2006 Inter-Society Officers Workshop Summary

Sponsored by the Puget Sound Engineering Council (PSEC)

June 10th 2006 at the Redmond Library

At 10:30 AM, we met as a group then split into thee separate tables, then rotated every 45 minutes. Fifteen Officers from nine Societies were in attendance.

Following, are some of the Ideas gleaned from the three Roundtable Discussions:

Organization and Operations of a Chapter/Section/Society

Plan Meetings, Plan Programs:

Program planning is mostly done by the Pres. Elect or Vice President from picking subjects, presenters to facility arrangements. IEEE has a multi-path of program planning – some by the technical sections, some by the overall group and some dictated by National. ASCE includes some joint meetings with other organizations. ASQ conducted a survey to determine interests.

However one org. uses an annual planning meeting with officers and telephone committee person in which brainstorming topics are suggested (usually about 20 - 25) and then pared down by multi-voting to eight (+2alternates for reserve) topics. At the same time the month for each of these topics is also assigned. The arrangement for presenter is usually done by the suggester, however the facility coordination remains the V.P.’s responsibility.

For meeting locations - for the smaller groups – it was determined that a place with a separate room, order off the menu and individual tickets was the best.

Hold elections:

All organizations are required by their By-Laws to hold annual elections. The month for these elections and the “command” transitions vary.

Know your members; Know your members interests:

Two organizations use a telephone committee for quarterly or monthly contact, one other has the officers make an annual contact by phone. An excerpt for member evaluation was presented and discussed.

Duties of chapter officers:

The duties of the officers was not discussed except as part of the other discussions such as job descriptions in manuals or S.O.P.’s etc.

Submitted by MILTON A. TIEDE, PE, FNSPE

2006 – Communications Table

Facilitator: Steve Snelling, IIE

Societies participating in discussions: SWE, ASCE, ASQ, ASME, WSPE, ASMI, IEEE, SAE, & IIE

Web Sites:

  • All the societies listed here have web sites.
  • Most societies store event information on their web sites and use their newsletters to point to event information on the site.
  • Not all the societies have full time Webmasters, most were being maintained by volunteers (but a few larger societies had paid Webmasters).
  • A few societies regularly have job postings listed.
  • Some larger societies have separate web sites for their sub-divisions and interest groups, but usually these are linked to the main society web site.
  • Some societies use a chapter sub-set of their national organizations web site, but to have an easier to find site, many societies use an independent web address.
  • Most societies were not certain who is providing information on their societies’ events to PSEC for our monthly summary page, but thought that it was a good idea for societies to share this information through PSEC’s web site.
  • IEEE recommended that PSEC use more hot links to their web site calendar for all their IEEE monthly events (since many events are held each month for their many sub-groups of IEEE).
  • Several societies felt that the PSEC main events were not always getting listed in time on their societies’ web site or in their societies’ newsletter.

E-Mail Notices:

  • All of the societies represented use e-mail notices for most of their communication.
  • Some use the national organization’s e-mail address update, but most keep their own local distribution list of e-mails.
  • Event information, awards, & scholarship information was the main information being conveyed. Some societies also provide legislative items of interest to engineers.
  • Some societies have had trouble with attached files being received, so they only send notes that are embedded in the e-mail.
  • Some use e-mail to call attention to new content on their web-site or their newsletter.
  • Some use Yahoo groups or other list servers for their main e-mail distribution list.
  • For some societies the local President or Chairperson sends out notices to their distribution lists, and they remind their members about upcoming events.

Newsletters:

  • Monthly newsletters are pretty common. Some do both a postal mailed version and e-mail version, but most just send e-mail to a distribution list.
  • ASMI mails out a post card at the beginning of their program year, that covers the entire year.
  • For many societies, their newsletter is also a section of their web site.
  • Some of the larger societies have a separate newsletter editor, ASQ even has a paid newsletter editor.
  • Getting content can be difficult for the newsletter, so some societies publish only when they have enough content rather than every month.
  • SWE brought examples of their newsletter to the ISOW event, it was several pages long.
  • Most societies supplement their regular newsletter with occasional information flyers.
  • The cost of producing and mailing paper-based newsletters was cited as the reason that electronic distribution is preferred.

Other Types of Communication:

  • Many of the societies have national publications: magazines & newsletters.
  • Some of the larger societies have separate newsletters for their more active divisions. They share information mainly through their web site.
  • Some societies do annual surveys of their members, using their web sites.
  • Some smaller societies have a chapter officer contact everyone in their local chapter by phone to verify they were receiving the societies’ communications, and discuss their involvement with the societies’ events.
  • Most societies use e-mail and phone calls for their between-meeting communication for their chapter officers.
  • Most societies were unaware that the PSEEC web site was trying to list all the educational programs from our PSEC member societies. The YMF (Younger Member Forum) group within ASCE have several educational events that are not currently listed on the PSEEC web site’s Local Educational Activities section.

Education Table Notes

Facilitator – Anthony Leon, SAE, PSEEC President

Attending Organizations: ASM International, ASME, ASCE, WSPE, SAE, SWE, IEEE, and ASQ (non-PSEC member).

K-12 Education Programs:

  • All PSEC organizations participate in Engineering Fair.
  • ASM International sponsors a one week summer camp at the University of Washington.
  • WSPE is a local and state sponsor of Math Counts
  • ASCE’s “Young Member Forum” coordinates the Popsicle-Stick Bridge contest (in partnership with PSEC E-Fair). Also, are local sponsor of “Zoom into Engineering.” A National Engineers Week program that visits schools and boys/girls clubs to work on engineering programs.
  • IEEE is a local sponsor of Future Cities program for 7th and 8th graders.
  • SWE sponsors “Expanding your Horizons” and “NASA Science Finals programs.
  • ASQ has a national Quality Kid program, but does not have any.
  • SAME (not in attendance at ISOW) locally sponsors a “Technobowl” quiz game for teams of high-school students.

College Student Programs:

  • All PSEC Organizations have been involved with PSEC’s mentor nights.
  • Most societies offer reduced rates for student members (e.g., ASME, ASM International, SWE, etc.)
  • Several societies (e.g., ASME, ASM International) offer student project/presentation projects.
  • SWE sponsors a “Shadow a Women Engineer Day”
  • Several organizations (e.g., ASCE) are on university advisory committee.
  • Several organizations offer mentoring programs
  • Several organizations offer National and Local scholarships
  • Several organizations support student group projects.

Continuing Education Programs:

  • ASM International offers local continuing education classes. A recent ASM International poll indicated that most members were interested in “keeping up to date with their profession.
  • Most organizations offer national continuing education support.
  • ASCE offers information on professional engineering regulation and maintaining a PE license.

New Action Items:

  • E-fair coordinator to work with ASCE and SWE to increase marketing for Engineering-Fair.
  • PSEEC (Puget Sound Engineering Education Center) President will write a column for the IEEE newsletter. Will make column available to other PSEC organizations.
  • PSEEC President will work with organizations to establish a list of volunteers for high school Career Day events.
  • Participating E-fair organizations – The Skyline Company (makers of exhibition booth items) offer free seminary to give your booths the biggest bang for your buck. See www.spnw.com for more information.