IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SOCIETY OpCom MINUTES

Transcription

1 Attendees at the meeting were: IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SOCIETY OpCom March 2002 Anaheim, California, USA MINUTES Officers (voting) Directors & CIO (non-voting) Invited Guests Desmond, Celia Cohen, Robbie Cheung, Nim De Marca, Roberto Perra, Pierre Pape, John Clarkson, Trevor Siller, Curtis Worthman, Bruce Gelman, Alex Lee, Byeong-Gi Zuckerman, Doug Saracco, Roberto Blank, Howard Absent Officers (non voting) Members-at-Large (voting) Harris, Dale Freeman, Harvey Anderson, Ross Tranter, Bill (conference part time) Howell, Jack Bhargava, Vijay Weinstein, Steve Freeman, Harvey Recording Secretary Lee, Byeong Gi Swaim, Carole 1. Opening Remarks - Celia Desmond (Attachments 1--Agenda) Celia called the OpCom to order at 12:30 p.m., welcoming members and guests to her first official meeting as President of the IEEE Communications Society. Items on the meeting agenda were approved and the purpose of OpCom reinforced working through plans/projects for presentation (as appropriate) to the BoG for approval. Celia summarized the meeting with IEEE President, Ray Findlay, Harvey, and Jack: IEEE financial pressure will be reduced and less demands made to meet our original budget. Directors will bring position descriptions to the June BoG for posting on the web so future directors understand the responsibilities of the positions. (action 02:01 new) Celia s statement of trust presented to IEEE s Board of Directors in February that ComSoc would play a leading role in building an environment of trust amongst the IEEE units was well received by the Institute and its societies. The following motion was passed by the BoG via prior to Opcom: "that ComSoc approve joining TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) as a partner (with no financial burden) in sponsoring the TIA Research and Development Award." (motion 02:1) Such approval to be contingent on the recommendations made by Hal Sobal and others and accepted by TIA. (Attachment 1e) 2. Reports and Issues A. Technical Activities Technical Committee Exploder Report - Bill Tranter (Attachment 2) Regarding an action item that ComSoc control technical committee lists to prevent abuse, Bill proposed a plan to be reviewed by David Alvarez (staff) and then ed

2 to the BoG for discussion/vote. The policy (if approved) will go to technical committee chairs before their June TAC meeting. (action 01:13, continuing) Technical committees are to be re-certified in 2002 and results reported to the BoG. B. Emerging Technologies Standing Committee Nim Cheung (Attachment 3) Nim listed committee members, requesting OpCom s help identifying/recruiting experts from various technical areas (wireless, internet, nano-technology, etc.) Nim proposed a bimonthly column in IEEE Communications Magazine on emerging technologies (with committee members supplying input). C. Strategic Planning Committee Doug Zuckerman (Attachments 4) With the strong linkage of SPC and Emerging Technologies, these committees will work with the M&C Board evaluating topical areas for conferences; Doug will bring a strategy to the June BoG. Groupings include wireless, optical, internet, and management. If successful, SPC will evaluate areas such as publications, educational products, TC management, etc., and seek BoG approval to proceed by November. SPC will develop a strategy for conferences to be held in conjunction with regions, sections, related societies, and sister societies. D. Membership Development Trevor Clarkson, Howard Blank, Pierre Perra, John Pape (Attachments 5) Membership Programs Development (Trevor) Trevor is concerned about budget cuts to Member Programs; notably, the Student/Professional travel grants. Further reductions will significantly impact students seeking to attend Globecom. No additional professional grants will be awarded in Reductions directly impacting grass roots membership: Distinguished & Expert Lecture Program - reduced to $34K. Chapter funding - reduced to $42.5K. Financial incentive funding program - dropped. The Council will evaluate/develop programs in response to changing member needs, specifically reviewing the achievement criteria for chapter recognition. Regional Directors will investigate member initiatives for their regions. North America Region IEEE Management Development Retreat (Pierre) Pierre reported on Institute-wide efforts to recruit IEEE Senior members (98% renewal rate). Trevor will work with Regional Directors and bring a proposal to the BoG to increase ComSoc Senior membership. (action 02:2, new) Marketing (Howard/John) IEEE President, Ray Findlay, appointed Howard to chair a team charged to establish policy on how societies should deal with the Institute. He reports back to IEEE May 1. The team will work on the Next Generation Internet Presence (NGIP), setting policy to make interfacing standard. Howard will draft an Institute-level IT strategy/business plan. 2

