February 15, 2025 • 36 mins
Imagine being a superhero in your community. Evan Burrell does just that through his inspiring 26-year journey with Rotary. From joining Rotaract at 18, influenced by his mother's involvement, Evan's adventure evolved, leading him to Rotary at 30, encountering clubs resistant to change. His story is one of resilience and transformation as he navigated these challenges to find his place in an online e-club, ultimately becoming a District Governor Elect. Join us as Evan shares his insights on the vibrant roles Rotarians play and how he balances his public persona with his authentic self.
Evan brings a fresh perspective on the dynamics within Rotary clubs, highlighting the superhero-like influence members have and the contrasting energy levels in meetings. Humor, creativity, and genuine connections are at the forefront of his approach, driving positivity while respecting traditions. We discuss the powerful role of branding and innovative design in promoting Rotary's mission, with engaging merchandise like Rotary Rocks shirts designed to capture the attention of younger audiences and spark conversations about the organization's impact.
Gratitude and inspiration take center stage as we reflect on the meaningful dialogues sparked worldwide, encouraging listeners to explore their Rotary journeys. From heartfelt thanks to IT Spark and the Metropolitan Library System for their nonprofit support to acknowledging Rotary International's contributions, this episode is a celebration of community and connection. We look forward to future episodes where we continue to inspire and empower our listeners to engage in impactful conversations and embrace the diverse opportunities within Rotary.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian Triger (00:30):
Welcome to the Rotary Spark podcast.
With me today I have EvanBurrell.
Welcome to the podcast, evan.
Evan Burrell (00:38):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
Brian Triger (00:41):
So let's dig right into your story.
Tell us a little bit about howyou got exposed to Rotary, and
we'll go from there.
Evan Burrell (00:50):
Sure.
So my first exposure to Rotarywas when I was about 17.
My mother was a member ofRotaract in the 1970s in
Australia 1970s in Australia andat that time I'd left school
and sort of bumming around andnot really doing anything.
(01:11):
So my mum saw in the localnewspaper an ad calling for
young leaders and those arestarting up at the new Rotaract
Club.
So I wasn't yet 18, but theclub, I think, had been active
for about six months.
So she pushed me, as mums do.
(01:32):
She, you know, reminded meevery five minutes about it and
get me to do something, becauseI wasn't overly religious or
political or anything like that,and you know, I'd sort of lost
contact with a few friends fromschool.
So it was a good way to get outand meet some friends.
So two weeks after I turned 18I went to my first run-up
(01:52):
meeting and my whole reason forjoining the organisation was
just wanting to meet agirlfriend.
Really, to be honest.
Brian Triger (02:10):
That's uh, that's actually smart.
Uh, I mean I I haven't heardthat one before, but I guess, uh
, you know, did it havesomething to do with uh wanting
to kind of meet a better qualityperson or someone who has more
of a giving mentality to theworld?
Evan Burrell (02:30):
No, you weren't quite there yet, okay, and I
changed years old.
I wasn't trying to find alifelong soulmate or anything
like that.
Yeah, no, no, no, I get it.
Brian Triger (02:44):
And your brain still had another seven years in
the cooker prior to fullymaturing.
So you've got to give yourselfsome grace.
Evan Burrell (02:51):
That's right.
But look, I joined at 18 and Ileft Rotaract at 30 when you're
sort of supposed to and I wentstraight into Rotary.
So my reasons for joiningRotary were a lot different than
my reasons for joining rotary.
Okay.
Brian Triger (03:10):
And so the transition from Rotaract to
rotary was it immediate?
Did you have a little bit of a?
Was there a gap year?
Tell us a little bit more aboutthat transition.
Evan Burrell (03:24):
So my transition from Rotary was pretty seamless.
I got to the age of about 30and I felt like I could achieve
everything that I could achievewhen I wrote.
At that stage there was sort ofan up and age line, which is
now subsequently being removed,but it just felt to me natural
(03:44):
and because I'd built up arelationship with Rotarians over
the 12 years, it was just apretty seamless.
But I think I had a break ofabout a month of not being
involved with regular Rotary.
(04:04):
But I pretty much just joinedthe club, the club that asked me
to join.
They wanted me to help changetheir young influence and all
that sort of stuff.
But it wasn't even a year laterthat I left that club because I
was so resistant to change thatit was really wasting my
(04:27):
energies.
I then joined an online e-club,australia's first e-club.
I was president of that e-clubit's called the e-club of
Greater Sydney, okay, and I wasin that and that suited me quite
well.
But then the recent piece fromthe e-Club was a bit of that
(04:47):
personal connection with people,seeing the regulatory, of
seeing people.
So then I went and joined aRotary Club that was very
supportive of me during myRotaract time and I probably
should have joined them to beginwith.
The a riding club of Tarahumaraand I joined them and I was had
(05:10):
been with them for many, manyyears and I moved and joined
another club and then I movedtwo hours north and into a new
district and I've joined anotherclub.
So I was in one Rotary club formy entire career and now I've
been in four or five differentRotary clubs.
Brian Triger (05:26):
Wow, okay, so you've hopped around a bit.
Evan Burrell (05:30):
Just a little bit, yeah, but I've been involved
now for 26 years, so it's nottoo bad.
Brian Triger (05:38):
I feel like an NBA player getting traded no,
that's uh, that's interesting,uh, so you know, we we've only
had some light electroniccommunication and, uh, you know,
we chatted for a few minutesbefore this episode.
But I'm on, I'm in kind of your, your early rotaract days
(06:00):
inside of rotary.
I've, I've been in rotary forabout, you know, a year and a
half, going on two years.
So I'm still, I still have therose colored glasses on not to
take any, uh, you know, creditor or create an illusion that
there isn't passion tied toindividuals that are are vets
essentially within Rotary.
But it's, it's, it'sfascinating for me to see the
(06:23):
other side of the fence.
Yeah, it's.
Evan Burrell (06:27):
look, I mean, I'm still extremely passionate about
it and I've taken on thisleadership role as the district
governor elect and I just cameback from a week long training
in Orlando and Florida and veryintensive, and that's kind of
where they give you the refillof their Kool-Aid, you know.
And but?
And that's kind of where theygive you the refill of their
(06:49):
Kool-Aid, you know.
But Rotary is a journey fordifferent people and it takes
people in different places.
So for me it was an opportunityto meet some friends and make
connections and do some good inthe world.
For others, it could be workingon projects overseas or a guide
I'm staying with here inFlorida.
(07:10):
Corey is very passionate abouttrees and tree planting and
wants to plant a billion treesby 2030, and it aligns with
Rotary's focus of environmentalprojects.
So every Rotarian has somethingto give and their level of
participation is high.
Some people, you know, justcome to a meeting and that's all
(07:33):
they really do.
Or some people you know comealong and they go.
You know, as the old sayinggoes, go hard or go home.
Brian Triger (07:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's I mean based on what I've
(08:03):
seen here.
I've seen a gain, a little bitof a visibility over, you know,
the the 1.2 million people,which essentially gives me a
smaller fragment of the rest ofthe world.
You know, because we're we'reobviously engaged with
individuals who are outside ofRotary too.
So, you know, I'm never goingto fully understand the 8.1, 8.2
(08:24):
billion people throughout theplanet and, you know, know,
cover every single inch of theworld, because it's impossible
for a person to do.
