John, Well said!
I particularly like the Stalin comment. Hear Hear! -- Doug Nix [email protected] “Design is what you do when you don't [yet] know what you are doing.'' - George Stiny, Professor of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. On 24-Jul-09, at 3:26 PM, John Woodgate wrote: > In message <[email protected]>, dated Fri, > 24 Jul 2009, Jim Bacher <[email protected]> writes: > >> Derek, The general feeling (in TAB) is a society needs to be about >> 1,500 members to be able to substain itself long term. This >> provides enough members for the society to have TACs, symposium >> papers and some form of a journal. > > Well, instead of shutting things down that don't meet some arbitrary > criteria that some few people 'feel' are valid. 'cut your coat > according to the cloth and don't indulge in stuff that you can't > afford. > > I help run a small, niche learned society in Britain > (www.isce.org.uk) with about 350 members. We have a mailing list, a > web site (obviously) and a quarterly magazine, semi-professionally > produced, with about 32 pages. We run an annual exhibition and a > members' event, as well as training course and seminars. It CAN be > done on a small budget. > >> There is some overhead costs to be covered as well, the more >> members the easier it is to cover those costs. Up until last year >> the society was in the RED, however we are now in the black. For us >> to turn on access to symposium papers in Xplore is about $8,000 a >> year in costs to the soceity. Below 1000 members we can not afford >> it, above 1000 members we can turn it on. > > Well, don't do it; we can't afford it. If people want a paper > enough, they buy it - I do. Or cadge one from the author. (;-) >> >> About 5 years ago when we had about 400 members the PSES BoD put >> together a 5 year plan that said at the end of this year we would >> be at 1,000 members. > > Five year plans are for Stalin. Did that plan take into account the > credit crunch and consequent unemployment? Of course not. > >> For the first few years we were more concerned with TACs, >> symposiums, and other things that added value to society >> membership. Now it is time to focus on building membership. > > I agree with building up membership, but it's crazy to do this on > the basis that 'our administrators regard us as a basket case, so > please rally round the sinking ship'. >> >> The IEEE is a complex organization. All societies are part of what >> is called TAB, which standands for Technical Activities Board. TAB >> has a management committee called TMC which stands for TAB >> Management Committee. It is TMC that is pushing to sunset any >> function that is not holding its own. > > Can you say 'bean counters'? While we respect the individual members > of this august body, their collegiate mind-set need to be reviewed. > It's well known that a 50 million dollar project is nodded through > by such bodies, followed by a 3 hour debate on whether to spend 50 > thousand on secure parking for bicycles. > > 'Holding its own' - if expenditure exceeds income, reduce > expenditure FIRST, because you can control what you spend. After > that, TRY to increase income, but you CAN'T control that - it's in > the (often mindless) control of diverse others. > >> Be it a journal, magazine or society that is nor financial solvent. >> When our society goes into the review process at the end of this >> year I fully expect to be able to derail the sunsetting of our >> soceity. However we need to make a reasonable effort to increase >> membership. Promoting membership on the list is one of the efforts >> towards that end. > > Well, we can try. But this is not a propitious time, is it? Rather > than looking to join societies, people are looking for new employment! > -- > OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and www.isce.org.uk > Things can always get better. But that's not the only option. > John Woodgate, J M Woodgate and Associates, Rayleigh, Essex UK > > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc- > pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e- > mail to <[email protected]> > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to > that URL. > > Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > Scott Douglas <[email protected]> > Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> > > For policy questions, send mail to: > Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> > David Heald: <[email protected]> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
