Activities in Planning |
Potential Problems |
Possible Solutions |
| 1. Ensuring
a large audience |
a. Branch and/or EE is
not big enough |
a. Consider working with
other nearby Student Branches, and have a joint S-PAC; also consider involving other
Engineering Departments or Computer Science. If big EE population and low membership,
consider having a membership drive in conjunction with the S-PAC and a price reduction (or
free) for new members. |
| b. Branch is apathetic |
b. Seek support of
authority figures (Department Head, Dean, University President, Section Chair, Industrial
leader) to sanction your S-PAC; use staged advertising to raise curiosity; use committee
members to spread by word of mouth; convey how S-PAC participation may give the students
insight on the "real world." |
| c. Conflicts with other
campus or academic activities |
c. Get support of
Department (Department Head and/or Branch Counselor, or other faculty members) to help
avoid academic conflicts and to make time available; work with other campus groups to
identify possible conflicts well in advance. Department secretaries often have schedules
for department activities that may pose a conflict. |
| d. Insufficient
advertising |
d. Some good short term
measures are leaflets, in-class advertising, word-of-mouth by the committee members,
campus radio advertising (if available), massive postering campaign (inexpensive
photocopies.) |
| e. Inappropriate ticket
prices |
e. Ticket prices should
be based on your costs as determined from the Budget Planning Worksheet. If they are too
high and you are not making a profit, perhaps your expenses are too high, or your income
from sources other than tickets is too low. Consult your Regional S-PAC Coordinator for
advice on how to keep your ticket prices low. |
| f. Ticket sales are not
going well |
f. This is probably due
to one of the above problems. Dropping ticket prices should only be done with caution
because your budget was based on a certain ticket income. Review the budget carefully
before doing this. Consider an advertising blitz, and look for possible conflicts (such as
a mid-term exam or major activity) that may be part of the problem. |
| 2.
Seeking funding |
a. Little
support of EE Department or School |
a. If there
is truly no money, then perhaps they can help by providing free facilities, A/V equipment,
postage, photocopying, and other supplies. The problem may not be money, but the manner in
which you are asking for it; be professional, have a simple prepared budget so that they
understand how the money will be spent; show involvement of the Section and outside
visitors (your speakers and panel members.) Ask the advice of your Branch Counselor or
Branch Mentor on how to seek funding at your school. |
| b. No Section contacts |
b. You should have this
information provided to you from IEEE-USA with your S-PAC materials. You can also use your
Branch Counselor or Branch Mentor to help make contact with your Section. Your Regional
S-PAC Coordinator can also help you establish Section contact. The Section often has money
of its own to support Student Branch activities, and in some cases, PACE funding is
processed through the Section. |
| c. No Industry contacts |
c. The Branch Counselor,
Branch Mentor, Section SAC, Section Chair, Department faculty, are all good people to help
you locate industry funding, and perhaps give you an introduction to the company.
Companies sometimes provide donations or services in lieu of money. Be professional when
dealing with companies, and be clear about giving them due recognition in your S-PAC. |
| d. No support
of/unavailable Branch Counselor |
d. In many cases, you
can directly approach the Department Head if you have a request for school facilities; for
IEEE help, you can contact your Branch Mentor, Section SAC, Section Chair, or Regional
S-PAC Coordinator. |
| e. No budget form or
don’t understand budget process |
e. This is available
from the IEEE-USA office or on the Web. It should be in the materials provided to you for
your S-PAC already. For budget questions, consult the Regional S-PAC Coordinator or the
RAB/SAC/SPAA Chair. |
| f. S-PAC budget is too
large for available funds |
f. Consider trimming
your expenses by simplifying the program (less expensive meal, refreshments only.) Your
Regional S-PAC Coordinator can provide advice. |
| 3. Planning
the Program . |
a. Not enough lead time |
a. Consider a simple
program with 2 speakers, a panel discussion, and no sit-down meal. This significantly
reduces the funding you need and the number of logistical arrangements to be considered. |
| b. Don’t know which
format to select |
b. Consider the cost
involved, the amount of time available to plan, the facilities available, and the speakers
that are available, the dates available, and your audience type. |
| c. Speaker(s) cancel(s)
out at last minute |
