Two weeks ago, on February 27th, we closed the application period for the 2012 ROI Summit. Nearly 6,000 visited ROI’s website, over 250 people requested referral codes, and nearly 450 people from some 35 countries submitted applications. While we say this every year, the fact is that it gets truer every year: We are humbled, privileged and incredibly impressed by the quality and breadth of innovative Jewish work that we’re learning about.   

Through all of this excitement in anticipation for the upcoming 2012 ROI Summit, let’s remember that the ROI Community is more than just an annual gathering. It’s a year-round global community.

Certainly, the Summit is exactly as its name suggests – our peak, the high point, the cherry on top. It’s a chance for 150 exceptional Jews from across the world to join together to transform themselves and the Jewish world. 

But the Summit is also the gateway to the greater ROI Community. There are now over 700 ROIers who make up the global ROI Community. Whether it’s staying in touch through Facebook and Twitter or building on the momentum of the Summit through collaborative projects or ROI Micro Grants, ROI members have the opportunity to continue the dialogue on their own time and in their own way.

So we hope to hear our members saying that they are a part of the ROI Community – not that they attended an ROI Summit… There’s a big difference!

This year, we are planning to continue our tradition of inviting a handful of ROI members to join us again at another Summit. The reason we do this is because this is the best and most powerful way to show new members that they are joining a community that is more than just the 150 people gathered together in one room.

By having ROI members who have already attended a past Summit there with them, they are acting as a “living bridge” to the ROI Community at large. But this bridge doesn’t begin and end at the Summits. Another way to keep us all connected is by creating more opportunities to engage with one another on an ongoing basis, whether it’s virtually or through other means.
 
So if you’ve read this far down already, I’m sure you’re wondering about how we invite ROI Members to return to the Summit? To begin with, we are looking to include a wide range of people representing geographical, professional and personal diversity. Whether they are members from the early days of ROI or those who came on board more recently, one constant is that we are always looking to include people who are active in their communities and who have the potential to get more involved with ROI by collaborating with fellow ROI members in wide range of ways – especially with the new group of ROIers that will be joining the community in 2012. As is our policy, we aren’t accepting applications for returning Summit participants and instead will contact people directly.  In the meantime, we are always open to your feedback.

Are there additional ways we can remind ROIers that they are part of an ongoing, global community in ways that speak to you? Let us know!