 Welcome to Hawaii Rotary, People of Action. We are here for another edition with our wonderful friend, Dave Livingston. Welcome to the show. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Dave Livingston is a longtime Rotarian. We're going to get to know him a little bit about, a little bit, but I want to let you folks know that this is an exciting show we have here for you today. If you are a local business person here in the state of Hawaii, you are going to have the opportunity of a lifetime to connect with Rotary Rotarians from around the world. So Dave is going to tell us all about it. So tell us a little bit about yourself, Dave. I've been a Rotarian for 40 years. I was a YMCA director for 25 years before I became a financial advisor. And the whole time I was a YMCA director, I was affiliated with a lot of different service organizations. But I've really enjoyed my work with Rotary for the last 40 years, a great organization. So why Rotary? You've been a Rotarian for decades. Why Rotary? Tell us a little bit about why Rotary and not Lions or any of the other. I was a lion. Oh, well, bad example. Why Rotary? Why longtime Rotary? I was an 18-year-old lion and a 25-year-old elk. And when I was 28, I moved to the Coroner and Oracle YMCA as a CEO, a young CEO. And the mayor of the city, Cal Calvert, who was on the selection committee and brought me into that position, said, I'm the president of the Rotary Club and you will be a Rotarian. And I said, yes, sir. And I remember the first day of Rotary when they inducted me into the club. I looked out at the white-haired gentleman in the audience and I said, I know why you invited me. I know CPR. And now I need CPR. So whatever you say, it comes back to haunt you, you youngsters out there. Be careful when you knock us old guys. But that was a great two years in Corona and it finished the job there, went on to San Bernardino and became the president of the club when I was in San Bernardino in 1986. Oh, my God, that was a long time ago. And when I left there, went to Pasadena and became a member of the Rotary Club in Pasadena. And while I was in San Bernardino, though, in 1986, that was when we brought women into Rotary. And I brought 30 of my friends into Rotary that year. The first woman member in our Rotary Club was Evelyn Wilcox, who was the mayor of the city. How appropriate that the mayor of Corona recruited me and I recruited her when I was in San Bernardino and she again became the, she was the Linda Kobel of the San Bernardino Club. She was the first woman, the first woman president, the first district governor right on down the line. And Linda Kobel's done all that in Hawaii and, you know, it's great. And obviously women have been a huge improvement to Rotary. What year again? 1986. 1986, 1987. Very short amount of time, only 33 years. Not long ago. Not long ago. Yeah. Mary, you rose to the presidency in California before moving to Hawaii. Yep. Tell us a little bit about the type of projects you did in California. Wow. My, my Rotary Club has always been one of those life-saving things for me. I had a camp, a camp bluff like when I was in California and the Rotary Club would come up before the camp opened every year and rake all the leaves away from the cabins and make sure everything was pristine for the kids to arrive. And, you know, when you've got hundreds of members out there and their family's helping you, it's a huge benefit. Today, Camp Erdman out on the North Shore, Rotary logos are all over that place. They've built cabins out there. They help repaint the camp. They help rebuild the camp. So Rotary and the YMC have always been kind of a hand-in-hand organization. Our Rila camp has been held for many years at Camp Erdman. Our Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camp. The last time I was involved with a couple of years ago, we had 86 kids. Took them out to Camp Erdman for three days for a leadership development opportunity. All Rotarians to run that camp. Out there giving the kids examples of what leadership's all about and also giving them an opportunity to find out who the leaders in this community are and some of those relationships continue on today. I love Rila. I've been in Rila for years. It's one of my favorite things that we do as Rotarians. So I know that you're very, very, very involved in District 5,000, which encompasses the state of Hawaii. Tell us about your current responsibilities, leadership positions, passionate activities that you're giving your time, treasure and talent to. You know, I got to be the president of the Waikiki Rotary Club. 20 years after I was president of the San Bernardino Club. Much better trained, by the way. Been assistant governor for four opportunities. Worked with four great people. Very proud of those opportunities. When you're assistant governor, you're over five to six clubs and trying to help that leadership grow. Not that the club presidents need