This editorial was featured in the April 1, 2026 edition of The Reflector.
Once you start volunteering at the Section level and realizing how many amazing opportunities there are to create and support impactful programs and events in your section, it is easy to forget that there are resources OUTSIDE the section that you can use!
One of my first roles on the Boston Section ExCom was the Liaison to Engineers Week. I ensured that IEEE Boston was involved in the “Engineers Week New England” event that took place in Boston every year. I worked for months with other organizations outside IEEE planning this event where my specific role was the “Career Fair”. I recruited companies to have a table and advertise internships/jobs they had open. I spent many hours trying to find the best way to locate company contacts, come up with the right sponsorship levels, advertise the event to people, and the on-site logistical details. At that time, if I ONLY knew that I could be using IEEE OU Analytics to find companies where our members worked. I could also have leaned on my Region Area Chair to see if any of the sections in my area wanted to participate or to see if they had experience on such events. I wish I knew that we had things like the Distinguished Lecturers Panel where I could find qualified, vetted speakers for our event. And fast forward to NOW, there are even MORE resources available!!! I thought I would highlight a few of them…..
Regions are there to support Sections in many ways including the use of IEEE’s official infrastructure, which includes:
vTools (Meetings, eNotice, reporting) for —
• Creating Events
• Advertising events to members
• Reporting event attendance/results
IEEE Collabratec:
• Promote upcoming events
• Share leadership info and resources
Web hosting / registration / mobile apps via IEEE conference & event services Social Media Access:
IEEE is on Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, you name it! Keep in mind that there are training modules on https://ieee.org and many Regions provide training on these tools during yearly meetings.
Each Region typically has committees dedicated to helping Sections succeed, such as:
• Membership Development / YP / WIE coordinators
• Technical, Educational, and Industry Engagement coordinators
These can provide:
• Mentorship for event planning
• Help connecting speakers or partners
• Guidance on revitalizing inactive Sections
• Cross-section collaboration opportunities
Regions also create ecosystems, not just tools. This can be useful for:
• Regional conferences and flagship events
• Cross-section collaboration (joint events)
• Access to speakers, industry, and academia
All of this is key for:
• Scaling events beyond a single Section
• Sharing costs and audiences
• Knowing what has worked/not worked in the past
And there are many, many more. The point here is that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel AND we can share our experiences with others and ask questions. IEEE is a community, not just a large number of individual sections operating on their own. Please consider using some of these resources next time you take on a project! And who knows, you may end up taking on a Region level role at some point in the future! Hope to see you at an event soon!
Denise Griffin is a Senior Member of IEEE, an HKN (Eta Kappa Nu) member, and a Past Boston Section Chair. She was President of the Tufts University IEEE Chapter during college. In IEEE Region 1, she is a Past Women in Engineering Coordinator and currently is the Area Chair for the Northeastern Area. She serves on the Board of IEEE-HKN (Eta Kappa Nu) as Governor for Regions 1 and 2. Denise is passionate
about Awards & Recognition and is a member of the IEEE-USA and MGA Awards & Recognitions Committees and will serve as MGA Awards Chair in 2026. Denise is a long-time member of the Steering/Organizing Committees for the IEEE WIE Forum, mainly focused on sponsorship, and was the General Conference Chair in 2016. She strongly values industry sponsorship and was also the Sponsorship Chair for
the 2018 IEEE-USA Future Leaders Forum, the 2025 WIE International Leadership Forum and Rising Stars conference (since 2024). Denise has twice received the Region 1 “Enhancing IEEE and Industry Relationship” award and has also received the IEEE-USA Regional Professional Leadership Award. She has a BSEE from Tufts University
where she still volunteers extensively as a speaker, reunion event planner, alumni community event planner, fundraiser, and admissions interviewer. She is also a long-time member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), serving most notably on the Awards Committee and as Past Boston President, and still speaks on behalf of SWE at high schools. Denise is on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisemgriffin/
