Our secure, on-line registration is for club and district officers from Districts 7670, 7680, 7690, 7710, 7720, 7730, and 7750. If your district is not listed here, please contact Registration Chair, Newman Aguiar.
Event registration for Carolinas’ PETS 2025 is open as of November 1st.
Prior to actually registering, please take a moment to learn more about registering and attending Carolinas’ PETS. A quick scroll through the below list of frequently asked questions can help you make much better choices during the event registration process. Then return to the top of this page and click the “Register Now” button.
- What is Carolinas’ PETS?
- Who should attend Carolinas’ PETS?
- What meals are included? What if I have special dietary needs? Should my partner come and can they go to the meals?
- Is there a Thursday Social?
- Pre-registration is required
- Online Electives are popular and free!
- How do I prepare?
- What’s the dress code?
- Do I need my notebook or tablet PC at the event?
- What if I have a conflict with the date of Carolinas’ PETS?
- Is all lodging at the primary hotel?
- Should I contact the hotel about my lodging reservation?
- Where is the primary hotel?
- COVID-19 venue preparation, safety, and courtesy
- Privacy & cancellation policies
- Are the four keynote speakers presentations recorded? Are those recordings available for use at a Rotary Club meeting?
- Lots of great photographs are displayed at PETS. Are those photos available?
- What do these abbreviations mean?
What is Carolinas’ PETS?
First, PETS represents Presidents-Elect Training Seminar. Second, it is Carolinas’ because it serves all of the Rotary Clubs in North Carolina and those in the western half of South Carolina — more than 360 clubs. Including the other club and district officers coming together for this training and fellowship opportunity, there are 600 participants. What began in 1986 as three districts pooling their resources, has become an event used as a model for many other training events.
A premier training event for Rotary leaders, Carolinas’ PETS provides information, inspiration, and fellowship. Structured to meet the needs of incoming Club Presidents and Presidents Nominee, incoming Governors Nominee and Assistant Governors, this two-day training seminar is beyond comparison among Rotary training events.
Using inspiring speakers and experienced discussion leaders, this thirty-nine year-old event is designed to encourage participation. An intensive training seminar, Carolinas’ PETS is structured to enable the participants to extract maximum benefits from the materials presented as well as from each other.
For selected topics, we utilize group sessions based on club size whenever possible. Typically, these are organized into smaller groups of twenty to thirty participants. We feel that this size is conducive to spontaneous discussion of the materials being presented.
Also, there are opportunities for the individual districts to meet as groups. These are times when the district leadership is presenting district specific goals and objectives for the upcoming Rotary year. This setting is a great opportunity to enhance the relationships among the district and club leaders.
The entire program is designed with a focus on learning, inspiration and fellowship.
Who should attend Carolinas’ PETS?
Every incoming President-Elect is required by Rotary International to attend PETS (in its entirety) in the spring immediately prior to taking office. Our seven districts encourage (and financially support) their Assistant Governors participating in Carolinas’ PETS and the leadership training presented for their personal development. More and more clubs are encouraging Presidents-Nominee and supporting their fees as well, but their attendance is optional. The curriculum for the President-Elect is different from that designed for the the Assistant Governor or President Nominee. Attendance at PETS by a President Nominee, does NOT satisfy the attendance requirement when later a President-Elect.
What meals are included? What if I have special dietary needs? Should my partner come and can they go to the meals?
All meals and breaks are included with event registration. There are four meals: Friday lunch, Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast, Saturday lunch.
Our menu for the four meals provided will be as diverse as is practical for an event with 600 people. Individualized meal plans are not offered. Each entree will include a meat, thus if your need or preference is to exclude meat, please indicate “No meat” at the Dietary Restriction section of the registration form. The hotel will be providing a vegan gluten free plate for all who designate “No meat”. If your need is simply to avoid meat on Friday, please type “No-Meat Friday” and the remainder of your meals will be the same of the other participants.
