Meeting Notes

Ann Arbor Rotarians filled the Anderson Room – and with the wintery chill in the air – the hallway coatracks were filled as well. President Mark Foster rang the bell and Tom Strode, bedecked in a signature snazzy burgundy bow tie with teeny dots, played the National Anthem as we sang along.   Foster then informed […]

President Mark Foster greeted the Rotarians who filled the Anderson room, and the 20 Rotarians on zoom.  He introduced red bow-tied pianist Tom Strode who played God Bless America as we sang along.  Norma Sarkar inspired us through a historical illustration (solving large-scale printing press issues with a unique cooling system that became modern-day air […]

The Board of Director’s Meeting was held on Wednesday, October 18, 2023. On the final day of August, our club had 222 Active Members. Attendance for September’s three meetings was 46% (up 10% from last month). The average attendance at each meeting was 100 members and 5 guests. Our Engagement Ratio for the month was […]

President Mark rang the opening bell ten minutes early to start an agenda-packed meeting. Tom Strode played The Star Spangled Banner and Fritz Seyferth intoned Advice From A Tree.  Shelley MacMillan led us in singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth”. President Mark welcomed guests and thanked the people who made the meeting run smoothly. […]

President Mark Foster rang the bell to open this meeting that welcomes four new members. Tom Strode tuned us up with The Star Spangled Banner. Kinnari Shah introduced us to The Guest House, a very thoughtful poem by the Indian poet Rumi. In his poem Rumi teaches us to embrace, rather than fight, whatever shows […]

Anticipating the today’s speaker, the full room of Rotarians was in happy and active voice visiting before the meeting.  A new (for us) hybrid meeting platform – streaming – was being tested, but sadly, there was no connectivity. We will need to wait another week for streaming to be ready for a test run. President […]

President Mark Foster rang the opening bell and Tom Strode accompanied us in The Star Spangled Banner. Kathy Waugh joined on Zoom and inspired us with thoughtful and encouraging remarks about artificial intelligence, noting that our task is to make AI a tool not to replace us but to augment us. In conclusion, she noted […]

The Board of Director’s Meeting was held on Wednesday, September 20, 2023. On the final day of August, our club had 217 Active Members. The average attendance at each meeting was 90 members and 3 guests. Our Engagement Ratio for the month was 57% (up 10% from last month). We had no new members and […]

The September 6, 2023 meeting opened on Zoom (29 members on zoom) and in person at the University of Michigan’s Anderson Room. At 12:32, President Foster called the meeting to order.  Tom Strode led us in “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”.  Inspiration was provided by Ryan Peterson who talked the transition into fall about embracing […]

President Mark rang the opening bell about ten minutes late due to UM’s internet issues. After Tom Strode played a patriotic song, Arthur Williams read a Hiam Ginott quote about the power of teachers. Anna Byberg invited us to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. A very enthusiastic Lori Walters thanked all the people who have pitched […]