But, uh, having connectionswith people within rotary just
gives me, at the very least,much, much more of a clear
visibility of the world that'sright.
Evan Burrell (08:42):
And what you said is you know we we've got about 8
billion people or something inthe world and there's only 1.2
million Rotarians.
But you know those 1.2 millionRotarians have had a direct
impact with the 8 billion peoplein the world.
Yeah, and, whether they know itor not, in some way shape or
form over the last 120 yearsthey're.
(09:04):
You know poly-eradication.
So you know people who areliving in the countries that
Rotary has actively supportedpolio eradication.
Are, you know, polio-freebecause of the work that Rotary
has done?
Or you know it could bechildren who are getting fed
with breakfast meals that aresupplied by the Rotary Club.
Or children with disabilitiesare swinging play equipment or
(09:26):
something that's been put inthere by the Rotary Club.
Or children with disabilitiesare swinging play equipment or
something that's been put inthere by the Rotary Club.
Or you know again, here inFlorida, you know somebody's
life could have been saved by alife-saving.
You know rescue tube that'sresting on the beach there in a
(09:46):
little what do you call it?
Container case or somethinglike that donated by the Rotary
Club, that somebody seessomebody in danger and goes up
there and unclips it and throwsthe lifebuoy to just have
somebody's life.
So, you know, the amount oflives that Rotary has touched
over 120 years really isinsurmountable.
(10:07):
But it is a shame, though, thatwe don't have more people
involved in our organisation,and really the reason why we
don't is because we in ourselvesare not very good at telling
stories.
We kind of, as an organisation,want to hide ourselves under a
bush, and we don't want to, youknow, hide ourselves under a
(10:29):
bush, and you know we don't wantto talk about ourselves, and in
this day and age that's not thementality we have.
It might have been fine in the1950s, 60s, 70s or whatever, but
in today's day and age, whereeverything is so easily
accessible and everybody's onsocial media or their phones or
whatever, for us to be able toget some traction and get people
interested in what we're doing.
We need to be able to get sometraction and let people
understand what we're doing.
Brian Triger (10:50):
Um, we need to be able to get out there and start
talking about it and from thesmall amount of experience that
I've had to some of the worksthat you've done.
You know your, the blog, uh,your podcast, which I just uh
got exposed to over the lastcouple of days, and, uh, I mean
not to take take away from allof your physical involvement,
(11:11):
but you call yourself achangemaker and you definitely
are.
I think all Rotarians are,whether they realize it or not,
but you're really doing someimpressive things with your
online presence.
One of the very first thingsand you know this won't surprise
anyone but, uh, before evenknowing anything about rotary,
(11:32):
uh, I think that I saw your face.
You know the, the, the infamous, uh, you know superman, uh, or
uh, uh, the, the rotary rotaryshot.
So you know, I think thatdefinitely that that opened up a
(11:57):
good can of worms and it'sgotten me curious about you as
an individual.
It's gotten me curious about allof the work that you're doing
and I think that, no matter whatyou continue to do in Rotary,
people like you and your worksare going to continue to inspire
people like me and you know,regardless of how our connection
(12:17):
unfolds, I appreciate you forthat, because I do see that that
the stories are in some waysnot being told in a way that I
really want to drink thatKool-Aid.
And you know, I see it inrotary meetings, sometimes the
lower energy rotary meetingswhere you know the same speakers
(12:40):
are being used or the sameboards are being cycled out and
really there's just there's moreof a desire to control than
there is to influence and change.
I don't know if you you've beenexposed to that.
I mean that's anecdotal, but asa new rotarian, and as I've,
you know, shifted to a varietyof different clubs and just
(13:01):
looking at different clubs, I'venoticed that there's a
different, uh, or lack ofobjective.
Evan Burrell (13:07):
I mean, I fully agree with you.
In all the time that I've beeninvolved, there's been plenty of
times I've gone to a Rotarymeeting where I've told you
myself well, there's an hour ofmy life I'm never going to get
back.
But again, there's clubs thatare super dynamic and then
there's clubs that aren't, andyou're going to get that in an
(13:27):
organisation with so many peopleinvolved.
But I mean and thank you forthe comments there about the
rugby superhero thing you knowI've you know, personally I'm a
big Superman fan, so I do feellike that Rotarians are
superheroes.
You know, we are changingpeople's lives, we are helping
people and stepping in whenthere is a need.
(13:50):
We are empowering, you know,young people and people of all
ages to do better and to do goodin the world.
So to me that's a superheroicevent.
So it just was fairly naturalto become a Rotary superhero.
But the other thing was is thatit really tied into people's
preconceived ideas of what ahero is.
So you know, everyone knows whoSuperman is and Spider-Man and
(14:12):
all that sort of stuff.
So to create that sort oficonography of a, you know,
ripping open a shirt andrevealing this sort of rotary
shirt underneath, it was an ideathat people could easily relate
to.
And, as you said, you saw theroad receiver here, I think,
somewhere before you even becamea road carrier.
(14:32):
But the only issue that I havesometimes with that and with me
is obviously I'm popular onsocial media.
I do a lot of things, I've gota lot of fans and you know, even
this week people came up to meand said, oh, I see you on
Facebook or whatever.
How many is that Facebook guyor a social media guy?
But sometimes I've sort ofbecome a bit of a meme myself.
So they don't generally ornecessarily see me as a person.
(14:57):
They see me as a character or aguy in a loud rotary suit or
something like that, and that'sfine and that's kind of what's
defined me for many, many years.
But it's now trying to break,not necessarily away from it too
much, but to try and leveragefrom that to really instigate
some change.
(15:17):
And the main thing, the reasonwhy I do it is to inspire other
Rotarians, regardless of how oldthey are is that they too can
also get out there and starttelling their stories and start
attracting attention of theorganization.
So while I do it with uh, um,some would say a sledgehammer, I
just can do it with, you know,in different ways and raising um
(15:40):
, raising attention about, aboutwhat the organization can do
and especially what theorganization can do for them, as
well as going around this dirt.
Brian Triger (15:49):
Yeah, I, I, for a second, I visualized you with a
giant sledgehammer.
So, yeah, and, and when youwere talking about that, it's a.
So I have this idea, this Evanidea.
You know the smiles, thecamaraderie, the, the colors,
the.
You know the, the visuals thatare pushed out there, and then
(16:14):
you know that that shattered,especially in this conversation
of this.
Okay, this is a.
You're a real Rotarian, you'rea real human being.
You've had, uh, 40 plus yearsof experience on this planet.
You're, you're a person.
So there's definitely adifference between you know, the
character and the, the kind of,the pedestal, uh placed version
(16:36):
of yourself and the individual,the, the, the real Evan, uh,
that you know connects with allof the Rotarians and does the
actual work.
So I appreciate you letting meconnect with you in that
capacity.
Evan Burrell (16:51):
And I thank you for that.
But also too, I mean, beinghumble really isn't a word that
generally appears in mydictionary, but sometimes
there's nothing particularlyspecial about me.
I'm just a, you know, a whiteguy, middle-aged who just
happens to post stuff on socialmedia and it appeals to people.
So, you know, people sometimesthink, you know, what I do is
(17:14):
like all this really awesomestuff.
I'm just a creative person.
I've got, you know, a potentialdeficit disorder and I'm a
creative guy and I can quicklythink of something and market it
out and put it out there and Iwas, you know, at the right
place at the right time.
