Speak At Our Meeting

Interested in giving a presentation to our club?

Thank you for agreeing to speak to our membership. Our speakers are the centerpieces of our meetings, keeping us informed about national, regional, and local events, people and ideas. We very much appreciate your sharing your knowledge, time and talent with us. Reach out to our speaker coordinator at meeting@northfieldrotary.org with any questions or to register your interest.

Prepare for your presentation

  1. Immediately — Confirm your presentation date with our speaker coordinator.
  2. Immediately — Work with our speaker coordinator to select a club member as the host for your talk. If you don’t know any of our members, a host will be chosen for you.
  3. At least 6 weeks before your presentation date — Fill out the Speaker Registration Form. The information in this form is used to promote your talk both online (club website and social media) and in our club newsletter. If you have the information ready early, we happily accept this information as soon as it is available.
  4. At least 1 week before your presentation — Connect with your host.
  5. At least 1 week before your presentation — Email your presentation as an attachment to meeting@northfieldrotary.org. A PowerPoint presentation is required. The club will provide a computer, podium, mic and projector for you. (Note: Due to our tech setup, you cannot use your computer for your presentation.)

On the day of presentation

  • Place — We meet at the Northfield United Methodist Church, 1401 Maple Street, Northfield, MN 55057, northfieldumc.org. Enter at the south entrance, door #1.
  • Time — Arrive for the Thursday Noon meeting a little early, at 11:50 a.m. Your host should be there to greet you and introduce you to our club president. 
  • Setup — Be sure to check in at the tech desk to make sure your presentation is ready to go.
  • Guests — You are welcome to bring friends. Please let us know how many are coming!
  • Meal Cost — Free! We cover the cost of lunch for you and your guests.
  • Zoom — While most people attend in person, our meetings include a Zoom option. A Zoom link will be provided for you to share with friends.
  • Host — Your host will be asked to give an invocation as the meeting starts and will also introduce you prior to your presentation. When you connect before the meeting, be sure to give your host ideas on what to say for your introduction.

Presentation tips & guidelines

  • Presentations are 30 minutes in length; typically 20 for the presentation and 10 for Q&A.
  • We typically have 50-60 people attend in person and 5-10 on Zoom.
  • Our meetings are video recorded. The links to these recordings are posted on our members-only password-protected section of our website.
  • In general, the program starts at 12:15 p.m. Your presentation will begin around 12:30 p.m. and end at 1:00 p.m. After your presentation there will be club announcements. Our meetings end at 1:15 p.m.
  • If you are a new member giving your classification talk, click here for more ideas.
Matt Hillmann
Jeff Johnson
Dick Hustad
To give you some presentation ideas, recent talk titles include:
 
