Mike congrats! Happy to help out. Let me know when you schedule site visits for this year's location.

Here is a great example of how to design a great House of Friendship for both attendees and exhibitors: clear directions on what to include, the intended audience and compact exhibit hours. Great job, District 5960! http://rotary5960.org/page/conference-of-clubs-house-of-friendship

Thanks, Sandy! Many more nuggets are marinating in my idea file!

Hi, everyone, thanks for your thoughtful comments. I am not really proposing an "official" new 4-Way Test. Rather, my intent is to call attention to the particularly mean and destructive nature of SOME activity on social media among teens and tweens. @Scott, yes, these other verbs are essentially different ways of "saying" something. But in the world of a teen or tween, these are thought of very differently. You and I would not think of message-bombing each other's email inboxes, but it is a fun game for some. A teen might not think the 4WT applies - until we tease out the distinction. The 4WT is indeed solid. The key is getting kids to use it, think about it, make it part of who they are. Corinne, it sounds like you are already doing some good work in this area (check your voicemail for my message). I would love to hear what clubs are doing to expose more kids to the 4WT - and how they are doing it. Let's share resources and tools where possible so we can make it easy for Rotary or Rotaract members to engage with their local schools and youth groups to start a positive conversation.

Mary, I like the spirit of that - "Is it fun for all concerned?" I am a big fan of Life is Good (www.lifeisgood.com) quotations and the shirts they sell them on. For kids, keeping it fun for ALL concerned is one of the challenges. One thing to consider is that we humans are pretty poor predictors of what will make us happy - as well as how long sad events will keep us sad. So that bias may lead us to underestimate the fun of something that involves challenging, difficult, hard work. Yet, experiences like those are often our most cherished and deeply meaningful. If curious, read some of the work by Daniel Gilbert. I am curious, in that light, what are some of the things that your club has found to be fun, that weren't seen that way beforehand?

Thank you, yi shun. I like the Four Way Test for its simplicity and its power to bring many perspectives to a decision or an interaction. Now if we can all remember to apply it, even as we post, retweet and reply as fast as we all do! Paul, I agree - Herbert Taylor must have had some amazing instincts about human nature.

Thanks, Kevin. I like the membership piece you put together. And indeed, for Rotary to thrive, we need to get new members engaged in the club quickly. And to do that, we need to shape and reshape clubs and club activities that will help connect people to what they are passionate about.

Update: I received this comment via email: "I wanted to let you know I appreciated your blog post today on Innovate Rotary. I joined Rotary a few years ago at 24, and had to work hard to be taken seriously as a member of my club - it's hard in a rural club, when I went to school with the children of many of our members. It does get to be a bit much when you are constantly referred to as a generation or a statistic, and not as a person." Well said!

UPDATE See this article translated for the folks in District 2241 - Romania and Moldova. Find it here: http://www.rotary2241.org/new/detalii/bine-rotary-e-rindul-tau/ Great to know we have readers around the world here at Innovate Rotary!