The New Pathways -- Rotary's World Polio Day 2017

Pathways' Level 5 Project, Managing Successful Events, calls for the participant to plan, organise and implement an event. 

I would like to share my experience organising World Polio Day 2017. I shall call it "18 Days of Miracles". The entire project took exactly 18 days; from genesis on 6 October to fruition and reality on 24 October!  

Was it difficult? The answer is "Yes" and "No". 18 days seem impossible to organise an event with over 200 diners and the invitation of an international guest speaker as icing on the cake! Thank God. Faith and belief made this possible.

On 6 October 2017, President Richard Ong came with both good news and bad news during the Pre-Conference "Seeing Eye to Eye" Dinner. The good news was that Kampong Cafe, as part of their CSR program, would like to sponsor free dinner for 100-150 participants. The bad news was that this must done before 27 October 2017. Given the very tight schedule, it was challenging.    

After securing the support of Honorary Member, PDG David Tong, and selecting 24 October 2017, being World Polio Day, we decided to go full steam ahead. Richard invited Rotary Club of Singapore Heartlands and Rotary Club of Tanjong Pagar to co-organise the event with Rotary Eclub of 3310.

While waiting for the other two clubs' Board of Directors approval, we structured the programme for the evening and pushed ahead with publicity on the upcoming World Polio Day event in Singapore. At the same time, we also indicated that the cost was S$30 per diner; of which S$25 of the dinner proceeds would go towards The Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Fund.

Moving behind the scenes, we secured the support of District Rotary Foundation Chair, PDG Zainie Abdul Aucasa and District End Polio Now Chair, PP Dolly Yeap, to push this forward as a District 3310 endorsed project. We had our first formal meeting over lunch on Saturday 14 October @Big Street Restaurant. We shared and asked them to visualize in their mind what the event would look like.

Painting a visual picture was important to our success. We saw a carnival style event with a busker entertaining us, speeches on what District 3310 is doing to support End Polio Now, good networking and fellowship with at least 150 Rotarians and guests.

In term of division of labour, Singapore Heartlands and Tanjong Pagar, as part of the "KPIs", were to garner the support of the other clubs not represented. IPP Ser Sim from Marina City although not part of the organizing committee committed to at least 20 members attending. Rotary Eclub of 3310, as the main club, would be responsible for organising the programme, including logistics, inviting members and guests. Our contribution came to 100. 

Over that weekend, we connected with PP John Soe, a polio survivor, from Jakarta, Indonesia, District 3410. As he was available and would be "our star attraction" for our World Polio Day event, we had to work frantically to find sponsorship for his return air tickets and accommodation while in Singapore.

Thanks to PP Lee Oi Cheng, we held a Press Conference at Foundation of Rotary Clubs (Singapore) Ltd's premises in Chinatown Point. Rotarian Susanne Rea, a polio eradication advocate and another polio survivor, also contacted me. As a result, our event was registered with World Global Meal as #WGMeal 4212 to support the End Polio Now campaign. 

Donations raised for The Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Fund would be matched US$2 to US$1 by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In other words, for every US$1 contribution, The Rotary Foundation would have a total of US$3 in the fight to eradicate Polio!     

As you can see in the happy faces, Rotarians and guests had a fine time. In the end, we raised more that US$3,600 from the 200+ dinner guests. Thank you for your support!

P.S. 

World Polio Day 2017 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155233939258517&id=150075343516

Chew Ban Seng DTM

Past District Governor