January 2002 Newsletter
Mark S. Gilfand, CDP
Region 5 President
The new year is upon us. With it comes new challenges...and new opportunities as chapters search for better ways to (1) meet the needs of its current members and (2) increase membership by providing more value to the local IT community. The Region can help chapter leaders meet these challenges. We can help by communicating Association information. We can help by sharing best practices from other chapters. We can help by drawing upon the experience of many long-time Chapter and Association leaders.
This spring, there will be a chapter leaders workshop right after the Chapter Liaison meeting in St. Louis. This fall there will a Region conference in Bloomington, Illinois. This newsletter is a method to share best practices and chapter successes. I hope that you will be able to take advantage of these opportunities and make 2002 a year of renewal for AITP.
Send in your 2002 Chapter Officer Lists to the Region and Association
Please be sure to send in your new chapter officer lists to Association headquarters and the Region. This includes the student chapters. The forms are part of the Professional and Student Chapter Operations Manuals, available for download at the Association Web site: http://www.aitp.org .
To send the form to the Region, you can send them to Region 5 webmaster, Perry
Fritz, and me.
My address is: mark.gilfand.ah3y@statefarm.com
Perry's address is: fritzp@schencksolutions.com
This is a good opportunity to check the your chapter's links (both professional and student chapters) at the Association web site and the Region 5 web site ( http://www.aitp.org/region5/ ).
Every month, more and more non-members are checking the Association and Region web sites to find information about local chapters.
NCC Funding Assistance
Region 5 will allocate $400 for each of up to six teams that register and compete in the 2002 National Collegiate Conference (NCC), April 4-6, 2002 in Kansas City Missouri. More information about NCC can be found at the Association web site.
In January, I will send a memo to Faculty Advisors and Chapter Presidents that includes the Region 5 NCC funding application. The applications will be due back to me by March 4th. Please be sure that Association Headquarters has the correct names and email addresses for your Student Chapter President and Faculty Advisor.
A Region 5 committee (Central Illinois' Bill Reaugh and Racine-Kenosha's Gary Keller) will review the applications and select the six teams. Checks will be mailed to the faculty advisors of the selected teams about a week prior to NCC.
If last year is any indication, competition for NCC funding assistance will be fierce. The Region 5 committee looks at the following criteria to help select the recipients:
- Completeness of the data provided.
- Student chapter activities throughout the year.
- Students already registered for NCC. A copy of the NCC registration forms must accompany the NCC funding assistance application.
- Initiatives undertaken to secure other sources of funding (e.g. from student activities, the school, or the host chapter). The idea is that the students took the initiative to try to find other sources of funding and did not necessarily rely on the Region as their only avenue for funds.
NCC is a great opportunity for our students. And it is a great opportunity for professional chapters to work with their student chapters.
Region 5 Semi-Annual Meeting to be Combined with St. Louis "Web Cast"
The Spring 2002 Region 5 "Chapter Liaison" meeting will be hosted by the St. Louis Chapter. The Region 5 meeting will be coordinated with the St. Louis chapter's monthly business meeting the evening of April 25, 2002. The formal Region business meeting will take place the morning of April 26. A chapter leaders' workshop will be held the afternoon of April 26.
You are invited to attend the St. Louis Chapter monthly meeting on April 25, 2002 from 6:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. A dinner is planned so reservations will be necessary (details about the location, dinner meeting and reservations will come later.). The student chapters of the St. Louis Chapter will be presenting the first ever AITP Web Cast meeting to showcase Web Cast Technology and Student Skills.
This Web Cast presentation will serve as a trial to present the 2003 National Conference via Web Cast so that all professional and student chapters can simultaneously participate from their local chapter meeting site! Finally, technology can bring us together without the cost of travel and the loss of business workdays. If AITP chapters across the United States plan their chapter meeting on the same day and we coordinate the time changes, the 2003 AITP National Conference will the largest attended conference ever!
Much depends on the success of the April 25, 2002 meeting. The St. Louis Chapter invites you to attend this pre-Region 5 meeting event. As the Pacesetter Region, please support the St. Louis Chapter trial of this new approach with your attendance and critique. If the trial proves successful, perhaps the 2003 Region 5 Conference can be combined with the 2003 National Conference to offer AITP members an awesome conference from their local chapter meeting site!
(Note: The location of the 2003 Association Conference will be discussed and hopefully decided at the Association's Board of Directors meeting on January 12.)
Thanks goes to Milwaukee's Ellen Mahoney for volunteering to work with the St. Louis Chapter to set up the Region meeting and Chapter Leaders Workshop. Details will be in a future edition of the Region newsletter.
AITP Table Top Promotion Display Available from HQ
Has your chapter ever manned a booth at a local fair or conference? Did you wish there was a big AITP display available to attract people to the booth?
Well, there is an AITP promotion display available from Association Headquarters. It is approximately 3' wide by 5' tall and weighs about 36 lbs. It can be used as a table top or stand-alone display. It is by-fold and can be easily assembled by one person. It also has attachable wheels.
