January 2015 Editorial

Welcome to a New Year for the Boston Section. I feel a great sense of being honored by my peers for selecting me to chair the Section. We are the best section in IEEE and I promise to do all I can to help us maintain that position in our own and others view.

Phew…! That’s out of the way, now it’s time to roll up my (our) sleeves and figure out how to do that. We have done well. We certainly face some challenges. We’ll have to acknowledge them and come up with some scheme to deal with them, overcome them and set the stage for the next few years of success. Hmmm, … that’s not going to be easy, but I believe we can do it. Let’s see what we have.

First of all our section has a fantastic history of volunteer and member participation, infrastructure and achievement. We can build on this.

If I had to pick a single one of those I’d pick the volunteers. They are the key to getting everything done. I’ve seen 35 years of volunteers come and go. Some of them are still here and continue to serve; some have gone on to other activities leaving behind some special thing that made us better. Let’s keep it up.
What about our section members who have not volunteered? Well, they contributed by attending events and encouraging their friends and associates to participate. We are going to need a lot more.

Infrastructure…? Well we’ve begun to economize here and there. I remember when we had the whole second floor of a house in Brookline for our office, but that was when we laid the out Reflector on the floor to assemble it for the printer. Technologies have allowed us to use our space more efficiently. We can do even more with less in many areas.

Our ExCom operates better with electronic distribution of documents teleconferences, and social media. Subcommittees can interact easier. Member communication opportunities are more available. Feedback is easier to get and we can react faster to new trends. That’s good.
A Section Business Manager has been a fixture, like forever. We couldn’t do half of what we do without one. Our current manager Bob Alongi, r.alongi@ieee.org, in case you don’t know, works tirelessly to support the often contradictory requests he gets daily while managing our finances and logistics. Keep it up Bob; I’ll call you tomorrow and probably once a day, or more, thereafter.

Our achievements speak for themselves. Best Large section in 2012. Hundreds of awards given to members and others, 5-20 special interest and chapter meetings per month, 20-40 courses to improve our members skills and professional standing, 3-5 conferences organized each year with hundreds of authors given an opportunity to publish, 25 technical society chapters, pioneering Women in Engineering, entrepreneurs and consultant affinity groups. We must keep it up.

Yet we do have some challenges and can’t rest on our laurels. There are a number of external factors which we do not control that are affecting us. Many are having a negative effect.
First of all, our financial position is not as secure as it used to be. Make no mistake, it costs us money to do what we do and IEEE doesn’t just give it to us. We have to earn it ourselves. Not-for-Profit does not mean free. Our major sources of revenue are educational programs and conferences. Neither is performing as well as they used to and need some revitalization.
Our Professional Education and Development Committee (AKA Lecture Series Committee) is trying to rebuild our continuing education program, but they need a lot of help. Chapters know what their members need better than anyone else. We need more participation from Chapter Chairs and other specialists on what’s hot. Here is what you can do. Help us out with some topics and speakers who will attract attendees. Bob, (remember him?) will work out the logistics, but the ideas have to come from you.

Our Local Conferences Committee is always looking for new events that will attract speakers, attendees and contribute to the advancement of technology related interests. We have recently gained a few new ones, but we could use more. Bob (again, remember him?) is a super conference manager and knows where all the area good deals on venues are. He is happy to work with any special interest group, chapter, society or local team to develop a new conference. So propose one. Just remember it has to make economic sense and have a team that can lead the technical direction of the event.

The demographics and needs of our volunteers, members and potential members are beginning to change at a pretty rapid rate. We need to figure out how to reach out to them to recruit them into the section. We need volunteers who understand the new realities and are willing to spend some quality time in support of our section goals. We need to understand what our new generation of member wants from IEEE. Even IEEE, Inc. struggles with this. Surprisingly less than 30% of people who are eligible to be IEEE members join us. We need to improve this number. If you have a good idea on how to reach out to them, we’d like to hear it. Even more importantly, if you know an engineer who is not a member, introduce them to IEEE. I’m going to try to resurrect the Member-Get-A Member Program. It has worked in other places with good results. It can work here.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. We are building on a great past. The future can be bright, but we need to work at it to make it happen. Come on, commit to help, wade in, do some good. It can’t hurt and might even lead to some very, very good contacts and experiences. It has for me. Let’s make 2015 the best year ever. Call Bob at 781 245 5405, or visit www.ieeebost.org and use the online form at: https://ieeeboston.org/become-a-volunteer/