36th IEEE ComSoc North-America Regional Chapter Chair Virtual Congress



The 2020 NA RCCC is the 36th North America Chapter Chair Regional Congress but the first that is held virtually due to the pandemic situation. The RCCC was called to address feedback received from a survey that was sent to the 94 chapter chairs late June. The RCC 2020 program was planned and executed delivering 18 virtual sessions on Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, December 6 just prior to Globecom 2020 virtual conference.

I would first like to introduce our NA Board for 2020, where you can find further information on our web site at http://na.regions.comsoc.org/board/. Our Board serves 94 chapters and 10,000 members and is composed of the volunteers serving 7 regions (6 regions in US and 1 region in Canada):

  • NAR Director (Chair of NAB) – Fawzi Behmann
  • Past Director – Wahab Almuhtadi
  • Vice Chair – Raed Abdullah
  • Secretary – Sana Abou-Shaaban
  • IEEE Region 1 Representative – Newman Wilson
  • IEEE Region 2 Representative – Paul Cotae
  • IEEE Region 3 Representative – Devon Gayle
  • IEEE Region 4 Representative – Tao Zhang
  • IEEE Region 5 Representative – Larry Horner
  • IEEE Region 6 Representative – Zhensheng Zhang
  • IEEE Region 7 Representative – Anader Benyamin-Seeyar
  • NAR DLT/DSP & VDL Coordinator – Tim Weil

Advisors:

  • Ibrahim Gedeon
  • Rodney Wilson
  • Merrily Hartman
  • Scott Atkinson

We also have 8 Standing committees to support chapter chairs in key initiatives:

  • NAB-ISC Information Services Committee
  • Membership Development Committee
  • NAB-TAC Technical Activities Committee
  • NAB-IRC Industry Relations Committee
  • NAB-SAC Student Activities Committee
  • NAB-AFC Affinity Group Committee YP, WIE, and LM
  • NAB-SMC Social Media Committee
  • NAB-AC Awards Committee

We operate on a set of ComSoc Policies and Procedures that have been approved by the ComSoc Member Global Activities Committee and ultimately the ComSoc Board of Governors.

All details can be found at https://na.regions.comsoc.org

The 2020 RCCC was announced at the 3rd NAB meeting in September.

The goal of the 2020 RCCC was providing opportunities to:

  • Understand ComSoc’s vision, mission, organization, and support network
  • Equip and enrich chapter chairs with the knowledge and tools of operation for chapters to be relevant, effective, and impactful.
  • Address chapter training needs
  • Connect with and learn best practices from other chapters across the region

We are pleased to have many of the ComSoc Leadership participated and supported RCCC 2020:

  • ComSoc President – Vincent Chan
  • ComSoc Executive Director – Harold Tepper
  • VP, Member and Global Activities – Nei Kato
  • VP, Conferences – Stefano Bregni
  • Director Member Services – Ricardo Veiga
  • Director Marketing and Membership – Trish Jaraicie
  • Director of Conferences – Kristine Chin
  • Manager Member Development -Cindy Tiritilli
  • Director Info Technology – David Alvarez
  • Director MGA – Vera Sharoff
  • Manager MGA – Eugene Khusid

The program consisted of 18 virtual sessions:

Day 1 – December 5 9:30 am – 4:25 pm CST (10 sessions)

  • Introduction to 2020 NAR RCCC: Theme “Chapter vitality & Strive for diversity” (Fawzi Behmann)
  • ComSoc organization review, staff and resources   (Vincent Chan, Kato Nei, Ricardo, Trish, Kristine)
  • Update on NAB Chapter Roster process, website and Listserv (Trish, Cindy)
  • Vtools Training; officer reporting, virtual platforms (Eugene Khusid and David Alvarez)
  • Chapter Officer Elections, succession plan, OU Analytics (Eugene Khusid)
  • Contribution to Global Communications Newsletter – GCN (Stefano)
  • Leveraging VDL, Program status 2020/2021, training (Ricardo, Trish, Fawzi, Tim)
  • Global Congress, Chapter Funding & Awards, NAB Exceptional Service Award (Ricardo, Trish, Fawzi)
  • Membership Development (Trish, Newman)
  • Recap, Comments, Suggestions (Fawzi, Larry)

Day 2 – December 6 9:30 am – 3:00 pm CST (8 sessions)

