#0022 - Evan Burrell

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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Chapters

• 0:30 Journey of Rotary
• 12:34 Humor and Impact in Rotary
• 24:47 Promoting Rotary Through Public Image
• 34:52 Gratitude and Inspiration in Rotary

Transcript

Brian Triger: 0:30

Welcome to the Rotary Spark podcast. With me today I have Evan Burrell. Welcome to the podcast, evan.

Evan Burrell: 0:38

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

Brian Triger: 0:41

So let's dig right into your story. Tell us a little bit about how you got exposed to Rotary, and we'll go from there.

Evan Burrell: 0:50

Sure. So my first exposure to Rotary was when I was about 17. My mother was a member of Rotaract in the 1970s in Australia 1970s in Australia and at that time I'd left school and sort of bumming around and not really doing anything. So my mum saw in the local newspaper an ad calling for young leaders and those are starting up at the new Rotaract Club. So I wasn't yet 18, but the club, I think, had been active for about six months. So she pushed me, as mums do. She, you know, reminded me every five minutes about it and get me to do something, because I wasn't overly religious or political or anything like that, and you know, I'd sort of lost contact with a few friends from school. So it was a good way to get out and meet some friends. So two weeks after I turned 18 I went to my first run-up meeting and my whole reason for joining the organisation was just wanting to meet a girlfriend. Really, to be honest.

Brian Triger: 2:10

That's uh, that's actually smart. Uh, I mean I I haven't heard that one before, but I guess, uh, you know, did it have something to do with uh wanting to kind of meet a better quality person or someone who has more of a giving mentality to the world?

Evan Burrell: 2:30

No, you weren't quite there yet, okay, and I changed years old. I wasn't trying to find a lifelong soulmate or anything like that. Yeah, no, no, no, I get it.

Brian Triger: 2:44

And your brain still had another seven years in the cooker prior to fully maturing. So you've got to give yourself some grace.

Evan Burrell: 2:51

That's right. But look, I joined at 18 and I left Rotaract at 30 when you're sort of supposed to and I went straight into Rotary. So my reasons for joining Rotary were a lot different than my reasons for joining rotary. Okay.

Brian Triger: 3:10

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 about that transition.

Evan Burrell: 3:24

So my transition from Rotary was pretty seamless. I got to the age of about 30 and I felt like I could achieve everything that I could achieve when I wrote. At that stage there was sort of an up and age line, which is now subsequently being removed, but it just felt to me natural and because I'd built up a relationship with Rotarians over the 12 years, it was just a pretty seamless. But I think I had a break of about a month of not being involved with regular Rotary. But I pretty much just joined the club, the club that asked me to join. They wanted me to help change their young influence and all that sort of stuff. But it wasn't even a year later that I left that club because I was so resistant to change that it was really wasting my energies.

Evan Burrell: 4:29

I then joined an online e-club, australia's first e-club. I was president of that e-club it's called the e-club of Greater Sydney, okay, and I was in that and that suited me quite well. But then the recent piece from the e-Club was a bit of that personal connection with people, seeing the regulatory, of seeing people. So then I went and joined a Rotary Club that was very supportive of me during my Rotaract time and I probably should have joined them to begin with. The a riding club of Tarahumara and I joined them and I was had been with them for many, many years and I moved and joined another club and then I moved two hours north and into a new district and I've joined another club. So I was in one Rotary club for my entire career and now I've been in four or five different Rotary clubs.

Brian Triger: 5:26

Wow, okay, so you've hopped around a bit.

Evan Burrell: 5:30

Just a little bit, yeah, but I've been involved now for 26 years, so it's not too bad.

Brian Triger: 5:38

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 electronic communication and, uh, you know, we chatted for a few minutes before this episode. But I'm on, I'm in kind of your, your early rotaract days inside of rotary. I've, I've been in rotary for about, you know, a year and a half, going on two years. So I'm still, I still have the rose colored glasses on not to take any, uh, you know, credit or or create an illusion that there isn't passion tied to individuals that are are vets essentially within Rotary. But it's, it's, it's fascinating for me to see the other side of the fence. Yeah, it's.

