Generating Income and Improving Communications Within Your Local Section -- for Medium to Large Sections

Paul Wesling, IEEE Life Fellow

Past Communications Director, IEEE SF Bay Area CouncilPast Editor, e-GRID nsltr and GRID.pdf Magazine

San Francisco Section Oakland/East Bay Section San Francisco Bay Area Council, IEEE Santa Clara Valley Section The IEEE GRID Magazine

ResourcesDownload this talk, and the extensive background material, templates, etc, at:

learn.e-grid.net/docs/1401-grid.zipYou can view these slides at learn.e-grid.net/docs/1501-sandiego.pdf

Subscribe yourself to our e-GRID: www.e-grid.net/subscribe

To contact me:Paul Wesling

p.wesling@ieee.org +1-408-320-1105

Outline

Chapter 1: How the SFBA Council Does ItChapter 2: How You Can Do ItChapter 3: Where is the Money?Chapter 4: Viewing Your ResourcesChapter 5: The Right PersonChapter 6: Selecting Tools (keeping them simple)

Chapter 7: Getting PaidChapter 8 : Some Examples

Chapter 1: Medium to Large SectionsWho we are – S.F. Bay Area Council:– Three Sections (SF, OEB, SCV)– Three Sections combined (~18,000 members)

Includes Largest Section in the world About 48 chapters/groups

– SFBA Council (board) reports to the Sections– Serving Silicon Valley (entrepreneurial environ.)

Our GRID Magazine was started in 1953– Printed as a monthly magazine until 1998– Now Web, email, blog, RSS, eNotice, ListServ

Focus of Talk

Sections with 4 or more active Chapters– Each with 5 or more meetings/year– Perhaps also with PACE, YP, Life, WIE group(s)

Willingness to Improve/ExpandTop-Level View, for your awareness:– You Section Officers are “decision-makers”– You’ll find other volunteers, for implementation– The downloadable examples and resources

will give your helpers a good start

Your Job TodayAs a Section leader, you should focus on:– The VISION – can you do this locally?– What RESOURCES you may already have

When you discuss this – the challenges:– Who can work with you to implement this– See it as a Multi-Year project– Ideas about what your “Comm’ns Director/

Editor” would be like; who could do it– How to leverage what I’ll be telling you

Your IEEE “Franchise”

Each Section (or Group of Sections):– Geographical monopoly– We don’t compete for advertising funds– We can share freely and help each

other to improve the IEEE “where we live”

So, sit back and “think broadly” about what can be accomplished …

Chapter 1: An Overview of our S.F. Bay Area Council

We’re bigger than you – thus, different:– Opportunities; challenges

We’ve been doing this for some decadesWe will review our recent developments:– 10 years to develop our Internet-based

“system”– Do it a few steps at a time– Gather ideas, for consideration– Implement what works in your locale

The GRID “System”The GRID is a powerful publicity utility/ service for Chapters in the Bay Area Sections: SCV, OEB, SF– As a monthly PDF – the GRID.pdf– As a twice-a-month e-GRID email to Members &

others (circulation of about 33,000 engineers/managers)

– As a website (events come up in Google searches)– As a web log (blog) and RSS feed - Google indexing in

<30 minutes – www.e-grid.net/BayAreaTech– As a Google Calendar that people can integrate into

their own Calendar– As iOS and Android Apps (look for “IEEE GRID”)– Aimed at both Members and non-Members (to

encourage non-members to attend and get involved)

GRID services: the GRID.pdf

Front cover of the GRID.pdf is a hyperlinked index to the issueEach Chapter mtg is profiled, linked to the full details insidePaid Conferences are profiled and linked to internal adsChapter Seminars, Paid Univer-sity Courses are highlighted, linked to internal descriptions

(demo)

GRID Services: the GRID.pdf

Each Chapter meeting has its own feature page with overview of talk, details, bio sketch, and space for our advertisersThese can be “extracted” from the full PDF to provide a Chapter with a small document (~60 kB) that can be circulated separately to Members

GRID services: the e-GRID e-Newsletter

“Push” Technology – Sent as an email to all Council Members twice a month

•All future upcoming meetings, Webinars, chapter seminars

•Sent also to non-Member subscribers (ListServ)

•There is also a text-only version, for those who request it

• The e-GRID tends to be forwarded to co-workers around the company/lab

First Screen

GRID services: the e-GRID

Upcoming Chapter meetings – summaries, links

•The e-GRID Conference Calendar lists upcoming conferences, workshops

•Paid Conferences – plus Chapter seminars, classes and workshops – are profiled for 6 to 8 weeks before the event

