• At the National Convention this year, we won an award for Highest Membership Retention for a medium section. This award came with a $125 check. Congratulations to the section! Lets keep up the good work.
• The regional conference this year will be held in Omaha on October 15 & 16. This is a joint student/member meeting. Southwest Airlines generally has cheap tickets to Omaha in case anyone is interested.
• The first newsletter for the year should be mailed as a hard copy and should include the officer's list with phone numbers.
• Be sure to include key officer names and e-mail addresses in every newsletter. Include key officer phone numbers in paper and e-mail version of monthly newsletter. We still do not want to include officer phone numbers in the web site version of the newsletter.
• Encourage people to switch from paper to electronic versions of the newsletters each month to minimize effort and costs.
• We will continue the multi-meeting and new member meeting discount policies that we began last year. We will also add meeting discounts for unemployed members and for people who bring a guest. We need to mention the discount options on the web site and periodically in the newsletter.
• In an effort to minimize our meeting losses this year, we will request phone numbers from all people who RSVP for a meeting. Unless the meeting is free or "order of the menu" style, we need to mention in the newsletter that an RSVP is a financial commitment. Then the meeting organizer will need to place a follow-up phone call to anyone who reserved a meal, but didn't come, reminding them to send a check for the meeting amount to our section treasurer.
• When planning meetings, try to make reservations at restaurants that do not require a room charge or minimum attendance. Also, when giving the restaurant the customary final headcount, reduce the number of RSVP's by 1 or 2 to minimize losses in case of "no-shows". Be sure to include tax, tip, and ~$2/person for the speaker's meal when determining the meeting fee.
• We would like to have a pizza party for the graduating seniors from each of the student SWE sections that we support. This will be an opportunity to encourage them to upgrade their SWE membership and give the students a chance to meet some of our members so they will feel more comfortable coming to our meetings.
• The SWE Board of Directors (BOD) will be coming to St. Louis for one of their meetings on October 22 & 23. As part of this meeting, we will be hosting an industry reception on the evening of October 22. We will invite executives from several local companies to tell them about SWE and encourage their support. It will be a great opportunity for our members to meet the SWE board and let your company executives know that you are involved in this great organization. Please help Jane Knoche and I with this reception planning by letting us know the names and titles of some key people in your organization that we could invite. Also, if anyone thinks their company may be willing to sponsor this reception with a donation of ~$500, please let us know.
• We do not currently have any local companies who are SWE Corporate Members. We would like to make a concerted effort to change that this year and the industry reception is a good start.
• It seems that the St. Louis section is among the minority as SWE sections that do not sponsor their own student scholarships. This year we would like to offer one $500 scholarship to each of the three local student SWE sections that we work with. They can be either for re-entry or general undergraduate students. Heidi Houghton agreed to lead the charge to develop the guidelines and publicize these scholarships. Jane Knoche will assist in asking corporations for monetary support.
• This is SWE's 50^th Anniversary year. We have some logos from Convention that we would like to use in our newsletter to promote this fact.

• New members will receive a $5 meeting discount coupon with their welcome letter from the section President.
• After attending 3 meetings, members are eligible to receive either a $5 discount for the January Career Conference or a $2 discount for a regular meeting
• Unemployed members receive ½ price meeting discount.
• Members who bring a prospective member to a meeting receive a $2 discount and their guest also receives a $2 discount.

Leadership:

• Hold an awards banquet to recognize members' accomplishments
• Nominate a section member for the Distinguished New Engineer Award

• Reinitiate the Certificate of Merit Program
• Continue participation in Girl Scout Badge Workshop and Expanding Your Horizons
• Award three $500 scholarships, one for each local University w/ student SWE section

• Establish web page links with other local engineering societies
• Get meeting notices published in other society newsletters
• Host an industry reception

• Ensure meeting locations are wheel-chair accessible
• Publish articles on diversity in section newsletter
• Hold a joint meeting with another technical society

• Achieve a 90% membership retention
• Improve corporate sponsorship in the local area
• Sign up at least 5 new members
• Promote SWE's 50^th anniversary

For more information about SWE or to make comments on this page, E-mail webmaster@swe.saint-louis.mo.us.

page updated on: March 06, 2003