The Zod Geisman social mediacame in and became a bit of a
thought leader for it andadapted myself to be a bit of a
(17:37):
changemaker, to encourage othersto change.
But the biggest thing is that Isuppose what's the appeal is for
road trainings is that you'vealways got to approach it from
positivity and some fun and somehappy place and, you know,
reach some humour.
And you know I don't takeRotary super seriously, but I'm
(18:03):
very serious about Rotary.
Now you might think, oh, that'sa bit of a contradiction, but
what I mean is that I understandthe traditions about Rotary.
Now you might think, oh, that'sa bit of a contradiction.
But what I mean is that Iunderstand the traditions of
Rotary and all the things thatwe do and in some places part of
the world we wear you know thebling and you know the gold
chains and all that we look likeWest Coast rappers or whatever.
Or you know we do the pledgeand we ding the bells and we
(18:26):
sing the songs and we hit therotary tick and all the rest of
it and sometimes I can not be soserious about those things and
poke a little bit of fun at that.
But beneath all that sort ofstuff, the seriousness of what
we do is that we do have adirect input into changing
people's lives for the better,and so I'm never not serious
(18:47):
about those things or the workthat we do.
I always treat that with thereverence that it needs to show
that.
You know, as an organisation,you know we are able to directly
change people's lives.
But all the other sort of stuffyou know the stuff that people
understand in traditions and youknow the jokes that I always
make that people really respondvery well to is about the rotary
(19:08):
chicken, because you know,obviously if we go to meetings
there's always food involved andit's usually always chicken.
And I say, you know, that'sprobably one of the reasons why
Colonel Harlow Sanders of KFCsaying it was a Rotarian, he was
trying to sell his chicken.
But you understand where I'msort of coming from there, the
(19:29):
funny stuff that I put out.
It just appeals to people andyou know you always get a better
response from somebody you knowwith humor in mind than just, I
suppose, just constantlypushing the fact that oh, you
know, we need donations or we'retrying to do this, we're trying
to do that.
But if we're just able to tellour stories as individuals and
(19:50):
how we're actually people'slives, then you get people on
board and you get people to takethem personally.
And if you can do it in a funway, then it's a lot easier to
get the message out there andget your message across yeah, I
like that a lot.
Brian Triger (20:05):
I mean, humor has always made information more
digestible to me.
Evan Burrell (20:14):
Well, hopefully you don't get too hungry for it,
but there's certainly plenty ofpeople who are Sometimes it can
be a bit of a chore because theway algorithms and things work
on social media if you don'tpost for a while, things
disappear.
I suppose that's something thatI try and also talk about a bit
(20:34):
with major clubs around theworld.
If you want to remain active,you've always got to make sure
you've got things to talk about.
I suppose the other good thingis, too, is all the stuff that I
post on my various social mediachannels TikToks and Facebooks
and Instagrams and whatever else.
You know, I'm more than happyfor Rotarians to reuse that
(20:54):
stuff, because if the thingsthat I put out can help them
tell their own stories and itmeans that they don't have to
spend any of their precious timetrying to think of something to
put out to tell their story,they can focus on perhaps um
more on doing something withtheir project, then you know,
you know, I feel like I've um,I've achieved that job and it's
(21:16):
you know, it hasn't cost themanything.
It's just something for them toput out yeah, and I I've.
Brian Triger (21:22):
I've used that information at least a couple of
times.
The website address is EvanBurrell, so B-U-R-R-E-L-Lcom.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
Yep, cool, and the otherconnection.
One of the first things I sawon your website was just a quick
unofficial shout out to 1905gear out in Seattle the the
(21:44):
Rotary Rocks t-shirt.
I love that.
Evan Burrell (22:10):
Yeah and see merchandise that's available and
it appeals to a lot of ouryounger viewers who, kind of
like me, think a little bitoutside the box as well.
And it's not just the usualstandard Rotary t-shirt or
anything like that, it's justtrying to have that little bit
of fun.
The amount of fans I've hadwith people seeing me in the
Rotary Rocks t-shirt some peoplethought I was.
I've had with people saying theend of rotary Rex t-shirt.
(22:31):
You know some people havethought I was a star, something
like that, but you know it's,it's again.
It's somebody having an idea,putting out a cool shirt and you
know there's me putting it,wearing it and showing it off
and encouraging other people toto buy the stuff from him as
well.
And the good thing is is thathe's a Rotary licence holder, so
(22:55):
the stuff that you buy from him, that money goes directly back
to Rotary International andhelps with our great cause.
So I mean it's a win-win, and Iwish more others, more people
would have, you know, similarideas to mine and use, by
putting out some cool stuff likethe Rotary Super Herourup thing
that I did or the pins thatI've got that be a changemaker
(23:16):
and a changemaker award.
I suppose what I'm saying toyou here is I'm trying to weave
a little bit of that throughthis conversation is that we've
got to be fun and we've got tobe positive and we've also got
to think a little bit outsidethe box, because what we've done
in the past isn't working andit isn't drawing people into our
organization and we need tothink of new ways to be able to
(23:37):
do that and the way things are.
Brian Triger (23:39):
So yeah, so the the uh guy's name that you're
referring to is Nick Johnson.
He's a Rotarian out of thePaul's Bow Rotary Club, I
believe, out in Seattle and I'mright there with you.
I really like what he's doingand I think that this
(24:02):
conversation and otherconversations will inspire the
creation of additional outlets.
Creation of additional outlets,evan.
What ways can we inspire thecreation of additional products
and media within RotaryInternational?
Evan Burrell (24:21):
Well, you know, this sometimes can be a bit of a
tough question to answer.
We obviously.
My thing that I encourage isalways to wear your Rotary
shirts, not Rotary events.
So if you're going to the storeand grocery shopping or
something, wear your rotaryshirt.
You don't know where thatconversation is going to happen.
People encourage them to weartheir rotary pins and whatever
(24:46):
else.
But the other thing I was goingto say was, too, the graphics
and stuff that I put out there,you know, hopefully clubs adapt
them to suit their own club'sneeds.
But the other thing I was goingto say was, too, is that the
graphics and stuff that I putout there, you know, hopefully
clubs adapt them to suit theirown club's needs.
But you know, if they're ableto visit things like Canberra or
stuff, you know they'd havesort of templates that are easy
(25:06):
to modify as well.
It means, you know, as we stickclosely to the branding
guidelines at Rory NationalPublic, it shows more of a
professional image.
If there's similar colour,similar type of designs and
things, it's great.
Just because you slap a Rotarylogo on an outside of a Rotary
existing design doesn'tnecessarily make a graphic
design.
That's kind of why I try andhelp people.
(25:29):
I've got this big Facebookgroup called Public Image
Articles and Graphics Hub.
We've got 20,000 people onthere.
It's a great resource forpeople to ask questions and
upload their own kind of designsor slides or things and say,
hey, does this meet the brandingguidelines?
(25:50):
Blah, blah, and people willgive on their own and help and
that sort of thing.
But just sort of touching backto the merchandise, you know
you're always going to havepeople.
You know the Russell Hamptonsof the world and the awards for
your people or the otherdifferent companies around the
merchandise and stuff.
You know people are alwaysgoing to want you know their
standard polo shirts and theirpins and different things and
(26:10):
that's fine and that caters tothe audience that we have.
