Region 8 Professional Activities

Professional activities include all activities which are of interest to an IEEE member regarding her/his career and can enhance her/his non-technical professional skills. This includes, but is not limited to soft skills trainings, psychological and sociological issues within the business world as well as economics-related topics.

Global contact address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We are open to volunteers who want to join the committee in our efforts, and any ideas and requests for help.

What’s in it for the ordinary member?

The membership in IEEE spans the whole career path for an engineer, from graduation, through the induction into first employment, progressing on to mid-career, and finally to retirement. Clearly, the choice of PA topic and the level of presentation will depend on the audience. We have produced some excellent material on employment issues for young engineers. It has also produced material more appropriate for the mature engineer with managerial responsibilities. Young engineers are anxious to make a good impression in their new company, so that presentational skills and inter-personal skills are two of their priorities. ‘How to manage yourself’ and ‘How to present yourself’ are frequently seen as important challenges by our GOLD members.

A ‘Career Navigator’ , which is a collection of publications and other products dealing with employment issues is available for you. Some are available free of charge. Others are affordable for group usage, such as Section or Branch meeting. There are also opportunities for locally produced materials to be used. For example, experienced engineers in the Section can give presentations on their own career development, and offer advice and mentoring support to young engineers.

Underlying the demand for PA activities is the recognition that for most, if not all, IEEE members their top priority is their job, in all of its various phases. The larger employers often provide in-house training to their engineers, but many companies do not have the resources to do this. IEEE represents a valuable resource, available for its members to use to advance their careers. Given that many members who resign cite ‘a lack of member services’ as the principal reason for not renewing, greater emphasis on professional activities is probably the best way to improve member retention in your Section.

Region 8 Professional Activities Goals

OVERALL GOALS

Increase the understanding and the extent of Professional Activities within Region 8 by providing support and expertise to sections, chapters, societies and student branches within the region.

Add value to IEEE membership by creating a platform for members where they can learn how to improve themselves as individuals as well as experts in their respective fields

SPECIFIC GOALS

1. Continue the current workshops on Project Management and Leadership Skills possibly with more trainers from different regions
2. Add new workshops (Patents, Technology&Business, Communication, Research Project Proposal, Interview skills, Body Language, Presentation Skills, etc. )
3. Extend the availability of workshops through offline webinars and video lecturing on demand provided that the required technical support is granted from IEEE headqurters
4. As a long term plan, PA-SC would like to start Professional Activities Congress Series, possibly jointly organised with an existing conference/congress. The aim of this congress will be to train the individuals who can then serve as trainers within Region8.
5. Increase the number of trainers available to PA activities.
6. Publicise the PA by written material

SUCCESS CRITERIA

1. 20-30 events per year
2. At least 1 event for each of the following target audiences
   • Student
   • GOLD
   • Post-GOLD
   • Senior
3. Each section having a PA representative
4. Formation of a Database with at least 55 trainers preferably from different sections
5. Formation of a Database to keep the workshop organisers' details
6. Quality of the events/talks/activities will be assessed through a questionnaire by Section Chairs/Student Branch Chairs/Section PA rep depending on the type of the event
7. All the section chairs and other individuals who are given roles in the subcommittees of Region8 have a clear idea of the role of Professional Activities Sub-Committee and they know whom to contact for the organisation of such events (will be measured in terms of the number of sections that hold events)