Rotary International Convention Overview
In 1910, Rotary founder Paul Harris convened the first Rotary convention at the Congress Hotel in Chicago with just 60 registrants from the 16 Rotary Clubs in North America. For those following our club's history, that's one year before we received our official Rotary Charter. Today, average attendance at a Rotary International Convention is likely to be closer to 20,000-30,000 Rotarians from around the world gathered in fellowship.
I personally have attended almost every iteration of a Rotary training or convention possible: district assemblies, officer training, Presidents-elect training, Zone Institute, regional training, Large Club Conference, and District Governor International Assembly to name just a few (and most of which I've attended many times over.) Each is important in its own way but usually very limited to one aspect of Rotary. How do we grow Rotary? What are other large clubs facing? Do I have to use another database? I've always left with new knowledge and tools to help Rotarians, but if I'm being honest, it's been many years since I left a training or convention feeling energized... that is, until I attended my first Rotary International Convention this year.