But like the guy that I talkeda little bit about before Nick
with 1905, you know he's doingthose cool designs of the Rotary
Rocksteer shirts and thedifferent kind of fonts and
stuff like that and they allmeet the branding guidelines.
They're all fine and things arelicensed from Rotary.
(26:32):
But it's obviously tapping intothat younger, youth market of
Rotary and I think we I'mspeaking as the longest person
in Rotary myself I think we'remore behind those kind of cool
little items and we're more ableto better sell it and talk
about our message.
So I'm pretty sure I canguarantee you that a 25-year-old
(26:55):
or 30-year-old isn't going tobe walking up to some old guy in
the grocery store and ask himabout the Rotary time he's
looking at, but they'redefinitely going to ask somebody
or be interested in somebodywho's walking down the grocery
aisle with rotary rocks on theirT-shirt, you know.
So that's kind of a way of howwe can sort of, you know, tap
(27:17):
into that kind of market by justhaving you know things that are
conversation stuff.
And I mean, this is the wholereason why I wear that loud,
garish, ugly rotary suit.
You know, some people love itand there's a lot of people that
hate it, you know.
And some people, you know thereason why I wear it is because
(27:37):
it's a 10% consular.
You know, to me it's my MickeyMouse costume.
You know People waiting in lineat Disneyland to get their
photograph with Mickey Mouse,and it's the same thing.
There are rotarians who want toget their photographs with me
because I'm wearing this big,loud suit.
(27:58):
But you know, I wish some peoplewere more outward and engaged,
like I am, because the only waywe're going to get anybody
involved in our organisation isif we kind of essentially, you
know, round it down theirthroats, so to speak, because
for many years we've just as Isaid, we've let the work that we
(28:21):
do just get pushed by thewayside and no one really has
been paying any attention to itcertainly not enough to try and
want to join up on this.
So we've got to constantly pushand promote what we do and then
follow that up with storiesabout how we're actually doing
good and how, by being a memberof Rotary, you're able to
(28:41):
achieve these things.
It's really marketing,one-on-one, the promotion of the
product that we want to sell.
We've got the product thatpeople have bought, and then we
want the people to actuallyenjoy the product that we want
to sell.
We've got the product thatpeople have bought and then we
want the people to actuallyenjoy the product.
Brian Triger (28:56):
Sure, yeah, I see the podcast at least this
specific podcast kind of as thecasual dating version of that.
And then when you go out andyou know you do your thing with
your outward expressions, that's, that's a representation of a
marriage.
You know you're committed,you're consistently, in an
(29:17):
extroverted way at least,pushing out the material and you
understand, you know the deeperends of that pool.
Evan Burrell (29:26):
Yeah, and I mean that's something as a person too
.
I mean, some people don't knowI'm actually a professional
actor.
I've gone to acting school inAustralia and I've done 50 TV
commercials and I've been in TVand movies and stuff and
obviously I'm very extrovertedwhen I'm channeling that free
rotary.
(29:47):
It's kind of a cranky and stuffLike I'm not saying everybody's
going to be like that, which isfine.
But I just sort of wish wewould be better at trying to
tell our stories more, becauseit really is that connection
that we can have with anotherperson.
We can get them to see just howgood the things that we're
doing in the world and get theminvolved.
(30:09):
And another thing I just wantedto correct you on as well is I
don't actually have a podcastmyself.
I appear wanted to correct youon as well because I don't
actually have a podcast myself.
I hear a lot on other people'spodcasts, but I never.
I don't have one to myself, butI'm not sure if I'm.
I've got enough time as anincoming history governor to do
my own podcast, but maybe I,maybe I should think about it.
Brian Triger (30:29):
If, if you need a hand.
So I inspired by alberthernandez out in district 5280.
We're about 22 episodes in.
I mean you obviously have theskills to do it, but if you
needed any type of you know,small or heavy lifting to get
that started in your area, feelfree to use me as a resource.
I'd love to help I do that.
Evan Burrell (30:50):
We actually don't really have a sort of a
Australian-centric sort ofpodcast, but I certainly would
leverage on your help for that.
Also, thanks for giving Alberta shout-out.
I actually met Albert last yearin Arizona.
He and another districtgovernor, my favorite man came
(31:11):
and I paid him to speak.
I was a keynote speaker in adistrict conference out there in
Arizona.
I was a keynote speaker in adistrict conference out there in
Arizona talking about publicimage and spreading a positive
message.
That's kind of a great way forme to get my message out there,
as I get invited to roadwayconferences around the world.
(31:31):
If anybody's listening fromItaly or France or Germany or
Austria or anywhere in Europe.
You know I'm always availableto come over and speak.
You've just got to give me acall.
But I think a podcast is agreat way because we're having
conversations and I think that'sthe main thing.
Hopefully, people listening toall the stuff that I'm
conversations, you know, and Ithink that's the main thing, you
(31:53):
know hopefully, peoplelistening to all the stuff that
I'm just, you know, it's fallingout of my mouth, but there
might be something amongst whatI've been saying today that will
inspire others or think oh yes,we can probably do that at home
.
So I think you know yourpodcast and a few of the other
people's podcasts are a greatresource for sharing, to share
ideas.
We only just hope that theideas that we share actually get
(32:16):
taken on and acted upon.
That's the dream, isn't it?
Brian Triger (32:22):
Yeah, that is the dream.
So I'm going to wrap this up bythanking you, Evan, for your
participation.
I'd love to have moreconversations on and offline.
I'm hopeful that that willoccur.
Thank you.
Thoughts or projects that ourdistrict specifically can help
(32:42):
you with?
Evan Burrell (32:55):
I'll speak, it's probably from a bigger picture.
I think if we can just in yourdistrict in particular, if we
can just, you know, drum intothe Rotarians in your areas to
just keep pushing their storiesout there, keep putting stuff up
on social media.
You know, follow me on Facebook, evan Burrell Changemaker, or
(33:18):
my website, evanburrellcom, andjust keep the output going.
You know we're always very, youknow, we are reliant on the
stories that we tell and we'vegot 1.2 million librarians, so
(33:42):
we've got 1.2 million stories,but you know why aren't we out
there telling our stories?
So my tip to your district isand your clubs is you know, keep
putting it up on social mediaand don't be discouraged if you
know you're not getting as manylikes or whatever.
You've just got to think abouthow to land it.
So when I started, I started myFacebook page.
(34:05):
It was really just a way to getsort of my Rotary content off
my personal Rotary profile,because there were people who
weren't all that interested init.
That's fine.
So I had a dedicated space forthat and you know I didn't have
any illusions that I was goingto, you know, get 30,000
followers or anything.
I didn't, you know.
(34:25):
So, to be honest, I probablywould have to pay people to
follow me.
But you know it's playing thatlong game, it's just being
consistent.
It's posting regularly.
It's posting stuff that peopleare interested in, it's posting
funny stuff.
It's, you know, it's just beingconsistent.
And you know, like with your,with your own podcast, you know
you're only going to get, youknow, more traction and get more
(34:46):
people if you just speakconsistently and consistent with
it and you just keep doing it,you keep having conversations.
So, yeah, and hopefully, youknow, after our little
conversation today, you know I'mdefinitely going to be sharing
our chat with my followers andothers and hopefully it inspires
somebody saying Turkey or Italyor something to have a podcast
(35:08):
or their own, or inspire them tohave their own conversations
with people.
