of favorites. For me, it explains why we get involved in our community by joining with others in a service club. King said, 

"Everyone can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve...You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

Service above self sets the tone for all I strive to accomplish as a club, district and international leader for Optimist International. It is my hope to inspire others to organize and make a positive impact on their communities by analyzing needs and making plans to satisfy those needs. As citizens, it is our responsibility to make our communities better.

In his farewell address to the nation, US President Barack Obama expressed the same idea. He spoke of the most important office in a democracy: Citizen. He said,

"It falls to each of us to be those those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy; to embrace the joyous task we've been given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. Because for all our outward differences, we, in fact, all share the same proud title, the most important office in a democracy: Citizen.  Citizen. 

So, you see, that's what our democracy demands. It needs you. Not just when there's an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime. If you're tired of arguing with strangers on the Internet, try talking with one of them in real life.  If something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do some organizing.  If you're disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself.  Show up. Dive in. Stay at it.

Sometimes you'll win. Sometimes you'll lose. Presuming a reservoir of goodness in other people, that can be a risk, and there will be times when the process will disappoint you. But for those of us fortunate enough to have been a part of this work, and to see it up close, let me tell you, it can energize and inspire."

President Obama's message was, of course, aimed at the citizens of the United States. I believe his message, and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s message before him, apply to the world. We must be involved in our communities. We must take responsibility for our own well-being.We must help make the world better for others.

I recommend sharing that service with friends as part of an Optimist Club. Together we can. Together we will.

Click here to find an Optimist Club near you and join.

Young members bring more service to youth

We hear too many stories about how people, especially young, millennial generation individuals, are not joining service clubs. I'm happy to report that is not the case in the Optimist Clubs of Jamaica.

This picture, contributed by the Optimist Club of Mammee Bay in St. Ann, Jamaica shows a youthful surge in membership. All were inducted at their recent installation banquet where they also heard from  Debbian Livingstone-Edwards, legal and policy officer at the Office of the Children's Advocate. Ms. Livingstone-Edwards explained the importance of positive role models in the development of youth.

"As parents and guardians and teachers and community leaders we cannot sew peas and expect to reap corn. Our children are likely to reproduce the values we teach them by our own interaction, conduct and philosophies," she explained.

The Optimist Club of Mammee Bay has identified a school in the community that it will work more closely with in the coming year as it continues to serve the youth. 

Photo courtesy of the Optimist Club of Mammee Bay. 

Can less really equal more?

I have always been a proponent of weekly meetings for service clubs. The primary reasons for weekly meetings, in my mind, are that it establishes a routine and if someone misses one meeting, they can quickly be brought up-to-date the next week. But let's face it, commitments and communication processes have changed since service clubs were established in the early part of the 20th Century. More activities vie for our time and interest and as we have become more adept at multitasking, we know that we can be committed to a cause just from an email.

Perhaps it is time to rethink the weekly meeting calendar.

According to Rotary International, it ran a pilot program from 2007 to 2013 to see if fewer meetings made Rotary Clubs more or less successful. Their results? Less equals more.

The study showed that biweekly meetings were linked to a higher rate of membership growth. Additionally, the 200 clubs involved in the pilot program increased their fundraising and community service capabilities at a higher rate than their counterparts that met on a weekly basis.

I've already shared this statistic with the Middleton Area Optimist Club, my home club, and it is considering adopting this new schedule in October for the new administrative year. One member commented, "Our projects will bring us together on the off-weeks!"

Well, maybe not every week, but I think the projects round out the value of belonging to the group and it is a step that will keep the club fresh, vital and active.

Service clubs are built to last

We are frequently told that service clubs are a dying breed, beginning with Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, published in 2000, and continuing with the mindset of many volunteer leaders and workers today.

Putnam's book was subtitled "The Collapse and Revival of American Community." My thoughts today lie in that second verb - revival. You see, I don't believe that service clubs ever collapsed; however, I know that many individuals who made up service clubs were a number of distressing things.

