Electronic Newsletters - Start the Transition

You have your electronic mailing list and it is working well. Your web page is up and running, and all the links are good. Your membership is still receiving hard copy newsletters, but they are also getting it on email and/or accessing it on the web.

Until you and your Unit's membership are ready to go completely electronic, you will want to approach the transition in phases. If you have a monthly newsletter, perhaps go to bi-monthly, or even quarterly. If you have a quarterly newsletter, reduce the number you send out by one, preferably at the slowest time of the year.

As you phase in the electronic format, seek out feedback from the membership with email inquiries, or a survey on the web page, and an request for feedback on the electronic formats in the continuing hard copy newsletter. This will help you to decide when to move on to the next phase, be it cutting back on another issue of the hard copy, or going all-electronic.

Your Section should not go "all" electronic. IEEE Sections are required to distribute at least one hard-copy mailing to all Section members at least once each year. The mailing can be as small as a postcard, and should contain the following information:

1. How to subscribe to the Section email list
2. The URL for the Section's web page
3. How members can update membership information in the IEEE master database ( www.ieee.org/coa)

Many Sections send one hard copy newsletter annually at the time of their elections, so it serves several purposes. It: announces the candidates, informs the members, and includes information on how to receive the newsletter electronically.

These guidelines are merely suggestions for how your Section might go electronic. Different Sections will have varying levels of success. Please give us your feedback as you undertake this process. We would like to share successes and lessons learned with other Sections pursuing electronic newsletters.