You can even request applications and brochures for the booth. Headquarters usually includes a few back issues of Information Executive -- enough to read at the booth, but not enough to pass out to perspective members.
To request the booth, applications, brochures, etc. just send an email to Sandy Butrum at AITP Headquarters: Sandy_Butrum@aitp.org State in the email when you need the booth and materials, where they should be sent, and with the attention of someone's name. Your chapter is responsible for shipping the booth back to headquarters in a timely fashion.
AITP's Largest Chapter
The "horse race" for the honor of being the "largest chapter in the universe" can't get any closer. As of November 30, Northeastern Wisconsin and Windy City both stood at 191 members. We'll find out which chapter gets the top spot when the December 31 membership numbers become available.
As of the end of November, Region 5 (the Pacesetter Region) led the way in the 2001 Membership Campaign with 13.7%. Two Region 5 chapters were in the Top 10: St. Louis was #7 with 24.1% and Windy City was #8 at 24.0%.
Awards Information
Confused about all the AITP awards that are available - AMA, IPA, SIPA, PCS, COPA, SCOPA, ROCA, AOCA, DISA, IPPSA, etc.? (Whew...enough acronyms?) Check out the AITP awards manual at the AITP web site.
To get the Awards Manual:
- Go to aitp.org
- Select "Site Map" (top of the home page)
- Scroll down to the "AITP Documents" section
- Select "Manuals/Awards/Forms"
- Select "Awards Manual"
- While you are there, check out the other manuals.
Some award information is to be sent to "The Region". Please send that information to:
Mark Gilfand, CDP
State Farm Insurance
3 State Farm Plaza South, P1
Bloomington, IL 61791-0001
mark.gilfand.ah3y@statefarm.com
309-766-3782 (phone)
309-735-7950 (fax)
Region News and Calendar
One of the purposes of the Region is to share information among the chapters. Send me information about chapter events and activities that you'd like other chapters to know about. Information received by the 16th of the month will be put in the next newsletter, which will be completed by the 29th. You can email me at: mark.gilfand.ah3y@statefarm.com
** Note:
Some of these dates are tentative and should be solidified within the next few weeks.
The February region newsletter will note which dates have changed.
Calendar for Region 5 and its Chapters
| January 1, 2002 | Chapter Officer Lists due to HQ and Region |
| January 31, 2002 | Region 5 NCC Funding applications sent to chapters by this date |
| February 28, 2002 | Chapter Newsletter Contest Entries due to HQ |
| March 1, 2002 | AITP Faculty Advisor of the Year entries due to HQ.
Available to student chapters of:
|
| March 1, 2002 | Region Funding / Financial Report due to HQ |
| March 4, 2002 | Region 5 NCC Funding applications due to Region President |
| March 22, 2002 | Region 5 NCC Funding checks sent to the selected chapters |
| March 25, 2002 | Official notification of April 26 Region Meeting due to Chapter Liaisons |
| March 25, 2002 | Proposed Region Operating Procedure updates due to Chapter Liaisons |
| March 30, 2002 | Chapter Outstanding Performance Award (COPA) certification sheets due to HQ and Region |
| April 1, 2002 | Distinguished Information Sciences Award (DISA) candidate names due to HQ |
| April 4-6, 2002 | National Collegiate Conference (NCC) in Kansas City |
| April 16, 2002 | Chapter nominations for the Information Processing Public Service Award (IPPSA) due to Region President, who forwards them to the Chapter Liaisons for a vote at the Region Meeting. |
| April 25, 2002 | St. Louis dinner meeting featuring a "Web Cast" meeting by the St. Louis student chapters |
| April 26, 2002 | Student Individual Performance Award (SIPA) deadline |
| April 26, 2002 | Region 5 Semi-Annual Business Meeting and Chapter Leaders' Workshop in St. Louis |
| April 30, 2002 | Region President letter submitting Region Outstanding Chapter Award (ROCA) winner for Association Outstanding Chapter Award (AOCA) due to HQ |
| April 30, 2002 | Professional Chapter Standard Incentive Program (PCS 2000) documentation due to HQ |
| May 1, 2002 | Student Chapter Outstanding Performance Award (SCOPA) packets due to Region |
| May 1, 2002 | Wall of Fame Award Nomination Form due to HQ |
| May 1, 2002 | 2 & 4 Year Institution Award entries due to HQ |
| May 6, 2002 | Region IPPSA candidate submission due to HQ |
| May 15, 2002 | Region submits SCOPA information to HQ |
| Sept/Oct, 2002 | Region 5 Conference and Business Meeting in Bloomington, IL (working with hotel on exact dates) |
| October 1, 2002 | Association election ballets due |
| October 1, 2002 | Chapter Dues Adjustment Form due to HQ |
| Oct. 31- Nov. 2, 2002 | Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas |
| November 1, 2002 | Student Officer List due to HQ |
| November 1, 2002 | Faculty Advisor Update due to HQ |
The Association Calendar is available at the Association Web site, in the "Rosters and Reports" section.