Approved 22 November 2003 Minutes of Region 3 Meeting 6 April 2003 Ocho Rios, Jamaica Attendees (* voting member of Region Committee) Aggarwal, Albright*, Alphonse, Bellarmine*, Bendt*, Bigelow*, Bower, Chapman, Conrad*, Dawson*, Deibele*, Dice*, Dogan*, Duggan, Eason, Edmondson*, Elton*, Flescher, Franco*, Franklin*, Geer*, Gibson*, Green*, Hamzey*, Hardy*, Harrison*, Hennen, Hickman*, Hill, Howard* (Chair), Jadus*, LaBelle, Lee*, Long*, Lord, Marshall*, Mills*, Mohammed*, Neiditz, Parr*, Pireld*, Ratcliff, Riddle*, Rinehart*, Schwartz*, Scrugs*, Seibel*, Shadwell*, Shepard*, Skelton*, Southard, Stoger, Twitchell, Went, Williams*, Wright*, Wyatt*, Director Howard convened the Region meeting at 1:38pm. He welcomed attendees and made sure that everyone was having productive meeting. He invited all members to introduce themselves and noted the special guests: Jerry Alphonse, Region 1 Director Jean Eason, Region 5 Director Hal Flescher, Division IV Director The committee approved its agenda as published with the change to an action item to accept a SoutheastCon 2006 proposal. The group approved the consent agenda: Approval of the minutes of the 01 April 2002 Region 3 Committee meeting. Director Jim Howard then made a presentation about IEEE and Region 3. He discussed: * Rebates (bonuses and hard deadlines) * Section Support Via Region * Section & Chapter Support Funds * Membership Advantage - should guide efforts Director-Elect Bill Harrison reviewed his goals and objectives. He also reviewed his current committee assignments. Secretary David Green referred members to his report. Treasurer Hickman handed out expense reports. He also reviewed the R3 Budget performance noting investment loss and the fact that we were running deficits for the last two years. Past Director Riddle referred members to his reported. R1 Director Alphonse briefed the group on IEEE in Region 1. They have a Board of Governors and two Region Meetings per year. R5 Director Eason briefed the group on IEEE in Region 5. She noted several similarities between R3 and R5 as well as noting differences. She listed their goals that included providing regular, quality local programs and improving communications. Division IV Director Hal Flescher discussed the IEEE organization with emphasis on the non-Regional Activities portion of IEEE. He noted that Chapters are the place where Regional Activities and Technical Activities come together. He noted that Societies are seeing severe changes based on electronic distribution of technical literature. Region 3 Treasurer (on behalf of the Finance Committee) briefed the group on the need to be concerned about the Region 3 budget trends. Director Howard invited R3 Director-Elect Candidates to make a statement. George McClure was unable to attend and sent a statement which Director Howard read. Don Hill was on hand to make his statement to the group. At approximately 4:10pm, Director Howard recessed the meeting so that members could attend the Region 3 Hardware Contest Finals. At 8:10am, Director Howard reconvened the Region meeting. Secretary Green noted that one of the Discussion items (Region 3 Finances) had been moved to the Action agenda. IEEE-USA Presidential Candidates Alphonse and Eason made presentations to the committee. Secretary Green noted that there were three nominated Presidential Candidates: Cleon Anderson, Mike Lightner, and Vijay Bhargava. A statement from Cleon Anderson was distributed to the group and it was noted that statements from the others would be posted later to the IEEE Web Site. Director Howard noted that all three individuals were heavily involved in IEEE actitivities and were unable to attend the Region 3 meeting. Conference Committee Chair Don Hill moved, on behalf of the conference committee, that the Region 3 accept the proposal of the Memphis Section to host SoutheastCon 2006. Alan Long, who would be the conference chair, briefly briefed the committee on the plans for a Memphis SoutheastCon. Motion passed. Communications Committee Chair Bill Ratcliff moved, on behalf of the communications committee, that the region adopt an asynchronous voting methodology for the Region3 Committee as distributed on the web site. David Green reviewed the intent and basis for the methodology. Motion passed. Treasurer Charles Hickman, on behalf of the Region 3 Finance Committee, moved that the Region recommend that an assessment of $2.00 be established to begin in 2005. Charles Hickman made a presentation reviewing past financial history and forward projections through 2006. He expressed concern that member services were being severally curtailed in order to reduce the deficits in the out years. The group discussed the various options available and the impact on the member. Division IV Director Hal Flescher reviewed some of the purposes for reserves and noted that at the present time units were strongly encouraged to have balanced budgets to preserve the reserves to protect IEEE's credit line. The motion passed (one member voted no and one member voted to abstain, neither wished to be recorded.) SoutheastCon 2003 Chair Halden Morris reported on some preliminary conference results: 27 Universities participating in Hardware Contest 326 Badges 170 Students 59 Region 3 Members 2 Life Members 47 staff (local) 5 SCS staff 43 full registrations 450 Hotel nights (estimated) Director-elect Bill Harrison reported on the results Strategic Planning Ad Hoc Committee meeting held in February in Atlanta. The slides of this presentation were distributed as part of the agenda. Director-elect Bill Harrison reported on the Industry Relations Project progress. The slides of this presentation were distributed as part of the agenda. Director Howard, noting that time was short, asked members if there were any items from the information agenda reports that needed emphasizing. Bill Marshall of the Atlanta Section noted that they thought the Atlanta Section would have its 100th Anniversary next year and solicited information from other sections how to best prepare to commemorate the event. He can be contacted at vicechair@ieee-atlanta.org. Leadership Development Chair Charles Lord quickly supplemented his report base on the meeting held on Saturday and reminded the group of the "Nuts and Bolts" session to be held in the afternoon. Winston Smith and Halden Morris gave each of the Region Committee members a small memo to remember their Jamaican meeting. Director Howard thanked them on behalf of the group. Director Howard thanked the group for their efforts and participation. He commended all in a fine showing for the Awards Ceremony. Director Howard reviewed items discussed in the Region meeting specifically related to Section Chairs: * Reports (no later than 30 June) * SSVR Funds * Section/Chapter Seminar Fund * Plan for 2005 Sections Congress * Account Signatures * Bylaws * Communicate with Area/Council Chairs Having completed its agenda, Director Howard adjourned the meeting at 9:58am. Respectfully submitted, David Greeen Region 3 Secretary