The Orange County IEEE Consultants' Network

Archive  January 1998 Special September 1997 issue Earlier issues

CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE

EDITOR'S NOTES

HIGH GROWTH CONCEPT SUPPORT FORUM

INTERNET WORKING GROUP

ANNUAL HIGH-TECH SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

1998 NATIONAL ENGINEERS' WEEK ACTIVITIES

CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE

Well, we are off to a fast start:

1. The Web page is updated with the new officers and a Members-Only Section is set up and ready for use. News is going to both the newsletter editor and Web Master is compatible formats so that you can see the hot stuff before the newsletter is printed and released. Watch the web page more frequently for changes now.

2. The results of the January Planning Session have been captured by a Virus infecting our Secretary, I mean his computer. We had lots of discussion, if you weren't there, and made some lists of interests to work on.

3. We are drawing closer to the LAACN through the Joint Effort to develop a program at the Power Engineering Society meeting in Downey on 28 February, announced in the calendar section of this newsletter. Ernest Fierheller is coordinating this activity. We are also talking about a lead sharing methodology to be developed between John McCrickerd and Curtis Barrett, the lead contacts for each group.

4. There is a new working Group being organized for "Supporting High Growth Concepts" led by John McCrickerd.

5. Steve Maher will be returning to the Internet Group in March after being consumed by his business needs (it's the kind of problem we all like to have). For Feb 21, we will have samples of web pages to review, so bring your draft copy and ideas and we will be ready to load them up when Steve returns in March.

6. Michal Peri is doing our planning for the September WESCON. In spite of the politics between Orange County and LA County, she is carefully assessing the arrangements offered by WESCON (here in Anaheim this year) to see if we can mutually benefit from this event. You will hear more from her later.

7. Last year's draft strategic Plan is being dusted off and used as the basis for constructing a set of by-laws. Be sure and join up with the activity you feel most passionate about and lend a hand.

-- Ralph Hileman, Chair

EDITOR'S NOTES

    This issue is largely focused on Engineers' Week, which is entirely proper, I think. We have every right to celebrate our continuing accomplishments as individuals and as a group.

    This issue has more information on meetings besides our own. This is due to the cooperation we've received from many other groups. Of course, there are likely many other meetings we consultants should be attending. The editorial staff is dependent upon you all to get the information for us. I, for one, would like to see more variety in our listings. How about some more meetings where we can network with clients?

    In January, I mentioned (without noting the authors) three contributed editorial comments. For your information, they were submitted by Mike Bryant, Andy Cutler and Mike Morehouse. If you were with us at the afternoon planning session on January 17^th, you could have picked up hard copies of all three. For now, the texts are in the "Members Only" section of the Web Page. What really counts is the fact that all three are being used in planning by the Board and by other key volunteers. All of us should be grateful that these three members took the time to contribute their viewpoints and suggestions. Take the time to study their comments, and help us respond with positive action.

    I invite your comments (e-mail preferred) on the calendar format we are using. In some cases we get far more information than we can put into the Independent. We will be making a serious effort to pass the full information onto the OCCN Web page. That will be done without delaying the hectic newsletter production schedule, of course. This approach will permit OCCN to share schedule information for meetings that happen too close to our mail delivery date. It would be very helpful if one or more of you would volunteer to be a continuing schedule "guru" to keep track of a wider variety of meetings and events. How about you?

Ron Taggart, Editor

HIGH GROWTH CONCEPT SUPPORT FORUM SAT., FEB. 28, 9:30 AM-NOON

    This new group is for OCCN members only. We focus on specific high-growth business concepts that any member is trying to develop. The meeting is divided into segments according to how many of us wish to make a presentation. A presenter will describes some problem area they need to resolve to start their business. Impromptu presentations are acceptable.

    To protect intellectual property, we all will sign non-disclosure agreements.

--John McCrickerd, Chair

INTERNET WORKING GROUP SAT., FEB. 28, 9:30 AM-NOON

    This will be a working session to enhance the current OCCN Web Page. Bring your draft inputs for business descriptions/resumes, member only access, and members only resources, etc.

    Come and help enhance the OCCN Web Page to make it more useful to the members and clients.