Brian Triger (35:13):
That would be fantastic and I look forward to
listening to all of them as theyget rolled out.
So, with that, I just want tothank ITSpark for being a
nonprofit behind the sceneshelping us out with this podcast
.
I'd like to also thank theAlmonte library.
(35:34):
Prior to our transition to adifferent studio, they were the
root of us starting here, sothank you to the metropolitan
library system.
I want to thank all of oursubscribers and listeners.
I want to thank RotaryInternational, all districts,
(35:54):
including my own, and, yeah, Imight have left some people out,
but there are going to alwaysbe more episodes to include
those people and expressgratitude.
Have a great day and great week, everyone.
You.
Welcome to the Rotary Spark podcast.
With me today I have EvanBurrell.
Welcome to the podcast, evan.
Evan Burrell (00:38):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
Brian Triger (00:41):
So let's dig right into your story.
Tell us a little bit about howyou got exposed to Rotary, and
we'll go from there.
Evan Burrell (00:50):
Sure.
So my first exposure to Rotarywas when I was about 17.
My mother was a member ofRotaract in the 1970s in
Australia 1970s in Australia andat that time I'd left school
and sort of bumming around andnot really doing anything.
(01:11):
So my mum saw in the localnewspaper an ad calling for
young leaders and those arestarting up at the new Rotaract
Club.
So I wasn't yet 18, but theclub, I think, had been active
for about six months.
So she pushed me, as mums do.
(01:32):
She, you know, reminded meevery five minutes about it and
get me to do something, becauseI wasn't overly religious or
political or anything like that,and you know, I'd sort of lost
contact with a few friends fromschool.
So it was a good way to get outand meet some friends.
So two weeks after I turned 18I went to my first run-up
(01:52):
meeting and my whole reason forjoining the organisation was
just wanting to meet agirlfriend.
Really, to be honest.
Brian Triger (02:10):
That's uh, that's actually smart.
Uh, I mean I I haven't heardthat one before, but I guess, uh
, you know, did it havesomething to do with uh wanting
to kind of meet a better qualityperson or someone who has more
of a giving mentality to theworld?
Evan Burrell (02:30):
No, you weren't quite there yet, okay, and I
changed years old.
I wasn't trying to find alifelong soulmate or anything
like that.
Yeah, no, no, no, I get it.
Brian Triger (02:44):
And your brain still had another seven years in
the cooker prior to fullymaturing.
So you've got to give yourselfsome grace.
Evan Burrell (02:51):
That's right.
But look, I joined at 18 and Ileft Rotaract at 30 when you're
sort of supposed to and I wentstraight into Rotary.
So my reasons for joiningRotary were a lot different than
my reasons for joining rotary.
Okay.
Brian Triger (03:10):
And so the transition from Rotaract to
rotary was it immediate?
Did you have a little bit of a?
Was there a gap year?
Tell us a little bit more aboutthat transition.
Evan Burrell (03:24):
So my transition from Rotary was pretty seamless.
I got to the age of about 30and I felt like I could achieve
everything that I could achievewhen I wrote.
At that stage there was sort ofan up and age line, which is
now subsequently being removed,but it just felt to me natural
(03:44):
and because I'd built up arelationship with Rotarians over
the 12 years, it was just apretty seamless.
But I think I had a break ofabout a month of not being
involved with regular Rotary.
(04:04):
But I pretty much just joinedthe club, the club that asked me
to join.
They wanted me to help changetheir young influence and all
that sort of stuff.
But it wasn't even a year laterthat I left that club because I
was so resistant to change thatit was really wasting my
(04:27):
energies.
I then joined an online e-club,australia's first e-club.
I was president of that e-clubit's called the e-club of
Greater Sydney, okay, and I wasin that and that suited me quite
well.
But then the recent piece fromthe e-Club was a bit of that
(04:47):
personal connection with people,seeing the regulatory, of
seeing people.
So then I went and joined aRotary Club that was very
supportive of me during myRotaract time and I probably
should have joined them to beginwith.
The a riding club of Tarahumaraand I joined them and I was had
(05:10):
been with them for many, manyyears and I moved and joined
another club and then I movedtwo hours north and into a new
district and I've joined anotherclub.
So I was in one Rotary club formy entire career and now I've
been in four or five differentRotary clubs.
Brian Triger (05:26):
Wow, okay, so you've hopped around a bit.
Evan Burrell (05:30):
Just a little bit, yeah, but I've been involved
now for 26 years, so it's nottoo bad.
Brian Triger (05:38):
I feel like an NBA player getting traded no,
that's uh, that's interesting,uh, so you know, we we've only
had some light electroniccommunication and, uh, you know,
we chatted for a few minutesbefore this episode.
But I'm on, I'm in kind of your, your early rotaract days
(06:00):
inside of rotary.
I've, I've been in rotary forabout, you know, a year and a
half, going on two years.
So I'm still, I still have therose colored glasses on not to
take any, uh, you know, creditor or create an illusion that
there isn't passion tied toindividuals that are are vets
essentially within Rotary.
But it's, it's, it'sfascinating for me to see the
(06:23):
other side of the fence.
Yeah, it's.
Evan Burrell (06:27):
look, I mean, I'm still extremely passionate about
it and I've taken on thisleadership role as the district
governor elect and I just cameback from a week long training
in Orlando and Florida and veryintensive, and that's kind of
where they give you the refillof their Kool-Aid, you know.
And but?
And that's kind of where theygive you the refill of their
(06:49):
Kool-Aid, you know.
But Rotary is a journey fordifferent people and it takes
people in different places.
So for me it was an opportunityto meet some friends and make
connections and do some good inthe world.
For others, it could be workingon projects overseas or a guide
I'm staying with here inFlorida.
(07:10):
Corey is very passionate abouttrees and tree planting and
wants to plant a billion treesby 2030, and it aligns with
Rotary's focus of environmentalprojects.
So every Rotarian has somethingto give and their level of
participation is high.
Some people, you know, justcome to a meeting and that's all
(07:33):
they really do.
Or some people you know comealong and they go.
You know, as the old sayinggoes, go hard or go home.
Brian Triger (07:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's I mean based on what I've
(08:03):
seen here.
I've seen a gain, a little bitof a visibility over, you know,
the the 1.2 million people,which essentially gives me a
smaller fragment of the rest ofthe world.
You know, because we're we'reobviously engaged with
individuals who are outside ofRotary too.
So, you know, I'm never goingto fully understand the 8.1, 8.2
(08:24):
billion people throughout theplanet and, you know, know,
cover every single inch of theworld, because it's impossible
for a person to do.
But, uh, having connectionswith people within rotary just
gives me, at the very least,much, much more of a clear
visibility of the world that'sright.
Evan Burrell (08:42):
And what you said is you know we we've got about 8
billion people or something inthe world and there's only 1.2
million Rotarians.
But you know those 1.2 millionRotarians have had a direct
impact with the 8 billion peoplein the world.
Yeah, and, whether they know itor not, in some way shape or
form over the last 120 yearsthey're.
(09:04):
You know poly-eradication.
So you know people who areliving in the countries that
Rotary has actively supportedpolio eradication.
Are, you know, polio-freebecause of the work that Rotary
has done?
Or you know it could bechildren who are getting fed
with breakfast meals that aresupplied by the Rotary Club.