First, they were exclusive. That's right, men made up the service club foundation and their spouses were invited to play along only at social occasions. When women began to be more visible in the workforce, men were slow to adapt to working alongside ladies in the pursuit of good. Truth be told, they probably just didn't want to eat lunch next to them, for whatever reason, and women weren't invited to join the local service club.

When pushed, the Supreme Court said ladies had to be allowed to join and then the service clubs shed many of those men who were set in their ways, many of whom were long-time members. Those men were selfish. They didn't want to share their network, nor the social good they provided, with all. I'll refrain from actively stating that those men disregarded basic human rights. It was just a time of change in our culture, where women and African-Americans were making small steps towards parity and those who didn't like progress demonstrated their distaste by removing themselves as a form of protest.

However, ladies and other minorities joined and that is when the revival began. The pace is insufferably slow, but it is a revival nonetheless as new clubs are built, members are added and more projects are conducted. Service clubs provide community service on a local level every day in cities and regions all around the world.

That revival is to be celebrated. And that is what the Gardena Evening Optimist Club in California plans to do. On Saturday, February 22, 2014, it will hold its 50th Anniversary party. Charter members Herb Kawahara, Burt Nakamura and Sho Hiraizum will be honored.

Now that's a revival, or perhaps just recognition, that some service clubs are built to last.

Enthusiasm, the new metric driving social good

At the Social Good Summit, held at the United Nations September 22-24, 2013, Jean Case stated that the Case Foundation defines philanthropy as any active effort that promotes human welfare.

Using that definition, ideas shared through the variety of social media platforms are considered equally as powerful, purposeful and necessary as money. This is a big shift in thinking that organizations like Optimist Clubs must embrace.

So often I hear Optimist Club leaders saying, "We could do more if we had more money." Or a variation of that theme is, "We could do more if we had more members." While both may be true, and while both may go hand-in-hand, it is important that we remember no matter the size of our group, we, as individuals, have something that is more engaging to share: our enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm drives interest. When I see someone's enthusiasm for a project, I want to know more and of course I want to see them succeed. If their enthusiasm is for a group or organization, again, I want to know more and I might even want to join. However, joining is going to be a subjective decision based on how well I can answer questions like:

• Will my participation make a difference?
• Is there a need for my skills?
• What else does the group do? 
• Are these people I want to associate with? 
• Will belonging make me happy?
• Is it easy to join? 

There are more questions inside those questions and some can be answered outright while others will be answered on instinct. However, that enthusiasm quotient is going to be a driving force in my decision.

In public relations practice, gaining publicity for one's client or employer is a prime directive. Rotary International has just spent millions of dollars revamping its website and molding its appearance to appeal to the contemporary audience. Much of its work highlights the enthusiasm that individual members share for their cause and how that passion has been unified by membership in the organization. Rotary is promoting the personal stories of its members in order to gain impetus for performing activities that promote universal social good through its well-organized club model. I applaud its efforts. 

But I also believe that enthusiasm is more authentic and more easily transferred when promoted on a local level. As much as I embrace the opportunity to connect with others across the globe that the social web offers, it takes smaller groups of people, passionately sharing their enthusiasm for their cause, to raise awareness at home to solve local problems. Eventually, they will connect with others who share similar interests on a regional, national and an international level. However, reaching out to the international level immediately overlooks the needs at home and when we ignore that, we lose our foundation. 

Service clubs have long served as the foundation from which social good emanates.  And through the social web, the ability of their members to share their enthusiasm and make a difference has been heightened. I hope that means their appeal is on the rebound as well. 

Click here to find out how to join an Optimist Club in your community. 

 

  

Just like us

I haven't weighed in on Twitter or Facebook with my opinion about gay marriage by changing my avatar, but to be absolutely clear, I support it and I always have.

