Holding Successful Meetings Plus Hamid Vakilzadian West Area

Holding Successful Meetings Plus… Hamid Vakilzadian West Area Chair, Region 4

Acknowledgement The info in this presentation has been gathered from Santa Clara Valley Section, Nebraska Section, and Slides by April Nakamura, IEEE Society Chapter Coordinator, Tracy Hawkins, Section/Chapter Support manager, and Jim Lamb.

Outline • Holding Successful Meetings • Some Best Practices • Distinguished Lecture Program – – Tips on Running Technical Meeting Agenda Meeting Closing Continuing Education • Running Effective Meeting • Section Communication (Promotion of Meetings)

Holding Successful Meetings • Select a subject • What interests your members? Ask! • Do not limit subject matter - related fields may be appropriate and of interest (technical, educational, professional) • Select a format • Seminar, tutorial, conference, lecture?

Holding Successful Meetings Find a good speaker • Distinguished Lecturers Program • Authors of papers with appropriate interesting material • Consult other Chapters or your Society members • Local colleges and universities • Local professional associations • Corporations in your area • Other Adjacent Sections/Chapters

Holding Successful Meetings Logistics: location and schedule • • • Centrally located, conveniently accessible sufficient parking Select a regular schedule for meetings plan ahead for 6 months or a year Post the info on Web, newsletters or emails

Holding Successful Meetings Plan a social dimension • Allow time for socializing • Provide for networking • Refreshments

Holding Successful Meetings • Publicize the meeting • Bulletin boards • Internal mail • Section communications • Email • Newsletters

Some Best Practices • What has worked for other sections may be adaptable for yours: – Establish an Innovation Committee: (Students and emerging technologists) – Mini-symposia across Chapters (cutting edge topics) – Career days/planning – Booths at college days to publicize IEEE (increase awareness at pre-college level).

Some Best Practices • Increase industry involvement – help to keep technologists in industry. • Identify "hot" topics and bring in speakers to address those subjects. • List meetings on the Section or Chapter’s Web site.

Some Best Practices • Offer free admission to lunch/dinner meetings to members who bring completed Senior Membership applications. • Offer free admission to lunch/dinner meetings to members who bring prospective members.

Some Best Practices • Have joint meetings among Chapters in related technologies or with related non. IEEE groups such as national societies. • Leverage local industries’ and universities’ support for membership

Some Best Practices • Match members and non-members at technical conferences. • Encourage more joint Chapter activities, particularly among Chapters with common interests. • Expand (add new people to) Society Distinguished Lecturer list.

Some Best Practices • Encourage formation of Chapters in areas where there are enough Society members but no Chapter • Offer better leadership training for officers == how to stage a meeting • Develop mentoring programs

Distinguished Lecturers Program • What is the Distinguished Lecturer(DL) Program? – A personal visit to a Chapter from a “distinguished” lecturer. – Offered by Societies/Councils. • How do Chapters benefit? – Outstanding technical content at a meeting. – Visit counts towards meeting requirements. – Opportunity to expand the Chapter.

Distinguished Lecturers (cont. ) • 32 Societies Participate – Many allow any IEEE entity to make use of their program. – There are over 500 lecturers currently on the list. – Joint Chapters benefit in particular. • Arrangements should be made directly through the sponsoring Society.

Distinguished Lecturers (cont. ) • Each Sponsoring Society/Council Coordinates its own program. – Maintain a list of Speakers – Program Coordinator – Funding Determined by the Society – Determine which entities are eligible to request a speaker.

Distinguished Lecturers (cont. ) • In general, the Societies do not set restrictions on where or to whom the lecturers may speak. • In general, Societies only pay expenses for a lecturer who is traveling to one of its Chapters. • In general, Societies will do all they can to “share the wealth” of information

Distinguished Lecturers (cont. ) • Reaching out to your Section – Section membership should be invited to DL programs. – Provides an opportunity to explore new areas of technology. – Improve relationship with Section Leadership. – Increase attendance.

DLs without Travel Expense! • Microsoft Office Live Meeting software allows Internet conferencing for a minimal fee ($50, plus phone charges). www. ieee. org/webconf

DLs without Travel Expense! • Service offered to all IEEE employees and volunteers. Technology lets you share information over the Internet incorporating: • • • Power. Point Presentations Live software demos Application Sharing Website Tours Polling • Attendees listen in to the audio portion of the meeting via telephone. • Benefits Efficient | No Geographic Limits | Can Accommodate Large Audiences | Cost-Effective

How do I find out about DLs? www. ieee. org/lecture www. ieee. org/chapters

Alternate IEEE Sources for Lectures • IEEE Educational Activities – http: //www. ieee. org/organizations/eab/icet/presentations. htm

Alternate IEEE Sources for Lectures • IEEE Society Lectures Online

Membership Information • You can access IEEE’s membership database at: www. ieee. org/samieee • Training available via internet conference. • Pre-defined queries are ready for your use!

Tips on Running a Technical Meeting

Have the Speaker - What Next? • Develop an Agenda – Use similar agenda for all meetings – – Change it slightly from time to test • Have equipment needs for speaker – Projector in required format and sound system that works – Laser pointer (borrow additional just in case!)

