REGION 1 RECOMMENDATIONS for SC08

1. REGION 1 RECOMMENDATIONS for SC08 Eduardo Palacio & Roger Sullivan

2. RECOMMENDATION PROCESS • At this Region 1 Meeting we will determine 4 or 5 recommendations for SC08 • A champion will be selected for each of the chosen recommendations who will refine the recommendation and forward to Michel, Palacio, & Sullivan by September 1st. • No more than 50 words • Should be actionable with proposed deadlines • Recognize that many IEEE OUs have established 2009 priorities and committed resources • Should support MGA Strategies & Goals, IEEE Envisioned Future • List an individual to serve as a contact for the recommendation

3. RECOMMENDATION PROCESS • At SC08 each Region to provide up to 4 recommendations • All recommendations will be reported to the congress and be grouped into issue caucuses (no later than 5pm on19 Sept • Issue caucuses will take place on Sunday afternoon.

4. RECOMMENDATION PROCESS • Attendees will attend an issue caucus of their choice and participate in tuning the issue(s) into well-formed recommendations for consideration by the congress. • Monday Morning – Vote and rank 20 Recommendations • The congress will report out the top ten recommendations in priority order and then report the other recommendations as a pool

5. R1 RECOMMENDATIONS • FOUR FOCUS AREAS • Public Imperative- Spokesperson of the Profession- Assigned to NE Area • Member Development – Member Interface- Assigned to Southern Area • Membership Communication- Assigned to Central Area • The Life of the Leader- Volunteer Leader Development- Assigned to Western Area

6. Public Imperative- Spokesperson of the Profession • IEEE should act as an ombudsman to monitor the hiring and ethics practices of large employers of electrical engineers. This was from the North Jersey Section PACE group. • IEEE should work with large employers of electrical engineers for them to encourage their engineers to join IEEE. This was from the North Jersey Section PACE group. We have had similar type recommendations from the past several Sections Congresses, but the IEEE has responded with more hand-waving than permanent programs in place.

7. Member Development – Member Interface • Give a dues discount to GOLD members to encourage them to remain members. This was from the North Jersey Section GOLD/WIE group. Something like this was tried several years ago with a graduated dues increase for three years after graduation, but I understand that there was no significant effect on retaining former student members. However, recent dropout statistics show that in 2007, 57.8% of those who dropped out left after 1 year and another 14.33% after two years. Maybe we should try again. • Provide links to simulation type software, such as Codence, Hspice, Ansept, etc., student or education version. This was from the North Jersey Section PACE group.

8. Member Development – Member Interface • Students are the major source of incoming members for IEEE and at the same time they are one of the major contributors to membership loss every year, mostly due to the high difference in dues during transition from school to their future job. According to the statistical data, it seems logical and more efficient to try to retain students, after graduation, instead of trying to recruit new members. This was from the Maine Section • Enhance student chapter and parent section interactions and engage students through holding joint events and giving them responsibilities in the section level. • Offer section level positions to active students upon their graduations, since they will be more likely to influence their fellow students in renewing their membership • Establish discounted membership dues for graduates for a limited period As mentioned above like this was tried several years ago with a graduated dues increase for three years after graduation, but I understand that there was no significant effect on retaining former student members.

9. Member Development – Member Interface • Provide limited complementary or inexpensive (under $5) single article downloads for those that do not need to join MDL. This was from the North Jersey Section PACE group. There is already a single article download feature. • Provide Financial Engines subscription with membership (http://www.financialengines.com/) -   It is an excellent web tool by William Sharpe for determining asset allocation for both retirement and non-retirement goals. IEEE could buy membership for everyone or at least negotiate a discount. This is from the Boston Section.

10. Member Development – Member Interface • Cell phone discount -  Many companies are able to get discount on cell phone subscriptions for their members and IEEE could conceivably do the same. This is from the Boston Section. • Anonymous job site -  No job sites currently do this, but it would be nice to be able to submit a resume and not have it released to employers. Instead, they would perform searches and you would be notified of when there is a match and authorize the release of it to an employer. This way you can job hunt while still working for a company and not have to worry about your employer finding out about it. This is from the Boston Section. Possibly this could be an option on the existing IEEE Job Site.

11. Membership Communication • Networking package -   Email address, business cards, and Grand Central (http://www.grandcentral.com/) virtual phone number. This is from the Boston Section. • Website creation tool for chapters - Right now we get web space and a set of templates. You have to do the rest. IEEE should build something like a Facebook group where any chapter can create a website and it is easy to input events, has an email signup link, can accept RSVPs for events, etc. This is from the Boston Section

12. Membership Communication • Merged e-notice and listserv for chapter advertisements -   E-notice only targets IEEE members but most chapters like to collect email addresses at the door. It is hard to know who is double registered so we end up getting address from SAM-IEEE and importing them into the listserv but then people complain about having to unsubscribe to multiple lists. This is from the Boston Section. • Social networks for IEEE -   I think one is already being built for members but we can include it anyway since it hasn’t been deployed. It would basically be a Facebook / LinkedIn for engineers. Might -also be interesting to create separate networks for college students and pre-college students. This is from the Boston Section.

13. Membership Communication • Database of company contacts - The Industry liaison is supposed to be in charge of this but IEEE could create a central list of company contacts for use in planning events and looking for sponsors. This is from the Boston Section. • Database of companies -   It’s also interesting to be able to know where companies are located. Mass High Tech publishes an employer directory for the Boston area and IEEE could publish one for other areas. They make a lot of money selling this directory. The job site could post on a map which companies have sites. This is from the Boston Section

14. Membership Communication • Central calendar of events - IEEE should create a central calendar of events where all groups can post their events. These events should be geo-tagged so that members can filter them by their area. This could be a better way to discover events than the large number of emails that we currently get. This is from the Boston Section.

15. The Life of the Leader- Volunteer Leader Development • IEEE should provide an English diction program to assist our non-American born members and/or English as a second language member to improve their verbal skills. This is from the NE Area (Area A) Chair. • IEEE is supposed to be a “member-driven, volunteer led, staff-supported organization.” To strengthen the “volunteer led” portion IEEE should consider extending the term of IEEE President from one to two years. While this would extend the overall commitment of one seeking the presidency from three to six years. this change should not reduce the pool of those seeking this position. It certainly has not in the case of the six year commitment for Region Director-Elect candidates

16. The Life of the Leader- Volunteer Leader Development • IEEE should institute voluntary certification of IEEE volunteer leaders at the Region, Section, Chapter and Affinity Group levels. This could be done through on-line leadership development training courses. This should be voluntary and not mandatory certification (would not want to limit the volunteer leadership pool because individuals did not complete every course) and could aid in volunteer career planning and in entity succession planning. This would be like the AAA defensive driving course – good, but not required to obtain a driver’s license

17. MGA STRATEGIES • Increase the value of IEEE membership. • Utilize member life cycle concept. • Provide a simple, consistent interface to members and prospective members. • Track member involvement and development. • Make the process of joining and maintaining membership simple and straightforward. • Facilitate member collaboration. • Become more transnational in look, feel and language. • Strengthen the relevancy of IEEE membership to industry.

18. MGA GOALS • Increase member engagement. • Improve relationships with and among members. • Increase operational efficiency and effectiveness, within MGA and its interfaces • Enhance collaboration with other business units. • Increase membership. • Increase the collaboration and cooperation between Geographic Units • Enhance the membership-related information available to the member and the geographic units