Best Practices
for Membership
Development
2005 MD Retreat
29 April – 1 May 2005
New Brunswick, NJ
Region 6
Presented by:
Ed Perkins,
MDC Co-Chair
(ed.perkins@verizon.net)
Parsing Membership Data with Perl
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Extract “white file” data from
SAMIEEE.
Use Perl script to parse fields and
select subset of members
(e.g., Chapters, SM, Associates)
Can use emails for meeting
notification, newsletter etc.
How To Map Your Membership
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Extract the SAMIEEE database of the group you
would like to map from the SAMIEEE Website.
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At a minimum you will need First Name, Last Name,
Preferred Address 1, Preferred Address 2, Preferred Address
3, Preferred Address City, Preferred Address State,
Preferred Address Postal Code fields. The Business
Address fields and Society Membership Flags should also
be extracted for enhanced functionality.
Import the desired SAMIEEE database into an
Excel spreadsheet.
Remove the word “Pref” from the address
headers and the word “Address” from the Email
column headers, then save.
How to Map Your Membership, cont.
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In Microsoft Streets and Trips, use the “Import
Data Wizard”.
The Import Data Wizard will ask you to match the
appropriate headings to the fields in Streets and
Trips.
Microsoft Streets and Trips will now place
pushpins on the location of all addresses it can
resolve.
You will now visually see the locations of your
members.
This process developed by John Wright, R6 SAC
Example: Oregon Section
Antennas and Propagation Society
Presented by:
Shanker Balasubramanian,
Membership Co-Chair
(bshanker@msu.edu)
Antennas and Propagation Society
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Programs that have worked for us:
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MFSP
Free society membership at annual IEEE APS Symposium
Sample publications and magazines at the Symposium
Presence at other IEEE (APS) sponsored meetings—sample
publications & society memberships
Sponsoring IEEE senior members!
 This was when IEEE was offering rebates for additional senior
members
 Also, higher grade members are likely to retain their
membership in our society
We are looking to develop programs with added value, kindle
more industrial interest and participation and broader
outreach
Circuits and Systems Society
Presented by:
Ellen J. Yoffa,
President-Elect CAS
(yoffa@us.ibm.com)
Proposal for Establishing a
CAS Mentoring Program
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Encourage each IEEE Fellow to sign up to mentor 2-3
young members
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Say, each for a period of 2 years
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To provide input/advice to their career development.
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It can be done in person, over the phone, or through email.
Benefits – rather obvious
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Valuable to young members for career planning, getting
recommendation letters, etc
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Will be one more reason for young members to join CAS

Help to build a community
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Help to facilitate networking

…
Thoughts on Implementation
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Email to all CAS fellows to see how many of them are interested to
participate in the program
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Can impose as a requirement for future fellows, i.e. they need to
agree in advance before becoming fellow
Set up a Website where young members (say 6 years from BS or 4
years from PhD) can request for mentors
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Cost estimate for Website support $5k
A priority is assigned to each applicant based on:
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Time in the waiting list (should try to satisfy as many requests as
possible)
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Regions – give priority to people in China, India, etc. (regions
where we want to reach out …)
Get feedback from everyone who has gone through the mentor
program and see what we need to adjust/improve
Set up a Best Mentor Award ($1K?), and give out one each year
Low Budget CAS Tour
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Invite several distinguished speakers from nearby
countries (or Regions) to give a symposium of lectures in a
location where there are some active members
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Stimulate interest and membership in host location
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Travel expenses paid by CAS Regional VPs
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Local expenses paid by host chapter
“Low budget” version based on earlier successful Region 9
CAS Tour
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Group of speakers traveled together around the Region
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Resulted in the formation of 2 new chapters
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Underway in Region 9
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If no local chapter, could set up local DLP to tour area
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What was impact on membership? Can we expect further
results?
Budget estimate $3k (will vary by Region)
Region 8
Presented by:
Aleksandar Szabo,
MD Chair
(a.szabo@ieee.org)
Best Practices on the Regional Level
MD on R8 Technical Conferences
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Have a PP Presentation running on one or
more monitors all the time during the
conference
Have an Information Desk with Web access
to IEEE Websites and printed promotional
material and giveaways
Best Practices on the Section Level
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Technical conferences – same as on the Regional
level
Technical meetings and workshops - have an
Information Desk with Web access to IEEE Websites
and printed promotional material and giveaways
Presentations at Universities and in Companies
with distribution of promotional material
Personal contacts – very important!