Does a post about gay marriage belong on this blog? Some would debate that it does not, but from my perspective, I am for equality for all in every aspect of our lives. I've talked about that frequently by pointing out how long it took for service clubs to allow women to join their ranks. On International Woman's Day, I discussed how even women can keep women down. It's inconceivable to me that as human beings we would want to keep anyone down for any reason.

Last weekend, I finally went to the theater to see Django Unchained. I'm not a Quentin Tarantino fan, so I had put off seeing it longer than I would normally do for an award-winning film. I absolutely enjoyed the movie, even more than the other film that dealt with human rights last year, Lincoln.

The movies shared the same message: for more than 150 years, black people, or African-Americans if you prefer, have struggled to be equal. Women suffrage movements began about the same time, yet today women and other minorities are still struggling for equality. Moving forward with gay marriage rights must happen now for it will still take years for it to be accepted by all. Proclaiming human rights through the judicial system is only part of the battle. The practice must become part of the mainstream culture as well.

Service clubs should be part of the culture that leads the way. Service clubs must be intolerant of intolerance, and demonstrate that message by opening their doors to more diverse members, partners, and stakeholders. We know that our lives are richer when we broaden our circle of friends; and likewise, our community service will be more meaningful when we embrace and empower those who are different, yet still, just like us.

If you want me to participate, call me

Earlier this week I looked at attendance vs. membership issues in service clubs. One of the key points that stood out to me was that we, as service club leaders, have to be connected to our members. Whether we use email, text, Facebook or another social media tool, or that old fashioned medium known as the telephone, we have to communicate with them if we expect them to want to participate. How else will they know what is going on?

In honor of that significant point, I've chosen, "Call Me," by Blondie as the Music Sunday video at Experience Optimism. It's a pretty simple message. Now go do it with your Optimist Club members. Now.


 

Membership and attendance are not the same thing

At meetings of your service club, you regularly see 20 of your 40 members. Is that a good statistic or a poor statistic?

I believe that if 50% of your membership participates, it is successful. Club meetings suffer from a lot of excuses; they are tough to get to, don't appeal to everyone, the meeting agenda is too busy or not busy enough, and the menu is unappealing are just some of the usual complaints. Lately, I've also heard a lot of this excuse: there is no time for networking. No, you can't appeal to everyone, but that doesn't mean that you and your club leadership shouldn't try. 

During a recent discussion on LinkedIn, Optimist Club members shared some of their ideas for increasing attendance at club meetings. They said that their clubs regularly do the following: 

• Be sure that the speakers programs have a variety of presentations and that children and students are included in the mix. Invite parents and school officials to attend when students are present
• Student of the Month program
• Phone call tree to remind members to attend
• Prominently feature community members including military, law enforcement and others
• Serve home-cooked meals; share the responsibility with all members to provide a meal for the group
• Fellowship meetings where club members spend time getting to know one another
• Raffle tickets for free meals 
• Meet at various times, i.e., hold an evening meeting once per month to supplement the regular morning or noon meetings
• Post the meeting schedule on Facebook and email members to remind them
• Spotlight a member at least once a month so they can tell about themselves and their business

However, the conversation came to a rather abrupt halt when one participant wrote, "Good attendance starts with the selection of the potential new members. If they are unable or unwilling to attend the regular meetings and the club activities then you have a membership problem, not, an attendance problem!"

Oh my. I couldn't disagree more. People join a group because they have an affinity for the cause or people involved in the cause. That doesn't mean that they will always, or for that matter, ever, participate. It's up to your club, and especially the new member sponsor, to help them become engaged. 

We have to take notice of the new member and treat them with special care because that "meeting stuff" is very likely not on their list of things to do because of the reasons mentioned above. That's an attendance issue.  We have to take equal care with our existing members because at different times in their lives, the reasons mentioned as well as life events will take precedence in their lives. That's an attendance issue.

