Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Greater Geraldton - Issue No.: 781 Issue Date: 22 Apr, 2024

This week's Guest Speaker:                                                                 D.G Jon Bilson 

Jon, was introduced by Tom Gorman with the comment that Jon would be a different D.G. as he was a “little younger "and was in Geraldton to meet the members of all three Clubs.

The following bullet points highlight the issues our D.G. covered in his short introduction.

# Covid 19 has derailed so many plans!

# Keep things contained....do not embark on too many new things!

# Use technology...allows different ways of doing projects and making money.

# Our Theme: Rotary opens up opportunities.

#   One big thing is ending Polio. Work in Pakistan and Afghanistan is still to be finished. We are almost at the finishing line!

# My job is to get clubs working together! And to use technology.

# Your D.G. works for YOU! Not the other way round!

# Rotaracters will now become members of Rotary and be classified as such.

# We need to work to make sure Rotary clubs work together to understand who the other Rotary Districts are and work with them!    It is called “Staying connected”!!

# Ensure that our members are engaged...we lose members because they become dis-engaged!!

Members need a good positive experience, or they will NOT stay!

# We need to get our message out there.... talk to your friends...your Family.  Your colleagues. Your business associates and neighbours.

Good stories need to be shared and we cannot leave it for someone else to do!

Our D.G then embarked on a collection of Club data asking members to use their mobiles to log in to his  computer and answer the questions he had raised so that he could assess exactly what type of culture and  response is evident.  Jon then commented on the summary of responses and these were shown on the screen.

On behalf of our Club Doc  thanked our D.G. for his visit and speaking to us.

Our D.G. did not say much about his career or reasons for joining Rotary. Perhaps he was too modest.

For that reason, I have included a summary of Jon’s travels to date under the heading “Who am I”

For those members, who have not read his story. It is worth a read!          

  “Who am I”?                   District Governor    Jon Bilson District, 9455

Jon Bilson is a Past President, Youth Director and Secretary of Bay View Claremont Club.

A relative newcomer to Rotary he joined largely due to the Rotary motto, “Service above Self”. Whilst he had been invited to several Rotary events over the years the opportunity to join a new Club in Bay View Claremont was also very attractive. With Rotary undergoing significant change in the years ahead, Jon decided to volunteer his time and professional expertise to work with others to chart a sustainable course and direction for District 9455 through 2020/21 and beyond.

A Business Psychologist by trade, Jon has worked in Senior operational and project roles for the past twenty-five years.   Given his qualifications, Jon has always had a keen interest in assisting organizations (big and small) in better managing their people and the challenge that change often brings to them.

With a background in Senior Management (as a State Regional Manager in several National professional service firms) Business Corporate Strategy and people and culture, Jon has worked as a Management Consultant for over 20 years.     He now owns his own successful Perth based consulting business drawing on his roles as a Strategist, corporate Psychologist and Business Consultant, Jon has assisted many clients to effect long term cultural change and business improvement through developing their people, projects, commercial awareness and opportunities for innovation within their organizations.

Currently Jon sits on several not-for-profit Boards of organizations that are making a major contribution to improving the lives of West Australians.

Jon and his wife Michelle have been married twenty five years and have two adult children.

Both Jon and Michelle love to travel, ride bicycles and spend time with their Family.

Jon,s other interests include Kayaking and Fishing.