May 16-18 - The conference took place at the local university auditorium, which at first appeared to be a small venue. Given the very low attendance we observed since the opening plenary session Friday evening through the last session of the day on Saturday, this venue was actually oversized.
Many Rotarians from the Corrientes area just across the Parana river chose not to attend because of continuing problems with the bridge: the provincial security forces keep closing it and only allow occasional transit to express their displeasure over low salaries. This is making life miserable for the locals on both sides of the river and may have contributed to the extra low attendance, even for their standards.
I asked several Rotarians about attendance trends, and most cited high cost (A$70 registration fee, meals A$100) and long travel distances as a deterrent.
Of the sessions I attended I found only two of interest: an informative overview of Rotary grants by district trainer Luis Schattner and a very moving presentation by the RI president's representative Allan Sellers about the importance of being a Rotarian. Saturday night's gala awards dinner at the Chaco Golf Club was fun, with standard banquet food and a live band. Once dining and awards concluded, most attendees danced up a storm, including the substantial PDG contingent.
Our presentation at the conference was well-received and we continue to hear comments from various Rotarians how much they enjoy a language-capable team. Our home hosts and club hosts are getting much more out of this exchange, as are we.
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