So put the gimmicks aside, my friends. Make the meeting relevant, transparent, and time conscious and then add in a little fun and you'll find that your members want to attend. In fact, they won't want to miss, but when they do, they will still maintain their membership because they want to be associated with your club even when they can't participate. 

Volunteering for cupcakes

DoSomething.org, the organization whose mission is to introduce young people to community service and to empower them to lead with their creative ideas, recently asked its followers what they do to save money on food. They received a number of creative answers, and one of was, "Join a club because they have free snacks."

One might be left to wonder if that is really true; do young people join clubs for free food?  I know from experience that I get more volunteers to show up when I offer free pizza. What does that mean for membership associations, especially those traditional-model service clubs that meet over meals? I think it means that a young person is not likely to join because they are saving money. Reminder to those who want to question what young people are saving money for: it doesn't matter because it is their money to be used on their priorities.

But aside from the humor that I find in this anecdote, I have to say that I am also concerned. Some of the other money saving strategies were "Stock up on free condiments," and "I buy a hamburger, eat half of it and then complain that it wasn't good enough and I get my money back." Both of these tactics indicate a lack of ethics. While these particular money-savers might need the good values offered by a service club, I posit that they are not likely to have the moral persuasion to join and give of themselves in service because they have indicated a personality that takes what is not rightfully theirs.

Service clubs are always on the lookout for younger members. I'm happy to say that this humorous story offered some hope. Among the good ideas were, "Eat only what is in the house," "Stop buying name brands," and "Cook instead of eating out." Well what do you know, maybe there is hope for the millennial generation after all.

Ask your daughter to join an Optimist Club today

Since yesterday was International Women's Day, I'm a day late with this thought, but it doesn't matter; it's important that this suggestion take place every day and not just once a year. Today is the day for fathers and mothers to call their daughters and ask them to join an Optimist Club.

I wanted to join the Optimist Club of Granite City, Illinois long before the Optimist Club wanted a woman to join. Year after year, during their membership drive, they would visit my dad and ask him to join. His response was always, "No, but Linda would like to."

They always said that they would get back to us on that.

It took about five years for them to finally get back to us. Membership in all service clubs was declining by that time, but that didn't matter to me. I came with enthusiasm, and after a few years in the club was asked to be its president. We increased membership by five members that year and progressively made increases each year after that until I moved to another community.

This story isn't about me. It is about what an enthusiastic member can bring to a struggling club and how those enthusiastic members are often just waiting for the chance to be recognized.

Women are overlooked in service clubs, the workplace, and other settings for a variety of reasons. Some often consider service clubs to be "old boys clubs" and perhaps there is a little truth in that stereotype, but as International Women's Day points out, the inequality between men and women is pervasive throughout our societies. But it doesn't have to be.

Women need sponsors to help them find a level playing ground. That sponsor might be another woman who's made it, or not; or a progressive male colleague. And as much as we might wish we could make it on our own, the sponsor might even turn out to be a parent who helps their child - their female child - make the right connections.

I think one of the right connections is a service club. So do it. Ask your daughter to join an Optimist Club today.

In service, age is not the relevant factor

I love this answer. Optimist Clubs and other service organizations fear that they are "graying." In other words, as baby boomers continue to age, the average age of a service club member continues to rise. In some circles it becomes a great topic of discussion as members lament what they might do to stop this progression. In some remote fear, I believe they think that the lights will turn out when the last one dies.

As an answer to this question, one woman recently deadpanned, "The best way to bring down the average age in a club is to induct more women because, as everybody knows, women never get older than 39."

The answer made me laugh, but more important, the answer is true. Women don't worry about their age when it is time to serve others. They find a way to complete their task and usually  make everyone feel better by doing it. Men, well, not so much. Men are more used to being in leadership positions and it isn't so easy for them to step aside and let others take the reins, provide creativity and assume responsibility.

However, if our service clubs are to survive, and I believe they will, we must acknowledge that it is not our service clubs that are growing older; it is our society. Call it the Graying of America. This graph by the US Census Bureau shows Americans aging at a staggering rate.