your help, but sometimes you're there as kind of a founding board. That's, I think that's helpful to them. We go to the pets training. You've been there yourself. You got me into Rotary. Brought Janet into Rotary when she was just a young girl. Yes. And now past president. And you've experienced pets and now you're the PR person for the district. So you probably have a much more important role than I have ever had in Rotary. No, no, you have the most important role. Dave is our volunteer photographer at all of our events. And if it wasn't for Dave, being a publicist, I would have a hard time. So I very much appreciate it. I love doing that. And I appreciate the opportunity that you guys give me to shoot all those great events. The last district conference was another example of just the best programming in the world and some of the coolest people you'd ever want to meet. I got to be there and they smiled at me because I had the camera. Exactly. Well, as we've talked about in preview shows, we meet here every Thursday for Rotary in Hawaii. We've brought in people and leaders from all different facets of district 5,000, which encompasses the state of Hawaii. As we talked about in those past shows, we have an incredibly exciting event coming up in the year 2020, a mere 12 months away from last week. So what happened last week in Rotary International? Rotary International held their annual convention in Hamburg, Germany, and in huge contingency of Rotarians here from Hawaii attended. But why? They attended because we are the hosts of the 2020 convention. We will have tens of thousands, 28,000 I believe is the number. Rotarians from 150 countries descend on our shores June 6th through June 10th of next year. This affords an enormous opportunity for local organizations. We're going to take a pause from our little chat right now, Dave. What we're going to do is we're going to look at a little promo video, show the folks on the other side of the screen what is coming to Hawaii and how they can get involved. Starring all of our Rotarians. Starring all of our friends. On the islands of paradise at the 2020 Rotary Convention, you'll find a word that has many meanings, a philosophy living in the core of its people, values that lead to positive impact near and far. Come together and uncover the spirit of Aloha with Rotary. Discover Honolulu, Hawaii. A place where Aloha is a way of life. Aloha is living in harmony. Appreciating the unity of people and nature. Having patience. Express through perseverance. Aloha is treating everyone with love and respect. So others can follow our lead. Aloha is joyful sharing with my ohana. The friends and family, we keep close in our hearts. Experience the convention in Honolulu, where the family of Rotary will gather to celebrate, collaborate and connect the world. Share your Aloha at the 2020 Rotary Convention. And enjoy every moment with people of action, just like you. Back to Hawaii Rotary, people of action. I'm joined here today by a very, very active friend and Rotarian, Dave Livingston. Dave works for AmeriPrize Financial Services. I do indeed. And he is a great financial advisor, I can speak from experience. You can say that, I can't. Exactly, he's a great financial advisor. You can find him on Kapiolani Boulevard. So just a little plug for our guests. As Rotarians, we do network with each other, do a lot of business with each other. And I value Dave's advice tremendously. So back to the Hawaii Rotary 2020 Convention. We just saw a little video all about what's happening here in a year. Every year, Rotary International holds its annual convention. We basically showcase Rotary to the world. We will have 28,000 Rotarians descending on our shores, June 6th through the 10th of 2020. This is one of the largest conventions ever to happen at the Hawaii Convention Center. And we are inviting local businesses, organizations, and just folks out there to get involved and step up. Dave and I both sit on the sponsorship committee. And I'm going to ask Dave a few questions about that because we want you folks to know what the opportunity is, how you can get involved. So talk to us a little bit about that, if you will, Dave. Well, the sponsorship committee is responsible for raising a quarter of a million dollars that will help support the convention. Several levels of sponsorship. But you have an opportunity to get involved in the book, full-page ad, TV, logos, great opportunity to get your business out there and get their name known. We're looking forward to having, hopefully, a couple of thousand businesses get involved. Right. And at the actual event, I was lucky enough. Dave roped me into Rotary years ago, fast-tracked me to the presidency. I got to attend the Rotary International Convention in Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal in 2014. And it was a life-changing experience. At that particular convention, there were 40,000 Rotarians. And