Region 3 Communications Committee Report Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to reflect on the progress we have made with electronic communications within the Region. "We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness on sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size." -- Bernard of Chartres (wikipedia) As we approach SoutheastCon 2007, I realize that our accomplishments would not have been possible when I first attended Virginia Council meetings as the 1992 Section Chair. We maintained telephone chains to call the meetings. Who had answering machines in those days? Electric typewriters and photocopy machines or carbon paper turned out minutes that were distributed at the next meeting because we were too cheap to buy 29 cent stamps. Zoom forward to 2007. Using many of the advances in communications, we are hosting SoutheastCon with a distributed committee from every corner of the state. While we have contributed our share of hydro-carbons commuting to Richmond for our planning committee meetings, teleconferencing, email, and on-line communities have made this event successful and profitable. Minutes are posted the same day and we asynchronously communicate on any number of issues between meetings. We sold out the hotel before we were able to get our hard copy newsletter delivered to the members. This was done with an almost zero budget for advertising, although if we had to pay even minimum wage for the efforts that went into our webpage maintenance, e-notice preparation, and on-line calendar submission, we would have gone broke by now. The SoutheastCon 2007 has left a record of our deliberations and decisions on the Region 3 Online Forum. Our planning committee minutes, budgets, and advertising materials have been posted in a attempt to establish a knowledge management repository. These accomplishments truly rest of the shoulders of giants. Region 3 communications has lead the Institute in introducing new technologies. I hope that the advancements over the next fifteen years will be just as amazing. We do not plan to stop any time soon. All Region 3 members are invited to participate. We meet electronically on a regular basis to work on the communications related challenges. Also, for the groups tackling the Region 3 initiatives, please let me know how our committee can help your initiative. Check https://tinyurl.com/dxaha for a complete list of what we are doing and when we are meeting. Let any of our members know if you are interested in being on our r3comm mailing list. Section chairs, feel free to pass this to your communications committee, publicity committee, newsletter editors, and webmasters or any other volunteers that might be interested. For those of you that are just joining our Region 3 Committee ranks, I encourage you to monitor our Region 3 Blog at https://ieeer3.blogspot.com for important volunteer information. You are also cordially invited to join the Region 3 On-Line Forum https://www.ieeecommunities.org/region3 . All volunteers should also consider joining the Section and Chapter Volunteer Forum at https://www.ieeecommunities.org/section-chapter_vol which is not limited to Region 3. I want to thank Quang Tang, who recently retired as newsletter editor, for his service. I would like also to extend my thanks to our terrific committee Mentor - Dick Riddle(r.riddle @ ieee.org) Archive and Knowledgebase - Charles Lord (c.j.lord @ ieee.org) Electronic Communications Systems Coordinator - David Green (d.green @ ieee.org) E-Conferencing - Bill Ratcliff (w.ratcliff @ ieee.org) Newsletter Editor - Bill LaBelle (w.labelle @ ieee.org) Public Information - David L. Bower (d.bower @ ieee.org) Webmaster - Eric S. Ackerman (e.ackerman @ ieee.org) Their dedication, creativity, and sense of humor make me look forward to our meetings and events. Respectfully Submitted, Bill Clayton w.clayton @ ieee.org Communications Chair