According to The Fiscal Times, as of 2010, 24% of the US population is over 50 years of age, while 17 million Americans are between the ages of 75 and 85. By 2050, it claims that there will be more 30 million individuals over 75 years old.

We live longer and healthier lives today than our ancestors, those who started our service clubs with great purpose to serve. I can't imagine that our founders of Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions and Optimist Clubs envisioned a time that an individual would be too old to participate and I can't either.

It's time we stop worrying about the age of our members and put more effort into the programs that make our individual clubs relevant to the communities they serve. Relevance, combined with the "find a way" mindset of the 39-year-old woman, will help our clubs grow in members and and service. I venture to say, it might just help them to decrease in average age as well.

Be inviting, always

Attracting new members to service clubs presents an ongoing conundrum. It's both hard and easy to do. After all, we belong to a service club, be it Optimist, Rotary, Kiwanis or Lions, among others, because the association meets our needs. When it stops meeting our needs, or when we start missing meetings, it is time to take a look at the formula. If it's not meeting our needs, how can we expect it to meet the needs of others? 

I'm watching a discussion on a LinkedIn group about attracting new members to a Rotary Club where one poster has written: 

For attracting new members, there is no single formula or capsule that a club can adopt. The club has to approach the situation from all directions. 

• The weekly meetings should be interesting 

• The weekly programs should benefit the members and match up to their expectation 

• The club has to do good and effective service projects in the community 

• The club should have a good and effective PR campaign

• The members should invite their friends and acquaintances to the meeting to join

• The members should have a good networking in the community

• The members should invite their friends in social network who are there in the same city

The word that comes to mind from this post is "inviting." Your club has to be known, be seen and provide an open, welcoming environment to all; but perhaps most important is your personal responsibility to the club. You have to be inviting as well. Literally, you have to be inviting those you meet to experience the club, its projects and programs, and to join.

Simple reminder, friends: just ask someone to join you and your service club and then work together with them and other members to ensure it meets their needs. When you include new people and proactively work to meet their needs, you'll find a formula to help your club constantly improve and remain relevant to all.

Just be inviting and your service club will grow.

Do good and grow

Service clubs spend a lot of time wondering, pontificating and stressing about how to get new members. Well, wonder no more. A recent post on a Kiwanis blog hit the nail on the head and I'm going to share the secret with you.

At Alan's Alley on Tumblr, Alan Arbuckle writes, "People join because they like what a club does in the local community."

He then goes on to say, "New members join because they like the atmosphere and the members. They want to be involved in meaningful projects that make them feel good about their experience. Young adults want to have hands-on projects. They want to be accepted as equals; to know their ideas are valid."

It's a pretty simple concept; the key to membership growth in your service club is to provide the services or projects that your local community needs and wants. Inherently, people like to be associated with good. Most want to make a difference, or at least not stand in the way of those who do.Those are the individuals that will join your cause if you just ask.

So if there is a second secret to share, it is, just ask. Do good and ask others to join you and your club will grow. I promise.

Service clubs go to the Fair

It's Fair Time in Johnson County, Indiana and that means the service clubs are about to make some big money. That includes the Optimist Club of Center Grove-Bargerville that is selling "Beaver Tails" at this year's event.

What's a beaver tail? According to sources, a beaver tail is a cross between an elephant ear and a doughnut. This trademarked delicacy can only be purchased during the Johnson County Fair and only from the Optimist Club.

The club expects to raise more than $7,000 at the fair in 2012. The money is earmarked for youth projects, specifically scholarships, scouting trips and the girls basketball team.

Other organizations, including Kiwanis and Shriners make a similar amount each year from their food booths at the fair. Gateway Services, however, garners about $15,000 annually as the only organization selling lemon shake-ups.

Service clubs benefit from the fair-goers and the community benefits from all.

Thanks to the Center Grove-Bargerville Optimist Club for the photo and story.