  • Organize outreach programs, conferences, seminars and workshop (Wahab, Tim, Anader, Newman)
  • Chapter Best of Practices 1(Princeton-Ashutosh, Jamaica-Christopher, Dallas-Larry, Atlanta-Tamseel)
  • Website / Activity tracking /Vitality (Trish/Raed/ David Alvarez/ Fawzi)
  • Inter-Chapter Collaboration (Tamseel, Devon, Zhensheng, Anader, Messaoud)
  • NAB Policy and Procedures (Scott Atkinson, Fawzi Behmann, Ricardo Veiga)
  • Chapter Best of Practices (Seattle-Alon, Foothill-Frank, Windsor–Sahereh, Austin-Fawzi)
  • OPEN Dialog, Comments, Suggestions and Q&A (Fawzi, Larry)

Bonus session “Birds of Feather” (open forum for sharing ideas experiences and suggestions

35th North America Chapter Chairs Congress in Kansas City, MO, USA

The IEEE ComSoc NA Region Chapter Chairs Congress (NA RCCC) will be held on May 19-20, 2018 in Kansas City, MO, in conjunction with ICC 2018.

Left to right – Row 1: Sundar M. Sundaramurthy (Worcester County), Anna Romaniuk (Baltimore), Fawzi Behmann (NAB Vice Chair), Khaled B. Letaief (ComSoc President), Wahab Almuhtadi (North America Region Director), Susan Brooks (ComSoc Executive Director), Erman Hammad (Toronto), Julia Upton (Maine), Irfan Leteef (NJ Coast-ComSoc), Kafi Hassan (Northern Virginia), Song Guo (Member Services Director), Carole Cronin (Staff), Kerrianne Sullivan (Staff).

Row 2: Zhensheng Zhang (R6 Representative), Nei Kato (Member and Global Activities Vice President), Tim Weil (Denver), Titus Lo (Seattle), Paul Cotae (R2 Representative), Scott Atkinson (NAB Past Director), Doug Holly (Washington DC), Francois Chan (Kingston), Cheng Li (Newfoundland & Labrador), Devon Gayle (Jamaica), .

Row 3:  Newman Wilson (R1 Representative), Larry Horner (R5 Representative), Raed Abdullah (NAB Secretary), David Lips (Atlanta), Qiang Ye (Canadian Atlantic).
Not pictured:  Mehdi Roopaei (San Anotnio), Adam Greenberg (Technical Activities and Industry Outreach Director), Mike Fallenstein (vTools Committee Chair).

The objective of NA RCCC 2018 is a forum that provides the chapter chairs with focused training and workshops that will help the chairs to maintain the chapter vitality,  increase the chapter activities , and serving their members and communities.  The Congress encourages sharing, feedback, and networking among chapter chairs, ComSoc officers, and staff.

This time the Agenda of ComSoc-NA-RCCC 2018 has been focused to address the main issues concerning the membership and  the retention  of our Society.  The theme of the Congress is “Let’s Work Together as One Team to Increase ComSoc Activities that Leads to Membership Increase and Retention”.

NA RCCC 2016 was hosted and chaired by NA Region Director, Wahab Almuhtadi.

The Congress had a lot of dynamics, interaction, and sharing among the chapter chairs, ComSoc Officers, Staff, and trainers.

Topics presented and discussed at the NA RCCC 2018 are as follows:

vTools eNotice
vTools Events (Meetings)
WebEx Request Form
vTools Officer Reporting
OU Analytics
IEEE Web Hosting
Remote Conferencing and Screencasting
Listserv
Survey Access Request Form
IEEE Vitality Dashboard (focused on the Chapter)

Elevator Pitch for Recruiting New Members
IEEE Member Grade Elevation on IEEE.org
Recruitment Best Practices
Membership Reporting Training
Center for Leadership Excellence
First Year Member Toolkit
MD Manual – English
Benefits of Membership
Retention Best Practices
MD Officer Training presentation
MD Officer Training

  • MINUTES of the 35th ComSoc North America Regional Chapter Chairs Congress 2018 (NA RCCC 2018)
    Kansas City, MO, USA, May 19-20, 2018, in conjunction with ICC 2018.
  • 5 IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS raised by North American Region and presented by Wahab Almuhtadi on May 22, 2018 at ComSoc BoG f-2-f for approval and implementation.

34th North America Chapter Chairs Congress in Washington, DC

The IEEE ComSoc NA Region Chapter Chairs Congress (NA RCCC) was held on December 3-4, 2016 in Washington, DC in conjunction with GLOBECOM 2016.