Consumer Electronics Society
Presented by:
George Hanover,
Member Services
(georgehanover@att.net)
CES: Best Practices
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Corporate package
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Chapter Member Service Rep
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Companies who pledge to sponsor CE Soc
membership for employees get special recognition
Identify member service rep in each chapter.
Supply recruiting material to them.
Bring in periodicals
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Vision now part of CE Soc benefits.
Dielectrics & Electrical Insulation
Society
Presented by:
J. Keith Nelson,
Membership Committee Chair
(k.nelson@ieee.org)
DEIS: Best Practices Used
Use of reader reply cards
included in Society
Magazine for recruiting
new members
DEIS: Best Practices Used
DEI
Transactions
EI Magazine
Membership Chair writes personal
letters to those publishing in DEIS
publications who are not members
Region 9
Presented by:
Dr. Luiz A.S. Pilotto,
R9 Director-Elect & MD Chair
(pilotto@ieee.org)
Membership Status - January 2004
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IEEE
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Higher Grade: 299,319
Students: 68,953
Total Membership:
368,272
Loss (2003): 4.8%
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18.7%
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REGION 9
Higher Grade: 6,650
Students: 5,311
Total Membership:
11,961
Loss (2003): 13.5%
Region 9: Highest Loss Index of IEEE
44.4%
Main Challenges
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Retain Current Members in Region 9
Strong Action to Recover Lost Members
Bring in New Members
Actions
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Region-Wide Road Show to Present the Many Benefits of Being
a Member
Keep The Lowest Possible Membership Fees That Will Still
Permit Good Services and Benefits to the Members
Distribute to each Section an Arrears MAP to Initiate an
Immediate Recovery Campaign
Institutional Action Conducted by the RD, the RD-Elect and
Section Chairmen to Motivate the Industry to Finance The
Annual Fees of the Members
RAB & TAB Coordination
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Strong Coordination Between Sections and Chapters to
Ensure Maximum Technical Benefits to the Members
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Motivate Free Technical Section/Chapter Sponsored
Events to Boost Membership Increase
Region 9: A Large and Important
Group Inside IEEE
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Implement a Strong Policy to Increase the
Number of Senior Members and Fellow
Members in Region 9
Sections Have Already Implemented both a
Fellow and Senior Member Nomination
Committee
Best Practices
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Strong Action to Recover Lost Members
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Actions
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Arrears Excel Files Distributed to each Section Chairmen by
April
1st Wave: Email from Section Chairmen Inviting Members to
Renew their Memberships (May-June)
2nd Wave: Direct Phone Calls (July)
3rd Wave: R9 MD Chairman Continuously Evaluate Membership
Evolution; If necessary, send Direct Emails Messages to
Members
Membership Status - January 2004
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IEEE
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Higher Grade: 299,319
Students: 68,953
Total Membership:
368,272
Loss (2003): 4.8%
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18.7%

REGION 9
Higher Grade: 6,650
Students: 5,311
Total Membership:
11,961
Loss (2003): 13.5%
Region 9: Highest Loss Index of IEEE
44.4%
Membership Status - January 2005
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IEEE
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Higher Grade: 299,586
Students: 75,360
Total Membership:
374,946
Gain (2004): 1.8%
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20.1%
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REGION 9
Higher Grade: 6,650
Students: 5,311
Total Membership:
11,961
Gain (2004): 5.4%
Region 9: Third Highest Gain Index of IEEE
48.2%
Membership Evolution During 2004
13000.00
January 2005
January 2004
Total Members R9
12000.00
11000.00
10000.00
November 2004
9000.00
8000.00
Support Line
7000.00
Terminator Program
6000.00
1.00
4.00
7.00
10.00
Years 2004/2005
13.00
Education Society
Presented by:
S. Hossein Mousavinezhad,
MD Chair
(hossein.mousavinezhad@ieee.org)
Education Society
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Attend IEEE Conferences and display
membership materials (e.g., IEEE EIT Conference,
22-25 May 2005 hosted by University of NebraskaLincoln)
Encourage ASEE members to join EdSoc
Use Accreditation to involve faculty in
professional societies, e.g., Education Society
Communicate with Regions, Sections
Engineering in Medicine & Biology
Society
Presented by:
Barbara Oakley,
VP Member & Student Activities
(oakley@oakland.edu)
EMBS Membership Building Activities
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We sent a custom EMBS survey we had
developed to all of the nearly 8,000 members in
our society.