Partners are not encouraged to attend Carolinas’ PETS but they can come to the event. They can attend the four meals listed above as long as pre-paid arrangements are made for them at least two weeks prior to the event. Please contact Newman Aguiar via this link to arrange for partner meal tickets. Typically, lunch and breakfast are $45 each and the evening meal is $50.
Is there a Thursday Social?
Yes! For all registered participants; needing lodging is not a requirement. Each year, we have approximatively two hundred folks already onsite by Thursday evening. The Cash Bar Social is free and a great opportunity to net work with your peers, district leaders, discussion leaders and keynote speakers. There are no food offerings at this 8:00pm event.
Pre-registration is required
Due to planning requirements for meals, materials, and lodging, we cannot accomodate a walk-in participant. Please help us make your Carolinas’ PETS experience a positive one by pre-registering using our secure online process.
This year, registering on time is critical so that we reserve adequate meeting space for our event. We simply have a much larger footprint in this facility due to increased physical distancing in all the meeting spaces. Registering late for this event may cause prospective participants to attend a different multi-district PETS event in another state.
Our on-line registration process with credit card payment will be available beginning November 1st. A confirmation email and receipt is transmitted immediately upon successful registration and payment authorization. Either way, registering for this event before the deadline of January 20th will save you $25!
Registration closes on February 15, 2025.
Below is the fee schedule for Carolinas’ PETS 2024 if submitted before January 20th. After this date, the registration prices increase by $25. The PETS 2025 fee schedule will be finalized by June 30, 2024.
- $575 — Private Room The most popular registration option includes all meals and materials for the entire event, and lodging for one person for one night — Friday.
- $525 — Sharing Lodging means that you are sharing your hotel room with another fully-paid Rotarian participant. You may either tell us who that person is or we will assign you a roommate. After February 15th there are no changes to assigned roommates.
- $475 — No Lodging Needed includes all meals and materials for one person with no lodging.
- $180 — Additional Thursday Lodging adds Thursday lodging to your registration; a consideration if your travel distance is more than one hour as Friday morning events begin at 8:00am and Saturday morning events begin at 7:15am.
Online Electives are popular and free!
All Elective Courses will be conducted through the Rotary Learning Center on the Rotary International website.
If you have not been to the Learning Center before, please go to rotary.org/learn, Signin at My Rotary, and accept the privacy policy before clicking on the link to your learning plan.
Courses included in the Carolinas PETS Electives Learning Plan are: Promoting Your Club as People of Action; Building a Diverse Club; Best Practices for Engaging Members; Rotary Foundation Basics; and Committing to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
You are also encouraged to participate in the Club President Intermediate, Assistant Governor Basics, and the three levels of Governor Learning Plans include a variety of topics that are specific for your role.
How do I prepare?
Beginning in January, every known President-Elect will receive a weekly email message covering a group of topics. Review these materials and you will arrive at Carolinas’ PETS prepared for a higher level of discussion. The materials are also available to you as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document on one of this site’s Resource pages. In addition to these resources, your district leadership has been encouraged to provide for you a Pre-PETS seminar to help you become engaged in this process as early as January.
What’s the dress code?
Business casual. It’s a business meeting conducted in a professional manner. Suits are not necessary but shorts and warm-ups are not appropriate. Just find yourself a happy medium. This is a networking opprtunity as much as it is educational. Make a positive impression.
Do I need my notebook or tablet PC at the event?
No electronics are needed for the curriculum presented at Carolinas’ PETS. Our training model is based on discussion, participant interaction, and the sharing of ideas. We are almost technology-free at this event. We want your focus to be on Rotary during the sessions. There are plenty of breaks that can be used for returning messages.
What if I have a conflict with the date of Carolinas’ PETS?
Your District Governor-Elect can direct you to another PETS event in a nearby state. Follow this link to a page of contacts, including your District Governor-Elect. Follow this link to the PETS Alliance Calendar page, listing other known PETS events.
Is all lodging at the primary hotel?
For most years, yes. We make every effort to house all participants at the primary hotel, but during peak demand with other events, we sometimes house participants at other nearby properties. If you are placed at a property other than the Sheraton Greensboro, we will inform you of that placement. In recent years, this occurrence has been rare.
