We Welcome Dean Kruschke!!
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| Dewey, Dean, and President Scott |
Announcements
Three members of the Lost Coast Rotaract visited last week to celebrate World Rotaract Week, and to let us know what they have been up to so far this year. Lost Coast is the largest Rotaract Club in District 5130, with 25 members. In addition to being a great help at our 1900's Circus Fundraiser, the group assisted at the Arcata Rotary's Wine Festival earlier this month, they helped collect Toys for Tots, they packed Backpacks for Kids, and they worked on efforts for Crescent City tsunami relief. The Rotaractors also raised $2,600 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters and hosted their annual Halloween Tour of Spooky Old Town Eureka. On April 6th, they will host a Hollywood-themed murder mystery party, "Lights! Camera! MURDER!" at the Sewell Gallery. Tickets for the event are $40. For more information, visit the Lost Coast Rotaract Facebook Page.
Orrin Plocher's Recognitions
Once again, our Recognitionmeister was the renowned Orrin ("O-P") Plocher. The first person to be Plocherized was Dawn Ellsbree. Dawn and her husband Andy recently made a trip to the jungle - in Costa Rica!
Then it was Craig Newman's turn to get O-Plocherated. Craig was being recognized for his birthday, which he had spent at a Spring Fundraiser meeting. We sang to him, of course.
Amy Bohner took the day off for her birthday, at the insistence of her husband Steve. Amy had seen an online video showing someone from Australia celebrating their birthday by giving gifts randomly to people. This inspired Amy to do her own version - she spent about four hours doing "random acts of kindness".
Romi Hitchcock Tinseth shared Good News with us - her daughter Skye has signed up to join the Air Force! And Karen Burgesser's Good News is that her daughter is expecting! Congratulations to both mothers!!
Mindmapping 101 with Barbara Browning
It's always a treat when our Featured Speaker is a Sunriser. Last week, Barbara Browning of OrderWithin talked about a technique for organizing your thoughts called Mindmapping. She told us that the idea was developed in England by Tony Buzan.
Barbara said that the technique allows you to expand on an idea in a way that does not require you to think in linear fashion. Instead, related ideas grow around the central concept, opening like a flower. You begin by writing the initial theme in the center of your medium. (Barbara said that she prefers to use an 11x17 sheet of grid paper in landscape orientation, with colored pens.) From that central idea, you begin drawing lines to related ideas, which in turn can generate their own set of related concepts.Barbara advised us to think in broad categories without filtering what should or should not be included. She said that the mind map can include pictures in addition to words. Once the map is created, it can be translated into a list.
The technique is great for goal setting, project management, even learning a new language. If you have a lot to do and you don't know where to begin, using a mind map can be very helpful.
Barbara said that mindmapping software is available online. Some of the sources she cited were Freemind, Xmind, Mindmeister, and ConceptDraw Mindmap Pro. The first three programs are free or have free versions.
For more tips and for information about Barbara's services, visit the OrderWithin website.