Evan Burrell: 6:27

look, I mean, I'm still extremely passionate about it and I've taken on this leadership role as the district governor elect and I just came back from a week long training in Orlando and Florida and very intensive, and that's kind of where they give you the refill of their Kool-Aid, you know. And but? And that's kind of where they give you the refill of their Kool-Aid, you know. But Rotary is a journey for different people and it takes people in different places. So for me it was an opportunity to meet some friends and make connections and do some good in the world. For others, it could be working on projects overseas or a guide I'm staying with here in Florida.

Evan Burrell: 7:10

Corey is very passionate about trees and tree planting and wants to plant a billion trees by 2030, and it aligns with Rotary's focus of environmental projects. So every Rotarian has something to give and their level of participation is high. Some people, you know, just come to a meeting and that's all they really do. Or some people you know come along and they go. You know, as the old saying goes, go hard or go home.

Brian Triger: 7:41

Yeah, yeah, no, that's I mean based on what I've seen here. I've seen a gain, a little bit of a visibility over, you know, the the 1.2 million people, which essentially gives me a smaller fragment of the rest of the world. You know, because we're we're obviously engaged with individuals who are outside of Rotary too. So, you know, I'm never going to fully understand the 8.1, 8.2 billion people throughout the planet and, you know, know, cover every single inch of the world, because it's impossible for a person to do. But, uh, having connections with people within rotary just gives me, at the very least, much, much more of a clear visibility of the world that's right.

Evan Burrell: 8:42

And what you said is you know we we've got about 8 billion people or something in the world and there's only 1.2 million Rotarians. But you know those 1.2 million Rotarians have had a direct impact with the 8 billion people in the world. Yeah, and, whether they know it or not, in some way shape or form over the last 120 years they're. You know poly-eradication. So you know people who are living in the countries that Rotary has actively supported polio eradication. Are, you know, polio-free because of the work that Rotary has done? Or you know it could be children who are getting fed with breakfast meals that are supplied by the Rotary Club. Or children with disabilities are swinging play equipment or something that's been put in there by the Rotary Club. Or children with disabilities are swinging play equipment or something that's been put in there by the Rotary Club.

Evan Burrell: 9:31

Or you know again, here in Florida, you know somebody's life could have been saved by a life-saving. You know rescue tube that's resting on the beach there in a little what do you call it? Container case or something like that donated by the Rotary Club, that somebody sees somebody in danger and goes up there and unclips it and throws the lifebuoy to just have somebody's life. So, you know, the amount of lives that Rotary has touched over 120 years really is insurmountable.

Evan Burrell: 10:07

But it is a shame, though, that we don't have more people involved in our organisation, and really the reason why we don't is because we in ourselves are 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, you know, hide ourselves under a bush, and you know we don't want to talk about ourselves, and in this day and age that's not the mentality we have. It might have been fine in the 1950s, 60s, 70s or whatever, but in today's day and age, where everything is so easily accessible and everybody's on social media or their phones or whatever, for us to be able to get some traction and get people interested in what we're doing. We need to be able to get some traction 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 the small amount of experience that I've had to some of the works that you've done. You know your, the blog, uh, your podcast, which I just uh got exposed to over the last couple of days, and, uh, I mean not to take take away from all of your physical involvement, but you call yourself a changemaker and you definitely are. I think all Rotarians are, whether they realize it or not, but you're really doing some impressive things with your online presence. One of the very first things and you know this won't surprise anyone but, uh, before even knowing anything about rotary, 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 rotary shot.

Brian Triger: 11:49

So you know, I think that definitely that that opened up a good can of worms and it's gotten me curious about you as an individual.

