WM5 - Closed Door Meeting 1 - at Hyatt Regency

Venue: Hyatt Regency - Studio 1 & 2

Attendees (26): President Rtn Radha Krish, Trainer PP Rtn Sathish Kumar G, Advisor PP Rtn Sridhar V, Secretary Rtn Venkatesh K V, Treasurer Rtn Arunkumar S, Jt Secretary Rtn Saravanan S, PP Rtn Venugopal J, PP Rtn Balaji S M, PP Rtn Sridhar T, PP Rtn Jagannath R, PP Rtn Shankar V, PP Rtn Naresh Advani, Rtn Viswanathan B, Rtn Kanesan K, International Service Director Rtn Meiyappan T, PI Chair Rtn Rafeek, Club Service Director Rtn Jemima, Sergeant-At-Arms Rtn Priya, Rtn Jaffer, Rtn Basheer, Rtn Selvakumar, Rtn Sridharan K S, Rtn Muthu Kannan, Rtn Riyaz, Rtn Dharmaraj, Rtn Vasu Venkat, Rtn Aravindhan C, Rtn Sampangi Raja, Rtn Avinash Kankaria

President Rtn Radha presented "Slight Edge". a review of performance of the Club from 1st July to 17th Sep '25" i.e. 75 days. The idea of "slight edge" focuses on "small shifts, powerful results". The key areas presented under the "slight edge" were (a) Member Participation (b) Service Consistency, (c) Projects Cost & Effort, (d) Partnerships & Networking and (e) Financials. A synopsis of the presentation is as follows: 

Rooted in the “Slight Edge” philosophy, the club drives impact through small, consistent steps. With a participation count of 150+ members & 70+ Rotaractors , engagement stays strong. Participation has been averaging at 45 in Weekly Meetings, 12 in project meetings, 18 at Board meetings, and overall 1000+ manhours contributed. The year so far saw 28 service projects including flagship/continuing projects like Sakthi Kodu, Vazhikatti, Rose Day, Annadhanam & Smart Boards, plus 10 key events like Heritage Hunt & Chess Tournament. Financially, the club mobilized ₹18.5L CSR, 18.5L in progress, ₹1.75L corpus built, ₹4.4L sponsorship received, and a Global Grant for Project ROSE (Oral Cancer Bus) in progress. 58 members & 20+ sponsors supported events. Public image rose via wide media coverage of Awards & Madras Day. Partnerships span institutions, NGOs, global Rotary clubs (RC Nagoya Kiyosu, RC Alpharetta) and personalities like Sudha Ragunathan & Anand Amritraj. These “quiet wins” are compounding into sustainable growth and community impact.

The members highly appreciated the performance and acknowledged that every Key Data Indicator is on the upward path so far. They provided feedback and certain suggestions as follows.

PLUS

1. "Slight Edge is showing signs of Cutting Edge"
2. Towards sustaining the momentum and the improvements, a kind of "SOP/Checklist" that documents the key factors that contributed to the improvements will help a great deal; even the future incumbents in leadership roles.
3. The President Elect nominating his Secretary Elect well in advance and enable his/her exposure and Training by shadowing the current team will be impactful.
4. More communication to members on the rationale and hard facts that were considered to arrive at Budgeted expenses will help members appreciate and meet their financial commitments to the club promptly.
5. The culture of appreciating performances and people has scope to improve. More members appreciating others and instantly will be motivating.
6. New members shall be involved more; in higher responsibilities as their willingness during this year has been highly forthcoming and seen with good ideas.
7. To improve timely payment of subscription without follow up, a suggestion was made to maintain a WhatsApp group of pending payee list and concerned members after payment shall exit the group. Another suggestion was to revive penalties for unduly delayed payment. A request was made to collect the first half year subscription immediately after Joint Board Meeting and the year start.
8. On the topic of the current year's subscription amount concerns were raised around the increase over previous year. PPs an members involved in the decision making explained the rationale of costs and the expenses unavoidable to maintain the set standards (around venue, F&B, logistics and overall Brand push) of a large club like ours.
9. It was suggested to maintain a certain percentage of the subscription reserved for project needs.
10. The omission of mention about Rock Star Award in the presentation was pointed out.
11. The need to improve upon maintaining start and end time of meetings strictly was highlighted.
12. Future leaders - the need for maintaining the pipeline of President Nominees for next 5 years was emphasised.
13. Advisor for Voice of Guindy - monthly Bulletin suggested the need to reduce the content to keep it manageable for the reader.
14. Communication - effective use of Announcements WhatsApp group was suggested.
15. A wish to have RCG's own premises was expressed by few members.

President and team acknowledged the feedback and suggestions and have taken these for further review and action.

All through the meeting, President and many others openly expressed appreciation for different members doing exceedingly well in their responsibilities: Rtn Muthukannan for the Chess Tournament, Rtn Meiyappan for organising the International Trip, Rtn Jemima's superb arrangements during events, Rtn Rafeek's extraordinary Birthday Gift Personal Video), Rtn Sriraman's contribution to the Chess Tournament, Rtn Karthikeyan's professional execution of Parimatram, Rtn Uvai's Project 777 and upcoming projects, Rtn Nithin's hatrick of Rotaract and Interact Installations, Rtn Manju, Rtn Sara and Ann Raji jointly delivering the Bulletin, Rtn Kanesan for the Avadi Class Room CSR follow-up and all the supporting team members; especially the new Rotarians were certain recalls. All the Donors, Sponsors were thanked profusely.