Section Chair Quick Start Training

IEEE Center for Leadership Excellence

Welcome to the Section Chair Quick Start Training. This training assumes you have been recently elected to the position of Section Chair and want to quickly learn the basics of your position. You’ve found the right place.

The Section Chair is the senior executive of the Section. The Chair sets the tone for the Section and is the public face of the Section. You are responsible for helping your fellow Officers involve and provide for the members of IEEE in your local area.

A number of topics have been identified that are important to address in the first 30 days. In fact, a number of items can be done before you start your term of office.

1. Know Your Section/Chapter Officers

If you have not already done so, identify and contact the other elected volunteers in your Section. These should include a Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer (or combined Secretary-Treasurer). Some Sections choose to have other positions elected; check with any Section Bylaws or operations manual for a list of these. You should make sure each of your fellow Officers is aware of the importance of using their IEEE Account so they may have access to the information, tools, and support that they will need in order to carry out their jobs.

A personal contact by e-mail, phone, or even a face-to-face would help jump start building key relationships within the Section Executive Committee.

Most IEEE Sections have a number of Standing Committees, Technical Chapters, Affinity Group, and/or Student Branches. The Section Operations Manual should contain a list of available positions to match with officers.

Learn More:

Key Points:

Who the Committee, Chapter, and Affinity Group Chairs in your Section are
The key IEEE bylaws that apply to organizations you will be interacting with, including your own Section and Chapters
The requirements for serving as an IEEE Officer and/or Committee Chair within your Geographic Unit

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2. Getting Organized with Tools

Your time is very important. In order to use your time effectively, you need to become familiar with the various forms and tools provided by IEEE which will assist your Section Officers in doing their jobs. Visit the links below and get guidance from the prior Officers.

Work with the Section Secretary and other Section/Chapter volunteers to establish an annual calendar. Make sure that all your Section members are informed of dates/topics of these meetings - this can be accomplished using vTools.Meetings.

As the Section Chair, you will be responsible for running the regular meetings of the Section Executive Committee. Each unit has established their own business process which is used when they conduct their meetings and you should become familiar with this process. Additionally, you should become familiar with the Robert’s Rules of Order and how they can facilitate the running of your Section meetings.

Learn More:

Key Points:

A typical calendar of events for a Section
Robert’s Rules of Order
The types of meeting the Section may hold

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3. Documentation Management

As the Chief Operating Officer of the Section, you need to make sure that the activities of your Section and Chapters are captured and reported appropriately.

Review the material noted in the documentation management section of the Quick Start Training for Secretaries. The Secretary’s role is much more than record keeping - he/she is a steward of the Section’s history and future, bringing critical data to enable Executive Committee (ExCom) decision making and deliver real value to members who keep the Section engaged, relevant, and sustainable in the long term.

Review the material noted in the documentation management section of the Quick Start Training for Treasurers. Make sure that you are a signer on the Section bank account. Additionally, the Section Chair and Treasurer should periodically review the original monthly account statements and compare them to a recent financial report. It is good business practice for Unit Leaders to review account activity so that more than one person has oversight of the financial records.

Learn More:

Key Points:

A sample agenda for your Section Executive Committee Meetings
A typical Section Budget
Become familiar with documentation management items related to Section Secretaries and Treasurers

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4. Section Planning and Goal Setting

The principal responsibility of a Section Executive Committee (ExCom) member is to oversee the management of the Section, and in so doing, serve the best interests of IEEE, its members, and the public.

As the Section Chair, you will lead the Section Executive Committee to review/revise Section activities to ensure that they are in agreement with the MGA Mission, Vision, and Goals.

Within the first 30 days, your Section ExCom should meet to establish a calendar of events, goals, priorities, and to assign responsibilities for various activities.

Whatever you want to accomplish, it’s better done as a coordinated team. If you can work from an existing plan, that’s great; otherwise you need to work with your ExCom to set goals. This is best done in a group environment. To help you out, we’ve provided some resources to hold a Strategic Planning Session. A good source of help is your Region’s Strategic Planning Chair or your Area Chair. Both of these are experienced in leading groups in setting goals and can help you develop a plan.

Learn More:

What is a typical calendar of events for a Section?
What is the IEEE Envisioned Future?
What are the IEEE Member and Geographic Activities Mission, Vision, and Goals and the Section Mission and Vision?
How to incorporate the IEEE and MGA Vision at the local level? (PDF, 72 KB)
Strategic Planning for the IEEE Section (to be developed)

Key Points:

Become familiar with IEEE and MGA Mission, Vision and Goals
The importance of incorporating the IEEE/MGA Vision into local activities

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5. Review Your Job Description

As with any other job, it helps to know what your job duties are. As the Section Chair, you are the Chief Operating Officer of the Section and are responsible for ensuring that the Section (including Section Technical Chapters and Section Affinity Groups) are fulfilling the Section Mission and Goals. The Section Chair ensures that all local units are in compliance with IEEE Policies and local regulations.

