What's Inside: September 2021
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Planning to Succeed
- By Marie Hunter, Head of IEEE Global Meetings, Conferences and Events
Stay in the Know
- Start Your Next Contract Using the NextGen Contract Management System (CMS)
Organize Like a Pro
- Who You Gonna Call? Establishing a Contact Person for Your Conference
- MCE Conference Education – Valuable Anytime, Anywhere Resource for Conference Leaders and Organizers
- MCE Trendspotting: Audio-based Social Apps
Meet the MCE Team
- Kevin Uherek, Senior Business Operations Manager
Available Resources
- Expand Your Audience with the Updated Audience Development Toolkit
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Case Study: The 2021 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica Virtual Event Explores New Ways to Engage and Inspire
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Are your registration prices keeping pace with inflation? It is a good time to stop and look at how your expenses are anticipated to increase in the coming year. Consider fuel, food and beverages, shipping, audio/video, and most of all -- labor expenses as you prepare to set your final registration fees. Many of these categories are seeing steep increases and supply and demand pressures.
Perhaps also take a look back and see when the last increase was implemented and determine how you need to set pricing to achieve your target return on investment. If planning a few years out, and agreeing to inflation-indexed pricing, remember to also adjust revenue streams accordingly.
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Start Your Next Contract Using the NextGen Contract Management System (CMS)
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The NextGen Contract Management System (CMS) is now live and available for use. The new Contract Request Form enables users to conveniently initiate a contract review by entering basic information into the CMS.
How do I start a new contract?
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First, please be sure to use the most recent template for the contract you would like to initiate found here: Templates.
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In the past, you may have emailed an IEEE team member or department mailbox to initiate a contract; now, you can do so directly in the CMS by clicking the +New Request button and completing a new Contract Request Form.
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- After submitting your form, a staff contact will be provided to you on CMS.
- Some areas that may need to be covered during the review of your contract include: vendor screening and set up, IT security review, as well as business and legal reviews.
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If you have any technical difficulties during the process, please contact the IEEE Support Center.
Where can I find training?
IEEE invites you to receive training for the NextGen Contract Management System (CMS). As you may know, there is now a form (Contract Request Form) to be completed to initiate a contract review by entering basic information into the CMS.
We request you to please attend this training to get an understanding of how to initiate a contract:
Here are some training materials, including a user guide, quick reference card, and video tutorials:
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Who You Gonna Call? Establishing a Contact Person for Your Conference
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We have all been there. You need an answer to a question or a solution to a problem, but you can’t find any contact information online. After scouring the web for 10 minutes with no luck, you might feel pretty frustrated. You may also not feel so positively about working with the group in question again in the future.
Now imagine you are a conference participant. You might be a student attending her first conference, a presenter traveling from thousands of miles away, or a participant who is a non-native language speaker. Having a contact person listed on your conference website can determine whether these participants decide to attend your conference and whether they have a positive experience. Designating a contact person can also head off potential problems that can impact the quality of your event.
Here are some best practices for establishing a contact person for your conference.
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- Select the appropriate person on your Committee to be the contact person. Make sure you have their permission to be listed on your site.
- Include the contact person’s name and an email address they check often. Consider adding the contact person’s photo for a personal touch.
- Ensure the contact person has the necessary information to field general questions and can respond to messages promptly. If you expect many inquiries, consider listing two contact people, or use a group alias.
- Have a process in place for handling specific questions (e.g., routing to another Committee member or sending to the Conference Chair for questions that require decisions).
- Make the contact person’s information easy to find on your site and not buried several pages deep.
- Although schedules can be busy, the contact person should try to respond to inquiries promptly. Consider listing a response timeframe on your site and sticking to it.
- In addition to listing a contact person, also consider having a FAQ page with responses to popular general questions on your website.
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If you have questions about designating a contact person for your event, please reach out to the MCE team.
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MCE Conference Education – Valuable Anytime, Anywhere Resource for Conference Leaders and Organizers
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The MCE Conference Education program has provided IEEE conference volunteers ways to actively engage and improve their organizing knowledge and skills during the global pandemic disruptions of the past two years. Not surprisingly, the program, initiated in 2012, experienced historic usage levels of on-demand courses in 2020/21.
In addition, the number of IEEE organization units (OU) running conference workshops increased significantly in this same period. Workshops provide excellent opportunities for member engagement and sharing organizer best practices and local knowledge.
The education resources available include:
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On-Demand Conference Role-Based Education
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MCE Conference Education has comprehensive education resources, including 25 eLearning courses, plus 28 on-demand webinars on a wide range of conference topics.
All courses are available in the IEEE Center for Leadership Excellence (CLE) and are available on a 24/7/365 basis. Learn at your convenience and on your schedule. Courses are concise, yet information-packed. Certificates are available for all completed courses.
