To: Region 3 Committee
From: Charles Lord, R3 Conferences Chair
Subject: Conference Committee Report, SoutheastCon 2001

The conference committee will be meeting at SoutheastCon on Saturday
Morning to discuss a lot of big issues:

The Southcon trade show will not take place in 2001.  Its directors are
currently re-examining where the show is going.  See Jim Howard's report
for more information.

As traditional trade show attendance dwindles, we face the challenges
of providing services to our region's members to replace or augment
Southcon as well as replacing the income that the show provided the
Region each year.  One direction we may wish to pursue is the
electronic or on-line conference.  Another may be local or travelling
"table top" shows.  ANYONE with interest in these solutions, PLEASE
contact me at c.j.lord@ieee.org.

On the topic of electronic or web-based conferences, I am heading up a
group within the IEEE Meetings and Services Committee to develop
guidelines and standards to help pioneers put on Internet-based
conferences within the IEEE.  This is an exciting and challenging task
- anyone who would like to help with this is also asked to contact me.

SoutheastCon 2000 was a wonderful success and has closed their books
with a surplus.  The final IEEE audit is currently underway and we
expect the official closing report very soon.  Hats off to George
Cook, Ensign Johnson, and their hard-working committee for a job well
done!

SoutheastCon 2001 is here and more fun than ever. No fooling - it is a
great conference and Region Committee Meeting!  Mark Stokes and Nick
Pasquerilla, along with Program Chair Dr. John Gowdy have put together
a bang-up conference.  See you in Clemson!

Progress continues on SoutheastCon 2002, to be held in Columbia, SC.
Yingli Wen has a hard-working committee making good progress.  See her
report for more information on this exciting event, slated for April
5-7, 2002 - Mark your calendars today!

SoutheastCon 2003 and beyond are still up for grabs!  We have been
notified of one section that is interested in 2003 (Jamaica!) but that
is the only one.  Please talk with the others in your local section
and come to SoutheastCon this year with a bid for 2003 or any year
after that.  Hosting SoutheastCon is a lot of work but it really is
FUN and a rewarding experience.

Speaking of Jamaica, we are looking at ways that a Jamaica
SoutheastCon could become a reality.  It would take some creative
financing and travel planning to get our students to Jamaica - but
think of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity it would give them.  I ask
all of you to think about this and provide ideas.  We are thinking
about corporate sponsorship, possible funding from other IEEE
entities, and perhaps US Government funds (I understand NSF has funded
college students to overseas conferences but don't know how it
works). Come get involved!  This could be the most exciting
SoutheastCon ever!

Come join us!  Along with the meeting at Clemson, we have a number of
ongoing discussions on our R3 newsgroup.  You can get there with a
newsreader (such as Netscape or Outlook Express) at
news://r3-collab.eng.uab.edu/ieee.r3conf or via any web browser at
https://ecelx00.eng.uab.edu/cgi-bin/dnewsweb?cmd=xover&group=ieee.r3conf

--
Charles J. Lord, PE, CQE
c.j.lord@ieee.org