COMMENTS - PLEASE ENTER PROGRAM NAME IN SUBJECT LINE

Bill Gates to give keynote address at RI Convention

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be a keynote speaker at the 2011 RI Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 21-25 May.

Gates will discuss the progress of the polio eradication effort and the need to finish the job during the third plenary session scheduled for Tuesday, 24 May, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The session has been moved to the afternoon, 15:00-17:00, from its original morning time slot.

The Gates Foundation has awarded US$355 million in challenge grants to Rotary for use in the campaign to rid the world of polio. Rotary has responded with Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge. Gates has made several trips to India and Nigeria, two of the four remaining polio-endemic countries, and has praised the work of Rotarians in his annual letter.

Other speakers will include Michael McQueen, founder of the Nexgen Group, who will discuss understanding Generation Y, and David C. Mulford, former U.S. ambassador to India and a former Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar, who will speak about the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Penny LeGate, a news anchor and reporter for KIRO-TV in Seattle, will share her experiences participating in and reporting on National Immunization Days in Ethiopia and India. Patrick Chisanga, vice chair of the District Governors Review Committee, will speak about Rotary's role in Africa.

Entertainment features during the plenary sessions will showcase the richness and diversity of New Orleans' music scene. Grammy-winning trumpeter and bandleader Irvin Mayfield is founder and artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and one of the young giants in the world of jazz. In 1998, Mayfield co-founded the Latin jazz group Los Hombres Calientes, whose debut CD won Billboard's Latin Music Award for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year. The band’s third CD was nominated for a Grammy. With 10 albums to his credit, Mayfield has performed in numerous prominent jazz festivals and serves as cultural ambassador for the City of New Orleans.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band has traveled worldwide, spreading its mission to nurture and perpetuate New Orleans jazz. The group derives its name from Preservation Hall, the venerable music venue located in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter. Since the band began touring in 1963, several different groups of artists have toured under the Preservation Hall name. The current lineup is directed by Ben Jaffe, son of Preservation Hall founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe.

Other plenary session entertainment will include the Langley Ukulele Ensemble, the King'n Trio, the Ronnie Kole Septet, Lacy J. Dalton, Michael Martin Murphey, and Rhonda Vincent and the Rage.

Workshops will provide convention attendees with an opportunity to learn from Rotarians, Rotary leaders, and non-Rotarian guest speakers. This year's workshops will highlight the three priorities of the RI Strategic Plan as well as the latest Rotary Foundation developments.