(demo)

Second Screen

Sending out the e-GRID

• Use IEEE’s e-Notice system to send to all your Section members

• Removes those not wanting emails

• Fill out the Web form

•Set up an IEEE ListServ Dlistfor non-Members (eg, past members and unaffiliated engineers) to self-subscribe

• The “other 95%” of engineers

• See www.e-grid.net/subscribe

Sending out the e-GRID

• We have arranged to send a reduced-content e-GRID quarterly to a neighboring Section:

• Sacramento Valley Section

• For their awareness, since some Chapter meetings are within driving distance

GRID services: the GRID WebsiteLinks to the Marketplace, QuickRef Calendar, “contact us”Each Chapter meeting is profiled, and linked to details on chapter’s own websiteBanner ads for paid advertised University CoursesPaid banner ads for upcoming conferences

The GRID Blog and RSS Feed

Meeting Title, Details

All, or “Category”:Eg, BioEng, Comm’ns,

Computers/SW, Power, Design, Engng Mgmt, Nano, Optics, semiconductors

Search functionPaid Conf ads

www.e-grid.net/BayAreaTech

WordPress automaticallycreates an RSS feed …

Used for iOS, Android Apps

The GRID RSS Feed

August 21, 2011

eg, SAGE in Firefox browser (sidebar)

VariousSubscriptions (CNN, NYTimes, CNET, IEEE, etc)

Most recent 10 “Stories” in selected blog

Story Summaries

www.e-grid.net/rss

Google Calendar

August 21, 2011

Paid Conferences

Webinars

Chapter Meetings

Blog Posts / RSS Stories

For the GRID:– I average about 50 Posts per month– Google “camps on” our RSS feed; response

is about 30 minutes from “post” to a Google “alert”

An RSS Feed for your Section?– Subscribers expect news at least a few

times a week– Probably not needed until you create

Android, iOS Apps

Tracking ActivitiesEven with 48 Chapters/Units, I use paper:– A single sheet for each month

– Tracking sheet for advertisers

– Keep it simple!

Masters of these sheets are in the ZIP file

3D ArchDec 12-14

½ pg ½ pg

Oct NovSept

UC-BerkeleyWinter

GRID Success?Revenue of ~ US$ 75 000/year– Detailed breakdown later

Expenses of ~ US$ 45 000/year– Therefore, $30k surplus for our Sections

While IEEE membership is declining:– e-GRID IEEE ListServ Dlist is increasing:

< 1 000 (2004), 8 000 (2011), 15,000 (2014) -- 5% CAGR

– Adding 3 500 each year (non-members)– From ASME, ACM, unaffiliated engineers– Drawn by the services that we provide

to the profession

“Magazines” from other Sections

Boston:eReflectorTwice a month

email

Gujarat SectionTechnoReport

Meetings, Student events

Rochester (NY)Section

SE Michigan Sec.Wavelengths

August 21, 2011

Dehli Section Beacon

Toronto SectionConnection

August 21, 2011

Your Section?

There are many existing examples: – Look at what other similar Sections

are doing– Adopt some of the others’ Best

PracticesYour Section may already have a Newsletter or Magazine to “monetize”– What could be your “expansion”

plans?

Chapter 4: Where is the money?Major Sources (results from SFBAC GRID: 2010)– IEEE Conferences (18) US$ 17 225 (24%)– Non-IEEE Conferences (19) 32 875 (46%)– University/Extension Classes (3) 6 000 ( 8.5%)– Employment Ads (2) 1 400 ( 2%)– Chapter Seminars, Wkshops (4) 5 000 ( 7%)– “Marketplace” (9) 4 900 ( 7%)– Misc (7) 3 625 ( 5%)

TOTAL, for 2010: $ 71 035

Of 37 conferences, 29 were “local” and 8 were out-of-area: San Diego, Anaheim, Beijing, Portland, Dallas, Boston

Targets for Advertising

Non-IEEE conferences (about 50%)– Includes ASME, ACM, SPIE, others– Charge them 33% more than IEEE ones– For access to your Section’s members

IEEE Conferences coming to your area– Work directly with their volunteer leaders

Universities and Univ. Extensions– Publicizing technical courses

Employment ads, local seminars/workshops

Rate Sheet and Options

August 21, 2011Full Flyer: www.e-grid.net/docs/conf-flyer.pdf

Full-List

Price

Rate Sheet and Options

SFBAC has 17,000 Members & 15,000 on ListServ- You will have fewer (but, build it up)- Scale down from our pricing- SqRoot scale (1/4 the members: 1/2 price)- Depends on your local conditions, costs- below some price, not worth the effort

Remember: Conferences want access:- to your members and their companies- You have a valuable resource, for them- Do not under-price your services

Why charge IEEE conferences more than local events?

