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October 2003 SMPE membership questionnaire results

Questions:		Results
1	I do not attend technical sessions because:
	They are not relevant to my interests	19%
	Not held at a convenient location, would prefer ____.	33%
	Would prefer better food & social atmosphere	14%
	Other comments
	Better subjects & too late in day

2	I am a member of the Society because:
	Ability to network	67%
	For the technical meetings	19%
	For the social events	38%
	Because of the scholarship loan program	14%
	Other

3	I have decreased my involvement in the Society because:
	The schedule and pressures of my job	33%
	The expense of attending events	19%
	I am retired	29%
	I am dissatisfied with the Societies leadership	0%
	Other

4	I did not attend the Dinner Dance because:
	Had other commitments, better in ___	14%
	Too expensive, would go if it cost less	48%
	It was in NYC, would go if in ___	10%
	Was not notified sufficiently	0%
	Was not sponsored	10%
	My spouse/date did not want to go because___	0%
	Other

5	Aware of and utilize the SMPE.org website for:
	Events schedule	43%
	Scuttlebutt	24%
	Roster	19%
	Resume/Jobs	10%

6	The thing I dislike most about the Society
	Unwilling to change, industry dying, bickering, not responsive,
	no return on investment

7	The thing I like most about the Society
	NETWORKING, people, socializing, fellowship

8	What should the Society do to improve attendance/participation.
	Improve social aspects, change locations, fieldtrips, better & relevant
	speakers/subjects, less frequent meetings, merge with other societies.

9	I am a:
	Member	38%
	Associate Member	48%

	Number of respondents	21

As a result of declining attendance at society meetings and events, the board undertook a membership survey to try to determine input as to what could be done to reverse this long term trend.

The results of the survey can be seen as summarized and detailed in the attached. My interpretation of the results are as follows.

In my opinion, the results indicate that the primary reason that people attend the meetings and events, are for networking and social purposes. The main reason that our membership does not attend meetings is because they are not held at a convenient location and time, and that the topics are not relevant to the member’s interests.

The main reason for not attending the annual SMPE dinner dance is because it is too expensive, particularly for retirees. Apparently having it in NYC was not an issue other than the expense. We should perhaps consider either reducing the cost of tickets to show a slight loss on the dinner and still profit from the Journal, or perhaps a sliding scale rate for personal or retired attendees as opposed to company sponsored attendance.

There is still a general unawareness of our website amongst our members, who do rely on the schedule of events when they visit the site. We should therefore concentrate on trying to keep that schedule up to date, and talk up the site whenever possible.

Interpretation of the last three questions probing what we can do to improve attendance, indicates that we should consider improving the social aspects of our meetings, perhaps have them less frequently and at better venues and locations in the tri-state area. In other words where our membership would want to attend because of better atmosphere, food, and location. The primary reason for attending is to network, not for technical presentations. Perhaps we should try shorter presentations, at a good restaurant, or a luncheon meeting in NJ. One respondent complained that he sees very little return on his investment in society functions and advertisement. We should also try to get back to the founders concept of a mutual benefit society. Mention the company’s sponsorships and journal advertisement when you deal with them.

One respondent suggested we should consider a merger with another technical society in order to cut expenses and overhead. I would suggest that he bring up this idea at a board meeting for discussion.

Several respondents stated that what they liked least about the society was an unwillingness to react to reality of our changing industry, slow to react, unwillingness to change, not responsive to new ideas, not trying to expand our membership base. I think the recent bylaws change and addition of student membership was a small step in the right direction, but that took around three difficult long years to finally accomplish. Having attended board meetings on a regular basis for many years, it is frustrating to see so much discussion for so little tangible results. If the board is of the consensus that everything is fine and nothing needs to change, then we should cut back on monthly board meetings, hold them every other month and alternate with technical meetings.

Personally I would hate to have it said in retrospect that we were asleep at the wheel and let the society run to ground. We need aggressive dynamic leadership, now! We should make up our minds, do nothing maintain the status quo and become extinct, or adapt and survive.

Erny Otterspoor