Should I contact the hotel about my lodging reservation?
No. We are responsible for all lodging reservations including special needs (as long as you communicate those to us during the registration process). The registration confirmation email from this website is evidence our understanding of your needs. As we guarantee your lodging based on your registration selections, their is no confirmation needed from the hotel.
Where is the primary hotel?
Carolinas’ PETS is held at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons. The street address of the facility is 3121 West Gate City Boulevard in Greensboro, NC 27407.
Due to continuing changes in directional signs and exits by the NCDOT, we recommend that you consult the various navigational assistance available on the Internet or call the hotel and speak to a staff person regarding specific directions from your route. Please note that not all GPS devices have been updated with the road changes. The Sheraton Greensboro telephone number is (336) 292-9161.
COVID-19 venue preparation, safety, and courtesy
We are committed to providing all attendees with a safe environment that aligns with the safety protocols at our venue for Carolinas’ PETS, and guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and federal, state, and local health departments. We ask for compliance from all attendees with existing protocols that will be in place during the entirety of the event. We have made additional arrangements with the venue to assist us in creating a safe environment by providing larger room spaces, reducing meeting room table capacities, reducing dining table capacities, as well as, other options, as needed, to increase our comfort and safety, and that enable us to be compliant with any federal, state and local guidelines for the term of the event.
We encourage all participants to review Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation position statement on COVID-19 vaccination and be in compliance with all policies in place for Guilford County, North Carolina.
Privacy & cancellation policies
Privacy Policy
We recognize that your privacy is important. This paragraph outlines the types of personal information we collect when you use our registration services, as well as some of the steps we take to safeguard information. Hopefully, this will help you make an informed decision about sharing personal information through the registration process.
Carolinas’ PETS collects personal information when you register for our event or otherwise voluntarily provide such information.
You will not be asked for any personal information until you are within one of our secure web pages.
Personal information may be used to meet your requests such as special lodging room needs or dietary needs.
Personal information may be used for auditing or analysis to improve our program and/or services.
Personal information may be shared with third parties such as the hotel or our other vendors.
When third parties assist us in processing your registration information, we require that they comply with our Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security issues.
Information may also be shared with third parties in certain circumstances, such as compliance with legal processes.
Cancellation Policy
Our cancellation policy is simple.
There are no full refunds after February 15th unless the cancellation is caused by death or hospitalization of the participant or immediate family member.
Refunds for lodging fees are available to the extent that lodging reservations can be cancelled without cost to Carolinas’ PETS. The hotel cancellation window is 72hrs.
Refunds for the cost of meals and breaks are available to the extent that the meal guarantees have not been submitted to the hotel and such reduction does not result in a cost to Carolinas’ PETS. Our meal guarantees are submitted approximately two weeks prior to event date.
To convey any cancellation information, please contact Newman Aguiar via this link. After Monday morning of event week, refunding any component of fees becomes more difficult due to the costs already incurred.
Are the four keynote speakers presentations recorded? Are those recordings available for use at a Rotary Club meeting?
Yes, we generally record the featured presentations in the four General Sessions. These are available to club and district leaders from within our website. Please review the recorded sessions from last year’s event.
Lots of great photographs are displayed at PETS. Are those photos available?
Yes, PDG Phil and Karen Morris are our official photographers. They volunteer their time and talent to capture hundreds of candid shots. These are available to you for no fee. Please review last year’s event images, including those on Phil Morris’ own website.
What do these abbreviations mean?
| Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|
| PETS | President-Elect Training Seminar |
| AG | Assistant Governor |
| DG | District Governor |
| DGE | District Governor-Elect |
| DGN | District Governor Nominee |
| PDG | Past District Governor |
| PE | President-Elect |
| PN | President Nominee (in some clubs, Vice President) |
| RI | Rotary International |
| TRF | The Rotary Foundation |
| VP | Vice President |
Carolinas' PETS 