Brian Triger: 12:01

It's gotten me curious about all of the work that you're doing and I think that, no matter what you continue to do in Rotary, people like you and your works are going to continue to inspire people like me and you know, regardless of how our connection unfolds, I appreciate you for that, because I do see that that the stories are in some ways not being told in a way that I really want to drink that Kool-Aid. And you know, I see it in rotary meetings, sometimes the lower energy rotary meetings where you know the same speakers are being used or the same boards are being cycled out and really there's just there's more of a desire to control than there is to influence and change. I don't know if you you've been exposed to that. I mean that's anecdotal, but as a new rotarian, and as I've, you know, shifted to a variety of different clubs and just looking at different clubs, I've noticed that there's a different, uh, or lack of objective.

Evan Burrell: 13:07

I mean, I fully agree with you. In all the time that I've been involved, there's been plenty of times I've gone to a Rotary meeting where I've told you myself well, there's an hour of my life I'm never going to get back.

Evan Burrell: 13:22

But again, there's clubs that are super dynamic and then there's clubs that aren't, and you're going to get that in an organisation with so many people involved. But I mean and thank you for the comments there about the rugby superhero thing you know I've you know, personally I'm a big Superman fan, so I do feel like that Rotarians are superheroes. You know, we are changing people's lives, we are helping people and stepping in when there is a need. We are empowering, you know, young people and people of all ages to do better and to do good in the world. So to me that's a superheroic event. So it just was fairly natural to become a Rotary superhero. But the other thing was is that it really tied into people's preconceived ideas of what a hero is. So you know, everyone knows who Superman is and Spider-Man and all that sort of stuff. So to create that sort of iconography of a, you know, ripping open a shirt and revealing this sort of rotary shirt underneath, it was an idea that people could easily relate to. And, as you said, you saw the road receiver here, I think, somewhere before you even became a road carrier.

Evan Burrell: 14:32

But the only issue that I have sometimes with that and with me is obviously I'm popular on social media. I do a lot of things, I've got a lot of fans and you know, even this week people came up to me and said, oh, I see you on Facebook or whatever. How many is that Facebook guy or a social media guy? But sometimes I've sort of become a bit of a meme myself. So they don't generally or necessarily see me as a person. They see me as a character or a guy in a loud rotary suit or something like that, and that's fine and that's kind of what's defined me for many, many years.

Evan Burrell: 15:07

But it's now trying to break, not necessarily away from it too much, but to try and leverage from that to really instigate some change. And the main thing, the reason why I do it is to inspire other Rotarians, regardless of how old they are is that they too can also get out there and start telling their stories and start attracting attention of the organization. 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, raising attention about, about what the organization can do and especially what the organization 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 you were talking about that, it's a. So I have this idea, this Evan idea. You know the smiles, the camaraderie, the, the colors, the. You know the, the visuals that are pushed out there, and then you know that that shattered, especially in this conversation of this. Okay, this is a. You're a real Rotarian, you're a real human being. You've had, uh, 40 plus years of experience on this planet. You're, you're a person. So there's definitely a difference between you know, the character and the, the kind of, the pedestal, uh placed version of yourself and the individual, the, the, the real Evan, uh, that you know connects with all of the Rotarians and does the actual work. So I appreciate you letting me connect with you in that capacity.

Evan Burrell: 16:51

And I thank you for that. But also too, I mean, being humble really isn't a word that generally appears in my dictionary, but sometimes there's nothing particularly special about me. I'm just a, you know, a white guy, middle-aged who just happens to post stuff on social media and it appeals to people. So, you know, people sometimes think, you know, what I do is like all this really awesome stuff. I'm just a creative person. I've got, you know, a potential deficit disorder and I'm a creative guy and I can quickly think of something and market it out and put it out there and I was, you know, at the right place at the right time. The Zod Geisman social media came in and became a bit of a thought leader for it and adapted myself to be a bit of a changemaker, to encourage others to change.

