The Semiotics of Brand Storytelling
Meeting for the week of October 05 - October 11, 2020
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: The Semiotics of Brand Storytelling
Speaker: Onaiza Drabu
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.
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Here’s a message from Service Projects Committee Chair - Sandy Stabile:
Service Projects Committee Chair - Sandy Stabile
Guests, we are happy to have you join us this week!
As we see it, our flexibility as an online, asynchronous club allows a special type of service to Rotarians around the world: we make it easier for anyone to strive for and maintain 100% attendance. That keeps you engaged with Rotary's events and ideas, and provides a moment of inspiration for devoting your creativity, talents, and resources to good causes.
You are certainly not required to pay anything in order to attend our meetings. However, if you would like to make a small contribution to our service efforts, you are welcome to do so in our secure Happy Dollars section down the page. This could be what you normally pay at your own club's meetings for lunch, for example. Any amount is welcome, but first and foremost, we're happy you've joined us, and hope you will share with others who we are and what we do to help inspire Service Above Self.
And don't forget to fill out our attendance form so you get an email you can pass on to your club's secretary!
The Four Way Test
The Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Of the things we think, say or do
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
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 !
Romance is dead?
A wife, being the romantic sort, sent her husband a text: “If you are sleeping, send me your dreams. If you are laughing, send me your smile. If you are eating, send me a bite. If you are drinking, send me a sip. If you are crying, send me your tears. I love you!” The husband, one not typically romantic, replied: “I am in the lavatory. Please advise.”
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
We all need moments when we get past our own hang-ups. In this video about a boy and a dog, perhaps you'll see something of yourself.
Coffee With a Rotarian
Every 4 weeks, each member of our club is matched with another member for one-on-one conversations!
Here are the current matches!
Manuj Mittal and Angelica Marotta
Sarah Tuberty and Rushton Hurley
Maxi Bustos and Suzanne Van Stralen
Tzviatko Chiderov and Hardeep Kaur Singh
Nathan Gildart and Tanya Martin
Brett Sham and Catherine
Carlos Gabuardi and Gabi Lopez
Alexandra Heller and Imad Ghoummid
Keith Marsh and Nan Herron, MD
Ferheen Abbasi and Mark Dohn
Roger Plested and Kelly Ku
Rory R. Olsen and Cecelia Babkirk
Tatiana LaGarde and Olu
Nick LaGarde and Richard Knaggs
Mark Busani and Cal Mann
Caleb LaPlante and May Yam
Sandy Stabile and Felix Pretscheck
Steven -Shags- Shagrin and Susan Howell
Mahmood Khan and Emily Paver
Weren’t matched? 😔
Join the #coffee-with-a-rotarian channel in our club’s Slack workspace to participate in the next round!
World of Rotary
Every month we will focus on a particular story that tells of our organization and the work of Rotarians in the world.
Rotary member Dr. Tunji Funsho named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Through a Rotarian's Lens
Sometimes a photo can capture an amazing moment. In this section Member Keith Marsh shares his incredible photography!
If you'd like to submit a photo for this section please contact Keith.
I did not take this photo, but I wish I had. It was taken by Joe Randall in Colorado Springs. He stacked 60 images to capture this awesome storm with lightning. I use photo stacking for high definition focus and for star trails.
Learn Something New
This section is curated by members Shags Shagrin and aims to teach our members and guests something new, fun and useful! If you have any ideas on a fun trick or skill you'd like to share please contact Shags.
An Amazing Creation -- Are You Up to the Challenge?
Ferheen sent me this link. I had seen a bit of it on another site, but this is truly amazing. Are you up to the challenge of making one yourself? As for me, no -- I'd OD on the chocolate from eating it before it was put together!!
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
On the first meeting of every month, we feature service reports from club members for the previous month. Thanks for your service everyone!
Club Announcements
Haven't joined the conversation on Facebook yet? Consider joining the conversation by signing into our club members-only Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rotarysiliconvalley/
Mini - E- Grants Questions and Answers
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we do regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of the events and service projects listed here.
Past Events:
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
District 5170 Events
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
More events coming soon! All events are open to guests, unless otherwise mentioned. Feel free to join us! If you ever have questions, please email inquiries@siliconvalleyrotary.com
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!)
Unless stated otherwise, Happy Dollar donations made in October will go to Polio Plus! Learn more at endpolio.org.
Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!
This section is usually updated on the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
Anonymous? made a $15 donation.
TRF-PolioPlus Fund
Monique Ziesenhenne made a $20 donation.
Happy that we painted the living room for the first time in over 9 year. It needed it! Apply to TRF-Annual Fund, please.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.
Fall has arrived here in Texas. I went for a walk this morning under blue skies with temperatures in the high sixties. All is well. My cats are all hard asleep in the sunlight.
Catherine A made a $25 donation.
Selected Comments
Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select a few comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are the comments selected from last week’s meeting.
Tzviatko Chiderov said:
This week's program was so cool! Thank you to all who worked on putting it together.
The Paralympics video was incredible. And New Story has such an interesting and impactful model. It's great to hear things are becoming more efficient and that there are already discussions to use this model elsewhere in the world.
Gabriela Lopez said:
Amazing presentation this week! Had the pleasure of connecting Sam (his amazing work) with some folks in Brazil. There is much need for this work to continue everywhere in the world! I love the fact that we have a reduction in material waste as well, which by the end it makes a house much cheaper!
Tanya Martin said:
Of course, homelessness in the States is no where compared to underdeveloped countries. However, I can see how COVID-19 is a gamechanger, and I don't think we have really seen the real impact of COVID-19 on homelessness. A lot of people are in Survivor Mode for sure.
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!
Program: The Semiotics of Brand Storytelling
Speaker: Onaiza Drabu
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!
Onaiza Drabu an anthropologist, semiotician and writer. She brings this experience to her work with technology – specifically internal digital transformation and change management projects to lead people centered transformation.
In today's program, Onaiza will be talking to us about how to use leverage semiotics to build a story for your brand that is resonant with the market.
Members and guests, please welcome Onaiza Drabu!
Additional Resources
Learn more:
On Writing: https://onaizadrabu.com
On South Asian Literature: https://daak.co.in
People Centered Transformation: https://digitalnow.undp.org/content/digitalnow/en/home/podcasts/people-centered-transformation.html
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.
You’re Almost Done! Please complete 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.
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