TECHNICALLY, ROTARY

 (RotoTechie No. 3)

Attending Virtually from Everywhere I Want to Be

By T.J Carney

Mountain Foothills Rotary

 We have to many demands on our time.  Add that I am a Rotarian, too.  Each Wednesday I gather with my Club to celebrate, learn, organize and develop what we do through Rotary.  We interact, and we have our fellowship.  Sometimes, we also meet other times and places to get that volunteer effort organized, continued or culminated, and it is hard to be everywhere.  It is now possible for me to be most places I need or want to be much more easily.

 Telephone Conferencing:

 As an attorney, Library or Fire Board member, Rotarian, or with my family, I have been a disembodied voice in a meeting or gathering.  Many reading this have had this experience, from one side of phone or another.  When there is only one calling in from afar, it is simple, but when more than one want to do so, a telephone conferencing system is required.  Our District Technology Committee has introduced me to Rondee (http://www.rondee.com). 

 What is it?  It is a “free” telephone conference calling system. 

 What does it cost?  You need a telephone, and will have to call in to a telephone number in California (or somewhere) that doesn’t presently have “800” numbers available. 

 What can you do with it?  You can talk to as many people as you need for whatever you are trying to accomplish.  A committee meeting of 10, a family phone reunion of 50, or a business conference of 3 are all available options.  You can record the meeting (especially important if you are a lousy note taker), and make it available to others who could not attend.  A list of those who did attend will also be available to assist in what is later needed.

 Why would you want it?   Because sometimes we still have to talk to accomplish a goal.  Coordinating a shipment of crutches to Nigeria in a hurricane by speaking with the storage company in Pennsylvania, the shipping contractor in N.Y., the volunteers in Maine, and the guru of such things in Colorado becomes as simple as sending a time, date, and phone number with an access number (PIN) to those who need to be there.  No airline flights.  No train trips.  No driving across town or two states over.  (Even then the shipment was delayed a week by Sandy.)

 There are many systems.  These days almost any phone service that also offers internet to residences or businesses offers some kind of conferencing set up.  But free (except for the call to California), unlimited, recordable, and referable are all things that the CEO or the grandfather or the Health and Hunger Chair can find endearing and useful about this process.

 Maybe we should try it to see if some group of us (which will require we get our own wine, unfortunately, unlike my club’s weekly pre-meeting fellowship) can operate to do good while comfortable at our home or office (or even the airport on the way to Kenya).

 Interested?  Contact me for questions or instructions.