SGR Learns of Social Media

OPENING: Back at the Holiday Inn after two weeks away, members and visitors to the 3779th meeting of SGR were greeted by Sergeant-at-Arms Don Pendleton. To open the meeting, Ray Robinson led the SGR Choir in a quirky rendition of the (very) golden oldie "Wait Til the Sunshines, Nellie." Terance White invited members to follow him in the Pledge of Allegiance and Allen Hilton asked for the blessings of heaven on the meeting and the meal. Allen Hilton conducted Horseplay while Dan Strobell collected fines on behalf of the Rotary District Conference golf tournament.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: President Ken Sizemore encouraged current and next year’s board members to mark calendars for the upcoming District Assembly on Saturday, April 17 in Cedar City. He also encouraged attendance at the upcoming Utah Rotary District Conference the weekend of May 13-15 in St. George.

Kyle Case reminded members of the upcoming NJCAA tournament and asked members to consider serving as host families (providing information and directions to local "high points" as well as cheering on players) during the tournament held May 19-22. FMI, call Kyle at 674-0550.

President Ken encouraged club members to attend their Public Forum being held on Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. and read letters of thanks from Sterling Scholar award winners.

Terance White introduced a new program to increase membership through an identified "army of recruiters." Current club membership has been divided into four teams (Team Truth, Team Fair, Team Beneficial and Team Goodwill). Teams which bring in the most number of new members in the next 30 days will win prizes, including lunches paid for 4 weeks and the individual club member who brings in the most new members will win two movie tickets and a $50 gift certificate for a local restaurant. Points will be given for new members based on age, gender, representatives from unfilled classifications or bringing former members back into activity. FMI, call Terance at 669-2125.

PROGRAM: Richard Isom, of Vive Studio, Inc and a member of SGR, gave an interesting and timely presentation on social media, noting such internet sites as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook are all steadily becoming an important aspect of marketing strategies as businesses of every size and focus, try to engage with their customers and generate new business leads. Studies show dramatic increases in business by those using these (almost) free methods of reaching customers. Citing statistics relating to use, Richard noted there are more than 400,000,000 Facebook users; 200,000,000 blogs and countless "tweeters." The object of social media is "to get the customers talking about you and your business."