On the evening of May 2nd, The Rotaract Club of Brisbane Rivercity held the culmination of a multi-week professional development workshop at the Pig'N'Whistle.
The focus of the workshops were three skill areas particularly valuable to young professionals - interview skills, public speaking skills and conflict management skills. To that end, Rotarians attended meetings of Rotaract Rivercity over a number of weeks to impart theoretical knowledge in these three areas, and then on the evening of the 2nd May, about a dozen Rotarians from the city cluster clubs, including RCoB's own Luke Marshall and Mark Williams came together with Rotaracters to put the icing on the cake with practical exercises. Cluster Assistant Governor Lisa Bateson was also present, underlining the importance of the event.
Rotaracters and Rotarians Come Together for Professional Development
The evening was organised in three mini-venues, with Rotaracters rotating through three exercises for which they had prepared over the previous week:
- Interview Panel: 2 Interview panels – Four panellists (Rotarians) and four participants (Rotaractors) per panel. Interview questions were asked of all participants. Feedback was provided by the Rotarians.
- Public Speaking Skills Practical Exercise: Participants gave a 3 min presentation about topics that they had been given to prepare received feedback on their presentation skills from Rotarians
- Conflict Management Skills Practical Exercise: Interactive fun exercise where participants (Rotaractors) were provided conflict management situations to be role-played with the Rotarians and resolved.
Your correspondent took part in the public speaking practical exercise and was most impressed by the preparation and seriousness with which the exercise was taken. I had the strong impression that everyone was keen to push the bar higher and make the effort to do so. It was a rewarding exercise for Rotarians and Rotaracters alike. We also had some good laughs and got to see a variety of styles and skills. Reportedly, the other sessions were equally productive so the whole exercise was extremely worthwhile.
Many thanks to the Rotaracters from The Rotaract Club of Brisbane Rivercity for organising this series and inviting us Rotarians to take part. Particular thanks to Jane Hillyard from Rotaract who bore the brunt of the organisation work. We look forward to taking part in more Rotaract activities!