Most IEEE Conferences belong to SocietiesThey leave no money in your local Section– It all goes to their Society office

Our objective - give them a choice:– They can partner with a local Chapter/Section:

Typical: 5% of surplus goes to Chapter (no loss) They get an additional 33% discount on publicity

– Or spend publicity money with the local SectionAt the higher “non-local” rate

August 21, 2011

Generating Income and Improving Communications … Wesling

Where to find ConferencesIEEE Conferences:– www.ieee.org/conferences_events

– computer.org/portal/web/conferences/calendar

– www.comsoc.org/conferences/conferencesearch

Non-IEEE Conferences:– Keep adding websites to

your Bookmarks– ASME, ACM, AIEE, local Convention Center …

Check them every 1 to 2 months (for new ones)Get on organization eMailing Lists (yeah, looks like spam …)

Deciding WHICH Conferences

For IEEE ones: look at projected attendance– Less likelihood, for attendance < 300– Best chances: for 500 or more– Best for 2.5- and 3-day events; Less for 1-day– Best: Convention Center, large hotels

Conference budgets are ~US$50 000 - $250 000– Charging $500 - $1 000 is a small portion– About equal to 1 or 2 additional attendees

How to Approach a ConferenceDo your homework:– Review website, Program, Earlybird date, etc– Get names/emails of people on the Committees– Develop std.

“Worksheet” for your quote

– Make it look semi-formal

– We are a“Volunteerorganization”

In Full Flyer: www.e-grid.net/docs/conf-flyer.pdf

Show “full list price”,then give them the discount (if appropriate)

Send Proposal to Conference

Introductory email, customizedAttach Worksheet, Rate Sheet, Example

Technical Classes; Skills Classes

University ExtensionsLocal Providersof classesThey can be good, regular clients

They value accessto our Members!

Chapter Seminars, WorkshopsLow-cost Chapter seminars get free publicity- Above ~US$75/day, they purchase their publicity

Financially Strong Chaptersmake a strong Section.

Conference Tutorials/Courses

One- and Two-day ClassesAssociated witha ConferenceCan get additionalrevenue by publi-cizing them separatelyThey add value for your members, too.

Every service you offer adds value for your client

-- and earns its fee!

Chapter 4: What does your Section Have to Offer?

Key to developing a community, loyalty, readership is having content:– Several Chapter Meetings each month– Maybe Section technical meetings

occasionally– Open meetings/lectures from your

Student Chapter or University– But, might need more, to make the

content “rich”, relevant for local engineers

Expanding your Chapters

Your Job: to select two or three Chapters that might be started in your Section– Challenge: grow your services to local IEEE

members by one new chapter each year ….– Perhaps appoint a past Section Chair to be in

charge of new-chapter formation

Bi-Weekly Content for your eNsltr

What else to add? (to make it more useful):SPECTRUM Webcasts– Subscribe to notifications

IEEE-USA Webcasts– Subscribe to notifications

Local Science Fairs, Maker Fairs

Free!

Free!

Other Local Publicity Opportunities

“Adopt” chapters from a nearby Section:– Publicize their meetings, if within driving

distance of many of your own members

Partner with a neighboring SectionInvolve any Student Branch Chapters– Some of their activities, lecture series may

be open to local engineers

Remember: Content is the Driver – you need it, to be relevant– This is why engineers access your news

Other News to Publicize

IEEE “corporate” news– Xplore updates, renewals, RSS, IEEE.tv– Jobs website

Society resources– CS: Cloud Computing videos; “Silver Bullet”

Podcast series– ComSoc: periodic free archived webinars– SPECTRUM: Science & Tech podcasts– IEEE-USA: free Wiley e-books

Getting AdvertisingRemember: non-IEEE conferences contribute twice as much revenue as IEEE ones – focus on these.IEEE conferences can be easier to findFocus first on conferences coming to your location– Then, reach out to regional conferences– For GRID, “West Coast of USA” works well