I met people from 150 different countries. It was phenomenal. Well, I beat you because ours was in Las Vegas, and there were 46,000. And some doctor got up on the stage and announced that we were going to wipe polio from the face of the earth in 1986. And I'm going like, that's a pretty tough order. And I think everybody in the room at the time was thinking, really, aren't we kind of overstatin' what our capabilities are? And as you know, we're like a dozen polio cases last year in the world. In Rotary is all but. Only three countries, only three countries left. And Rotary is all but taken polio off the face of the earth. We worked very closely with Doctors Without Borders, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and others who have matched and doubled and tripled our donations for the Rotary Foundation. It is our top priority, is to see polio end worldwide in our lifetime. And it's been a fantastic journey. And Rotary is this close. This close. So that's one of the highlights of the conventions. We'll certainly have many symposiums and seminars talking about that, talking about how people can get involved, go on NID projects. Rotarians are invited to go to the immunization days around places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa, places where polio is going to be diminished. And the opportunities are endless to get involved in those types of organizations. But as a local Rotarian, just donating to those polio efforts helps me feel like I'm actually making a difference in that cause, the number one cause for. And we're going to Bali this year. Bali, you want to talk a little bit about that? Well, Rotary does these trips all over the world where they go in and they help a community improve them. Menmar was a library project. We just found out that Bali's coming next year. And I think we're probably going to get a couple of new Rotarians when they find out they can go to Bali with us. I think so. I think so. I'm hoping to carry my camera with me and not do a lot of work, shoot a lot of pictures. But unfortunately, you've got to get your hands dirty. So you're going to Bali? I'm going to try. Remember now, it's a selection process. You don't just apply and go. Oh, I did not. So we'll find out more about that. So back to the opportunities for local businesses and organizations to be on that engagement level with those 28,000 Rotarians from around the world. They're coming to our doorstep. How and why wouldn't a local business want to engage with those people in a four-day event at the convention center? An opportunity that's never existed before? Well, first let me say that we're all giving people. And there's no more giving folks than in Honolulu and Hawaii. So just by your support, that helps the Rotary Convention sustain the efforts that we're going to be doing for the week that 28,000 Rotarians are going to be. On a local level, 28,000 people seeing your logo are probably going to get you some traffic into your business. But if you're an international group or you go across country lines, you'd be foolish not to put your logo out there in front of 28,000 world leaders. Rotarians are world leaders. It's very likely that Bill Gates will be here. It's very likely that some of the top donors that have made these projects, like the Polio Plus program that's taken Polio out there, they're going to be here to celebrate that. We're going to be very close to being there. And they're going to want to be here and talk about that. So it's an opportunity to put your logo in front of a lot of people. And those images, they live on forever. I know, because I photograph them and keep throwing them out there. And I'll be the photographer for the convention. So I promise you, you get your logo out there. I'll be the one that gets it out to a lot of people. Fantastic. So stay tuned for more information and details about how you can get involved in Rotary 2020. We want you there. We want you to help Rotary achieve their goals in 2020, right here in Hawaii. So we will come back in a few minutes and talk a little bit more about that. Thank you so much, Dave. Thanks, Janet. Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. My show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines. And it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports, and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go Beyond the Lines at 11 a.m., aloha. Aloha, my name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of Think Tech, Hawaii's Law Across the Sea. Law Across the Sea is on Think Tech, Hawaii every other Monday at 11 a.m. Please join me, where my guests talk about law topics, and ideas, and music, and Hawaii, Anna, all across the sea from Hawaii and back again, aloha. Welcome back to Hawaii Rotary People of Action. Today I am very happy to be joined by a dear friend, Dave Livingston, a fellow Rotarian, who got me into Rotary 12 years ago, in 2007. Wow. I