2016narccc-washington-dc

The objective of NA RCCC 2016 is to provide the chapter chairs with focused training and workshops that will help the chairs increasing the activities of their chapters, and serving their members well.  The Congress encourages sharing, feedback, and networking among chapter chairs, staff, and ComSoc officers.

This time the agenda of NA RCCC 2016 has been restructured to address the main issues concerning the activities of running a chapter of our Society.  The main concern is to present the chapter chairs with the information on our Society’s activities and provide feedback that will assist the chairs in their daily activities involving their chapters.

NA RCCC 2016 was hosted and chaired by NA Region Director, T. Scott Atkinson.

Presentation materials from NA RCCC 2016:

33rd North America Chapter Chairs Congress in Austin, TX

The IEEE ComSoc NA Region Chapter Chairs Congress (NA RCCC) was held on December 7-8, 2014 in Austin, Texas in conjunction with IEEE GLOBECOM 2014.

NARCCCDec7-8-2014AustinTX
 for a large view, click on the image

Left to right – Row 1: Susan Brooks (ComSoc Executive Director), Carole Swaim (Staff), Carol Cronin (Staff), Erman Hammad (Toronto), Sergio Benedetto (ComSoc President), Merrily Hartmann (Director North America Region), Edit Bourgeois-Kaminsky (New Orleans), Zafar Taqvi (Galveston Bay).
Row 2: Pramode Verma (Tulsa), Irfan Leteef (NJ Coast-ComSoc (ComSoc Chapter Achievement Award for North America)), Wahab Almuhtadi (Ottawa), Devon Gayle (Jamaica), Koichi Asatani (Director Membership Programs Development), Zhensheng Zhang (San Diego), Titus Lo (Seattle), Nordin Ramli (Malaysia – Chapter of the Year).
Row 3:  Scott Melvin (Canadian Atlantic), Russ Mickiewicz (Oregon), Ali Abedi (Maine), Thomas O’Brien (San Antonio), Sohail Jalal (NJ Coast-Joint), John Pape (Staff), Tim Weil (Denver), Anader Benyamin-Seeyar (Montreal), Yu Wang (Charlotte), Fawzi Behmann (Austin).
Not pictured:  Michael Rice (Utah), Ashutosh Dutta (Princeton Central Jersey), Nirwan Ansari (North Jersey), Nirmala Shenoy (Rochester), Richard Miller (New Orleans), Scott Atkinson (San Antonio)

The focus of NA RCCC 2014 is to provide chapter chairs a training session to help them increase their chapter activities and serve their members well.  The Congress encourages sharing, feedback, and networking among chapter chairs, staff, and ComSoc officers.

The 33rd North America Chapter Chairs and other NA region officers attended the Congress. ComSoc President Sergio Benedetto attended the meeting and gave a talk on ComSoc overview, membership development and future directions. ComSoc VP Member Relations Stefano Bregni presented amembership strategies overview, and Membership Program Development Director Kiochi Asatani presented ComSoc programs for chapters. Market and Industry Relations Director Ashutosh Dutta presented ComSoc marketing and membership programs. ComSoc staff Bruce Worthman and Heather Sweeneypresented on ComSoc finance and conferences focus group, and Carole Swaim and John Pape presented on administration and support to chapter chairs. The ComSoc training program was presented by Marilyn Catis, and WCET Certification by Rulei Ting (via Webcast).  DLT/DSP Coordinator Fawzi Behmann presented the 2014 activities of the Distinguished Lecturer Tour (DLT) and the Distinguished Speaker Program (DSP). ComSoc IT Manager David Alvarez presented the websites/webinars support. Community/ Connect/Communications was presented by Ting Qian, Max Loskutnikov, and Elena Neira. ComSoc Executive Director Susan Brooks talked about ComSoc startegies and direction. ComSoc NAR Information Support Representative Wahab Almuhtadi spoke about the current status of ComSoc NAR chapter websites. In two sessions, chapter chairs presented their chapter reports on activities, experiences and challenges. The group discussed many common issues and concerns. All chapter chair attendees were satisfied with the meeting and benefited greatly from the presentation, discussion and trainings. Chapter chairs were inspired to take action items back to their chapters to enhance membership development and chapter growth.

NA RCCC 2014 was hosted and chaired by NA Region Director, Merrily Hartmann.