Have the Speaker - What Next? • Before meeting starts – Give Time for Networking – ~30 min w/snacks pizza – Get acquainted with members – meet Gold members, members attending from companies – door prize (give away CD) • Invite speaker for Social – Excellent networking opportunity

Have the Speaker - What Next? – Make guest speaker feel at home before the meeting – Place agenda, news and chapter info on screen (run the next 5 -XX slides continuously during networking time)

Nebraska Section 2003 Officers H. Vakilzadian: Chair hvakilzadian@ieee. org J. Haskins: Vice Chair haskins@ieee. org H. Sharif: Sec. & Treas. hsharif@ieee. org S. Asgarpoor: Power Eng. Soc. Chair H. Sharif: Computer Soc. Chair P. Carpenter: Communication Soc. Chair

Nebraska Section 5: 30 – 6: 00 PM Social/Networking Invite your colleagues to join – get credit for your dues, society fees, IEEE products and chance to win free membership – See ieee. org/organizations/rab/md/mgm. html Project Management Workshop by: Dr. T. Lahdhiri Sep. 8, 8: 30 AM-5: 30 PM

Nebraska Section WIE (Women in Engineering) When: Thursday, Dec. 5 th, 2003, 7: 00 pm Where: University of Nebraska, 129 N WSEC What: xxx will speak on issues affecting women in employment opportunities, how to take charge of their careers and improve your chance of success XXX retired from HP. She played a significant role in HP’s development. Among her many achievements, she is an SWE Fellow, received the IEEE Centennial Medal, was inducted into the Silicon valley Engineering Hall of Fame. All women engineers are invited! Bring your questions too! Please RSVP to xxx@IEEE. org if you want to come!

Nebraska Section New Board Members and Volunteers for 2004 Chair: Vice Chair: Treasurer/Sec. : Power Eng. Soc. Chair: Comp. Soc. Chair: Comm. Soc. Chair: Web Master & Newsletter: Student Activity Chair: Gold Chair: J. Haskins H. Sharif G. Hiens J. Nagyen D. Du. Luna P. Carpeneter D. Deluna L. Perez J. Smith *** Nominations or volunteers? ***

Meeting Agenda • 7: 00 Intro. Of New Board Members for 2004 • 7: 10 Quick business report • Qualified to Become IEEE Senior Grade? Start filling out the paper work – we will help line up your 3 references – For application Form, see: ieee. org/organizations/rab/md/smprogram. html and click on ‘SM application/Nomination Form

Announcements Joint IEEE/NSPE breakfast meeting: Dec 8, 2003 • Speaker: XXXX Jan. Meeting (1/29/2004) • Time: 5: 30 – 8: 30 • Place: XXX Dr. XXX, Director of Analog/RF Design, AERO Corporations, will speak on “CMOS Power Amplifiers: Nonlinear, Linear and Linearized”

Bolts and Nuts of Meeting Agenda Details Keep business part of meeting quick – 10 minutes total – Sign in - reminder of importance – try to add contact info, tel. #, e-mail address, member #, (future leaders contacts) – Introductions - members name and affiliation – Announcements, coming meetings and activities – involve members (watch the time constraint)

Bolts and Nuts of Meeting Agenda Details • Speaker intro – short, try to encapsulate bio • Speaker presentation 50 - 60 minutes • Questions and Answers after presentation 5 minutes –additional after mtg)

Meeting Closing • Thank speaker & give gift • You may give a plaque on heavy IEEE paper w/gold embossment and plastic frame.

Meeting Closing • URLs – Additional information and ideas http: //ewh. ieee. org/soc/cpmt/chapters/planme et. html Planning Successful Chapter Meetings; from CMPT

Professional Development Hour • Professional Engineers need to take 30 Credit Hours for license renewal – Find the requirements for your state – Provide PDH hour(s) for the technical meetings/tours – Arrange meetings and workshops to provide at least 30 PDH for your section members. – Take advantage of the programs in your neighboring sections – Publicize PDH in your announcements – Provide Certificates for the attending members.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Nebraska Section Presents this certificate of Achievement to John Doe for participation in a day-long Project Management Workshop Seven (7) Professional Development Hours (PDH) Actual hours of learning in an engineering topic Held in Omaha, Nebraska September 4, 2003 ____________________ Hamid Vakilzadian, Chair of the IEEE Nebraska Section

Professional Development Hour • For auditing purpose: – Keep a brief record of the meeting, a copy of the certificate, name of the speaker, topic of the speech, and the list of the attendees

Running Effective Meetings

Outline • • Why are we having a meeting? Who does control agenda? Who should attend? What is the expected outcome? How many chapter’s chair are present? How meetings get derailed Managing a disturbance.

Why are we having a meeting? • What is the purpose of meeting? – Business – Technical – Social • Is the meeting defined by a chapter? • Who should attend the meeting?