Evan Burrell: 17:41

But the biggest thing is that I suppose what's the appeal is for road trainings is that you've always got to approach it from positivity and some fun and some happy place and, you know, reach some humour. And you know I don't take Rotary super seriously, but I'm very serious about Rotary. Now you might think, oh, that's a bit of a contradiction, but what I mean is that I understand the traditions about Rotary. Now you might think, oh, that's a bit of a contradiction. But what I mean is that I understand the traditions of Rotary and all the things that we do and in some places part of the world we wear you know the bling and you know the gold chains and all that we look like West Coast rappers or whatever. Or you know we do the pledge and we ding the bells and we sing the songs and we hit the rotary tick and all the rest of it and sometimes I can not be so serious about those things and poke a little bit of fun at that. But beneath all that sort of stuff, the seriousness of what we do is that we do have a direct input into changing people's lives for the better, and so I'm never not serious about those things or the work that we do. I always treat that with the reverence that it needs to show that. You know, as an organisation, you know we are able to directly change people's lives.

Evan Burrell: 18:57

But all the other sort of stuff you know the stuff that people understand in traditions and you know the jokes that I always make that people really respond very well to is about the rotary chicken, because you know, obviously if we go to meetings there's always food involved and it's usually always chicken.

Evan Burrell: 19:15

And I say, you know, that's probably one of the reasons why Colonel Harlow Sanders of KFC saying it was a Rotarian, he was trying to sell his chicken. But you understand where I'm sort of coming from there, the funny stuff that I put out. It just appeals to people and you know you always get a better response from somebody you know with humor in mind than just, I suppose, just constantly pushing the fact that oh, you know, we need donations or we're trying to do this, we're trying to do that. But if we're just able to tell our stories as individuals and how we're actually people's lives, then you get people on board and you get people to take them personally. And if you can do it in a fun way, then it's a lot easier to get the message out there and get 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 of people who are Sometimes it can be a bit of a chore because the way algorithms and things work on social media if you don't post for a while, things disappear.

Evan Burrell: 20:30

I suppose that's something that I try and also talk about a bit with major clubs around the world. 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 thing is, too, is all the stuff that I post on my various social media channels TikToks and Facebooks and Instagrams and whatever else. You know, I'm more than happy for Rotarians to reuse that stuff, because if the things that I put out can help them tell their own stories and it means that they don't have to spend any of their precious time trying to think of something to put out to tell their story, they can focus on perhaps um more on doing something with their project, then you know, you know, I feel like I've um, I've achieved that job and it's you know, it hasn't cost them anything. It's just something for them to put 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 Evan Burrell, so B-U-R-R-E-L-Lcom. Is that correct? That's correct. Yep, cool, and the other connection. One of the first things I saw on your website was just a quick unofficial shout out to 1905 gear out in Seattle the the 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 our younger viewers who, kind of like me, think a little bit outside the box as well. And it's not just the usual standard Rotary t-shirt or anything like that, it's just trying to have that little bit of fun. The amount of fans I've had with people seeing me in the Rotary Rocks t-shirt some people thought I was. I've had with people saying the end of rotary Rex t-shirt. You know some people have thought 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 to to buy the stuff from him as well. And the good thing is is that he's a Rotary licence holder, so the stuff that you buy from him, that money goes directly back to Rotary International and helps with our great cause.

Evan Burrell: 23:00

So I mean it's a win-win, and I wish more others, more people would have, you know, similar ideas to mine and use, by putting out some cool stuff like the Rotary Super Herourup thing that I did or the pins that I've got that be a changemaker and a changemaker award. I suppose what I'm saying to you here is I'm trying to weave a little bit of that through this conversation is that we've got to be fun and we've got to be positive and we've also got to think a little bit outside the box, because what we've done in the past isn't working and it isn't drawing people into our organization and we need to think of new ways to be able to 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 the Paul's Bow Rotary Club, I believe, out in Seattle and I'm right there with you. I really like what he's doing and I think that this conversation and other conversations will inspire the creation of additional outlets. Creation of additional outlets, evan. What ways can we inspire the creation of additional products and media within Rotary International?

