Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 00:37:11 -0500 From: "David L. Bower" Subject: TN Council Article for Newsletter (second feed) To: Brian Skelton Cc: Brian Swail , Kathy Drevik Reply-to: "David L. Bower" TENNESSEE COUNCIL by David Bower, Chair At the Region 3 meeting in Nashville this past December, the following officers were elected: David Bower, Chair; Jim Duke, Vice Chair; and Philip Lim, Secretary-Treasurer. In addition, Kathy Drevik was appointed as newsletter editor, and Alam Long as PACE representative. There are seven sections in the Tennessee Council and it is difficult for them to meet jointly because of the distance involved (it is over 400 miles from one end of the state to the other). A basic grass-roots goal is to work with each section closely to share common problems and solutions for improving our activities in Tennessee. One initiative being undertaken is to publish a Tennessee Council newsletter on a limited basis for distribution to the officers in the sections. The intent is to share information on interesting program topics for local meetings, and how to best increase attendance at meetings and encourgae volunteers to become more involved in section activities. A good speaker and program topic that proves successful for a section can be made available to other sections. An effort will be made to encourage joint meetings between sections that are close together georgaphically. This should help increase meeting attendance. Further, occasional joint meetings with other technical societies will be encouraged. As an example, a recent joint meeting of the IEEE East Tennessee and Oak Ridge sections with the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers had an attendance of over 80 people. It is felt that regular joint meetings between IEEE sections and occasional meetings with other profesional organizations would be advantageous to all involved. Another effort will be to encourage officers in sections to visit other section meetings when possible. The importance of PACE activities will also be promoted under the leadership of Alan Long and others. Future plans include electronic meetings with the various officers in the Tennessee Council.