Or children with disabilitiesare swinging play equipment or
(09:26):
something that's been put inthere by the Rotary Club.
Or children with disabilitiesare swinging play equipment or
something that's been put inthere by the Rotary Club.
Or you know again, here inFlorida, you know somebody's
life could have been saved by alife-saving.
You know rescue tube that'sresting on the beach there in a
(09:46):
little what do you call it?
Container case or somethinglike that donated by the Rotary
Club, that somebody seessomebody in danger and goes up
there and unclips it and throwsthe lifebuoy to just have
somebody's life.
So, you know, the amount oflives that Rotary has touched
over 120 years really isinsurmountable.
(10:07):
But it is a shame, though, thatwe don't have more people
involved in our organisation,and really the reason why we
don't is because we in ourselvesare not very good at telling
stories.
We kind of, as an organisation,want to hide ourselves under a
bush, and we don't want to, youknow, hide ourselves under a
(10:29):
bush, and you know we don't wantto talk about ourselves, and in
this day and age that's not thementality we have.
It might have been fine in the1950s, 60s, 70s or whatever, but
in today's day and age, whereeverything is so easily
accessible and everybody's onsocial media or their phones or
whatever, for us to be able toget some traction and get people
interested in what we're doing.
We need to be able to get sometraction and let people
understand what we're doing.
Brian Triger (10:50):
Um, we need to be able to get out there and start
talking about it and from thesmall amount of experience that
I've had to some of the worksthat you've done.
You know your, the blog, uh,your podcast, which I just uh
got exposed to over the lastcouple of days, and, uh, I mean
not to take take away from allof your physical involvement,
(11:11):
but you call yourself achangemaker and you definitely
are.
I think all Rotarians are,whether they realize it or not,
but you're really doing someimpressive things with your
online presence.
One of the very first thingsand you know this won't surprise
anyone but, uh, before evenknowing anything about rotary,
(11:32):
uh, I think that I saw your face.
You know the, the, the infamous, uh, you know superman, uh, or
uh, uh, the, the rotary rotaryshot.
So you know, I think thatdefinitely that that opened up a
(11:57):
good can of worms and it'sgotten me curious about you as
an individual.
It's gotten me curious about allof the work that you're doing
and I think that, no matter whatyou continue to do in Rotary,
people like you and your worksare going to continue to inspire
people like me and you know,regardless of how our connection
(12:17):
unfolds, I appreciate you forthat, because I do see that that
the stories are in some waysnot being told in a way that I
really want to drink thatKool-Aid.
And you know, I see it inrotary meetings, sometimes the
lower energy rotary meetingswhere you know the same speakers
(12:40):
are being used or the sameboards are being cycled out and
really there's just there's moreof a desire to control than
there is to influence and change.
I don't know if you you've beenexposed to that.
I mean that's anecdotal, but asa new rotarian, and as I've,
you know, shifted to a varietyof different clubs and just
(13:01):
looking at different clubs, I'venoticed that there's a
different, uh, or lack ofobjective.
Evan Burrell (13:07):
I mean, I fully agree with you.
In all the time that I've beeninvolved, there's been plenty of
times I've gone to a Rotarymeeting where I've told you
myself well, there's an hour ofmy life I'm never going to get
back.
But again, there's clubs thatare super dynamic and then
there's clubs that aren't, andyou're going to get that in an
(13:27):
organisation with so many peopleinvolved.
But I mean and thank you forthe comments there about the
rugby superhero thing you knowI've you know, personally I'm a
big Superman fan, so I do feellike that Rotarians are
superheroes.
You know, we are changingpeople's lives, we are helping
people and stepping in whenthere is a need.
(13:50):
We are empowering, you know,young people and people of all
ages to do better and to do goodin the world.
So to me that's a superheroicevent.
So it just was fairly naturalto become a Rotary superhero.
But the other thing was is thatit really tied into people's
preconceived ideas of what ahero is.
So you know, everyone knows whoSuperman is and Spider-Man and
(14:12):
all that sort of stuff.
So to create that sort oficonography of a, you know,
ripping open a shirt andrevealing this sort of rotary
shirt underneath, it was an ideathat people could easily relate
to.
And, as you said, you saw theroad receiver here, I think,
somewhere before you even becamea road carrier.
(14:32):
But the only issue that I havesometimes with that and with me
is obviously I'm popular onsocial media.
I do a lot of things, I've gota lot of fans and you know, even
this week people came up to meand said, oh, I see you on
Facebook or whatever.
How many is that Facebook guyor a social media guy?
But sometimes I've sort ofbecome a bit of a meme myself.
So they don't generally ornecessarily see me as a person.
(14:57):
They see me as a character or aguy in a loud rotary suit or
something like that, and that'sfine and that's kind of what's
defined me for many, many years.
But it's now trying to break,not necessarily away from it too
much, but to try and leveragefrom that to really instigate
some change.
(15:17):
And the main thing, the reasonwhy I do it is to inspire other
Rotarians, regardless of how oldthey are is that they too can
also get out there and starttelling their stories and start
attracting attention of theorganization.
So while I do it with uh, um,some would say a sledgehammer, I
just can do it with, you know,in different ways and raising um
(15:40):
, raising attention about, aboutwhat the organization can do
and especially what theorganization can do for them, as
well as going around this dirt.
Brian Triger (15:49):
Yeah, I, I, for a second, I visualized you with a
giant sledgehammer.
So, yeah, and, and when youwere talking about that, it's a.
So I have this idea, this Evanidea.
You know the smiles, thecamaraderie, the, the colors,
the.
You know the, the visuals thatare pushed out there, and then
(16:14):
you know that that shattered,especially in this conversation
of this.
Okay, this is a.
You're a real Rotarian, you'rea real human being.
You've had, uh, 40 plus yearsof experience on this planet.
You're, you're a person.
So there's definitely adifference between you know, the
character and the, the kind of,the pedestal, uh placed version
(16:36):
of yourself and the individual,the, the, the real Evan, uh,
that you know connects with allof the Rotarians and does the
actual work.
So I appreciate you letting meconnect with you in that
capacity.
Evan Burrell (16:51):
And I thank you for that.
But also too, I mean, beinghumble really isn't a word that
generally appears in mydictionary, but sometimes
there's nothing particularlyspecial about me.
I'm just a, you know, a whiteguy, middle-aged who just
happens to post stuff on socialmedia and it appeals to people.
So, you know, people sometimesthink, you know, what I do is
(17:14):
like all this really awesomestuff.
I'm just a creative person.
I've got, you know, a potentialdeficit disorder and I'm a
creative guy and I can quicklythink of something and market it
out and put it out there and Iwas, you know, at the right
place at the right time.
The Zod Geisman social mediacame in and became a bit of a
thought leader for it andadapted myself to be a bit of a
(17:37):
changemaker, to encourage othersto change.
But the biggest thing is that Isuppose what's the appeal is for
road trainings is that you'vealways got to approach it from
positivity and some fun and somehappy place and, you know,
reach some humour.
And you know I don't takeRotary super seriously, but I'm
(18:03):
very serious about Rotary.
Now you might think, oh, that'sa bit of a contradiction, but
what I mean is that I understandthe traditions about Rotary.
Now you might think, oh, that'sa bit of a contradiction.