The Section Chair manages the operations of the Section to ensure that the best interests of the local members are being met. The Section Chair provides leadership and guidance to other Section volunteers and ensures that the Section activities are focused on increasing member engagement and satisfaction.

The Section Chair represents the needs of Section members by providing feedback to Region Committee and/or IEEE Organizational Units.

As the Section Chair, you:

serve as the Chair of the IEEE Section Executive Committee;
preside at meetings of the IEEE Section Executive Committee;
represent the Section at IEEE gatherings;
represent the Section at Regional Committee Meetings and vote on issues on the basis of the best interest of IEEE.

Learn More:

What is the complete job description for Section Chair? (DOC, 106 KB)

Key Points:

The Section Chair is the Chief Operating Officer of the Section
The Section Chair is responsible for ensuring that all local units are in compliance with IEEE policies

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6. Roles/Responsibilities within Your Section

As the Section Chair, you:

are responsible for ensuring that the Section Executive Committee provides adequate management of the Section, and in so doing, serves the best interests of the IEEE, its members, and the public;
will identify appropriate volunteers for the Section’s non-elected positions and present their appointments to the Section Executive Committee for review;s
serve as a signer on the Section bank account and authorize disbursements as approved by the Section Executive Committee;
ensure that all Section Officers, Committee Chairs, Chapter Chairs, and Affinity Group Chairs are aware of their responsibilities and duties;
are responsible for ensuring, if a Section Officer is unable to perform his/her duties. that the duties are completed;
ensure that the Section (including Section Technical Chapters and Section Affinity Groups) are conducting activities on a regular basis and this information is being reported to IEEE MGA;
ensure that a Section Nominating Committee is established in accordance with MGA Guidelines.

Learn More:

Key Points:

The Section Chair is responsible for ensuring that the Section serves the best interests of the IEEE, its members, and the public.
The Section Chair is responsible for making appointment to the Section’s non-elected positions.

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7. Train Your Section Officers

A Section is only as effective as its Officer corps. A key activity for the Section Chair is to make sure your fellow Officers understand what they are to accomplish in their positions. For the elected positions of Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer, there are Quick Start training modules similar to this training available through the links below.

An effective way to support Officer training is to schedule a training meeting in the first few weeks of your term with the elected Officers. At this meeting, have each Officer provide a summary of their position so that everyone understands their role in the Section leadership.

To make your and their jobs easier, you need to make sure that each Officer is familiar with the roles and responsibilities for their position.

As the Section chair, you should also be always trying to recruit and attract more member to serve as volunteers your local Section.

Learn More:

Quick Start Training - Section Vice Chair and Job Description (DOC, 107 KB)
Quick Start Training - Section Treasurer and Job Description (DOC, 105 KB)
Quick Start Training - Section Secretary and Job Description (DOC, 105 KB)
Quick Start Training - Technical Chapter Chair and Job Description (DOC, 41 KB)
Do you have any tips for recruiting and retaining volunteers?

Key Points:

The Section Chair is responsible for ensuring that all required tasks are completed
If an Officer is unable to perform their duties, the Section Chair is responsible for ensuring that the task is completed
The Section Chair should actively recruit IEEE members to serve as volunteers for the Section

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8. Publicizing Section/Chapter Activities

As the Section Chair, you are responsible for involving and engaging the members in your Section with one another and the rest of IEEE. As part of this, it is important that you clearly communicate and involve the members of your Section in the goals and programs of the Section. Thus, an important step after establishing the goals for the year and beyond is to communicate the goals to the members so that they may find ways that they can be involved in the process and contribute or participate as they see fit. This communication can be in the form of a newsletter article, a posting to the Section Web site, or even the topic of a Section meeting early in your term - or some combination of the above.

You can also publicize your activities using IEEE Enotice and using the v-Tools meeting tool.

Learn More:

What information should be included on our Section Web site?
What should be included in a Section Newsletter? (to be developed)
What is IEEE e-Notice?
What is the vTools.Meetings tool?
What is IEEE Entity Web Hosting?

Key Points:

Continuous communication with you Section members is an important component of getting them engaged in IEEE activities.

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9. Concluding Thoughts

Congratulations - once you have kicked off your term as Section Chair with the above Quick Start topics, you have the basic tools to hit the ground running in your role. Your role will evolve after the first 30 days as a critical part of the Section’s Executive Committee, and additional materials will be made available for you to examine additional tools after the first 30 days.

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