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 is always to wear your Rotary shirts, not Rotary events. So if you're going to the store and grocery shopping or something, wear your rotary shirt. You don't know where that conversation is going to happen. People encourage them to wear their rotary pins and whatever else. But the other thing I was going to say was, too, the graphics and stuff that I put out there, you know, hopefully clubs adapt them to suit their own club's needs. But the other thing I was going to say was, too, is that the graphics and stuff that I put out there, you know, hopefully clubs adapt them to suit their own club's needs. But you know, if they're able to visit things like Canberra or stuff, you know they'd have sort of templates that are easy to modify as well. It means, you know, as we stick closely to the branding guidelines at Rory National Public, it shows more of a professional image. If there's similar colour, similar type of designs and things, it's great.

Evan Burrell: 25:18

Just because you slap a Rotary logo on an outside of a Rotary existing design doesn't necessarily make a graphic design. That's kind of why I try and help people. I've got this big Facebook group called Public Image Articles and Graphics Hub. We've got 20,000 people on there. It's a great resource for people to ask questions and upload their own kind of designs or slides or things and say, hey, does this meet the branding guidelines? Blah, blah, and people will give on their own and help and that sort of thing. But just sort of touching back to the merchandise, you know you're always going to have people. You know the Russell Hamptons of the world and the awards for your people or the other different companies around the merchandise and stuff. You know people are always going to want you know their standard polo shirts and their pins and different things and that's fine and that caters to the audience that we have. But like the guy that I talked a little bit about before Nick with 1905, you know he's doing those cool designs of the Rotary Rocksteer shirts and the different kind of fonts and stuff like that and they all meet the branding guidelines. They're all fine and things are licensed from Rotary. But it's obviously tapping into that younger, youth market of Rotary and I think we I'm speaking as the longest person in Rotary myself I think we're more behind those kind of cool little items and we're more able to better sell it and talk about our message. So I'm pretty sure I can guarantee you that a 25-year-old or 30-year-old isn't going to be walking up to some old guy in the grocery store and ask him about the Rotary time he's looking at, but they're definitely going to ask somebody or be interested in somebody who's walking down the grocery aisle with rotary rocks on their T-shirt, you know. So that's kind of a way of how we can sort of, you know, tap into that kind of market by just having you know things that are conversation stuff.

Evan Burrell: 27:22

And I mean, this is the whole reason why I wear that loud, garish, ugly rotary suit. You know, some people love it and there's a lot of people that hate it, you know. And some people, you know the reason why I wear it is because it's a 10% consular. You know, to me it's my Mickey Mouse costume. You know People waiting in line at Disneyland to get their photograph with Mickey Mouse, and it's the same thing. There are rotarians who want to get their photographs with me because I'm wearing this big, loud suit.

Evan Burrell: 27:58

But you know, I wish some people were more outward and engaged, like I am, because the only way we're going to get anybody involved in our organisation is if we kind of essentially, you know, round it down their throats, so to speak, because for many years we've just as I said, we've let the work that we do just get pushed by the wayside and no one really has been paying any attention to it certainly not enough to try and want to join up on this. So we've got to constantly push and promote what we do and then follow that up with stories about how we're actually doing good and how, by being a member of Rotary, you're able to 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 that people have bought, and then we want the people to actually enjoy the product that we want to sell. We've got the product that people have bought and then we want the people to actually enjoy the product.

Brian Triger: 28:56

Sure, yeah, I see the podcast at least this specific podcast kind of as the casual dating version of that. And then when you go out and you 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 extroverted way at least, pushing out the material and you understand, you know the deeper ends of that pool.

Evan Burrell: 29:26

Yeah, and I mean that's something as a person too. I mean, some people don't know I'm actually a professional actor. I've gone to acting school in Australia and I've done 50 TV commercials and I've been in TV and movies and stuff and obviously I'm very extroverted when I'm channeling that free rotary.

Evan Burrell: 29:47

It's kind of a cranky and stuff Like I'm not saying everybody's going to be like that, which is fine. But I just sort of wish we would be better at trying to tell our stories more, because it really is that connection that we can have with another person. We can get them to see just how good the things that we're doing in the world and get them involved.

