Director’s Message
 
Make your plans now to attend Southeastcon 2007 in Richmond, March
22-25. The host hotel, the Richmond Marriott, has been completely
renovated. This downtown jewel and largest Richmond hotel is located in
the heart of the city's historic downtown. The group code for the
conference rate is IEEIEEA, if you want to use the website for your
reservation. While the conference rate is available 5 days before and 5
days after the conference, the website does not acknowledge that. You
will have to contact the hotel to arrange an extended stay.

Are you taking full advantage of the IEEE online communities?
https://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/services/communities/communities.xml In
addition to Membership Development, Employment and Career Strategies,
and the Region 3 Forum, there are separate forums for Women in
Engineering, Life Members, and Graduates of the Last Decade (celebrating
their tenth anniversary this year). See www.ieee.org/gold for links to
mentoring and for the complete online seminar, "How to become a
Successful Project Manager" The recorded session is now available from
that site.

IEEE.tv has been launched, and offers another member benefit. Short
(less than 30 minutes) features are available for internet viewing.
Career tips and technical conference previews are among the offerings. A
scheduled new feature: Profiles in Volunteering - Part 1 -This
production highlights the importance of volunteering with the IEEE. This
is the first of a 3-part series focusing on skill building and
leadership. You can access IEEE.tv through MyIEEE, your customized
access portal, or through
https://www.ieee.org/web/membership/IEEEtv/about.html

Membership development received attention at the Fall Region 3 meeting,
and materials were supplied to attendees by Lee Stogner, who has
prepared a 2007 “Cheat Sheet” showing member benefits and counter
arguments to negative assertions about membership advantages. This, and
other materials to aid in a membership drive are found at the IEEE
Membership Development online community, accessible through
www.ieee.org/md.

An urgent goal is the appointment of membership chairs for every
section. Some sections may be performing the function but do not have a
membership chair listed on their report to the Geographic Roster. It is
essential that the volunteer performing this function be identified, so
that materials to assist can be correctly directed.

The IEEE Mentoring Connection Program is looking for members to help
guide young professionals and recent grads with career planning and
professional development. Mentoring is open to all except student and
life members. Mentors need to commit at least two hours per month to the
one-on-one partnership, which lasts for a year. Communication with the
mentee can be by phone, by e-mail, or in person. See details in The
Institute, December 2006.

Kudos to Eric Ackerman, our webmaster (among his other IEEE hats), for
the new look of the Region 3 website https://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/3/ and
the interesting coverage of our Fall Region meeting in Atlanta. Numerous
hyperlinks are provided, including one to the Region 3 Forum (virtual
community) and to the Membership Development community. For the photo
coverage there, we owe thanks to our Public Information chair, David
Bower.

IEEE-USA has a new pre-college brochure, now in its second printing. It
is providing copies to all children’s museums in the U.S. to encourage
interest in math and science. Some interested Region 3 volunteers have
provided lists of such museums in their localities already. If you have
others to suggest, contact Helen Hall at IEEE-USA h.hall@ieee.org Having
accompanied two grandchildren (ages 5 and 2) to such a museum two weeks
ago, I can attest to the interest young minds have in discoveries; they
don’t see it as math and science but as something they can learn through
play. You can explain to them why a tug of war is uneven, if one rope is
attached to a hinged lever 6 feet from the pivot point while the other
rope is attached at 3 feet from the pivot on the other side. They are
learning mechanical advantage while falling down and laughing.

Are you interested in finding where your members are located? At the MD
community you can download a Word file (posted by Ed Perkins) with tips
on how to do this with data mining from SAMIEEE and the Microsoft
Streets and Trips software to depict your section’s geographic
distribution – shown by John Wright in 2004 and by Bill Ratcliff and Ed
Perkins at the 2005 Sections Congress. To see such a distribution, go to
the Northwest Florida website, https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r3/nwflorida/
This section has two centers of population about an hour’s drive apart.
It uses webcast technology to broadcast meetings held in one area so
that members in other locations can access them.
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r3/nwflorida/NWF_IEEE_Dist_small.gif

Finally, thanks to the North Carolina Council and Eastern NC section for
co-sponsoring a career workshop November 11 in Durham, “Career Survival
for Engineers and Scientists in the 21st Century.” Charles Lord
coordinated the arrangements for about 40 attendees. The workshop was
presented by members of the IEEE-USA Career and Workforce Policy
Committee.

As before, I urge you to contact me or other members of Excom for
assistance and resolution of problems you may encounter in carrying out
your volunteer duties. Suggestions on how Region 3 can better support
you are gratefully received.
 
George McClure
g.mcclure at ieee.org
Tel. 407-647-5092