Current playbook index title and category plus an internally authored detailed-guide draft
Initiative-specific development wave
How this draft was developed
These sources support general principles for member storytelling, intergenerational learning, consent and privacy; they do not constitute Rotary International or OAIC endorsement of the named Mentor Storytelling Night initiative or this locally designed delivery model.
Primary references consulted
Make Connections(Rotary International) Used for: Rotary encourages clubs to tell how members and community leaders identified a challenge, mobilised people and acted.; Rotary describes events as opportunities to start conversations, establish relationships and inspire action.
Deliver Continued Value(Rotary International) Used for: Rotary links interaction across generations with personal growth and professional development.; The guidance recognises that members' own accounts of their experience help others understand the Rotary journey.
Chapter 3: APP 3 Collection of Solicited Personal Information(Office of the Australian Information Commissioner) Used for: Australian privacy guidance supports collecting only personal information that is reasonably necessary and using a data-minimisation approach.; Consent for sensitive information should be informed, voluntary, current and specific rather than inferred from silence.
Candidate District material consulted
These records remain draft evidence and still need a human source decision.
Club Playbook - Theme 2 Related record 15 Mentorship Spotlights supports the broad idea of sharing a short mentor-mentee story for role modelling. It is not a literal Mentor Storytelling Night record and does not supply this event's consent, facilitation or privacy controls.
Theme 2 - Sub Theme 2 - Fellowship.docx Structured draft M-T2-FL-16 Rotary Storytelling Evening supports the broad idea of members sharing Rotary experiences. Its title, sub-theme model and supporting details are not substituted for current E-031.
Theme 2 source-assurance wave
What has been checked
3 current primary pages used by this guide were reopened on 9 August 2026.
6 attributed source claim(s) were mapped to their bounded use in this initiative.
Candidate District material remains separate and does not establish this result.
See each source's scope and limit
Engaging Younger Professionals: Make Connections Supports: The 32 attributed Theme 2 claims attached to this source, limited to the implementation elements and supporting documents named in each initiative-level claim mapping. Does not establish: That the initiative is endorsed by Rotary International or District 9510, that it is permitted by the club's governing documents, that members want it, that it suits the local club, or that it will achieve the intended outcome.
Deliver Continued Value Supports: The 49 attributed Theme 2 claims attached to this source, limited to the implementation elements and supporting documents named in each initiative-level claim mapping. Does not establish: That the initiative is endorsed by Rotary International or District 9510, that it is permitted by the club's governing documents, that members want it, that it suits the local club, or that it will achieve the intended outcome.
Chapter 3: APP 3 Collection of solicited personal information Supports: Data-minimisation, collection-purpose, proportionality and consent safeguards where the Privacy Act and APP 3 apply. Does not establish: Whether a particular Rotary club is an APP entity or whether a proposed renewal survey, diagnostic or member record is lawful in its actual circumstances.
What still needs a person to confirm
Confirm the member, prospective-member, past-member and community needs, preferences and consent that the local design assumes.
Confirm which privacy, safeguarding, incorporated-association, charity, work health and safety, food, liquor, copyright, licensing, screening and other duties apply to the club and the activity.
Test accessibility, cultural safety, belonging, language and alternative participation routes with affected people and recognise First Nations cultural authority rather than inferring suitability from the guide.
Confirm every local fact, starting point, cost, role, current service contact, measure, stopping condition and platform capability before the club decides to proceed.
Confirm the authority and current scope of each primary source, resolve login-gated or moved-page references and keep any candidate District material attributed and unapproved until its source decision is made.
The source-verification release gate remains closed.
Checks still on hold
The event owner must approve the audience, consent process, facilitator, privacy briefing and distress or concern response before invitations are issued.
No person may be named, quoted, photographed, recorded or made identifiable beyond the storyteller's specific permission and the other person's permission where relevant.
Stories involving complaints, safeguarding, trauma, health, legal, financial or disciplinary matters must be redirected to an appropriate private process rather than explored in the room.
The club must not imply that a selected story proves programme effectiveness, represents every mentoring experience or carries Rotary International endorsement.
Still an internal draft: source interpretation, local suitability, accessibility, governance and editorial approval remain open checks.
Why a club might use this
It helps knowledge, confidence and encouragement move between members instead of resting with a few people.
It may suit: Members seeking guidance or a new challenge, and the people offering practical support.
