Please Join Us: 
 
 Sunday June 5th: contact DG Max at mduplant@gmail.com to attend the 1:00 pm Shen Yun dance performance at Jones Hall and/or drinks afterwards.
 
 Monday June 6th: join the Greenville Rotary Club for a cocktail party at either 6:00-7:00 pm, 7:30-8:30 pm or 9:00-10:00 pm to meet members from the Rotary Club of Cozumel, Mexico to discuss upcoming projects for the Day of Service in Cozumel on April 28, 2023. Katy Ridge of the Greenville club will be there to discuss past successful projects in Cozumel and what you can do next year. Contact Katy at 903-456-3514 or k.ridge@whycornerstone.com to sign up for a party.
 
 Tuesday June 7th: join the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Rotary Club for a cocktail party at either 6:00-7:00 pm, 7:30-8:30 pm or 9:00-10:00 pm to meet members of the Rotary Club of Roatan, Honduras and myself to discuss how clubs can support projects in Honduras in 2022-2023 and plan for the Day of Service in Roatan on April 26, 2023. Contact Regina at 972-955-9997 or regina.edwards888888@gmail.com to sign up for a party.
The one hour parties will be held in a suite at the Magnolia Hotel, 1100 Texas Ave, Houston. We will send out the suite # before the parties. Unlike those $100 "cash bar" parties where it is hard to find a waiter with a tray of appetizers, we know you would like to enjoy yourself after being at the convention all day. Therefore, Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and snacks will be served.   Plus there will be a drawing for a bottle of nice wine at each of the 6 parties, and there may be other door prizes or parting gifts ;) Only 10 guests can attend each of the 6 one hour cocktail parties due to the room size so please sign up as soon as possible to guarantee your reservation. 
 
Now some details about the convention:
Some of you may already know, the convention program has been posted - go to https://my.rotary.org/en/document/program-book-2022-rotary-international-convention and click on "Now Available: view the convention program" to download the 49 page document with everything you need to know. And the breakout sessions can be found in a condensed version at https://convention.rotary.org/en/houston/breakout-sessions    click midway down on "View the preliminary ...." to see the schedule
Plus there is the ROTARY EVENTS APP to connect with other attendees and get the most up-to date program information, download the Rotary Events app. Search for “Rotary Events” in your app store. Download it and sign in. Select the 2022 Rotary Convention event. From there, you can create a profile and interact with other users.  
COVID Protocol----As you may have read already, "All convention participants must either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) OR provide a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours before their arrival at the convention."  You need to upload this data at the RI website https://convention.rotary.org/en/houston/health-and-safety-protocols and then they will send you an approval email.  [Note---You don't have to do both the vaccines and the recent test even though the website is poorly worded. It is either vaccines or the test. District 5810 checked to verify this.] According to the RI convention program "When you arrive at the GRB [convention center], go directly to Hall D and present photo identification and your “Approved” email from Vital Circle to verify that they have submitted either vaccination information that has been verified or a negative test result that has been verified. Vital Circle staff will give each verified attendee a wristband that will allow them to collect their registration credentials from the registration desks in Hall E. For any attendee who has not had either vaccination information or test results approved in advance, Vital Circle will screen those submissions on-site, or provide a test at the expense of the attendee in order to allow them to participate in the convention."
 
I just wanted to let you know all of this since the Orientation for First Time Attendees starts at 3 pm on Saturday in Level 3 Ballroom at the Convention Center and the Opening Ceremony is at 10 am on Sunday Level 1 Halls B/C at the Convention Center, and I know how frustrating it would be to try to figure all of this out when you are trying to collect your name badge when you first arrive at the convention center. 
 
Shuttle bus schedules to/from the hotels and local transportation info is located at https://convention.rotary.org/en/houston/local-transportation   if you click on "view the transportation guide and venue map" there is a lot of great info on that pdf.  Plus Houston has a public transportation system, called the Metro, which includes buses and rail. Taxis and rideshare (including Uber and Lyft) are also available.  Houston has a cool $6 taxi program called Houston’s Six in the City program. Taxi rides within the downtown area are only $6.00 if you use this program.