Roughly 1,700 responded.
Of the respondents, we found half were
academic, half were industry members—which is
now presumed to be the society demographic.
Industry members REALLY wanted more local
chapters/local chapter activities.
EMBS Response to Survey Findings
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We also asked survey respondents to check
“yes” if they would be interested in starting or
helping start a new local chapter.
Roughly 300 members checked “yes.”
We then sent emails to each of these members
asking, if they were still interested, to contact the
society. Some emails were sent to targeted areas
with large numbers of EMBS members but no
local chapter.
EMBS Survey Response, cont.
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Roughly 150 responses were received. Each of these was
then contacted individually with local member information,
as appropriate.
Upshot—nearly 50 locations worldwide responded.
Another 30 student groups responded.
It is estimated that roughly a third of these may actually
grow into new chapters.
Additionally, a special workshop will be given at our annual
conference on what IEEE-EMBS can do for members. A
paper is also being written describing all the information to
be given in the workshop — this will be placed in the
conference proceedings.
Region 10
Presented by:
Prof. S V Sankaran,
MD Chair
(svsan@ieee.org)
MD Best Practices …1
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Organize technical lectures/tutorials and
open them to non-members.
Co-organize technical events with other
local technical societies for broader
audience reach.
Done in Australia, Japan, India among others.
MD Best Practices …2
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Identify IEEE liaison volunteers (‘nodes’)
in key industries /companies /institutions
Hyderabad and Bombay Sections have employed
this effectively to increase membership
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Senior Member candidates tracking and
nomination by Section/Chapter
Done often by many sections/chapters
MD Best Practices …3
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Establish GOLD members as key liaison
(‘nodes’) for interaction with their alma
mater and faculty/student members (being
tried in R10)
Establish a one-time fund in the Student
Branch – donated by College Management
or Alumni – to pay for full or half dues for
a certain no. of students (Gajanan Maharaj
Engg College and UVCE in India have used this
method)
Microwave Theory & Techniques
Society
Presented by:
Jan Zehentner,
R8 Chapter Coordinator
(zehent@feld.cvut.cz)
How to attract interest of people in the IEEE
membership, to keep it, and to stimulate
members for activity and networking?
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Formation of new Chapters in regions or countries where
they do not exist. The key point is our personal
involvement, i. e.:

to search for and to address individuals willing to
organize the first steps as are:
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to establish preparatory committee
to prepare and to submit the petition
to organize Chapter officials election
To supervise the whole process of formation and to assist
when needed
To be permanently in touch with Chapter officials and to
help or advise them
We succeeded in Romania and Norway
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Very important for minimum income countries is
the Membership Fee Subsidy Program.
In Region 8, we have 15 such countries. The
program helps to keep alive some Chapters and, first
of all, it allows membership for young graduates, the
future of the MTT Society.
The program provides the feedback and enables to
understand better wants of the Chapters,
predominantly on the territory of the Former Soviet
Union, where the economy has problems and
individual incomes are very low.
The number of applications for the Subsidy
decreased from 7 to 3 Chapters in 2002-5
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We organize annually the Chapter Chairs Meeting
in conjunction with the European Microwave
Conference
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The Chapter representatives have an opportunity to meet
AdCom and Region 8 officers.
The meeting enables also to solve problems of Chapters in
person concerning e.g., membership, payments, Chapter
support by the Society, etc.
A book of reports of our 38 Chapters about their activity is given to
all participants. Chapters can compare own works with others, to
take over successful practice and implement it in the local
conditions, and to establish fruitful relations in many technical and
organizational issues.
Society on the Social Implications
of Technology
Presented by:
Robert Brook,
Membership Chair
(rbrook3@yahoo.com)
SSIT Overview
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Approx. 2,000 Members
Not associated with any engineering
specialty
SSIT Scope (from Technology & Society Magazine):
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Health/safety/environmental implications of technology
Engineering ethics
Education in SIT
History of electro-technology
Technical expertise and public policy
Social issues related to energy, information technology and
telecommunications
Systems analysis in public policy decisions
Economic issues related to technology
Peace technology
Membership
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Rise in membership - counter to trend of
Division IV and most other IEEE Societies
Why?
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Use of Internet as recruitment vehicle coinciding
with maturation of communications technology
and comfort of engineers (young and old) with
using the internet.