How to communicate emotion

I was thinking about writing this post yesterday, well before I saw this graphic depicting communication styles through the ages. Provided by moo.com, one can see that we have long shared stories and that those stories have been largely accentuated by pictures, beginning with, you guessed it, cave paintings.

Please click to enlarge

My take on the picture and infographic medium is much less historic. Actually, it might even be considered a rant. You see, some of my Facebook friends have become oversharers of tacky pictures embedded with motivational sayings, unbelievable claims, political and religious messages and jokes, both good and bad. Sometimes I want to scream at them to please stop; and sometimes I just smile or shake my head. Always, I move on.

Putting my rant aside, it should be fairly easy to grasp that the old saying, " a picture is worth a thousand words," is alive and well and living in the social media sphere. Service clubs like Optimist International, Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions are just beginning to accumulate written stories about the good deeds that are performed by their clubs and club members around the world. I was wondering what would happen if they were to give up on the collection of stories and publish pictures instead?

Pinterest has grown on the premise that the pictures are the story.  While I am still undecided on the ethics  or legality of pinning and repinning what may be copyrighted material, I started a few pinboards because one can't understand the issues if she only participates from the sidelines.

But what if the aforementioned organizations, and others, were to generate visual content and then extend the rights to republish it with attribution to their members? Think of the great awareness that would snowball through the ranks of the organization and around the world.

Pictures evoke emotion. Organizations, especially service clubs, thrive on the emotional connection that members have with its purpose. As potential members, we want to see what it looks like to be involved. As members, we want to have our positive feelings reinforced.

As advocates, activists and recruiters to our causes, we want content to share and the easier that content is to share, the better. Pictures, as Facebook and Pinterest have confirmed, are easy to share.

A study on money and happiness

What does $5.00 look like to you? According to Michael Norton, Associate Professor, Business Administration at Harvard University, college students think that $5.00 looks like a cup of coffee and that cup of coffee is likely to be purchased from Starbucks.

Professor Norton spoke recently at TEDxCambridge and his topic looked at spending habits of college students, among others, to determine if money really could buy happiness. The conclusion - most service club members know this already - money does buy happiness when you spend it on someone else.

In this TED talk, "How to buy happiness," Professor Norton discusses research that was conducted on college campuses and compares it to research from other settings around the world. Please watch and learn what makes people happy including college students with an extra five dollar bill.

Sometimes you have to feel the difference

There is a perception in this world that we think and say, "What's in it for me?" Actually, it is more of a reality. Fifty years ago, it was normal to join a group like an Optimist Club in order to give something back to the community. Today, potential and existing members evaluate the time that they will have to give to attend meetings and projects and look for how their involvement will advance their career.

Rarely do individuals examine the social nature of belonging and I find that even after many years of participating, I still have trouble putting it into words succinctly. The experience is different for each individual, but for me, belonging to an Optimist Club means that I have:

• The opportunity to learn about what is happening in my community from learned experts during presentations at club meetings
• A social group that shares similar values and goals
• A network of peers that I work with to conceive and perform projects that make our community a great place to live
• Knowledge and appreciation of the work performed by others in order to collaborate, not duplicate, efforts
• An increased awareness of local, national and international challenges
• The willingness to take the steps to make a difference. 

In writing this post, it comes to my mind that making a difference should not be the key motivator for service for the words imply that there are immediate benefits to our actions when we volunteer our time. It belies the reality that time, planning, fundraising, and other critical steps must be taken by someone in order for everyone to realize the benefits of action; not to mention it ignores that there are consequences of inaction or misguided action. 

That is why nonprofit and charitable organizations persist. It's easy to give money for others to organize so that you may, or may not, show up to perform a volunteer task. If you are truly committed to taking the steps to make a difference in your community, I ask that you reconsider your gift. Instead of money, please give your time and perform ground roots organizing through a service club. Your end result may not be as flashy, but your efforts will be more sincere. You will feel the difference rather than see it. 

