Life Works Here: How Northwest Arkansas is Telling its Own Story
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 2, 2023
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Life Works Here: How Northwest Arkansas is Telling its Own Story
Speaker: Nelson Peacock
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Message from our President
Dear members and friends,
Happy New Year to you all! How were your holiday celebrations? Are you back into the swing of things or still taking it slowly?
During this break, I have been reflecting on all that we have accomplished since the start of the Rotary year. Our club has seen significant change and expansion in the past six months. Among some of the highlights, we invigorated our membership and engagement efforts ⎯ We inducted four new members and had one of our long-serving members, Phil Dean, awarded the Paul Harris Fellow recognition. In addition, we hosted FANTASTICALLY FUN club socials, including the Italy-themed online social and the annual Holiday party.
I am also pleased to share that our social media presence has grown, and we're exploring new strategies to reach our target audience and drive traffic to our website and programs.
Our objective to disseminate healthcare information and increase awareness was backed by some of our fantastic programs, which were carefully arranged by our Programs Committee. And speaking of healthcare, I'd like to request your assistance in inviting healthcare experts to speak to our club. Our goal is to establish a virtual community where healthcare experts, club members, and general program viewers can talk to one another about how to best address health needs. The spread of the coronavirus has accelerated the adoption of digital health, a term that encompasses a wide range of technologies and services, such as those used in telemedicine and teleconsultation. Being a technologically savvy club has its benefits, so why not put those skills to use by assisting in closing the gap between healthcare knowledge and innovation?
Finally, the Mini e-Grants project is back, and I couldn't be happier to share the news with you. This initiative has been laboriously developed by our club's Rotary Foundation Committee, and is now accessible to all club members. For those who are new to our Club, this program grants USD $1,000 to club members who want to do community service projects with a partner organization (who also needs to contribute at least USD$1,000). In the last few years, we've seen people from all around the globe produce some amazing results! This is a great opportunity to do service in your community or in any community around the world!
In 2023, we have the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Rotary and to our fellow club members. Join our initiatives, and please don't forget to invite a friend (or two, three...or more) to one of our programs or social event this year so that we can all spread the word about what a wonderful organization Rotary is.
If you're reading this and you are not already a member, I hope you'll consider making a new year's resolution to "do good" by joining our Rotary family in 2023. When it comes to making an international impact, serving with passion, and bonding with people from all over the globe, trust me…we are the best!
Please accept my sincere gratitude for your membership in our club. Again, I hope this new year brings you all the best in health and happiness.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Angelica Marotta, PhD
President 2022-2023 Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Rotary International District 5170
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
What About Now?
My wife yelled from the bedroom asking, “Do you ever get a shooting pain across your body like someone’s got a voodoo doll of you and they’re stabbing it?”
I replied, “No.”
She yelled back, "What about now?"
INSPIRATION
Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.
While this video is over a decade old, I never get tired of the creativity and travel vibes that prompted it. The piece is by Rick Mereki, an Australian videographer, and it's a good way to kick the year into gear!
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
The Science of Snowflakes
Many trillions of snowflakes fell across the world this past week, and no two are alike! Here's why.
SERVICE REPORT
Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community.
Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
HAPPY DOLLARS: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)
Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!
This section is usually updated in the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
PROGRAM: Life Works Here: How Northwest Arkansas is Telling its Own Story
SPEAKER: Nelson Peacock
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
Northwest Arkansas is home to three Fortune 500 companies (Walmart, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt), the University of Arkansas, numerous successful businesses and a growing startup culture. The region boasts a vibrant arts scene and an incredible outdoor recreation economy that includes 500+ miles of world-class bike trails.
The nonprofit Northwest Arkansas Council works to identify challenges and champion solutions to enhance the prosperity of the Northwest Arkansas region. Key initiatives include work to advance quality of life, attract talent, improve the region’s workforce, create job opportunities, upgrade infrastructure and keep up with the region’s impressive growth. The Council's "Life Works Here" campaign aims to better tell the story of Northwest Arkansas to tech talent around the country. This week's speaker, Nelson Peacock, will discuss how the campaign came about and what it seeks to accomplish.
Peacock joined the Northwest Arkansas Council as president and CEO after working as a senior vice president of government affairs for the University of California Office of the President. Prior to that, Nelson was appointed by President Barack Obama to lead the Office of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security where was responsible for all aspects of the department’s interactions with Congress on issues related to counter terrorism, immigration, cyber security and natural disasters. Nelson oversaw the congressional teams of seven operational agencies of Homeland Security, including the Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Administration. Nelson also served as senior counsel to Senator Joe Biden on the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate where he advised the future President on homeland security, crime and intellectual property issues.
Nelson has a Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas and Masters of Law from the George Washington University School of Law.
Members and guests please welcome Nelson Peacock!
To learn more, go to:
Northwest Arkansas Council - https://nwacouncil.org
FindingNWA - https://findingnwa.com
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.
For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
Important: Once you submit the Attendance Survey below, please make sure you see the confirmation message. If you get an error message instead, please try the 'submit' button again, and if that doesn't work, please refresh the page and fill out the form again. Thanks!
