IEEE 2008 Sections Congress Recommendations

The highlight of every Sections Congress is when delegates develop and vote on recommendations that IEEE will address in order to best serve the needs of its members.

On Monday, 22 September, the Primary Section Delegates prioritized 20 recommendations that were developed during the issue caucuses.

These recommendations will be forwarded to the IEEE Board of Directors for assignment and action. Following this assignment, an update on each recommendation will be provided to each SC08 Attendee and Current Section Chair.

Top Ten Recommendation from IEEE Sections Congress - as prioritized by Primary Section Delegates. These recommendations will be presented to the IEEE Board of Directors in November 2008 for assignment and action.

Ranking	Group	Recommendation
1	Member Benefits	Every member to have an annual entitlement to a limited number of free IEEE Xplore downloads.
2	Business/Financial Operations	Payment Flexibility Members, especially students and those in developing countries who do not have credit cards, need flexible payment methods regardless of location and banking methods supporting aggregated payments in local currency. minimizing transaction costs and processing overheads.
3	Member Growth & Development	Provide "Leadership Training Handbook (Text and Multimedia) for Section Officers” to include: Volunteer Recruitment, Roles & Responsibilities of Section Chair and Section Committee, Presiding at Meetings, Documentation - Websites & Forms, Time Table for Elections & other formal IEEE Required Activities, and Transfer of Responsibilities to incoming officers.
4	IT Operations	The MGA Board to assign staff to develop, a user-friendly system and support to enable Sections, Chapters and Affinity Groups to deliver, at low cost, teleconferencing, collaborative technologies, and webinars as a free member benefit.
5	Member Growth & Development	For digital libraries: develop additional, smaller tiered packages (10, 20 items, etc.) which allow members to purchase defined quantities of digital content without expiration. Provide members permanent electronic access to previously purchased content.
6	Operations	Improve the implementation of recommendations identified at Sections Congress.
7	Member Benefits	There are a good number of IEEE member benefits that are relevant or accessible to Regions 1 - 6 members only. IEEE should implement similar benefits of local relevance across all Regions.
8	Business/Financial Operations	Sections and chapters need a web-based payment solution for small local events that is: Low cost Secure and immediate Capable of depositing into a concentration banking account or international equivalent with event and payer identification
9	IT Operations	Provide support and tools for the creation and maintenance of easy to update Section web sites with “single sign-on” authentication via IEEE web accounts featuring at least blogs, meeting calendars and member surveys. Use commonly available, best practice technologies not requiring programmer support for day to day use.
10	Membership	Implement Sustained Membership options for all membership grades exclusive of student grade: Single dues payment for multiple years/life-long membership; Increasing benefits in proportion to the length of renewal. Lowers IEEE administrative expenses related to “annual” membership cycles.