But what I mean is that Iunderstand the traditions of
Rotary and all the things thatwe do and in some places part of
the world we wear you know thebling and you know the gold
chains and all that we look likeWest Coast rappers or whatever.
Or you know we do the pledgeand we ding the bells and we
(18:26):
sing the songs and we hit therotary tick and all the rest of
it and sometimes I can not be soserious about those things and
poke a little bit of fun at that.
But beneath all that sort ofstuff, the seriousness of what
we do is that we do have adirect input into changing
people's lives for the better,and so I'm never not serious
(18:47):
about those things or the workthat we do.
I always treat that with thereverence that it needs to show
that.
You know, as an organisation,you know we are able to directly
change people's lives.
But all the other sort of stuffyou know the stuff that people
understand in traditions and youknow the jokes that I always
make that people really respondvery well to is about the rotary
(19:08):
chicken, because you know,obviously if we go to meetings
there's always food involved andit's usually always chicken.
And I say, you know, that'sprobably one of the reasons why
Colonel Harlow Sanders of KFCsaying it was a Rotarian, he was
trying to sell his chicken.
But you understand where I'msort of coming from there, the
(19:29):
funny stuff that I put out.
It just appeals to people andyou know you always get a better
response from somebody you knowwith humor in mind than just, I
suppose, just constantlypushing the fact that oh, you
know, we need donations or we'retrying to do this, we're trying
to do that.
But if we're just able to tellour stories as individuals and
(19:50):
how we're actually people'slives, then you get people on
board and you get people to takethem personally.
And if you can do it in a funway, then it's a lot easier to
get the message out there andget your message across yeah, I
like that a lot.
Brian Triger (20:05):
I mean, humor has always made information more
digestible to me.
Evan Burrell (20:14):
Well, hopefully you don't get too hungry for it,
but there's certainly plenty ofpeople who are Sometimes it can
be a bit of a chore because theway algorithms and things work
on social media if you don'tpost for a while, things
disappear.
I suppose that's something thatI try and also talk about a bit
(20:34):
with major clubs around theworld.
If you want to remain active,you've always got to make sure
you've got things to talk about.
I suppose the other good thingis, too, is all the stuff that I
post on my various social mediachannels TikToks and Facebooks
and Instagrams and whatever else.
You know, I'm more than happyfor Rotarians to reuse that
(20:54):
stuff, because if the thingsthat I put out can help them
tell their own stories and itmeans that they don't have to
spend any of their precious timetrying to think of something to
put out to tell their story,they can focus on perhaps um
more on doing something withtheir project, then you know,
you know, I feel like I've um,I've achieved that job and it's
(21:16):
you know, it hasn't cost themanything.
It's just something for them toput out yeah, and I I've.
Brian Triger (21:22):
I've used that information at least a couple of
times.
The website address is EvanBurrell, so B-U-R-R-E-L-Lcom.
Is that correct?
That's correct.
Yep, cool, and the otherconnection.
One of the first things I sawon your website was just a quick
unofficial shout out to 1905gear out in Seattle the the
(21:44):
Rotary Rocks t-shirt.
I love that.
Evan Burrell (22:10):
Yeah and see merchandise that's available and
it appeals to a lot of ouryounger viewers who, kind of
like me, think a little bitoutside the box as well.
And it's not just the usualstandard Rotary t-shirt or
anything like that, it's justtrying to have that little bit
of fun.
The amount of fans I've hadwith people seeing me in the
Rotary Rocks t-shirt some peoplethought I was.
I've had with people saying theend of rotary Rex t-shirt.
(22:31):
You know some people havethought I was a star, something
like that, but you know it's,it's again.
It's somebody having an idea,putting out a cool shirt and you
know there's me putting it,wearing it and showing it off
and encouraging other people toto buy the stuff from him as
well.
And the good thing is is thathe's a Rotary licence holder, so
(22:55):
the stuff that you buy from him, that money goes directly back
to Rotary International andhelps with our great cause.
So I mean it's a win-win, and Iwish more others, more people
would have, you know, similarideas to mine and use, by
putting out some cool stuff likethe Rotary Super Herourup thing
that I did or the pins thatI've got that be a changemaker
(23:16):
and a changemaker award.
I suppose what I'm saying toyou here is I'm trying to weave
a little bit of that throughthis conversation is that we've
got to be fun and we've got tobe positive and we've also got
to think a little bit outsidethe box, because what we've done
in the past isn't working andit isn't drawing people into our
organization and we need tothink of new ways to be able to
(23:37):
do that and the way things are.
Brian Triger (23:39):
So yeah, so the the uh guy's name that you're
referring to is Nick Johnson.
He's a Rotarian out of thePaul's Bow Rotary Club, I
believe, out in Seattle and I'mright there with you.
I really like what he's doingand I think that this
(24:02):
conversation and otherconversations will inspire the
creation of additional outlets.
Creation of additional outlets,evan.
What ways can we inspire thecreation of additional products
and media within RotaryInternational?
Evan Burrell (24:21):
Well, you know, this sometimes can be a bit of a
tough question to answer.
We obviously.
My thing that I encourage isalways to wear your Rotary
shirts, not Rotary events.
So if you're going to the storeand grocery shopping or
something, wear your rotaryshirt.
You don't know where thatconversation is going to happen.
People encourage them to weartheir rotary pins and whatever
(24:46):
else.
But the other thing I was goingto say was, too, the graphics
and stuff that I put out there,you know, hopefully clubs adapt
them to suit their own club'sneeds.
But the other thing I was goingto say was, too, is that the
graphics and stuff that I putout there, you know, hopefully
clubs adapt them to suit theirown club's needs.
But you know, if they're ableto visit things like Canberra or
stuff, you know they'd havesort of templates that are easy
(25:06):
to modify as well.
It means, you know, as we stickclosely to the branding
guidelines at Rory NationalPublic, it shows more of a
professional image.
If there's similar colour,similar type of designs and
things, it's great.
Just because you slap a Rotarylogo on an outside of a Rotary
existing design doesn'tnecessarily make a graphic
design.
That's kind of why I try andhelp people.
(25:29):
I've got this big Facebookgroup called Public Image
Articles and Graphics Hub.
We've got 20,000 people onthere.
It's a great resource forpeople to ask questions and
upload their own kind of designsor slides or things and say,
hey, does this meet the brandingguidelines?
(25:50):
Blah, blah, and people willgive on their own and help and
that sort of thing.
But just sort of touching backto the merchandise, you know
you're always going to havepeople.
You know the Russell Hamptonsof the world and the awards for
your people or the otherdifferent companies around the
merchandise and stuff.
You know people are alwaysgoing to want you know their
standard polo shirts and theirpins and different things and
(26:10):
that's fine and that caters tothe audience that we have.
But like the guy that I talkeda little bit about before Nick
with 1905, you know he's doingthose cool designs of the Rotary
Rocksteer shirts and thedifferent kind of fonts and
stuff like that and they allmeet the branding guidelines.
They're all fine and things arelicensed from Rotary.
(26:32):
But it's obviously tapping intothat younger, youth market of
Rotary and I think we I'mspeaking as the longest person
in Rotary myself I think we'remore behind those kind of cool
little items and we're more ableto better sell it and talk
about our message.
So I'm pretty sure I canguarantee you that a 25-year-old
(26:55):
or 30-year-old isn't going tobe walking up to some old guy in
the grocery store and ask himabout the Rotary time he's
looking at, but they'redefinitely going to ask somebody
or be interested in somebodywho's walking down the grocery
aisle with rotary rocks on theirT-shirt, you know.
