Setting up a VR booth in 10 days
The first time Ronaldo Yuzo Ogasawara experienced virtual reality was at the 2017 Rotary International Convention in Atlanta, and he was impressed.
“I was moved by how these videos expressed a reality that we don’t usually see day to day,” says Ogasawara.
Club and member resources
Use these resources to plan and promote your club’s virtual reality events.
Plan a VR event: Learn what equipment you need, how your space should be set up, and how to promote your event.
Download the Event Planning Guide
How to involve viewers: After your guests view the VR film, invite them to get involved with your club — as a donor, volunteer, or maybe even a new member. These talking points can help.
Virtual reality safety: Review this safety sheet and make it available to guests before they view a VR film.
Download the safety guidelines
More information: See our VR page
It also gave him an idea. Ogasawara was weeks away from taking office as president of the Rotary Club of São Paulo-Saúde, Brazil, and was looking for new ways to promote Rotary. São Paulo is home to the largest concentration of people of Japanese descent outside Japan. Ogasawara, who shares that heritage, knew that the community’s main event, the Festival do Japão, which draws 200,000 visitors annually, was coming up. Although Rotary had never had a booth at the fair, he imagined that the VR films would attract a crowd and show people what Rotary is all about. But there was one challenge: He had only 10 days to put it together.
Enlisting the support of seven other São Paulo clubs and their district governor, Claudio Hiroshi Takata (District 4420), Ogasawara mobilized quickly. Rotarians ordered the VR viewers, printed promotional flyers emblazoned with the End Polio Now logo, and decorated the booth with a large balloon featuring the Rotary logo. Ogasawara estimates that about 800 people stopped by during the three-day event. Eight people who expressed an interest in joining Rotary are now part of a satellite club sponsored by his own club.
“The best way to promote Rotary at fairs is to use this resource. All you need is the VR viewers and a cellphone,” says Ogasawara. “Membership growth is fundamental, and we have the tools we need at our disposal.”
– Joseph Derr
• Read more stories in The Rotarian