American Chemical Society Local Section Activities Committee Getting

American Chemical Society Local Section Activities Committee: Getting Back on Track David W. Ball, Cleveland Local Section Tracy P. Hamilton, Alabama Local Section

Local Section Assistance & Development (LSAD) Subcommittee. • LSAD is a subcommittee of LSAC (one of four). • Helps Local Sections “be all they can be”, usually by providing assistance and guidance to sections deemed “challenged”. • How deemed? By review of annual reports (sometimes multiple years from same section). • 20 – 25 sections (out of 186) per year get LSAD scrutiny. American Chemical Society 2

How/Why is a Section “Challenged”? • No annual report. • No annual election/repeat officers. • No annual budget and/or financial problems. • No/minimal Local Section programming. • No/minimal participation in national events (LI, national meetings, NCW, CCED, etc. ). • Wide geographical distribution – difficult for members to travel. • Losing local members (including because of employment). • Personality issues. American Chemical Society 3

What does LSAD do? • Mostly reach out to challenged Sections: – Phone calls, emails to Section leaders – Meet representatives at national meetings, LI – Survey Section membership – Visit Sections • Goal: To help Local Sections serve its membership. American Chemical Society 4

Let’s talk about what LSAD can do for you! American Chemical Society 5

“Nucleation Sites” for new ideas: • How can you get your members better involved? • Are you spending enough of your budget? • Aim for at least one new venue per year/officer cycle? • Interesting speakers of more general interest? – Science reporters/writers – Jewelers or metalsmiths – Microbrewers – Bloggers on science topics • Joint meetings with neighboring sections, other societies? American Chemical Society 6