Who Controls the Agenda • Why have an agenda? What goes first? • Need to establish time budget. Send with the meeting agenda. • What material is needed to prepare for attendees of the meeting. • Agenda is the responsibility of meeting chair delegated to the secretary.

Who Should Attend the Meeting? • The more people you invite, the more input you will get, the longer it will take. • If guest are invited, do they know their role. • If discussions are going to be held, who has the information? , who is affected? • Should business and technical meetings be combined?

What Is The Expected Outcome? • • Are decisions expected to be made? How meeting should be documented? How are the results measured? How objectives will be made?

How Meetings Get Derailed? • • No agenda Do not follow time schedule Cannot arrive at common solution Discussion is uncontrolled, Roberts Rules. War stories get started Poor definition of the objectives Participants not prepared

Managing A Disturbance • Deflect the discussion to after the meeting • If the conversation is not relevant, it should be cut off • Guest input should be kept for minimum • Delay the discussion to later

Summary • • • State the purpose and mission of the meeting Make sure there is an agenda Stick to the agenda and finish on time. Need to cutoff unnecessary discussions Try to conclude with the expected outcome

Section Communications?

Newsletter Editors’ Page • • • All-Electronic Newsletters “Filler” articles Best practices SC 2002 Presentations on newsletters Links to Section newsletters for ideas http: //www. ieee. org/newsletters

“All-Electronic” Newsletters • Mostly electronic is better • One snail mailing to members each year (required!) • Four Steps – Electronic mailing list – Prepare the membership – Format the newsletter – Start the transition

e. Notice Service • Available to Sections – Subunits should be included in Section communications • List maintained by IEEE HQ Staff – Updated directly from IEEE database – Unsubscribes & bounces handled by staff • Section sends message to Staff for distribution • Register at http: //www. ieee. org/enotice

“Filler Articles” • • • IEEE web accounts Update member records online IEEE Email aliases Senior Member elevation process IEEE Online Store IEEE Global Travel Services

Other Newsletter Info • Best Practices from Sections who have gone to an electronic format • Sections Congress 2002 presentations on newsletters from – Jean Eason, Fort Worth Section – Eric Holdrinet, Montreal Section

Electronic Services for Volunteers

Electronic Services Available • SAMIEEE • Rosters • Entity Web Hosting • Virtual Communities • E-Mail Lists • Email Aliases http: //www. ieee. org/organizations/vols/ Click on “Electronic Web Services”

SAMIEEE • Section Access to Member Information • “NEW” SAMIEEE – – Web-based Updated weekly Includes member AND volunteer office info Available to Section Chair, Vice Chair, Sec & Treasurer, & all Affinity Group & Chapter Chairs • Use is restricted to IEEE activity • Conference mailing list requests – http: //www. spectrum. ieee. org/ieeemedia/mail. html

How Can SAMIEEE Help? • Generate labels for newsletters & mailings, or a file for a mailing house • Populate and maintain email distribution lists • Identify potential Senior members or Senior member references • Contact GOLD Members • Extract Chapter & Affinity Group data

Geographic Roster • http: //www. ieee. org/roster • Must have an IEEE web account and must be listed in the Roster in order to have access • Updated every two weeks • Includes all Region, Section, and Council officers as reported to IEEE Staff • Updates? officer-data@ieee. org • Data extracted directly from IEEE member database

Entity Web Hosting (EWH) • Host your unit’s web site on the IEEE server free of charge • Space allowed per unit – 60 MB/Section – 30 MB/Chapter • Re-directs available – http: //ewh. ieee. org/r 1/princetoncentraljersey becomes – http: //www. ieee. org/princeton • Templates available for use http: //ewh. ieee. org/

Does your web site have the “Top Ten”? • The IEEE Master Brand • Section Officers and an email address • The history of the Section • Calendar of events (Current? ) • Section newsletter (pdf or html format) • List of Chapters and contact information • List of Student Branches with contact information • Pages for Affinity Groups if applicable • Pages for awards/educational activities/professional activities • FAQ's

IEEE Virtual Communities • Tool for online collaboration • Section/Chapter Volunteer Forum – Collaborate without Spam – Increase volunteer participation – Gather information/opinions on specific topics (financial reporting) – Best practices • http: //www. ieeecommunities. org

Majordomo? Major who? • Email distribution lists • Established and hosted through IEEE Operations Center • Maintained by the local unit • Listserv to become available early 2004

SPAM, SPAM • Email lists – Restrict who can “post” to the list – Limit the number of messages sent per month • Email addresses – “Harvesting” • Web sites – Consider generic email address • Privacy Policy • abuse@ieee. org

IEEE Email Aliases • One email address. . . no matter how many times you change jobs or ISPs! • Virus-checking on all attachments – Attachment deleted if virus detected – Notification sent to recipient & sender http: //eleccomm. ieee. org/personal-aliases. shtml

Functional Alias • Each Section has a functional alias – sec. dayton@ieee. org – sec. ottawa@ieee. org – sec. slovenia@ieee. org • Updated annually when officer reporting received • Section email address is constant • Other aliases can be established – http: //www. ieee. org/organizations/rab/functionalalias. html

QUESTIONS? ? ?