Bob's Corner - Article 7

Attendance and Engagement

This Rotary year we are exhorted to consider the proposition that 'attendance' does not fully describe the intent of this word: to be present at a meeting and other functions classified as attendance. It is proposed that 'engagement' does the job better. In any case there should not be a comparison between the two words per se. There is no need for word games : both words are interdependent.

When we attend we are present at an event, such as Rotary club meetings, but that alone was never the only meaning. When one reads a book one can just read and not absorb the nuances of what the author has intended or one reads carefully and one can admire how the author has composed his sentences, paragraphs, chapters and the whole.

To attend is much the same : we can be present in body, but not receive what is intended. To get the best out of and put into Rotary we need to absorb, find the intent and act accordingly.

That is where engagement enters. It and attendance must be linked. These two are conjoined twins : they belong to each other if we are to perform as Rotarians. If we do not attend we cannot be engaged in Rotary. Then the obvious corollary, if we are engaged in Rotary we have to be there, in short attend. The meaning of engagement in this case is 'committal', as all our efforts in Rotary should be.

If we only attend to keep up the minimum percentage of what is classified as attendance then we should not have accepted the invitation to join Rotary.