Member Engagement and Life Cycle Committee Report to the IEEE Region 3 Executive Committee for the 1/24/2011 meeting _________________________________________________________ Dissolution of Geographic Units By way of the Computer Society President I received a copy of an Oct 1 email to Society Presidents identifying impending action to dissolve inactive units. “Chapters/Affinity Groups that have not reported for a minimum of three consecutive years (2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010 to date), have been on probation and will be dissolved at the November 2010 meeting of the MGA Board.” The Region 3 units at risk were: Section Unit Atlanta C16: Computer Society Chapter Atlanta Consultants Network Atlanta GOLD Atlanta E25: Education Society Chapter Atlanta VT06: Vehicular Technology Society Chapter Charlotte Life Member Chattanooga C16: Computer Society Chapter Central Tennessee PE31/IA34: Joint Power & Energy / Industrial Applications Society Chapter Central Virginia EMB18/SMC28: Joint Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society / Systems, Man, & Cybernetics Society Chapter Virginia Mountain Consultants Network I have not yet learned which of these were actually dissolved by the MGA at the November meeting. Email notifications are sent each year to Section Officers when a sub-unit fails to report the required number of meetings (copies to Directors and Society VPs) by the IEEE MGA support staff. It is imperative that Section Chairs take responsibility to ensure that a complete Officer Report is submitted at the beginning of each year and every time any officer is replaced or their contact information changes. This ensures receipt of important notices. The Chair also needs to ensure that all meetings are reported (technical, administrative, and social meetings of the Section, Sub Section, Chapter, Affinity Group) using the online L31 form in a timely manner (within 20 days of meeting desired). A single meeting can be claimed by multiple units, e.g., a Section and a Chapter, if a reasonable number of the unit’s members are in attendance, however each unit must submit a separate L31 for the meeting. Region 3 had the most units at risk of any Region. Let us not repeat this dubious honor. While on the topic of reporting, please note that L50 Section financial reports for 2010 must be submitted by Feb 11, 2011, in order to qualify for the 10% dues rebate bonus; the deadline for submission is Feb 28, only 2 weeks later – everyone should target getting the 10% bonus which also means that L31 need to have been submitted for the required number of meetings last year. _________________________________________________________ Distressed Columbia Section The Columbia Section has suffered a steady decline in member participation. 2010 meetings had very few non-officer participants. All current officers have declined to continue in any volunteer role in 2011. By way of an E-Notice all members in the Section’s geographic membership area have been invited to a meeting on Feb 7 in an attempt to restart Section activities and member involvement. The response is positive but not overwhelming. Do we have other Sections that are in trouble? If you are aware of such circumstances please contact me so that I can initiate action to assist in revitalization. Also communicate with me about Society Chapters or Student Branches that need assistance. _________________________________________________________ Membership Development January and February are the months when Section Membership Development Chairs (Section Chair when there is no designated MDC) should be proactively contacting those members that have not yet renewed. There are canned SAMIEE queries that can be used to identify members who have not renewed. The best approach is to use a calling tree of volunteers and attempt to make a personal contact by telephone; where volunteer resources preclude this a mass mailing (postal and/or email) with a personalized message from the Section should be sent. Time is short for this effort since at the end of February the Terminator Program will be run and members who have failed to renew will no longer be deemed members, loosing all the benefits of membership. The old marketing truth applies (customer<>member): It is easier to keep a member than to attract new members. _________________________________________________________ My apologies but personal business will prevent me participating in some or all of the 1/24 meeting and then only by phone. Respectfully submitted, John Montague, Chair