3 Recommendations for immediate implementation are: agree on interfaces; proceed to building all key the products and services (details in attachment). John s marketing presentation illustrated/isolated revenue generated from members in specific ComSoc areas and related it to expenses. He segmented membership revenue into dues, optional publications, advertising, and conference registrations. Information on IEEE's revenue/expense of a member was included (from the IEEE June 2001 report on financial aspects of membership). E. Society Relations Alex Gelman, Curtis Siller (Attachments 6) Internet Impact & Visibility (Alex) This committee will develop guidelines for improving ComSoc s presence in the internet community. Chaired by Bill Tranter, its members are Ray Hapeman, Alex, Curtis, Roberto Saracco, and relevant technical committees. Related Societies (Curtis) Curtis identified several professional societies whose technical scope is complementary to that of ComSoc; he is beginning to lay groundwork for future corroborations that would achieve meaningful accomplishments. With a common factor of standards, Curtis will involve ComSoc in standards review processes (i.e., ISTO). Internet Society (ISOC) members have limited knowledge about ComSoc; Curtis suggests Transmission, Access & Optical Systems technical committee look at this area. Sister Societies (Alex) Review/extension of existing sister-society agreements is underway for Algirdas will seek opportunities with national professional societies in regions with no ComSoc presence. Recent agreement: LITTA in Latvia signed subsequent to OpCom Potential agreements: LIREB in Lithuania, HTE in Hungary, UEECE in Bulgaria, SEP in Poland, and BORES in Belarus. Alex recommended ComSoc s assuming full partnership responsibility for Journal of Communications & Networks in cooperation with KICS Sister Society. He and Byeong (working with Steve Weinstein and Algirdas Pakstas) will bring a proposal for JCN cosponsorship to our Journals Board. The group membership agreement with our Chinese sister societies has expired; there are no plans to renegotiate. Celia, Algirdas and C.S. Kuo will likely be Society envoys to China. Alex recommends a firm policy for chapters technical co-sponsorships of conferences, especially on IEEE logo exploitation and misuse. F. Membership Services - Roberto Saracco, Byeong Gi Lee (Attachments 7) Journals (Roberto) Bill Tranter, Nim Cheung and Rajiv Ramaswami proposed a 2003 trial launch of an Optical Communications Network series within JSAC. Roberto will seek BoG approval (by ballot); the proposal goes to IEEE TAB in June. (action 02:03, new) 3

4 IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications was successfully spun off from JSAC this year. Joe LoCicero will bring a business plan to the June BoG proposing a 100-page increment for 2002 and expansion of the journal from 4 to 6 issues in (action 02:04, new) The Steering Committee will consider a best paper award. Magazines (Byeong) Byeong is investigating a new magazine in optical communications and assessing its impact on IEEE Communication Magazines. Byeong will inform OpCom of the consensus of his Magazine Board (which meets at ICC). He (and Jack) will review a business model for this market, consider advertising potential, and bring a recommendation to the Board in June. (action 02:05, new) Meetings & Conferences (Roberto) Wireless is the first priority for new conferences; then, optical, management, and internet. Roberto recommends establishing a conference review committee (similar to TCRC for technical committees) to evaluate and set conference standards. M&C Board has dismissed the concept of exhibits only conferences; exhibits will continue being held in conjunction with major conferences. M&C will encourage competitive conferences to collocate/merge. ComSoc Expo was re-scheduled to collocate with Globcom 03. The effectiveness of Expo in attracting industry attendees will determine its success. Chih-Lin I appointed Radia Perlman, Nick Maxemchuk, and Scott Marcus to oversee the internet area on the M&C Board; objective is to gain a foothold in internet conferences. With student attendance increasing and no longer representing a loss to conferences, M&C will look into student issues/needs (student sessions, on-site recruiting, etc.). Education (Roberto) Unable to attend OpCom, Dale provided detailed goals/objectives directed at increasing membership and retaining current members, with heavy student emphasis. He will assign committees for specific tasks rather than a Board; mid-year goals: Committee overseeing development of educational services for undergraduate and masters-level students. Activating web site as a virtual community. Choosing service concepts (see attachment) and implementing by year-end. Dale proposed (in his report) leveraging conference tutorials by offering an online selection and partnering with providers to offer these courses at a cost savings to members. OpCom favors moving forward; Dale will start with one or two tutorials, and contract with a service to re-create them into professional education courses for online usage (on a revenue-shared basis with no cost to ComSoc). On-Line Services (Roberto) Roberto presented this Board s list of possible online services, including audio/powerpoint conference database services (live), ComSoc radio, tutorials data base (live), an expert network, job contacts, etc. Strategic Planning will investigate the financial aspects and present their recommendations to Laura. 4

