Past History has seen the Rotary Club of Brighton develop and manage many high- profile events and projects that I venture to say would no doubt be the envy of most other clubs, whereas to our club it has seemingly been just another day at the office.
As I recall there were large committees and many willing hands on- deck, our club boasted of over 100 members and we became known as the club that ran and managed major events.
During the past 15 years our Rotary club has raised approximately $3.25 Million of which approximately 80% can be attributed to 5 Major Events and in order of the longest running are The Bayside Art Show, The Sportsmans Night (Night of Stars), The Brighton Lunch, The Great Australia Day Swim and more recently added is the Classic Car Show, all of which generated large sums to
be allocated to various community charities, youth and
International projects.
Over the same period the approx. sum contributed by each of these major events is Bayside Art Show $403k, Sportsmans Night $705k, The Brighton Lunch $805k, The Great Australia Day Swim $600k. However in the past 5 to 6 years the income per event for each of these events improved significantly. The Classic Car Show now in its 3rd year has contributed $33k.
Forward to current day and our membership has dwindled and whilst still managing some events, the landscape is changing dramatically. The ROE (Return on Effort) is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain at a reasonable balance, particularly in terms of cost, management, resources and member commitment.
We all know that the winds of change are inevitable and as a wise sailor once said “you cannot change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust the sails”.
So it is that we now find ourselves fast approaching this very situation, how we respond and adapt strategically as a club will play a large part in determining our future direction of effort, plus our ability to manage major events over the next 3 years and beyond.
As an observation, the appetite for members getting involved with major events has waned, particularly post- covid. Added to this some of our long term sponsors have also chosen not to proceed due to their own changing business models, re-accessing of marketing spend, changing ownership, new management, etc. on top of which we have limited venues in Bayside and rising costs with
those available.
Some positive strategic changes have been implemented over the past few years including the initiative to develop long-term partnerships in order to ensure continuity of funding as much as possible. This has led to the introduction of the “Corporate Club Sponsor” and our initial Corporate Club Sponsor is the Bendigo Community Bank @ $90K over the next 3 years, others are being pursued as we speak.
Currently good news is that our Great Bayside Swim is still on track for January as is The Classic Car Show in March. The Bayside Art Show is planned for May 2025 but much is yet to be resolved
before proceeding.
If we are to continue to offer major events going forward we will need to review our strategy now.
This will require an appropriate team of entrepreneurial minded Rotarians with the passion, knowledge and commitment to develop a strategic plan based on the “Now-Where-How” process, preferably this team should remain in place for a minimum of 3 years
to ensure continuity.
Considerations should include:
Cost recovery options – Return on effort (hours deployed) - Risk and return criteria - Resource availability (spread the load) – Labour intensity – Outsource options – Partnerships – Venues (availability and options.
Involvement in a Major Event team can be an exciting and rewarding experience, also one of the most rewarding and satisfying roles in Rotary and I would urge interested members to get involved.
Norm Thomas
Director Major Events