Use it when
Consider Mentor Storytelling Night when members want guidance or a next challenge but the available pathways are hard to see.
A club that wants to make mentoring more visible without turning the evening into a lecture or awards ceremony.
Members who learn well from real experiences and want to hear how trust, feedback and encouragement work in practice.
A 60- to 90-minute evening with three or four short stories, facilitated reflection and one agreed improvement to the club's mentoring approach.
Before the club starts
A clear event purpose, audience and story brief that explains suitable topics, time limits, privacy boundaries and the difference between speaking in the room and agreeing to publication.
Three or four willing storytellers who have had a private preparation conversation and can remove identifying details or decline any prompt without explanation.
A facilitator who can stop intrusive questions, redirect advice-giving and respond respectfully if a story raises distress, conflict, safeguarding or complaint concerns.
An accessible venue or online option, an adjustment contact and a separate written consent process for any photography, recording, quotation or later use.
Capacity guide
Likely cost
Low; usually limited to coffee, simple materials and coordination time.
Lead time
About three weeks to recruit mentors, map pathways and make the first matches.
People
One coordinator and four to eight mentors, scaled to the number of participating members.
A useful club conversation
Questions worth asking
What did someone do that helped the learner feel capable rather than dependent?
Where did the mentoring relationship need a clearer boundary, a different question or an honest reset?
Which small practice from tonight could improve our club's mentoring in the next two months?
Common traps
Trying Mentor Storytelling Night when Stories about another person's health, family, conflict, complaint, finances or other private circumstances without that person's specific, informed permission.
Proceeding with Mentor Storytelling Night when An unbriefed open microphone, a promotional event that pressures people to disclose personal experiences or content intended for publication without a separate consent decision.
A story shared for an internal evening is later quoted, photographed or published as club promotion. — Treat event participation and publication as separate decisions; obtain fresh, specific consent for each later use and retain a simple withdrawal contact.
A practical 90-day path
Three milestones for Mentor Storytelling Night
When
What the club does
Evidence to keep
Days 1–30: Agree the local design
Ask members what they would find useful to understand about mentoring, then choose two or three learning themes such as a helpful question, a difficult turning point or a respectful ending. Invite potential storytellers privately, explain the audience and boundaries, and make clear that declining, changing topic or withdrawing will have no effect on their standing in the club.
A short audience-needs note and an approved set of story themes A consented group of storytellers and a chosen topic for each person
Days 31–60: Run and adjust the first version
Hold a short preparation conversation with each storyteller to shape a five-minute beginning, turning point and lesson, remove unnecessary personal detail and agree what questions are welcome. Brief the audience at the start: listen without fixing, do not repeat personal detail outside the room, ask about the learning rather than the person and respect a speaker's decision not to answer.
A speaker-owned story outline and individual boundary note A shared listening agreement understood by the room
Days 61–90: Review the evidence and decide
After each story, use one clarifying question and one small-table prompt to identify a mentoring practice the club could adopt, avoiding judgements about the people involved. Check privately with each storyteller after the event, confirm that no content will be reused without fresh consent and give the mentoring team one agreed practice to test over the next 60 days.
A short set of practical mentoring lessons, recorded without personal detail A storyteller follow-up record and one owned mentoring improvement
Fit it to the club you have
Small club
Use two stories and one facilitated circle rather than a formal stage. If local relationships make anonymity difficult, invite a neighbouring-club storyteller or use a composite scenario with permission.
Larger club
Offer a small choice of themed rooms and cap each audience so discussion stays respectful. Use the same briefing, consent and follow-up process for every room.
Regional or rural club
Use a hybrid guest storyteller to widen perspectives without unnecessary travel, but test sound and connectivity and provide a telephone or written contribution option where bandwidth is unreliable.
Metropolitan, hybrid or online club
Disable automatic recording and transcription, explain screenshot and chat boundaries, provide captions and let storytellers choose camera, first name and question settings.
Learn, adapt and know when to stop
Evidence worth keeping
Invited storytellers who receive the brief, choose their topic and confirm their sharing boundaries before the event.
Audience members who can name one specific mentoring practice they understood better after the stories.
Privacy, consent or distress concerns raised during or after the evening and how promptly they were addressed.
Change course when
A story reveals another person's private information or makes them identifiable without permission. — Prepare every story privately, remove unnecessary identifiers, seek specific permission where another person remains recognisable and change or withdraw the story if permission is uncertain.