  • Carleton in the Community
  • Classification Talk: A Winding Path of Purpose and Microadventure
  • Climate Restoration: Our Legacy for the Planet
  • COVID: What happened? What’s next?
  • Dealing with the Past – How to Shape the Future
  • Environmental Opportunities from the Inflation Reduction Act
  • Fast for Hope and the Water Project
  • Future Development of the Mills Town Trail System in Northfield
  • Graphic Recording: Building Equity and Community in a Virtual Age
  • HCI Gathering for Good
  • Health Care For All
  • How Community Engagement, Innovation, and Partnership Help Create a Pathway to Malaria Eradication
  • How to Quickly Calm the Body and Clear the Mind
  • How to Stop Worrying and Start Cyber
  • I Was Born in the Best Years Of My Life
  • Identity, Personal Biases and Stereotypes
  • Iron Trails West
  • Leading Through Trauma
  • Let's get UNcomfortable!
  • LGBTQIAP 101: Past and Present
  • Minnesota 9/11 and Global War on Terrorism Task Force
  • Monarch Butterflies—Can They Be Saved From Extinction?
  • News from St. Olaf
  • Northfield and Rotary Demographics
  • Northfield City Council - Service above Self
  • Northfield Police Update
  • Northfield School District Update
  • Northfield Splash Pad
  • Northfield's Oldest Building, the Lyceum
  • Northfield's Opportunity to Catch the Train
  • Overcoming Cultural Dissonance
  • Project Friendship: From Yesterday to Today
  • Pure Electronic Yard Trucks, Game-changer for Fleets
  • Raising the Curtain on Your Second Act
  • RCAT Talk on High-performance, Low Carbon Heat Pumps
  • Re-Engineering Agriculture
  • Reducing Energy Burden in Rice County Mobile Homes
  • Rotary Rail Special: Catch a Train for Northfield!
  • Rotary's New Official Focus Area "Protecting our Environment"
  • Sharing Our Roots
  • State of the Union of Key Youth
  • The Common Good and Uncommonly Divisive Politics: Bridging Divides in Minnesota Politics
  • The Direction and Dynamics of the Northfield News and Southern Minnesota Newspapers
  • The Journey of Bike Friendly Communities
  • The National Eagle Center: Sharing the Magnificence of Eagles in New and Interesting Ways
  • TORCH and The NCCC: Past, Present, and Future
  • Twists, turns, mountains, valleys, and chasms. Reflections on a most unusual school year
  • Update from Rotary's Special Representative to China
  • Update On the Upcoming 4-Way Taste and Northfield Rotary Bike Tour
  • USDA Renewable Energy Development Assistance for Rural Businesses and Producers
  • What It Means to be Part of a Community
  • What's Next for Northfield Schools?
  • Women's Rights Are Human Rights
     

Host duties

  • Contact the presenter at least a week ahead of time to introduce yourself.
  • Arrive early to the Thursday Noon meeting, at 11:50 a.m., to meet with the speaker and club president.
  • Introduce the speaker to club members as they arrive.
  • Escort the speaker through the food line and let them know that vegetarian options are available.
  • Sit with the speaker at the head table with the club president.
  • Prepare an invocation to be given at the start of the meeting.
  • Introduce the speaker before their presentation.
  • Thank the speaker after the presentation. 

Rotary Presentation Reminders & Expectations

Please submit any presentation materials to meeting@northfieldrotary.org by Friday at 1pm the week before your scheduled presentation. Our volunteer tech team will incorporate your content into our meeting slides. Please send your presentation content in a single PowerPoint file in 16x9 format. Please bear in mind that on the day of the meeting our volunteer tech team will not be able to make any edits to the presentation content. Please direct your questions regarding the tech setup to meeting@northfieldrotary.org.

Frequently asked questions

Do you record the presentation?
Yes. We broadcast the meeting to viewers on Zoom and record to the cloud. After the meeting we upload the video to our club Youtube channel as an unlisted video. We provide the direct link to the video on our club website for members to view. Members are welcome to share the video links with anyone. Speakers may request a video link from their host.

Can I bring my own computer to hook up to the projector?
No. Our tech setup does not provide any way to incorporate extra equipment into the broadcast and presentation infrastructure.

Can I bring my presentation on a USB flash drive?
No. The PowerPoint slideshow is assembled before the day of the meeting.

Can I email the presentation as PDF, Canva, OneNote, Google Slides, Word Doc?
No. We only use PowerPoint.

Can I arrive at 11:30am to help get my presentation loaded onto the projector with my thumb drive?
No. Our volunteer tech team will handle all of the equipment setup and will not have time to do any content management the day of the meeting.

I have my own microphone and speaker. Can I bring them?
No. You must use our microphone and speakers for your presentation.

I have my own camera I want to use to record my presentation. Is that ok?
Yes. Please keep in mind our tech setup does not provide an audio feed for your camera.

Will I have a remote?
Yes. We give you a remote that lets you advance the slides.

Can I see my speaker notes in PowerPoint?
Yes. There will be a monitor in front of you showing your speaker notes.