Evan Burrell: 30:09

And another thing I just wanted to correct you on as well is I don't actually have a podcast myself. I appear wanted to correct you on as well because I don't actually have a podcast myself. I hear a lot on other people's podcasts, but I never. I don't have one to myself, but I'm not sure if I'm. I've got enough time as an incoming 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 albert hernandez out in district 5280. We're about 22 episodes in. I mean you obviously have the skills to do it, but if you needed any type of you know, small or heavy lifting to get that started in your area, feel free 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 of podcast, but I certainly would leverage on your help for that. Also, thanks for giving Albert a shout-out. I actually met Albert last year in Arizona. He and another district governor, my favorite man came and I paid him to speak. I was a keynote speaker in a district conference out there in Arizona. I was a keynote speaker in a district conference out there in Arizona talking about public image and spreading a positive message. That's kind of a great way for me to get my message out there, as I get invited to roadway conferences around the world.

Evan Burrell: 31:31

If anybody's listening from Italy or France or Germany or Austria or anywhere in Europe. You know I'm always available to come over and speak. You've just got to give me a call. But I think a podcast is a great way because we're having conversations and I think that's the main thing. Hopefully, people listening to all the stuff that I'm conversations, you know, and I think that's the main thing, you know hopefully, people listening to all the stuff that I'm just, you know, it's falling out of my mouth, but there might be something amongst what I've been saying today that will inspire others or think oh yes, we can probably do that at home. So I think you know your podcast and a few of the other people's podcasts are a great resource for sharing, to share ideas. We only just hope that the ideas that we share actually get 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 by thanking you, Evan, for your participation. I'd love to have more conversations on and offline. I'm hopeful that that will occur. Thank you. Thoughts or projects that our district specifically can help you with?

Evan Burrell: 32:55

I'll speak, it's probably from a bigger picture. I think if we can just in your district in particular, if we can just, you know, drum into the Rotarians in your areas to just keep pushing their stories out there, keep putting stuff up on social media. You know, follow me on Facebook, evan Burrell Changemaker, or my website, evanburrellcom, and just keep the output going. You know we're always very, you know, we are reliant on the stories that we tell and we've got 1.2 million librarians, so 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 is and your clubs is you know, keep putting it up on social media and don't be discouraged if you know you're not getting as many likes or whatever.

Evan Burrell: 33:59

You've just got to think about how to land it. So when I started, I started my Facebook page. It was really just a way to get sort of my Rotary content off my personal Rotary profile, because there were people who weren't all that interested in it. That's fine. So I had a dedicated space for that and you know I didn't have any illusions that I was going to, you know, get 30,000 followers or anything. I didn't, you know. So, to be honest, I probably would have to pay people to follow me.

Evan Burrell: 34:29

But you know it's playing that long game, it's just being consistent. It's posting regularly. It's posting stuff that people are interested in, it's posting funny stuff. It's, you know, it's just being consistent. And you know, like with your, with your own podcast, you know you're only going to get, you know, more traction and get more people if you just speak consistently and consistent with it and you just keep doing it, you keep having conversations. So, yeah, and hopefully, you know, after our little conversation today, you know I'm definitely going to be sharing our chat with my followers and others and hopefully it inspires somebody saying Turkey or Italy or something to have a podcast or their own, or inspire them to have their own conversations with people.

Brian Triger: 35:13

That would be fantastic and I look forward to listening to all of them as they get rolled out. So, with that, I just want to thank ITSpark for being a nonprofit behind the scenes helping us out with this podcast. I'd like to also thank the Almonte library. Prior to our transition to a different studio, they were the root of us starting here, so thank you to the metropolitan library system. I want to thank all of our subscribers and listeners. I want to thank Rotary International, all districts, including my own, and, yeah, I might have left some people out, but there are going to always be more episodes to include those people and express gratitude. Have a great day and great week, everyone. You.