Life in the city

The 2017 Rotaract Gatsby Gala more

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Yeah it was a blast

From the 2017 Rotaract Gatsby Gala more pictures! See the previous post:

The 2017 Rotaract Gatsby Gala

Since then I collected some more pictures, from left and right.
A large amount are on this site, thanks to Deliah:
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0L5oqs3qJsbbuM
I chose some from the album, posted also here (most edited).

[Show as slideshow]
1 2 3

And one more video

Again thanks to Deliah this great clip:

You can’t say Rotaractors don’t know how to have great fun!

Old China Hands lunch 7 July

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Sauna weather

The Old China Hands lunch 7 July was well attended, we were nearly 30 and that despite the sauna weather and being in the middle of a supposed holiday season.

Next lunch

Next lunch 4 August, will be another date where attendance is unsure. One never knows!

Old China Hands lunch on 2 June 2017

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Start of the summer season?

Either people are busy or going away, our Old China Hands lunch on 2 June 2017 nevertheless had its nice crowd of over 20 people.
We were also happy to see once more our friend Colin before he REALLY leaves us for his homeland. We will miss him and his networking.

Next lunch

Next lunch is Friday 7 July, right in the middle of Beijing sauna weather. Curious to see how many will be still standing to come and sit with us!

The 2017 Rotaract Gatsby Gala

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Team work and enthusiasm

The 2017 Rotaract Gatsby Gala turned out to be a smash, a real success. Our two Rotaract Clubs in Beijing managed the impossible, we were still a bit lost a day before the event but thanks to the enthusiasm of so many involved it was a success. I won’t even try to give names because it was real team work.
As last year the event was held on Saturday 24 June 2017 in the Conrad Beijing Hotel, a nice inside plus outdoors setting. The rain gods were in our favor too, the previous days Beijing saw torrential rains and a major pool party was cancelled the same day by the government because of concerns with the downpours. We nicely escaped it all.
All worked together to promote the evening and to get sponsors on board. See the backdrop with the sponsor list.
See here the promo video (thanks Deliah!!!)

The 2017 Rotaract Gatsby Gala

I will not try to give a “report” here. The pictures and the clips tell the story, just look at all the SMILES.
It was a fun night, nice snacks, lots of beer and wine.

[Show as slideshow]
1 2 ... 5

(Pics by Gilbert, Sophie and others)
And dancing went on till late!

(clips by Sophie and others)
Thanks to the great efforts of our Rotaractors, and thanks to the (few) Rotarians who joined the fun.
We now already look forward to the next year’s repeat of The 2017 Rotaract Gatsby Gala!

Rotary Clubs joined for the Rotary Red Lantern Banquet 2017

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The Banquet

The three Beijing Rotary Clubs joined for the Rotary Red Lantern Banquet 2017, on Saturday 25 February 2017.
It was supposed to be a ball, a charity, something like that. It became then a “banquet”, unfortunately not as copious as a Chinese full blast banquet (you hate it or you love it).
Setting was the Four Seasons Hotel, the ballroom decoration was pretty nice.
As far as the food was concerned, some kind of high-level Chinese dishes, that means large plates, little content and afterwards need to head for some late night snacks. Some tried to eat enough of the bread. Some (including me) went for the nice red wine, just to get high and forget about food. Our club felt squeezed in a faraway corner.

I am black-listed

I did complain about the logistics: a video shooting that was lousy and useless, and blocked access to the raffle and auction prizes. No reference to the projects we are backing. Lighting positioned too low. Some questionable speech (common for most balls actually). Auctions with little appeal, take too much time and fail to excite the audience, up to the point one simply misses the relevant auction items. And more.
As I have been through a number of balls and other events, I know what it takes and I was unhappy with the issues. Good I did not invite my VIPs as I did for other balls.
Yeah, complaining got me shot down so all my pictures as well as of other “complaining parties” were removed, so, I mostly have the pics I got myself and the ones I selected. You won’t see anything of us in the “official photo gallery” (whatever that means).

Balls are a challenge

One can even question the purpose to organize a ball. It demands a huge investment in volunteering and a semi-military approach and precision, but with often too few returns. One could simply require club members to spit up some money and cancel the ball. More efficient. There are too many balls in Beijing vying for attention and sponsorship. Then paying big bucks to eat a so-so dinner, no dancing, no fun music – next time: no thanks. I even have no idea what our “banquet” brought as benefits.
Well at least we had our Rotaractors acting great as volunteers and nice people at our table.