Presentation materials from NA RCCC 2014:

32nd North America Chapter Chairs Congress in Anaheim, California

Regional Chapter Chairs Congress December 6-7, 2012, Anaheim, California-v2 for a large view, click on the image

IEEE Communications Society North America Region Chapter Chair Congress (NA RCCC) 2012
December 6-7, 2012, Anaheim, California
ComSoc NA Region Chapter Chair Congress (NA RCCC) was held on December 6-7, 2012 in Anaheim, California in conjunction with GLOBECOM 2012.

NA RCCC focus will be on retaining and expanding ComSoc membership base and enhancing chapter activities through good chapter organization. The Congress encourages sharing, feedback, and networking among chapter chairs, staff, and ComSoc officers.

32 North America Chapter Chairs and other NA region officers attended the congress. ComSoc President Vijay Bahargava and President-Elect Sergio Benedetto attended the meeting and gave speeches on ComSoc overview, membership development and future directions. ComSoc VP Nelson Fonseca and Membership Program Development Director Mehmet Ulema summarized ComSoc membership overview, current programs and strategies. Market and Industry Relations Director Stan Moyer presented ComSoc market and membership related programs. ComSoc staff Bruce Worthman, John Pape and Carole Swaim presented ComSoc finance, administration and support/training to chapter chairs. In two sessions, chapter chairs presented their organizations, activities, experiences and challenges. The group discussed many common issues and concerns, such as organizing successful chapter level events, fund raising, Distinguished Lecturer Tour (DLT) and the Distinguished Speaker Program (DSP). The technical talk of “Nanoscale and Molecular Communication Networks by Dr. Steve Bush, and the Wireless Communication Engineering Technologies (WCET) certification program presentation By Marilyn Catis and Dr. Rulei Ting were well received by chapter chairs.

All chapter chair attendees were satisfied with the meeting and benefited greatly from the presentation, discussion and trainings. Chapter chairs were inspired to take action items back to their chapters, enhance membership development and chapter growth.

NA RCCC 2012 was hosted by NA Region Director Dr. Yigang Cai.

31st North America Chapter Chairs Congress in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

At the IEEE ICC 2012, the NA RCC meeting 2012 was held at the Ottawa Convetion Centre, Ottawa Ontario during June 10- June 15, 2012.

ShawCentre_canal_evening for a large view, click on the image

 

30th North America Chapter Chairs Congress in San Francisco, California

8/24/2011. ComSoc Chapter Chairs Meeting at IEEE Sections Congress. Taking advantage that several NA Region Chapter Chairs planned attending the IEEE Sections Congress we decided to get together on August 29 and discuss the chapter activities, issues and plans in an informal free-form meeting. Although we were able to spare only 2 hours from the tense schedule of Section Congress activities, the meeting was effective and we were able to cover a wide spectrum of different issues. More on the meeting see at ComSoc news blog. http://bit.ly/nypdfg.

 Regional Chapter Chairs Congress August29-2009 San Francisco-v2for a large view, click on the image

Seating L-R: Wahab Almuhtadi, Celia Desmond, Gabriel Jakobson, Doug Zuckerman, Scott Atkinson
Standing L-R: Ali Abedi, Carlos-Andres Lozano, Xavier Fernando, Alan Newton, Zhensheng Zhang, Jose-David Cely, Cheng Li, Wai Pang Ng, Dick Carrillo Melgarejo, Bob Shapiro

Information on IEEE Communications Society North America Region Chapter Chair Congress
(NA RCCC) 2010 – 2011:

Due to reduced funding no RCCCs were planned for the North America region in 2010 and 2011.

The RegionalChapter Chairs Congress (RCCC) in North America was conducted  on 4-5 June, 2009 in Long Island, NY. The next RCCC is planned for 2012

Starting in 2008 we initiated Strategic Discussion Meetings (SDM) as complimentary to RCCCs in 2008-2009 and as temporary substitution to RCCCs in 2010-2011. SDM is a focused intensive half-day meeting with key regional leaders, as a rule 5-6 chapter chairs in one ComSoc NA region, who are located n relatively closedgeographic proximity. SDMs have proven to be very effective (plus low cost) tool of understanding local ComSoc operational issues and planning for specific actions . The following SDMs were conducted.

2 September ,2008,  Waltham, MA

6 March, 2009, Oakland, CA

23 September 2010, Portsmouth, NH

9 July, 2011, Chicago, IL