Plan to continue use of Internet as a
recruitment tool for the future.
Ethics and Professional Responsibility
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This is an area of SSIT scope - sometimes
difficult and controversial
Most companies subscribe to high ethical
standards, yet recent events show several large
companies destroyed by neglect or
circumvention of ethical rules
No laws exist (except NJ) to protect an individual
who reports a faulty product
SSIT supports an awards program for “whistle
blowers” who report events or products with
potential danger for the public.
Instrumentation & Measurement
Society
Presented by:
James Becker,
ADCOM, MD Committee
(rbrook3@yahoo.com)
IMS: “Do your job better; get a better job”
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Target market sectors (Ind: 1900; Acad: 850;
Students: 300; Consult: 300) w/ initiatives:
 Students: AdCom (2) members; paper
contests, “brown-bag” design kits, web site
Offer targeted products/services
 Tutorials in I&M Magazine (Increase mag freq
46)
 Student/New Hire column in Mag
 Interest matrix—better mapping of
members/interests
 Undecided—get “nonaffiliated” IEEE members
Industry Instrumentation Engineer
does her job better because she is an I&M Member
Personal
Stories of how
Jane Engineer
Did her job
Better
Magazine
Profile
Mini
Articles
Current Members get ideas
On how to maximize value
From Membership.
Encourage Current Members
To articulate to non-member colleagues
The value they get from membership.
Advertising at
A personal level
Students see value membership
Brings to a real-life job.
IMS: “Do your job better; get a better job”
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Offer targeted products/services,
cont.
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Increase Senior Members
Expand reviewer base
Electromagnetic Compatibility
Society
Presented by:
Elya Joffe,
VP of Member Services
(ebj@netvision.net.il)
Top 8 EMC Society Best MD Practices
 Distinguished Lecturers Program
 The Distinguished Lecturer Program provides a special opportunity for
our chapters and sections to come into contact with the leading
authorities in the EMC field
 Speakers chosen on the basis of the high distinction earned from their
work
 Each lecturer will serve a two-year term, with approx. 5-6 trips per year
 Chapter Support through the “Bob Haislmaier Angel Program” – the
“Angel Funds“
 For aiding Chapters in putting on technical programs for their members
which they would otherwise be unable to afford
 The maximum financial support for any activity is U.S. $500
 Simple process:
 Send a request to Chapter Angel
 Upon approval, Society Treasurer will have IEEE HQ issue a check
Top 8 EMC Society Best MD Practices
 Society BoD members encouraged to visit chapters
 BoD members are the leaders of the Society and have much
to tell the members
 By visiting the Chapters they indicate:
 We care for the Chapters
 We are committed to the Chapters
 Meet us face to face, we are real people…
 Chapter Chairs luncheon along our Symposia
 All chapter chairs or their representatives are invited to a
complementary luncheon during our annual symposium for
an annual “get together”
 Information exchange between chapter chairs (by short reports)
 Information delivered by EMC-S BoD members (also present in
the meeting)
 Welcoming new chapters to the EMC-S
Top 8 EMC Society Best MD Practices
 Membership Booth present in co-sponsored symposia, offering
Free Society Membership for New Members Joining On-Site
 We exchange promotional MD booths with co-sponsored symposia
worldwide
 IEEE MD material and EMC-S publications are distributed in the
booth
 Booths manned by Regional coordinators and BoD members
present on site
 Free EMC-S membership for the 1st year is offered to those who
join on site
 Symposium Registration Discount
 Approximately US$100 discount is offered to IEEE members
 Equivalent to annual membership fees
 Discount set to make “membership worth while”
Top 8 EMC Society Best MD Practices
 Regional membership coordinators in all IEEE regions
 Promotion - a matter of culture and geography – need to know your
locals
 Each of the regions 8, 9 and 10 have a designated LOCAL
membership coordinator
 Works locally in forming chapters, promoting membership and
representing the EMC-S in local conferences and symposia
 Regional Mini-Conferences (Colloquia)
 A regional conference coordinator in each region promotes miniconferences and exhibits
 Helps in chapter’s financial well-being
 Attracts many non-members if the speakers are well known…
 e.g., Prof. Clayton Paul
 … or when the topic sounds “attractive”
 e.g. “The “Bruce-Lee Show”
 New members are recruited in those meetings
 Held successfully in the US, Germany, Israel and… Sao Paulo
(Brazil)
END OF BEST
PRACTICES