Andy Slater – Rotary Systems Overview

On 30 March 2021, we were given an in-depth talk from Andy Slater, on the mysterious workings of the Rotary websites and IT systems.

Andy worked in the IT industry for forty years, so really does know his way around systems. He has been in Rotary since 1992, a founder member of Irvine Seagate, Past President (2000-01 and 2018-19) and current Club Secretary. He was District Governor 2009-10, Past District Trainer, Past District Secretary, Past District Webmaster, Past Public Image Chair, District Youth Speaks Coordinator and current District Conference Chair.

Andy concentrated on Rotary Central and the Data Management System (DMS), and not only explained their role, but gave us a live demonstration of both. He emphasised the need for each member to have an account, to allow them to login.

Rotary Club Central is a one-stop shop for members to see how their club is performing in terms of membership numbers, projects and donations. It helps clubs to “tell their story”, something Rotary in general are not good at. Any member can login to gain information about the club, useful if they had to respond to the media.

The DMS is designed to reduce the administration for club secretaries, by synching data. All members can login and administer their own record and see other members in their club. Mass emails can be sent to members in District, or selected members e.g. secretaries. Andy noted there will be no hard copy Directory produced this year, so it is very important that office bearers are correctly entered. Much of the presentation centred around the inputting of data, something members will not be doing, but essential for the secretary to know. Andy offered to give more detailed tuition on this if required.

Ron Ireland gave a warm vote of thanks, congratulating Andy on such a detailed presentation, but still thinking his own IT skills are not up to this digital age!