-- Ralph Hileman, OCCN Chair

ANNUAL HIGH-TECH SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE Sponsored by JPL, NASA and The SBA TUES/WED, MARCH 3-4, 1998

    JPL, NASA and the SBA are sponsoring the 10^th Annual High-Tech Small Business Development Conference March 3-4 in the City of Industry. Registration is $90 by February 4^th and the hotel is $85 per night, single or double (by February 13^th).

    For information, contact Martin Ramirez, the conference coordinator - martin.m.ramirez@jpl.nasa.gov or (818) 354-4894. Also see: https://acquisition.jpl.nasa.gov/boo/hight98.htm.

-- George Huling; g.huling @ieee.org

1998 NATIONAL ENGINEERS' WEEK ACTIVITIES

OCCN Members to be Honored

    This year National Engineers' Week is celebrated from February 22 to February 28. It is always celebrated during the week of President George Washington's Birthday, our Nation's first engineer! Events are scheduled across the country to recognize and honor engineers, engineering educators, engineering projects and accomplishments. The National Theme for this year, as in past years, is "Engineers: Turning Ideas Into Reality!"

    Engineers are encouraged to visit local schools as part of the Discover "E" Engineers Week Program. It is an outreach of Engineers into the school communities in the K-12 grades. Engineers visit schools and interact with the students to encourage interests in math and science education and to highlight, explain or demonstrate scientific principles. Why don't you make a school visit this year?

    A number of local activities are organized in the greater Los Angeles area to honor engineering and engineers. A few of these are listed below. Try to get involved somewhere!

    The kick-off event for Engineers' Week 1998 will be held on Saturday evening, February 21, 1998. The Institute for the Advancement of Engineering (IAE) will hold their Honors and Awards Banquet combined with the IAE College of Fellows Installation Ceremony. The banquet will be held on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The event starts at 4:30 pm with an optional Tour of the Queen Mary. Tickets at $45 per person are available through the IAE Executive Director, Gary Sumner at 714-832-1113 or by FAX at 714-669-9941. Other IAE Awards to be presented that evening are "Leadership in Engineering", "Outstanding Student Leadership", "Media Award" and "Outstanding New Engineer".

    Ron Taggart, past OCCN Secretary and our new Newsletter Editor, and Mike Bryant, past OCCN Newsletter Editor, will installed as new IAE Fellows during this evening, as will Kip Haggerty, the LAACN Chair. Why don't you plan to attend to help welcome these consultants as a new IAE Fellows?

    At the same IAE event, the Los Angeles Council of Engineers and Scientists (LACES) will present their prestigious "George Award" to the LACES Engineer of the Year.

    On the following Saturday, February 28, the Orange County Engineering Council (OCEC) will hold its Engineers' Week Honors and Awards Banquet at the Hyatt Regency Alicante in Anaheim. Reception starts at 6:00 pm. Among the Awards presented, Ed Carl, past Chair of OCCN, will receive the OCEC President's Award. The OCEC banquet keynote speaker will be George Stegemier, CEO Emeritus of UNOCAL, who will be honored with a special OCEC Award. Tickets are $45 per person available from the OCEC Treasurer, Ray Hesser, OCEC, P. O. Box 1156, Costa Mesa, CA 92628, Phone: 714-962-0091.

    Also during the day of February 28 from 7:45 am to 4:00 pm, the IEEE Los Angeles Power Engineering Society (LAPES) will hold a Technical Conference on "Distributed Generation and Green Power". This conference will have a session on engineering consulting jointly organized by the LAACN and the OCCN. This conference will beheld at the Gas Company Energy Resource Center in Downey California. Tickets are $12 for IEEE members, $15 for non-members before Feb. 18th, and $17 and $20 respectively after that date. Tickets are available by from Roxana at 626-744-3715 or Larry Dalton at 213-367-0802.

    Another February 28 evening event is the San Fernando Valley Honor and Awards Gala Banquet at the Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Hills. The IEEE LA PES has acquired a block of tickets for this event. Tickets are $45 and they are available through Larry Dalton at the above number.

    Many other activities take place during the celebrations of Engineers' Week that are organized by professional societies, organizations and companies.

    Plan to attend some these events and celebrate your engineering achievements along with those of your peers.

-- Harry L. Staubs

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