SPC e-Conf Log 9pm 11-07-02 Attendees: Jim Beall, Bob Duggan, Jim Howard, Dan Jackson, Bill Ratcliff, Dick Riddle, Reed Thompson BobD says: Hi, all! I was on the UAB server! BobD says: Our agenda is at http://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/3/spc/agenda02-11-07.txt BobD says: I very much appreciate your hanging around...Wait for me, I'm the leader! BobD says: Tonight, I'd like to review primarily the Strategic Plan and any changes for 2003. But... BobD says: first, does anyone have any additional items to add to the Draft Agenda? BobD says: Hearing none... BobD says: I've received several inputs from Bill Ratcliff, Dan Jackson, and Roy Harris ... BobD says: Bill may be late, and Roy has a conflict. ... BillR whispers to BobD: I'm here. BobD says: The Strategic Plan for 2002+, as you know, is at ... BobD says: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/3/spc/sp2002.html BobD says: The SC'02 recs are at (a long URL) ... http://a957.g.akamai.net/f/957/3680/1h/www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/sc/2002/ recommendations1.pdf BobD says: But some find that just starting with the www.ieee.org works best, leaving out the earlier part... BobD says: So, back to the Strategic Plan. Here are inputs from DanJ tonight... BobD says: I have not had the opportunity to relate all the SC'02 recommendations to the Region 3 plan, but after looking at some I suggest we reference the recommendations by number as we have referenced the IEEE SC, USA MC&P, RAB, EAB, etc. I do have some comments regarding the Region 3 Strategic Plan 2002+. In order to bring it into agreement with the IEEE current practice I propose the following revisions. 1. In "MISSION" last line change "entities" to units. 2. In Section I.A.a. change "entity" to "organizational unit". Add "life &" preceding "retired)". 3. Change "entities" to "organizational units" in the following sections: I.A.Goal:; I.B.Goal:; I.C.a.; III.A.e.; III.B.c.; IV.A.Goal:; V.A.d. 4. Under IV.B. Sections Congress Support, Objectives add "Develop a procedure for handling any expenses charged directly to the IEEE master account, such as hotel lodging. (SC Coordinator, Finance)" This could be incorporated as part of paragraph b. or included as a separate paragraph f. BobD says: Those are good suggestions...Any comments? DanJ says: c BobD says: ga, Dan JimB says: direct charge exp to mstr a/c should have treasurer input DanJ says: I will try to go through both the Plan and the Recommendations to cross reference them before our Nov 22 meeting. DanJ says: c BobD says: OK, Dan. Thanks. ga DanJ says: In response to JimB's comment: I totally agree. BobD says: OK. BobD says: Any item regarding expenses need Treas involvement. BobD says: OK, any other discussions re Dan's inputs? BobD says: Let's look,then at BillR's comments... BobD says: o A couple of suggestions come to mind to guide the SPC in reviewing the current strategic plan and preparing any recommendations for change ... 1) The current strategic direction for Region 3 as stated in the Vision and Mission ... VISION Our vision is to enhance members' careers, promote the profession, and provide innovation and to strengthen the IEEE within Region 3. MISSION The mission of IEEE Region 3 is to maintain, enhance, and support the Sections, Chapters, Student Branches, and individual members in the geographic area assigned to Region 3. As part of this support Region 3 emphasizes the development of the membership through recruitment, retention, elevation, recognition, recovery and career enhancement activities and by the development of effective leaders in all geographic units. This mission is facilitated by and through the Area/Council organizational entities in Region 3. o Is this still the desired direction for Region 3 to follow? o What additional demands are being placed on Region 3 (by IEEE BOD, Members...) o What new opportunities are presented that Region 3 should actively pursue? o If no changes to the direction is desired then move on to the goals and objectives... if changes are needed then how should the Vision and Mission be changed to reflect the Direction of Region 3? 2) Do the Goals, Objectives and associated Projects support the direction of Region 3 as stated or revised? o What should be added to the list of Goals, Objectives and Projects to better support the direction of Region 3? What has been accomplished and now is in on going maintenance mode? 3) Is proper responsibility, accountability and resource established/allocated for each of the Goals, Objectives and Projects? o There are other questions regarding the strategic plan that can and maybe should be asked but these represent my list of the most important. BobD says: So... BillR, would you like to add to the above? BillR says: sure... BillR says: the reason for including these suggestions was to provide a framework for reviewing the current plan in an effort to help us focus on areas that need to be changed... I also believe that the standing committees need to ask similar questions of themselves as an example the Communications Committee has been focusing much of it's attention and time to the support of the organization unit leadership and volunteers... is it time we should more actively pursue getting the individual members involved in e-conferencing?... participating in discussion groups? and the development and support of remote meetings... These are some of the questions being tossed about within the Comm Committee that may impact the startegic plan. BobD says: Thanks, Bill. ... BobD says: I note the SC02 #1 rec has to do with more use of electronic communications, so the pioneering work in Reg3 and in the Comm cmte are on target. ... BobD says: Any other c? DanJ says: c BobD