16 members of the Rotary Club of Edmonton took part in the 2025 Rotary International Convention in Calgary from June 21st to 25th. Attending an International Convention should be on every Rotarian's bucket list, especially when one is just driving distance away.
I attended my first Convention (in the Rotary world we refer to the international get-together's as "Conventions" while District get-togethers are "Conferences") in Hamburg in 2019. Then, just as now, I was blown away by the sheer size and global diversity of Rotary.
Rotary isn't some secret ancient organization, like the "Stonecutters" that Homer Simpson joined in a classic Simpson's episode from the '90s. We're inclusive, and truly global. We've been a part of almost every community in North America for much of the past century or so (coming up on 110 years in Edmonton in April of next year), and we're quickly becoming an important factor in the lives of people across South America, Africa, and Asia, where Rotary clubs are growing like wildfire.
Of the presentations I attended, this particular chart was pretty eye-opening; the thesis being that there's a difference between knowing about Rotary and what it is we actually do. Also noticeable is how unknown we are locally (the numbers for U.S. are likely not far off for Canada), whereas in places like the Philippines, India, and Nigeria, people not only know about Rotary, but a lot of them know what it is we actually do.
While in Calgary I met up for lunch with a business colleague downtown and told him about the Convention. I asked him if he knows what Rotary does (he, an educated fellow Millennial working in wealth management) and he asked "Is that the one with horses? There's an agricultural component to it, isn't there?" Obviously we failed, where 4-H succeeded, in spreading awareness. We're going to have to work on that.
Beyond attending presentations, the highlight is of course meeting other Rotarians from across the world. Whether it be new friends, like members from the Rotary Club of Manila Expats, who invited us join them for a nice steakhouse dinner. That's me, directly in front of the wooden column, along with our incoming President Anurag Shourie left of me. My dad, a member of the Rotary Club of Summerland, in B.C., is in the back/middle in blue.
It's a wonderful opportunity to meet old friends again too, in particular Belize Rotarians with whom we've worked side by side in the sweltering Belize heat for the past decade, assembling school playgrounds every February. Left is a photo of Francis (Cisco) Woods, who I finally found on day 2 or 3 of the convention amongst the Fellowship booths on the convention hall floor (Fellowships are another thing, I'll explain below). Right is a photo I dug up from my last convention where my dad and I randomly stumbled across a whole bunch of friends from Belize, in Hamburg Germany of all places!
If learning and meeting friends are the first two cogs of Rotary International Conventions, then I think the third major one is learning about and getting together with Rotary Fellowships across the world. This is one I first really learned about in Hamburg, but in the years since haven't pursued too actively due to other time commitments. It is a certainly an attractive attribute to Rotary, that in addition to getting together for regular meetings to network, hear from interesting speakers, and to take part in great service projects locally and around the world, there's also a chance to get together with like-minded Rotarians with special interests you might share. The convention floor, named "The Hall of Friendship" contained, in addition to booths about various service projects around the world, unending booths on various Fellowships.
While the Yachting Fellowship might confirm some stereotypes people have about Rotarians, put your hand up if you knew about the Metalhead Fellowship!
I didn't take enough pictures down in Calgary this time, so included some ones from Hamburg above, to give you an idea. An unfortunate blemish on the Calgary convention this year was that Alberta's puritanical liquor laws prohibited the beer/whisky/etc tasting booths common at most other RI Conventions.. At the time I ran into Cisco I was actually being sold on joining the "learn Esperanto" fellowship. I might have promised someone I'd learn, but... Ni vidos, ĉu mi havas la tempon por efektivigi tion.
Next year's International Convention will be in Taipei, which may again be a bit of a hike for our club members. 2028's Convention though will be just a Wesjet flight away for us in Edmonton, tentatively scheduled for Minneapolis.
Markus Muhs
Rotary Club of Edmonton
President 2024-2025