2006 GOLD Congress Affinity Group Basics Lori Hogan

2006 GOLD Congress Affinity Group Basics Lori Hogan Region 7 GOLD Coordinator IEEE Canada GOLD Congress 16 September 2006

What is an AG? - Local unit of an IEEE entity or standing committee established by petition to parent entity (GOLD, Consultants Network, Women in Engineering, Life members) - Formation petition requires signatures of 6 GSMgrade or higher members in good standing - Activities/meetings reported to both Section and parent entity (remember CCs on electronic L 31 form!!)

R 7 GOLD AGs and Chairs • • • • Canadian Atlantic (recent): Charles Cooke Hamilton: ? ? Kitchener/Waterloo: Scott Hafeman Montréal: Jean-Claude Latortue Newfoundland-Labrador (recent): Jon Anderson and Lori Hogan Northern Canada: Shyam Chadha Northern Saskatchewan: Dan Coode Ottawa: Mark Van Delst Southern Alberta: Ahsan Upal South Saskatchewan: Tonia Batten St. Maurice: Alexis Bilodeau Toronto: Aleksandra Jeremic Vancouver: Jin Ng Victoria: Subhasis Nandi Winnipeg: Justin Olivier

What’s the least an AG can do? • Two meetings a year reported to Section and GOLD Committee • Have a Chair to oversee the group and liaison with the Section and Regional GOLD Committee • Communicate with Section executive (and your members) on a regular basis • After three years of no reporting, GOLD AG officially dissolved by RAB after trying to contact group

Having and Reporting Meetings • Can be administrative, technical, social, professional – A good idea is to mix it up! – Can be joint with Student Branch, Section, WIE/Society Chapter, etc. – GOLD events can be for everyone, not just GOLD members or even IEEE members • Reporting done through L-31 form; if doing electronically, make sure to forward to Section secretary and Region GOLD Coordinator! • http: //ewh. ieee. org/cgi-bin/l 31/Report. Form. pl

What does a GOLD Chair do? • GOLD members’ representative in the Section • Connect GOLD members with the Section • Lead and motivate other GOLD volunteers in running IEEE events • Coordinate activities for GOLD members • Take the opportunity to understand IEEE as an organization and consider volunteering in other areas

What shouldn’t a GOLD Chair do? • Be directly responsible for recruiting new members to IEEE – Focus on good events and services and get the word out! • Run after members who don’t come to events – Evaluate why attendance is poor, how that can be changed • Doing everything himself/herself – More volunteers means more things can get done, transition in leadership when it’s time to move on – If there isn’t anyone volunteering, important to figure out WHY NOT

How to get money for events? • Rebate to Section for GOLD Activities – US$200 providing reporting requirement has been met! • Quick-Start Incentive Fund - $200 US – Also includes funds matching up to an extra $300 US – Can only be received ONCE per Affinity Group • Funds from local industry? Section? Region? Explore the possibilities!

Notes on Leadership… • Main Challenge: – Inspire recent graduates and general GOLD members to become active • Success Criteria: – More young professionals participate in IEEE activities (not just GOLD activities) – More recent graduate volunteers • No ‘one size for all’ solution • Try to organize a variety of events, not just social events, or events with students

Leadership – Small Section • Concerns: – Too few GOLD members in the Section to form a critical mass – Section executives worry that GOLD would fight Section resources with other Section activities • Suggestions: – Organize activities intended for all members, but perhaps is of particular interest to GOLD members – Organize activities that may be of interest to members’ family to increase participation rate

Leadership – Small Section • Suggestions: – GOLD Chair works directly for the Section – If Section plans 10 events in a given year, instead of asking the Section to have 11 or 12 events per year, keep 10. Just volunteer yourself to organize 1 or 2 of those 10. – The difference is, those 1 or 2 activities now involve GOLD and are interesting to GOLD members!

Leadership – Large Section • Concerns: – Too many GOLD members • Difficult to identify common interests • Difficult to contact GOLD members with a personal touch (Email and Web are less effective than Phone or Personal Meetings) • Difficult to assess participation rate or plan for event size – Section is too occupied to realize potential benefits provided by GOLD

Leadership – Large Section • Suggestions: – Recruit a few GOLD members to form a GOLD committee (like a Student Branch) – Organize activities targeted to a small group (like 10 – 20 people) such as company tours, workshops – Organize activities that the number of participants is unimportant such as hiking, cycling, ski trip, science museum visit

How to plan an event… • Determine what kind of event, who the target attendees are, potential dates and locations the event can be held • Estimate attendance numbers, contact speaker (if appropriate), confirm time and place and costs, determine attendance fee • Publicize!!!! – Wise to get RSVPs or indication of attendance • Arrange refreshments, equipment

… and host an event … • Take some form of attendance to gauge who is coming (number needed for report) • Greet everyone, make available information/short presentation on GOLD and IEEE if event open to non-members • Introduce speaker(s) • Include time for discussion and questions and refreshments • Thank speaker (with gift/certificate) and those who came • Announce upcoming event!!

… and “close off” the event • Clean up, gather all materials for future use • Submit L 31 report, update finances – Better to do it while still fresh on mind! • Write up event for Section newsletter, Aurum, future GOLD volunteers – Successes and suggestions for similar event in future