So that's kind of a way of howwe can sort of, you know, tap
(27:17):
into that kind of market by justhaving you know things that are
conversation stuff.
And I mean, this is the wholereason why I wear that loud,
garish, ugly rotary suit.
You know, some people love itand there's a lot of people that
hate it, you know.
And some people, you know thereason why I wear it is because
(27:37):
it's a 10% consular.
You know, to me it's my MickeyMouse costume.
You know People waiting in lineat Disneyland to get their
photograph with Mickey Mouse,and it's the same thing.
There are rotarians who want toget their photographs with me
because I'm wearing this big,loud suit.
(27:58):
But you know, I wish some peoplewere more outward and engaged,
like I am, because the only waywe're going to get anybody
involved in our organisation isif we kind of essentially, you
know, round it down theirthroats, so to speak, because
for many years we've just as Isaid, we've let the work that we
(28:21):
do just get pushed by thewayside and no one really has
been paying any attention to itcertainly not enough to try and
want to join up on this.
So we've got to constantly pushand promote what we do and then
follow that up with storiesabout how we're actually doing
good and how, by being a memberof Rotary, you're able to
(28:41):
achieve these things.
It's really marketing,one-on-one, the promotion of the
product that we want to sell.
We've got the product thatpeople have bought, and then we
want the people to actuallyenjoy the product that we want
to sell.
We've got the product thatpeople have bought and then we
want the people to actuallyenjoy the product.
Brian Triger (28:56):
Sure, yeah, I see the podcast at least this
specific podcast kind of as thecasual dating version of that.
And then when you go out andyou know you do your thing with
your outward expressions, that's, that's a representation of a
marriage.
You know you're committed,you're consistently, in an
(29:17):
extroverted way at least,pushing out the material and you
understand, you know the deeperends of that pool.
Evan Burrell (29:26):
Yeah, and I mean that's something as a person too
.
I mean, some people don't knowI'm actually a professional
actor.
I've gone to acting school inAustralia and I've done 50 TV
commercials and I've been in TVand movies and stuff and
obviously I'm very extrovertedwhen I'm channeling that free
rotary.
(29:47):
It's kind of a cranky and stuffLike I'm not saying everybody's
going to be like that, which isfine.
But I just sort of wish wewould be better at trying to
tell our stories more, becauseit really is that connection
that we can have with anotherperson.
We can get them to see just howgood the things that we're
doing in the world and get theminvolved.
(30:09):
And another thing I just wantedto correct you on as well is I
don't actually have a podcastmyself.
I appear wanted to correct youon as well because I don't
actually have a podcast myself.
I hear a lot on other people'spodcasts, but I never.
I don't have one to myself, butI'm not sure if I'm.
I've got enough time as anincoming history governor to do
my own podcast, but maybe I,maybe I should think about it.
Brian Triger (30:29):
If, if you need a hand.
So I inspired by alberthernandez out in district 5280.
We're about 22 episodes in.
I mean you obviously have theskills to do it, but if you
needed any type of you know,small or heavy lifting to get
that started in your area, feelfree to use me as a resource.
I'd love to help I do that.
Evan Burrell (30:50):
We actually don't really have a sort of a
Australian-centric sort ofpodcast, but I certainly would
leverage on your help for that.
Also, thanks for giving Alberta shout-out.
I actually met Albert last yearin Arizona.
He and another districtgovernor, my favorite man came
(31:11):
and I paid him to speak.
I was a keynote speaker in adistrict conference out there in
Arizona.
I was a keynote speaker in adistrict conference out there in
Arizona talking about publicimage and spreading a positive
message.
That's kind of a great way forme to get my message out there,
as I get invited to roadwayconferences around the world.
(31:31):
If anybody's listening fromItaly or France or Germany or
Austria or anywhere in Europe.
You know I'm always availableto come over and speak.
You've just got to give me acall.
But I think a podcast is agreat way because we're having
conversations and I think that'sthe main thing.
Hopefully, people listening toall the stuff that I'm
conversations, you know, and Ithink that's the main thing, you
(31:53):
know hopefully, peoplelistening to all the stuff that
I'm just, you know, it's fallingout of my mouth, but there
might be something amongst whatI've been saying today that will
inspire others or think oh yes,we can probably do that at home
.
So I think you know yourpodcast and a few of the other
people's podcasts are a greatresource for sharing, to share
ideas.
We only just hope that theideas that we share actually get
(32:16):
taken on and acted upon.
That's the dream, isn't it?
Brian Triger (32:22):
Yeah, that is the dream.
So I'm going to wrap this up bythanking you, Evan, for your
participation.
I'd love to have moreconversations on and offline.
I'm hopeful that that willoccur.
Thank you.
Thoughts or projects that ourdistrict specifically can help
(32:42):
you with?
Evan Burrell (32:55):
I'll speak, it's probably from a bigger picture.
I think if we can just in yourdistrict in particular, if we
can just, you know, drum intothe Rotarians in your areas to
just keep pushing their storiesout there, keep putting stuff up
on social media.
You know, follow me on Facebook, evan Burrell Changemaker, or
(33:18):
my website, evanburrellcom, andjust keep the output going.
You know we're always very, youknow, we are reliant on the
stories that we tell and we'vegot 1.2 million librarians, so
(33:42):
we've got 1.2 million stories,but you know why aren't we out
there telling our stories?
So my tip to your district isand your clubs is you know, keep
putting it up on social mediaand don't be discouraged if you
know you're not getting as manylikes or whatever.
You've just got to think abouthow to land it.
So when I started, I started myFacebook page.
(34:05):
It was really just a way to getsort of my Rotary content off
my personal Rotary profile,because there were people who
weren't all that interested init.
That's fine.
So I had a dedicated space forthat and you know I didn't have
any illusions that I was goingto, you know, get 30,000
followers or anything.
I didn't, you know.
(34:25):
So, to be honest, I probablywould have to pay people to
follow me.
But you know it's playing thatlong game, it's just being
consistent.
It's posting regularly.
It's posting stuff that peopleare interested in, it's posting
funny stuff.
It's, you know, it's just beingconsistent.
And you know, like with your,with your own podcast, you know
you're only going to get, youknow, more traction and get more
(34:46):
people if you just speakconsistently and consistent with
it and you just keep doing it,you keep having conversations.
So, yeah, and hopefully, youknow, after our little
conversation today, you know I'mdefinitely going to be sharing
our chat with my followers andothers and hopefully it inspires
somebody saying Turkey or Italyor something to have a podcast
(35:08):
or their own, or inspire them tohave their own conversations
with people.
Brian Triger (35:13):
That would be fantastic and I look forward to
listening to all of them as theyget rolled out.
So, with that, I just want tothank ITSpark for being a
nonprofit behind the sceneshelping us out with this podcast
.
I'd like to also thank theAlmonte library.
(35:34):
Prior to our transition to adifferent studio, they were the
root of us starting here, sothank you to the metropolitan
library system.
I want to thank all of oursubscribers and listeners.
I want to thank RotaryInternational, all districts,
(35:54):
including my own, and, yeah, Imight have left some people out,
but there are going to alwaysbe more episodes to include
those people and expressgratitude.
Have a great day and great week, everyone.
You.
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