Please click here if you would like more information about joining an Optimist Club in your community.

Lead by example

Over the years, service clubs develop their own organizational culture and it's interesting to watch a new club set the parameters for what's acceptable and what is not within their own surroundings. Forget free will. Forget that we are all different with different motivations for belonging. Forget that we live in multicultural communities with diverse interests and needs. Some groups still feel the need to dictate behaviors and that is one reason why, in my opinion, our organizations fail to grow.

For example, I recently heard of a club that was struggling with the decorum surrounding guest speakers. It's a small group, and the number of regular attendees is less than half of the total membership. Most of them like to hear presentations from community groups, among others, on a regular basis and a few do not. There is one of the members who takes a great interest in the presentations. She will speak to the presenter before and after the meeting and will often ask questions of the guest and sometimes of others. She is there to develop her professional network and broaden her personal knowledge about the community and she admits that she is likely to mention the elephant in the room when others would turn their heads and hope it goes away.

Citing this member as an affront to his sensibilities, another member has decided that asking questions doesn't suit him and he has approached the board of directors to suggest that a policy be written that would recommend that as a guest of the club, presenters should only be given "softball" questions. Easy questions, he rationalizes, will make the presentation run smoother and give the speaker a sense of support.

That would seem like a somewhat reasonable request; after all, the club doesn't want to offend anyone, right? However, such a policy would prevent the young lady and others from learning more in order to support or reject the speaker's stance or cause. It's censorship, plain and simple, and when you start censoring members, or filtering the information that they give and receive, you will lose them.

In an earlier post, I encouraged members to be intolerant of intolerance and to speak up when someone says something hurtful. After thinking more about that statement, and then being posed the dilemma outlined in today's post, I'm inclined to ask where is the club president in both situations. It is the club president's responsibility to facilitate a meeting that shows respect to everyone in the room and that may mean limiting questions and comments. It certainly means creating order, including starting and ending on time. When a sensitive situation arises, that time constraint provides a great escape. "Since our time is limited, let's discuss this after the meeting," are simple words that give pause and allow the focus to be redirected when necessary.

Service clubs must not expect their members to think alike. We live in a complex world and members arrive at every meeting with multiple personal, professional and social concerns. Your club meeting may be the only time they have to discuss those concerns with others. Kudos to you if you have made your meeting a learning environment where members feel safe to share what is on their mind.

Censorship is bullying. Encouraging interaction is preferred. Lead by example; and if you want to retain members, and attract new ones, be sure to provide a respectful forum for all.

How to get more people to show up to the game

According to New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, communications today are two-way and conducted in real time and if your business is doing anything different, you risk losing the attention of those in the millennial generation.

Although this video was aimed at those who wish to connect with the millennial generation, as a communicator, you can't stop there. Sure, individuals may have different communication styles based on their  ages, but everyone wants to be included, have their voice heard, and know that what they contribute to the discussion matters.

It's called sharing and my friends, whether you are two or ninety-two, sharing never goes out of style. If your service club is perhaps noticing that fewer members seem to be involved lately, please take a look at the video and apply its message across all generations.

Even out that playing field and more people will show up to the game.

Thanks to Ragan.com for the tip: "How to grab millennials attention."  

Why join?

Why do you want to belong to an Optimist Club, or any service club, for that matter? This short video posted today by PhilanthropyVideo on YouTube features Neil Strauss, author of "The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists."



In it, Strauss explains that asking donors to ask others to make a contribution helps reinforce their commitment to the cause. The key: ask for three reasons that they donate that are not financially motivated.

Using this same logic, you can increase the number of members in your group, or come together with others to start a new Optimist Club. The reasons we belong are the reasons that will resonate with others and help them make the commitment to join. Talk about those reasons, a lot, and you'll be happier with your decision to belong and give your time as well as encouraging to others who want to come together with others to make a difference.