5 G. CIO Report Robbie Cohen (Attachment 8) Robbie will work with staff implementing motion 01:51 that the Director Online Services evaluate/suggest improvements to the BoG web site to encourage Board members to utilize it. (action 02:06 new) Robbie, Chih-Lin I, and Bob Blake formed a Technical Program Software team to examine conference management software supporting major technical programs at Globecom/ICC. In June, Robbie will recommend to the BoG whether to continue with the ExpoTrack package or consider an alternate route. (action 02:07 new) Matt Loeb (IEEE) was asked to establish an Information Technology Advisory Board to document the purpose/charter for NGIP and develop interface guidelines for a portal. (David Alvarez and Joel Basco would represent ComSoc staff.) Howard s committee will plan NGIP strategy. Robbie will present an IEEE/ComSoc strategic plan based on Howard s strategy/business proposal and input from Strategic Planning. (action 02:08, new) An IEEE financial window has opened for ComSoc to proceed with the capital improvements proposed last year ($288K), with certain restrictions. Robbie will present a fully developed 2003 capital budget for discussion by June 1. (action 02:09 new) She recommends postponing portions of the access security redundancy and business continuity plans until H. Executive Report Jack Howell (Attachment 9) Jack announced completion and availability of ComSoc s totally functional and documented DVD. I. Treasurer s Report Harvey Freeman (Attachments 10) Harvey presented ComSoc s financial overview - covering the 2003 draft budget and 2002 forecast along with the issues at stake. Discussion centered on ways to meet the $758K surplus budgeted for 2002 and the current downturn in our industry base. The primary impact is in ad revenues (down from $2.6M to a projected $1.4M) and in conference revenues (an additional $358K short fall). The consensus of OpCom is that we cannot meet our surplus target but could possibly break-even (including the currently projected IEEE infrastructure charge). Regarding IEEE s financial requirements, the consensus is to take the additional tax from our reserves and pay back the reserves in the future; or, alternately, meet part of the allocation (additional cutbacks) and take the remainder from our reserves. Non compliance (on our part) means a further reduction of other societies reserves. Robbie moved OpCom table a motion (by de Marca) that the Treasurer prepare three estimates - pessimistic, realistic and optimistic. The BoG will manage (on a sound financial basis) all three estimates; only the estimate with optimistic assumptions will be sent to IEEE. (motion 02:02) Approved; 2 opposed; original motion tabled. A subsequent motion to accept all proposals as potential areas for cuts/reductions and to discuss them serially was withdrawn for lack of time for proper follow up with IEEE. Harvey s objective remains not to cut/remove programs that cannot be reinstated later this year if the financial picture improves. 5