c. If a National Speaker
cancels out, please contact your Regional S-PAC Coordinator immediately. For local
speakers, identify local speakers in advance who may be willing to speak on short notice. |
| d. Don’t know whom
to ask as speakers or panel members |
d. You select topics
based on the interests of your Branch. For National Speakers, you must contact your
Regional S-PAC Coordinator. Local speakers can be found through your school, Section,
personal contacts, Branch Counselor, Branch Mentor, or faculty members. Some National
Speakers may actually be local speakers as well. Panel members may include the speakers
and/or members from your Section. |
| e. Suppliers want cash
in advance |
e. If your Branch does
not have enough money to cover its immediate expenses for the S-PAC, consider approaching
the Section or EE Department to provide a "loan" of funds. |
| f. Don’t know how
much to charge |
f. The Budget Planning
Worksheet helps determine the cost per person for your S-PAC. You should determine ticket
prices so that your costs are covered, but also take into account discounts for new
members and the need to keep ticket prices reasonably priced so as to ensure a good
audience. IEEE members should pay less than nonmembers. The RAB subsidy is used to help
lower the costs for IEEE members and new members. |
| g. No space available on
campus on S-PAC date, or no suitable space on campus at all |
g. If there is no space
available on your S-PAC date, consider moving the date, as on-campus facilities are often
much less expensive to use, even free. If you cannot change the date, or suitable
facilities exist, then halls for rent, or hotels are an alternative source, or perhaps a
company may have a facility suitable for your S-PAC that they will donate. Halls and
hotels are likely to be costly, so "shop around." |
| h. Regional S-PAC
Coordinator is hard to reach |
h. Make sure when you
call that you leave messages that include your name, phone number, and when you can be
reached. Also consider using fax or e-mail. If you still can’t make contact, then try
the Regional S-PAC Support Coordinator (you should have this contact information in your
S-PAC materials). Finally you can also contact the IEEE-USA Chair or the IEEE-USA office. |
| 4. Working
as a Team |
a. Not enough people on
the S-PAC Planning Committee for all the tasks |
a. Recruit more people
– get committee members to recruit their friends, and also consider getting help from
all academic classes (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior.) Assign people short, well
focused tasks. |
| b. Committee member
drops out |
b. Find out why –
it may be a problem that can be solved, and thus prevent the member from leaving.
Otherwise, depending on how much remains to be done by that member, either absorb the
duties among existing members, or recruit someone new to help out. |
| c. Committee member(s)
don’t know what’s going on |
c. Consider having
bi-weekly (or weekly, as the S-PAC date approaches) status meetings so that people can
find out what is going on, raise issues of concern, and be aware of upcoming activities.
Keep a timeline posted in the Branch Office indicating what needs to be done, by whom, and
by when. Use a messaging board in the office so that members can leave information for one
another easily. |
| d. Committee member(s)
claim they are too busy to do their tasks |
d. Be considerate of
their problems and let them know that they are not alone (everyone is busy). See if their
tasks can be rescheduled or shared with someone who is less busy or a new recruit.
Don’t simply remove them from their job – that may not be what they want. |
| e. S-PAC Chair feels
that no-one can be trusted to do their tasks, and thus, the "Chair tries to do it
alone" |
e. This simply cannot
work because an S-PAC is not a task for one individual. The Chair should consider bringing
other people onto the committee to help out if there are legitimate problems. In some
cases, the Chair may simply have unnecessarily high expectations of the members. This
should be discussed with the Regional S-PAC Coordinator and/or the Branch Counselor. |
| f. S-PAC Chair
can’t keep track of what has to be done next |
f. Read through all of
the S-PAC materials; they should identify all of the main activities. Build a timeline
with activities, dates, and people to help manage things. Meet regularly with S-PAC
Subcommittee Chairs. |
| g. Committee members do
not feel appreciated |
g. Do not be hostile
with members; if there are problems, listen carefully and look for a mutually agreeable
solution. Avoid being overly critical in group meetings; provide criticism and advice in a
positive way. Recognize accomplishments and the completion of tasks with praise. Have a
special dinner or party after the S-PAC for the committee members to acknowledge their
contributions. |
