Mega Issues
The FY12 Society Mega Issues (MI) that are being worked this year are:
MI 00116: How can SWE inspire companies to provide creative opportunities for engineers who want to contribute in their industry and attend to family needs?
- Team Lead: Karla Tankersley
MI 00121: How do we change the conversations from what member value SWE provides to how engaged are our members?
- Team Lead: Christine Cabrea
Mega Issue 121 is focused on discovering how we can get more members to be engaged in SWE instead of having SWE provide services to members. To do so, we have found 4 areas that need to be addressed: section communication, value of time, lack of interest in section activities, and SWE as a support group. The following are quotes from the membership survey that are driving our questions:
- Section Communication
- “I don’t hear from my local section”
- Difficulty finding/contacting local section
- Value of Time
- “too much time spent on bylaws and procedures”
- Lack of Time to Participate/Other Life Priorities/
- Timing/Scheduling of Events
- Location?
- Lack of Interest in Section Activities/or Not Enough Activities (“my section is not very active”)
- “very few activities, no mentor progams, and no technical seminars”
- Support Group
- “a place for people who already know each other to meet and greet. Outsiders aren’t made to feel a part of the loop”
We are looking for Best Practices in the above areas and how those best practices have helped with Member Engagement. If you would like to provide an input, please contact Amy Jo.
Section Communication area:
SWE-LA section conducted a survery earlier this year to get an idea of whether we were sending out too little or too much communication to our members. Here are the results:
- 96% indicated that they were happy with the frequency of SWE-LA communication (once/week via email).
- When we asked about changing the frequency of the email, 52% indicated that they would prefer to keep it as 1x/week. A recurring comment regarding the weekly emails was that “If I don’t have a lot of time one week too look at the e-mail, I’d like to have the next week’s e-mail as a reminder. If I only read every other SWE-LA e-mail, and they’re sent only twice a month, I may miss events that I’m interested in.”
- People really enjoy the Fun Facts we include in the emails, as well as the mix of SWE National and local information. As one survey respondant noted, “It’s a one stop shop for all SWE-LA info”
- We did get feedback regarding the emails: Members have asked for links to the website (which would have additional information), as well as a contact for suggesting ideas and events.
- When asked where members get their “SWE-LA News,” 92% indicated it was through the Weekly Emails. No one indicated Facebook or our website.
We had 25 people participate in our survey.
Jessica Hunt
April 12, 2012