was very, very fortunate to be involved in Rotary at the Waikiki Rotary. Dave was the president that year, and I think he got all of his friends to join. Many of us have went down the road of Rotary with Dave and become presidents of the clubs and district leaders. So thank you, thank you, Dave. No, thank you for saying yes. And I wasn't alone in that the last year I was president, which was 12 years ago. Harold Estes was a member of our club, and Harold helped me bring in 40 new members that year. Oh my gosh. So yeah, and we got a lot of great leaders, and a lot of them have since obviously been presidents and of the club, and we're very proud of that. Very proud of that. And thank you for saying yes. Now, of course, you're an integral part of all the success that District 5000 has had in the PR training. We appreciate all the work you do. It is an honor. It's an honor to have risen to PR director for the district. I'm going to miss it. I had the opportunity to work with our wonderful district governor, Wyn Shoneman, for the last year. One of the great things that came out of it was this program right here. So I've had a great time. We've been able to spread the message of Rotary across the state and through our social media channels, as well as our website. That's one place you can get more information. Rotary D5000 is a great receptacle of all information about Rotary. You can connect with any number of the clubs, 53 clubs, as of right now. We have an E-Club. We have a new ECO club in Kaka'aka, which is fascinating. We have actually two E-Clubs, I believe. So you can find out all about Rotary on Rotary D5000 and the information about what we're talking about today. We're talking about the Rotary Convention, the International Convention, which was held here in 1968. 51 years ago. 51 years ago. Hawaii. I wasn't here. I wasn't here. I was in the third grade. Anyway, Hawaii was selected from many other metropolitan cities to be host to the Rotary International Convention. We will have incredible entertainment, incredible seminars, and workshops, and symposiums, breakout sessions, leaders like, we hope, Bill Gates will be here with Melinda. They are integral part of Polio Plus. And helping Rotary and Polio worldwide. Over $250 million from that foundation. We are. Polio Plus. We are. And one of the jobs Dave and I have taken on to work with our chairperson, Sonia Mendez, who is the chair of the Rotary 2020 sponsorship committee, is we have to raise $250,000 locally to help put on this event. So Dave is going to tell you how you can join us and do that and jump in. And so for Rotary here in Hawaii. Yeah. Well, it's really easy. You need to know our website, RotaryD5000.org. There's a sponsorship application on the website. You can do it at a variety of different levels. You can start as low as $500 to be a sponsor. And you can go up to as much as $25,000. If you're going to give $25,000, Janet and I'll take you to lunch. Right. We'd be happy to do that. Again, you're going to get your recognition on the program at the Rotary Convention, which goes to 28,000 people. You're going to be on our TV ads. You're going to be on a full page ads in the newspaper. You're going to be your text recognition on the Convention Center microsite at the convention. We just, you're going to get a real high profile treat with 28,000 Rotarians. So consider being a sponsor. We promise you'll get your money's worth. We need you. And we would appreciate you. And you will help through your sponsorship of the convention not only the benefits of your company engaging with those 28,000 Rotarians from around the world, all 3,000, all of the Rotarians here in Hawaii, as well as help the Rotary District 5000 achieve their goals here in the state of Hawaii. We have lots of sponsors. You can see them on our website now. But we need a lot more. This is a global event, one of the largest conventions ever to be held at the Hawaii Convention Center. We understand that Waikiki, and this is now, we're talking June 6 through the 10th of 2020, is already approaching sellout position. This convention will sell out. It was just last week that our friends here in Hawaii attended the Rotary International Convention in Hamburg. And they signed up 14,000 Rotarians for early registration. They received $100 or more discount by signing up right there in Hamburg. So if you're a local Rotarian or a local person who wants to attend this event, I would highly recommend that you register now, particularly if you want to stay in Waikiki. I understand the hotels are getting booked then. They're getting booked. And I want to talk a little bit about what happens at a convention. I attended the Lisbon Convention five years ago. They have a hospitality center that is the size of the Blaisdell Times Five exhibit hall. So there are opportunities that are endless to showcase your business. There are opportunities, like Dave talked about, to