Rotary International Convention Lisbon.

22nd to 27th June 2013 Fellow Rotarians often ask me why I and my colleague, Paul Wilson, from the Rotary Club of Grantham attended the 2013 Rotary International Convention in Lisbon. There were so many good reasons! First and foremost we both wanted to see and meet other Rotarians from all around the world to find out more about Rotary and the inspirational work going on around the globe. Secondly, our club wanted to thank in person representatives from a number of our Rotary Global Swimarathon participating clubs and Districts and present special awards including a wooden Newton apple to represent our town. These extraordinary Rotary family members have been a huge part of the success of the Rotary Global Swimarathon, which has already raised over US$ 225,000 for End Polio Now in the two years it has been running. Thirdly, we wanted to enjoy the fantastic programme of internationally recognised speakers and entertainers, particularly as they were not a million miles from home in the beautiful Port of Lisbon. Finally, Paul had been given a prominent job speaking at the Convention in the breakout sessions.

1: The Opening Ceremony - United Kingdom flag one of over 220 represented!

The first plenary session included presenting all the flags from the countries where Rotary has a presence. These flags were eventually raised above the stage and remained there for the rest of the convention. Following this RI President Sakuji Tanaka gave his welcoming speech, which was from the heart and quite moving.

The main entertainment for this session was Il Divo, who gave an incredibly powerful and uplifting 90 minute performance that will live long in the memory for all of us fortunate enough to be there.

2: Il Divo on stage The House of Friendship was particularly special and the organisers had really made a wonderful effort to make it welcoming and informative. Over 300 Rotary Clubs and vendors had display stands in the halls and it was a real education to see all of the great things which Rotary does and becomes involved in the world

3). Grantham Inner Wheel Secretary Pam Metcalf stood beside some of the wonderful HOF decorations.

I mentioned that we had attended the convention to make presentations to many of the Rotary Global Swimarathon Ambassadors, 10 in total from 4 different continents. Pictured below is President Irvin Metcalf with Nevine Abdelhaek from Egypt, who organized participation of more than 15 Rotary, Rotaract and Interact clubs in the city of Cairo for the Rotary Global Swimarathon raising over US$3000 in the process. She also happens to be the Global Chair of the Rotary Global History Fellowship (for RGHF). In Paul's role as chair of Communications for RGHF he supported the presentations to the annual RGHF breakfast during the conference attended by many former Rotary International Presidents and leaders, including our current 2013/14 President Ron Burton.

4). Pictured Nevine Abdelhaek of Rotary Club of El Tahrir Egypt, and President Irvin Metcalf. The other reason Paul and I travelled to Lisbon was because Paul was invited by RI to give a presentation on Social Media following the hugely successful Social Media campaign for Rotary Global Swimarathon. Paul is pictured here during his well-received presentation. To cap it all, a new RI video has been created for promoting Social Media across the global organisation and Paul's story is featured in this video in cartoon format This video was even shown during the final plenary sessions in front of 1000s of delegates. See it here. http://vimeo.com/67222356

5). Rtn Paul Wilson during his Social Media presentation For Paul , without doubt the most inspiring part of the whole experience was meeting Polio survivor and International campaigner Ramesh Ferris. Ramesh has met with world leaders around the globe and is known throughout the Rotary world for his tireless efforts to eradicate Polio. It was a great honour to spend some time talking with Ramesh about our plans for him to come to Grantham for a very special Rotary Global Swimarathon event in June 2014 - watch this space!

6) Paul Wilson and his End Polio Now hero Ramesh Ferris

We also met up with David Price. who is responsible for creating the Rotary Crocus and he was having a hugely successful convention, promoting the fund raising idea for the End Polio project. An enthusiastic man who is working hard for Rotary. Paul is now heading up the social media campaign to spread the Rotary crocus worldwide in 2014, which has already raised in excess of $250,000 and is set to raise millions of dollars over the coming years as well as spreading vital awareness of the End Polio Now campaign.

7) David Price and Irvin Metcalf pictured here in front of a Polio iron lung. An iconic reminder of this terrible disease. So much packed into just a few days and what did we learn? That Rotary is a fully professional organisation and puts on a magnificent and entertaining convention. That there are thousands of Rotarians making a huge difference in the world with their enthusiasm and projects. That there are so many really nice people in our organisation. That by being involved we really can make a difference in the world - just look at all the incredible connections that have come about through our Rotary Global Swimarathon adventure. We even managed to meet up with 2012/13 DG Chris and Wendy Chew and Tim Tucker from our District. Was it worth the time, effort and cost to go to an RI Convention? Absolutely!!