The audience treats a personal story as an invitation to diagnose, advise, debate or investigate. — Set a listening agreement, collect questions through the facilitator and stop questions that cross the speaker's stated boundary or require professional or complaint handling.
A speaker feels pressured to continue after becoming uncomfortable or distressed. — Agree a pause signal, have a support contact available and let any storyteller shorten, change or stop without explanation or loss of recognition.
How to put it into practice
Detailed implementation steps for Mentor Storytelling Night
Step
Action
Suggested owner
Timing
Evidence or output
1
Ask members what they would find useful to understand about mentoring, then choose two or three learning themes such as a helpful question, a difficult turning point or a respectful ending.
Mentoring lead
Four weeks before the event
A short audience-needs note and an approved set of story themes
2
Invite potential storytellers privately, explain the audience and boundaries, and make clear that declining, changing topic or withdrawing will have no effect on their standing in the club.
Story coordinator
Three to four weeks before the event
A consented group of storytellers and a chosen topic for each person
3
Hold a short preparation conversation with each storyteller to shape a five-minute beginning, turning point and lesson, remove unnecessary personal detail and agree what questions are welcome.
Story coach
One to two weeks before the event
A speaker-owned story outline and individual boundary note
4
Brief the audience at the start: listen without fixing, do not repeat personal detail outside the room, ask about the learning rather than the person and respect a speaker's decision not to answer.
Facilitator
At the start of the event
A shared listening agreement understood by the room
5
After each story, use one clarifying question and one small-table prompt to identify a mentoring practice the club could adopt, avoiding judgements about the people involved.
Facilitator and table hosts
During the event
A short set of practical mentoring lessons, recorded without personal detail
6
Check privately with each storyteller after the event, confirm that no content will be reused without fresh consent and give the mentoring team one agreed practice to test over the next 60 days.
Story coordinator and mentoring lead
Within seven days
A storyteller follow-up record and one owned mentoring improvement
Controls and safeguards
Check the idea with the people affected and confirm its purpose, owner and practical limits before putting it into use.
Protect member choice and privacy, make participation accessible, and do not infer belonging or satisfaction from attendance alone.
Confirm venue, accessibility, safety, incident, cancellation and follow-up arrangements for the actual audience and setting.
A story reveals another person's private information or makes them identifiable without permission. — Prepare every story privately, remove unnecessary identifiers, seek specific permission where another person remains recognisable and change or withdraw the story if permission is uncertain.
The audience treats a personal story as an invitation to diagnose, advise, debate or investigate. — Set a listening agreement, collect questions through the facilitator and stop questions that cross the speaker's stated boundary or require professional or complaint handling.
A speaker feels pressured to continue after becoming uncomfortable or distressed. — Agree a pause signal, have a support contact available and let any storyteller shorten, change or stop without explanation or loss of recognition.
A story shared for an internal evening is later quoted, photographed or published as club promotion. — Treat event participation and publication as separate decisions; obtain fresh, specific consent for each later use and retain a simple withdrawal contact.
The event owner must approve the audience, consent process, facilitator, privacy briefing and distress or concern response before invitations are issued.
No person may be named, quoted, photographed, recorded or made identifiable beyond the storyteller's specific permission and the other person's permission where relevant.
Stories involving complaints, safeguarding, trauma, health, legal, financial or disciplinary matters must be redirected to an appropriate private process rather than explored in the room.
What to measure
After 90 days, review Mentor Storytelling Night. Look for suitable matches, regular check-ins and progress against goals chosen by the participating member.
Invited storytellers who receive the brief, choose their topic and confirm their sharing boundaries before the event.
Audience members who can name one specific mentoring practice they understood better after the stories.
Privacy, consent or distress concerns raised during or after the evening and how promptly they were addressed.
One mentoring improvement tested within 60 days, with a named owner and a recorded learning decision.
Follow-up: At the 90-day review, compare the recorded measures with the starting point, resolve the listed governance holds and tell participants whether Mentor Storytelling Night will change, continue or stop.
Made for this initiative
Tailored supporting documents
These working documents use the decisions, safeguards and evidence needs of this initiative. Complete them with the people affected and keep the agreed version with the club's project record.
01
Story Invitation and Consent Choices
Let each storyteller understand the event and choose what they are comfortable sharing before they accept.