San Diego, Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle, Anaheim

Even Boston, Beijing, Singapore, Taiwan

Success Rate

For IEEE conferences: about 40%For non-IEEE conferences: about 50%For local Chapter seminars: about 70%For University extensions: about 50%You can get several proposal turn-downs for each proposal acceptedKey: scouring the web for coming events, CFPs; being pro-active in sending out bids

Chapter 5: The “Right Person”Yes, a permanent paid staff of several people would be nice – but not practicalNeed to be dependent on one part-time person (maybe a retired Life Member)– Yes, creates uncertainty about continuity– What about succession? Training someone

new?– Limited capabilities, dependent on person

Need to live with uncertainty– Solves the problem for a few years …

Alternative: Stay the same

The “Right Person”Your “person” becomes “Mr/Ms IEEE”– For your Section and Chapters– Emphasis on customer service– Helpful, Positive, Enthusiastic– Your representative for the IEEE

Support your Comm’ns Director/Editor:– Help invigorate current chapters– Start new chapters, based on local skills/needs– Don’t micro-manage – delegate– Set up access: SAM*IEEE, CBRS, etc.– Be there to help

Formalizing the Contract

Use IEEE “Independent Contractor” form– Candidate must have “other income” (USA’s IRS)

– Cannot work solely for your Section – Work with MGA staff on details for your locale

Annual contract, renewable• Two main parts to job:

1. Publicizing local activities, keeping up the website, editing the magazine and e-Newsletter

2. Selling and composing ads (revenue)

Part 1: Publicizing Local Activities• This portion generates no revenue

• Decide on a fair “monthly fee” based on:– Amount of work (approx 1/5th time: 30 hrs/month)

– Expected coverage and output– Start with PDF magazine and 2X/month e-nsltr– Also website editor, Dlists, chapters support

• May expand, as more publicity methods added:– Blog/RSS feed, Calendar, iOS/Android App, etc.

Part 2: Selling and Composing Ads

• Suggestion – pay a commission:– Contractor earns 20% (or 25%) of revenue– Shared-Success model (win-win)

The more he/she gets, the more the Section gets• Encourages strong focus on selling advertising:

– Being pro-active, continuous improvement, etc.– Watching for coming conferences (IEEE, non-)– Local universities, extensions, course providers– Local chapter seminars, workshops– Local Employers, Recruiters

Monthly Payment Amount• Depends on your Section

– Based on what would be appropriate– What can your Section budget allow

• In USA, might be:– Monthly editing/webmaster fee: perhaps $500– Monthly 20% commission: $400 to perhaps $800

Based on sales of $2 000 to $4 000/month• In my case (supporting 48 chapters, 3 Sections):

– Monthly fee: $2 350/month (~ 60 hours/month)– Commission: 20%; varies from $600 to $2 000

Your Editor’s Title

• Make it authoritative:– You’re free to “invent”– Helps establish authority with clients

Clients can work with your DIRECTOR …

– “Communications Director”

Local phone Twitter handle

Formalizing your Section’s Office

• Request that your new office be added to the IEEE Staff Directory

• So IEEE staff, Society staff will be aware of your office– They can contact you for advertising,

local support and referrals, etc.

Resources

• To help your contractor get started:– “How to Start a Home-Based Business,”

Bert Holtje and Susan Shelly (2010 - about $20)

– “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being a Successful Entrepreneur,” John Sortino ($5)

• Let contractor purchase own tools:– Computer, laptop, broadband, phone (VoIP),

software (free?), licenses, business cards …– Work from home (or his/her own office)

Your Contractor• In USA: Sole Proprietorship or LLC

Advantages of Schedule C (on Tax return)– Write off medical, dental, long-term care,

Medicare premiums – Set up tax-advantaged retirement plans– Write off tools, equipment, licenses, costs

• It helps if your contractor is an engineer:– Understand technical talk, language– Knows IEEE, conference/chapter volunteers

…– Might be retired Life Member

Chapter 6: Suggested Tools

• Website and ISP (Server)– 1and1 (German company): $10/month– Apache, MySQL, CGI, PERL, PHP, Javascript, AJAX– Basically unlimited hosting (Domains, Email)

- $15/year per domain• FTP Client:

– Stand-alone– FileZilla (no cost)– For FTP uploads/downloads, file manipulation

Editing, Graphics Tools• I prefer Adobe Dreamweaver

– Part of Adobe CS5.5 for Web– Can usually get it donated from Adobe

employee– I use HTML mode (write in native HTML)– Has built-in WYSIWYG editor, FTP agent

• Graphics (banner ads): Adobe FireWorks– Part of Adobe CS5.5 for Web– Also in CS5: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash,

Acrobat 9 Pro, Distiller, etc.