Conference role-specific learning paths help individuals gain the knowledge and skills to be successful. Available learning paths:
- Conference Treasurer
- Technical Program Chair
- Conference Publications Chair
- Event Planning
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IEEE Unit Virtual Conference Education Workshops
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Conference education provides IEEE units (Region, Section, Society, etc.) opportunities to create engaging member activity, improve the organizer experience, and lift the quality of sponsored conferences.
MCE Conference Education will support you and volunteer presenters conducting virtual workshops, with consultation, guidance, and materials. A library of up-to-date presentations, with speaker notes, is available to simplify the organizing effort.
In addition to material regarding the primary conference organizer roles, the following are available for units to deliver locally:
- Conference Author Basics
- NEW! – Conference Peer Reviewer Basics
If you are interested in conducting conference organizer/leader education for your Region, Section, or Society, please contact Kevin Hanft ([email protected])
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MCE Trendspotting: Audio-based Social Apps
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As the landscape of social networking continues to evolve, a new category of audio-based models has come to the forefront. The primary use case for these is networking and discussions, where individuals can actually take part in real-time conversations around specific and general topics.
Visit our MCE Trendspotting blog to learn about a few of the emerging platforms in this space.
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Photo courtesy of Discord.com
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Meet Kevin Uherek, Senior Business Operations Manager
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As Senior Business Operations Manager, I oversee and participate in a variety of special projects, initiatives, and day-to-day operational functions within MCE. I help establish proper coordination between project stakeholders, sometimes cross-departmentally, and make recommendations for improvements. I also partner and collaborate with multiple groups across IEEE to gather critical information and stay apprised of company-wide initiatives. I ensure that business practices and projects align with strategic outcomes expected by the business users.
My responsibilities include developing operational plans and solutions for a variety of complex business/technical issues; organizing and managing internal teams to achieve organizational goals; and evaluating current business practices and technical solutions to look for ways to improve.
Some current projects I am involved in include: multiple ICX enhancements for the remainder of 2021; vetting between MCE & IEEE Legal; Disaster Functional Recovery testing; COVID impact research; and OFAC-related enhancements.
I have an Associate’s Degree in Telecommunications Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Corporate Finance. In 2001 I started working at IEEE as a temp with Mary Ward-Callan and Ken Gilbert. Mary was kind enough to say they wanted to make me permanent but was unable to because of a hiring freeze. She arranged for me to continue as a temp until something opened up permanently.
This coming February will be my 20th anniversary with IEEE, all of which have been within Technical Activities! I spent my first five years with the Signal Processing Society. After that, I joined MCE, where I have been able to make several career advancements over the years. To me, IEEE has always provided an opportunity to continue to learn and grow.
The best part about working at IEEE is the diversity. I enjoy collaborating with fellow co-workers and volunteers. During my entire time with IEEE, I have always liked having a bird's-eye/Google Earth-type view of IEEE's business. While all of my positions have been within Technical Activities, I have greatly appreciated learning and working on cross-departmental projects as well. Everyone has a unique skill set and viewpoint of our business. Collectively we can Advance Technology for Humanity. Yes, everyone plays an important role!
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Expand Your Audience with the Updated Audience Development Toolkit
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The MCE Audience Development Toolkit has been updated! Check out the new and improved version to stay informed on the latest social media trends and hot topics to help grow your event. You can download the Audience Development Toolkit on the IEEE MCE website.
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- New features across platforms including LinkedIn Showcases, LinkedIn Events, Twitter Spaces, and more
- How to effectively use Clubhouse to help with event promotion and audience growth
- New Interactive Instagram Live and Story Features
- Updated sizing and stats for social media platforms and creatives
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Download the free Audience Development Toolkit to help grow your event participation. Reach out to MCE if you’re interested in a free brainstorm session for your conference, or interested in partnering with MCE Audience Development services.
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Case Study: The 2021 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica Virtual Event Explores New Ways to Engage and Inspire
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In August 2021, IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica (PAC 2021) went virtual for the second year in a row. Co-sponsored by the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) and the Industrial Applications Society (IAS), PAC 2021 is the premier forum for sharing innovations in power systems integrations for the African continent. With a successful 2020 event behind them, the Organizing Committee, led by General Chair, Humphery Muhindi, took the 2021 event as an opportunity to innovate, increase engagement, and explore new virtual event approaches. Language translation, exhibitor innovations, entrepreneurship, short paper tracks to spur ideas, and close group discussions, all played roles in the event’s success.
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IEEE Meetings, Conferences & Events (MCE)
445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
Phone: +1 855 340 4333 (Toll-free US & Canada)
+1 732 562 3878 (Worldwide)
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