get your logo in front of the Rotarians that will be attending and all of the people back in their home countries when they bring those programs back and share them with their dozens of friends at their Rotary Clubs. There are other opportunities. We have aloha rooms. We have tour and travel opportunities. The hospitality industry is highly involved. But if you are a hospitality industry and you don't know about this convention, please call me today or call Dave. We're going to actually tell you our phone numbers. If our editor is able to put the phone numbers up on the screen even better, but you can always reach us on the RotaryD5000.org website. My phone number is 521-1160. That's my company, Mana Means Communications. Dave, are you willing to give out your phone number? Heck yeah, 542-4945. That's my cell. Call me 24-7. Happy to help you. If you want to get premier access to those Rotarians, support the Rotary efforts here in Hawaii and around the globe, there's no better way to do it. And get involved in this once in a lifetime, truly. It hasn't been here for 51 years. I'm not that old. So once in a lifetime opportunity to one-on-one market to Rotarians from around the world. Tell us a little bit more about your Rotary experience, Dave. You know, I was a Rotarian before I was a Rotarian. Oh, how's that? In high school, we have a club called the Interact Club. And Ken Norton was the Interact Club Advisor at Rubiddle High School in 1964. The year I met my wife, my freshman year in high school. And he came up, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, you need to be in our Interact Club. And of course, I said, what's an Interact? And he said, well, it's a service group. You need to do three things. You need to keep a B average. You need to run for an office. Never dreamed of doing that. And you need to go out for a sport. So the sport I went out for is cross-country. You can't get cut from the cross-country team. Only a few people are dumb enough to run 12 miles a day, and then two for time. Back then, it was three now. I ran for a school office. And as they say in history, I ended up being the president of my class my senior year. Never having had that opportunity or even that inclination I'd want to do that can push me in that direction. There it was. Ended up being the captain of the cross-country team. Oh, is that right? And ended up being one of those scholastic kids that got a full-ride scholarship out of high school. So again, Interact Club literally changed my life. Made me learn how to set goals. And now I teach kids how to set goals. I'm one of the instructors at Winter's Camp. Delores says everyone knows in Rotary, good Rotarian, runs Winter's Camp. And when I'm not at Rila, I'm at Winter's Camp talking to kids about goal-setting. I got all that from Rotary and those experiences high school kid. But the most exciting thing was on Tuesday afternoon in that area, we would get out of school and go to meet at a Rotary Club with the key leaders in our community. And I got to know those guys. That helped me tremendously later on in life when I went to apply for a job at the YMCA. And so as they say, the rest is history. The young kid that got involved in the Interact Club, it changed his life. He gave him a career he never would have had probably and gave me an opportunity to learn what leadership was really all about from the guys that were the leaders of my community. And I love those guys today. I can echo the sentiment. Rotary over the past 12 years has been the greatest guiding principle of my small business, as well as networking. As a small business, there's no better way to be able to network outside of your small office and attend a Rotary meeting every week, connect with 85 of your closest friends that have basically become your family, and have those connections. Because those 85 people all know 100 other people. So basically, you're one phone call away from the governor. Any given moment? Yesterday was a prime example. I brought a friend to Rotary who didn't know what Rotary was. Had never been to a Rotary meeting and introduced her to everybody in the room and wanted a time that came up to her. She feels like she has a family now. I got to meet her. She was fantastic. Great lady. I just want to thank you, Dave. Don't forget RotaryD5000.org. Dave's phone number, 542-4945. Janet's phone number, 521-1160. Please call us. Get involved in the Rotary 2020 convention today. We would love to have you there. We would love to have your support for Rotary's service activities around the world. Hey, if you're not a Rotarian, come join us. We'd love to have you. Absolutely. We'll buy you lunch. We have lots of room in our clubs for new members. So thank you for your attention today. We'll see you here again in two weeks at Rotary and Hawaii People of Action. Mahalo, Dave Livingston. Thanks. Thanks for having me. It was a great, great time. Thank you, Dave.