The 2012 edition of Rotary All Florida PETS will be the ninth multi-district PETS in the State of Florida and the sixth in which all eight districts have collaborated, planned and participated. Prior to that - for decades - districts generally conducted their own PETS with governors-elect using the PETS planning guide supplied by Rotary International. There were a few instances of two districts teaming together in a joint PETS effort but it was Past District Governor (District 6950, 1996-1997) and Past Rotary International Director (2006) Milt Jones who led in the formation of the first true multi-district PETS in Florida in March 2004. That year - and the following year - seven Florida districts joined together at a Marriott hotel near the Orlando airport. In March 2006 all eight districts presented numbers too large for the original hotel and the venue changed to what is now the Doubletree Resort & Spa. Five years later we outgrew the Doubletree’s conference facilities, and in March 2012 will be moving to the Buena Vista Palace adjacent to Disney Village where we have another 4 year commitment.

This isn't to say that the concept of holding a multi-district PETS originated in Florida. No, Rotary districts have been teaming together in this fashion for over twenty years with our neighboring districts in the Carolinas one of the first among them. The power of a multi-district effort brings so much to the event that few if any districts have ever looked back.