says: ga, DanJ DanJ says: Another question ocurred to me. How does the Region 3 mission fit with what RAB sees as the mission for Regions? BobD says: JimH is on the RAB SPC. Any comments, JimH? JimH says: To my knowledge, we are on track with how RAB views the Regions mission. With that said, we may see changes in what and how the region accomplished its mission in the future, with the budget constraints and other issues coming up. One good example is in the details of how the Region looks at its mission with respect to Chapters. BobD says: I do think our relationship with TAB probably may change in time -- and thus ... with our Chapters. BobD says: Any other comments? DickR says: c BobD says: ga, DickR DickR says: not sure I understand the comment or how the Section's relationship to the Chapter's will change... please explain. BobD says: JimH, care to respond to DickR? JimH says: Without getting to far into what the Future may looks like, some of the proposals for changing the BOD would reduce/change/eliminate the Region Directors as they exist today. This would/could change the way the Chapters reporting structure is established. But this is all in the future, for now, as many of you are aware, we had a Power Engineering Society Chapter Chairs meeting at SEC02. This was done to try to estabish a more solid link between the Region, Sections and Chapters. We have, in our region, Sections that are in conflict with their chapters - this is not a good situation and the chapters are letting the societies know about it. We, the Region, can help resolve this type situation. Given this, the future structure ... for the chapters, as well as the regions, will be discussed and evaluated in the near future as we look at the reports coming from the recent consultants work done at the request of the Societies and the BoD. BobD says: Thanks, JimH. That's interesting, and it obviously can impact RAB and R3 strategic planning down the road. JimH says: c BobD says: ga, JimH JimH says: Correct, but at this point, it is all down the road. The more we can get the Chapters and Sections working together now, the better. BobD says: Thanks. It's now ~9:50. Let's show Roy Harris' comments, also: Region Strategic Plan II B and V B h (See SC02 Recom #3,4,6,24,27&34) Membership Growth, Retention, etc. 1. The loss of corporate support for IEEE membership is a mojor reason for a lack of membership growth in our region. We have not adequately communicated the benefits of IEEE membership to our local businesses and corporations. We need to build on the work that Bill Harrison's committee has done in thils area to help our Sections & Areas to enhance our image with industry at the local level. (I don't have a specific objective here, but our committee needs to develop one). 2. See SC02 Recomm # 2,8,9 & 13 re student memberships & fees. BobD says: That's Roy's comments... BobD says: note the emphasis in SC'02 to corporate involvement needed and also the student fees concerns. Both are key areas for us to be considering. Any comments? BobD says: c BobD says: ga, BobD! BobD says: Bill Harrison and I have had several meetings here in Atlanta ... with Lockheed and the Atlanta Section. Lots of concern re Corporate Relations here, and Bill Harrison is striving to get things underway. ... With the economy now, companies are eager for 100% of their employees' time, so sharing them with IEEE or other societies isn't really attractive unless the companies can see something tangible for them, such as certification, short courses with CEU credits, etc. That's a challenge for IEEE to address. ... BobD says: But... as SC'02 indicated (and Roy Harris), that's a key area of interest and somehow our Strat Plan should try to help. BobD says: c? BobD says: Hearing none... BobD says: I appreciate the above inputs... CharlesL (~c.j.lord@rdu74-169-087.nc.rr.com) has joined the conversation. BobD says: I'll try to massage the Strat Plan for some of the suggested mods and ship it out early next week for comments. BobD says: Hi, CharlesL! Welcome! CharlesL says: (thanks) BobD says: Let's move on to item 4 on the agenda briefly. ... BobD says: Bill Harrison at my request chairs an ad hoc committee to take a look at improved Reg3 efficiency in terms of our procedures and bylaws (no small task). Bill has had 100 balls in the air here, both personal and IEEE-wise, but he hopes to get something moving in early 2003. He hopes to have any recs ready for SPC & ExCom approval by late 2003 -- before his administration takes over. BobD says: Any c? BobD says: OK. Moving on ... BobD says: Item 5 relates to the Mentors. DickR, anything from our mentors? DickR says: No mentor reports have been received so far I'll bug them to get one prior to our Knoxville meeting. BobD says: Thanks, Dick. I'm the mentor for the Corp. Relations cmte, so I've just given mine above. DickR says: 10-4. BobD says: It's now after 10, so I'd like to thank you all for showing up tonight. ... BobD says: I apologize for showing up on the wrong server and thus showing up tardy! (Sigh)! BobD says: We'll of course have our SPC dinner ... at abt 6:30 on 11/22 and the meeting itself ~8-10 on 11/22. JimB says: c BobD says: I'll try to get a revised version of the Strat Plan for more darts and comments early next week. BobD says: Meanwhile...anyone have any final two cents to add? JimB says: c BobD says: ga, JimB JimB says: I think I sent a mentor rpt in to Bob D about the time the committee rpts were due BobD says: Thanks, Jim. I guess it's lodged among my many e-mails. BobD says: Any other c? BobD says: OK, hearing none, I'll again thank you all for coming. Several like Bill Harrison and Roy Harris had conflicts. Have a nice evening! [Meeting was adjourned at 10:10 pm].