IEEE student branches provide a unique opportunity for engineering students to develop organizational skills and access information that will become invaluable in their professional lives. You develop a financial plan to be able to cover your speakers' expenses and those for the room(s) to hold your event, publicity, speaker gifts, etc. Many IEEE related speakers can arrange for someone else to cover their expenses. Another IEEE connection is the GOLD program for young professionals - if you have a GOLD Chapter in your local IEEE Section, they may be able to provide you with ideas and contacts.

• Student Professional Awareness Conferences The IEEE USA S-PAC link on the left is a great resource to use when you decide to run one of these conferences - the key topics are; career growth, working, professional ethics and social responsibility, self-management, engineers and public policy, and the role of the professional society. These are topics which augment the technical skills one learns at university or college. Your Branch Counselor and local IEEE Section chair are usually able to offer practical advice and assistance - funds to partially offset expenses are sometimes available if you prepare ahead of time and develop a sound financial plan. It is also a good idea to discuss your event with both your department chair and your faculty dean as this type of conference is relevent to all engineering students. By broadening your audience, you tend to increase attendance and can make a sizeable surplus for your student branch.

• Student Technical Conferences This is an opportunity to bring local (and not so local) engineers from industry to discuss practical as well as thoretical aspects of technology. Find out which technical chapters are operating in your local IEEE Section and see if you can arrange a co-sponsored event. IEEE Chapters are links to their related IEEE Technical Societies, many of which have "distinguished speaker" programs that cover the speaker's travel expenses. You can use this connection to reduce your costs and get really great speakers by utilizing the financial help available to chapters.