Also PhotoshopElements, for JPGs

Browser (and setup)

• Firefox, with add-ins:

- LittleFox- TabMix Plus- Firefox SyncStart up with ~9

Tabs open tokey pages

Local copies of key files

Blog Google Calendar

Banner-ad server IEEE ListServ

Shows local copy ofGRID Website Home Page

Creating Your Magazine

• I use MS WORD 2003 on a Windows 7 PC– Home: Fast desktop, large LCD screen– Travel: Simple 15.5” Laptop

• Template pages for Ads, for Chapter Mtgs

August 21, 2011Only use “system fonts”: Arial, Times

Distilling the Magazine• I use my (free) Acrobat X Pro’s Distiller

– Set it to not embed fonts (saves ~200 kB) Viewer’s system uses “local” System Fonts

– Re-sample graphics to 150 dpi (saves ~2 MB)– Achieve 40-page magazine in 800 kB file– So, easy for people to email it around

• Not “Print Quality”, but utilitarian– Perfect, for your Section’s purpose– Good enough for engineers!

Blog and RSS Feed

WordPressEasy to installon your server;No cost (open source); Generates theRSS Feed

Edit Publish

Categories

Banner Ad Server

csBanner program(about $40 to own)

Runs on Server

Statistics

Resources – Summary

• Conclusion:– Efficient workflow can be set up– Tools need not be expensive– Each Tool has a learning curve – takes time– Dependent on your Editor’s skills, methods– Customized for your own Section

• Your experience will vary!

Chapter 7: Creating Invoices

• Any “Business” level of Quicken

Customized, for each client

(I use 2013 Premiere Home and Business)

Mailing the Invoice• Important to send Committee the ad copies• Hand mark-up, circle in blue marker

Payments• Most payments come to me as checks

– Save up for the month– Send to the Section Treasurer

• Credit card payments– Not preferred (you lose ~3% of the value)– Can be cleared through IEEE Conf Services– Deposited directly to Concentration Bank Acct

• IEEE Conferences, events:– You can have them transfer directly from their

Concentration Banking Account to yours

Chapter 8: Some examples

• Forming a local IEEE community

• Email to remind Chapter officers

“Deadline” email every two weeks

Announcementsfor Chapter, Section Officers

Your Section’s Contribution …

• Your implementation will differ from ours

• Please share your own best practices– Then I can make our GRID better!

• We can have stronger, growing Sections• Better services to our local members• Less dependence on funds from MGA

Region 6 Initiative for 2015

• Step-by-step tutorials will be made, to show exactly how I do each step

• Active screen capture plus audio• Initial ones should be ready for your

volunteer/contractor during January• Being funded by SF Bay Area Council

and Region 6, for use worldwide

Resources• Download this talk, and the extensive background

material, templates, etc, at:learn.e-grid.net/docs/1108-sc11.zip

• You can view these slides at learn.e-grid.net/docs/1501-sandeigo.pdf

• Subscribe yourself to our e-GRID: www.e-grid.net/subscribe

• To contact our S.F./Silicon Valley Office:Paul Wesling

p.wesling@ieee.org +1-408-320-1105

Thanks for your attention!

Questions, Discussion and Comments

Your local experience

“Show and Tell” – see my Examples, being passed around

Generating Income and Improving Communications Within Your Local Section -- for Medium to Large Sections

Paul Wesling, IEEE Life Fellow

Past Communications Director, IEEE SF Bay Area CouncilPast Editor, e-GRID nsltr and GRID.pdf Magazine

San Francisco Section Oakland/East Bay Section San Francisco Bay Area Council, IEEE Santa Clara Valley Section The IEEE GRID Magazine

Resources• Download the extensive background material,

templates, etc, at:learn.e-grid.net/docs/1401-grid.zip

• You can view the these slides at learn.e-grid.net/docs/1501-sandeigo.pdf

• Subscribe yourself to our e-GRID: www.e-grid.net/subscribe

• To contact our S.F./Silicon Valley Office:Paul Wesling

p.wesling@ieee.org +1-408-320-1105