6 Ross moved that, anticipating the 2002 budget will have a $1M shortfall, OpCom cut $242K from our 2002 expense budget and use our $758K surplus to zero out the budget. (motion 02:03) All approved. Howard moved that OpCom form a committee - Harvey (chair) Jack, Bruce, and Celia to recommend the $242K list of reductions and circulate their recommendations to OpCom for approval. (motion 02:04) All approved. The list will be ed to the Board of Governors; the April forecast going forward to IEEE will total $539K. 3. New Business Celia Desmond With ComSoc visibility at OFC virtually non-existent, Celia is soliciting solid recommendations from OpCom to rectify this situation. 4. Future Meetings - Celia Desmond BoG OpCom BoG Taiwan Tuesday (afternoon) Wednesday (morning), June 2002, NY, NY Thursday-Friday, 3-4 October 2002, (location TBD) Tuesday (afternoon) Wednesday (morning), November 2002, Taipei, 5. Closing Remarks - Celia Desmond Celia thanked the OpCom for their insight and persistence, especially with regard to the financial decisions that have been absorbing large portions of their time and energy. Meeting adjourned 12:30 p.m. followed by lunch. Respectfully submitted, Carole Swaim Attachment 1a - f Attachment 2 Attachment 3 Attachment 4a-d Attachment 5a-i Attachment 6a-e ATTACHMENTS Agenda President: OpPlan, Report, Statement of Trust, TAB Report, TIA Proposal/Motion Technical Activities TC Exploder List Emerging Technologies - Committee Report Strategic Planning - OpPlan and Conference Report Membership Development OpPlans and Reports Vice President, Membership Programs Development, Marketing, Staff Marketing overview, AP Region, EAME Region, LA Region, North America Region (2) IEEE Management Development Retreat Reports (3) Staff Marketing Presentation Society Relations OpPlans Vice President, Related Societies, Sister Societies; Society Relations Council Strategy; Sister Society Analysis 6

7 Attachment 7a-e Attachment 8 Attachment 9 Attachment 10a-c Membership Services Overview, OpPlans and Reports Vice President (includes all his Boards), Magazines, Education, Meetings & Conferences CIO Report Executive OpPlan Treasurer s Reports MOTIONS PASSED VIA 02:01 "that ComSoc approve joining TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) as a partner (with no financial burden) in sponsoring the TIA Research and Development Award." (motion 02:1) MOTIONS PASSED BY OPCOM 02:02 OpCom table a motion (by de Marca) that the Treasurer prepare three estimates - pessimistic, realistic and optimistic. The BoG will manage (on a sound financial basis) all three estimates; only the estimate with optimistic assumptions will be sent to IEEE. 02:03 That, anticipating the 2002 budget will have a $1M shortfall, OpCom cut $242K from our 2002 expense budget and use our $758K surplus to zero out the budget. 02:04 That OpCom form a committee -- Harvey (chair) Jack, Bruce, and Celia -- to recommend the $242K list of reductions and circulate their recommendations to OpCom for approval. ACTION ITEMS 02:01 new: Directors will bring position descriptions to the June BoG for posting on the web so future directors understand the responsibilities of the positions. 02:2 new: Trevor will work with Regional Directors and bring a proposal to the BoG to increase ComSoc Senior membership. 02:03 new: Roberto Saracco will seek BoG approval for a 2003 trial launch of an Optical Communications Network series within JSAC. 02:04 new: Joe LoCicero will bring a business plan for ToWC to the June BoG proposing a 100-page increment for 2002 and expansion of the journal from 4 to 6 issues in :05 new: Byeong (and Jack) will review a business model for a magazine in optical communications, consider advertising potential, and bring a recommendation to the BoG. 02:06 new: Robbie will work with staff implementing motion 01:51 that the Director Online Services evaluate/suggest improvements to the BoG web site to encourage Board members to utilize it. 02:07 new: Robbie will recommend to the BoG whether to continue with ExpoTrack or consider an alternate route. 02:08 new: Robbie will present to the BoG an IEEE/ComSoc strategic plan based on Howard Blank s strategy/business proposal as well as input from Strategic Planning. 7

8 02:09 new: Robbie will present a fully developed 2003 capital budget for discussion June 1. 01:09 continuing: Bill (and Curtis) will report to the BoG with a plan to consolidate conferences. 01:13 continuing: Bill s plan for TC exploder usage will be circulated to the BoG electronically for evaluation, discussion, and vote. The policy (if approved) will be brought to the technical committee chairs before their next TAC meeting in June. Bill Tranter will head a committee made up of VP-TA, some technical committee chairs, and IEEE and/or ComSoc Information Technology staff will address the technical committee exploder issue. Curtis will come to the BoG in November will a plan of action to handle TC mailing lists. 01:15 continuing: Robbie will check IEEE s Affiliate rule, working with Larry to revise Article 1.1 8