ASAE MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
CONFERENCE CALL

May 11, 2005

Minutes

Present: Gary Anderson, Paul Heinemann, Lal Kushwaha, Paul Walker, Vince Bralts, Sonia Jacobsen, Wayne Bogovich, Mac Legault, Peter Ling and Mark Crossley

The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m.

AGENDA

1. Member Statistics
-Retention
-General Member Stats

2. Budget Report
-2005 Forecast
-2006 Proposed

3. ASAE Student Branch Eligibility Bylaws Change Update

4. Decline in Preprofessional/Student Membership Discussion

5. Potential Job Board for ASAE Web Site by Boxwood Technologies

6. e-Mentoring Program Progress Update

7. Specific Concerns from a Member
-ASAE's Life Insurance Provider
-Dues Structure & Electronic Access
-Tone of ASAE's Recruitment Material

8. Updates from April Board of Trustees Meeting

9. Tampa Meeting Dates/Times

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Gary Anderson began the call by welcoming everyone. A list of those MDC members present was confirmed.

Member Statistics
Mark Crossley overviewed some highlights from the member statistics handout (Attachment A). Comparing year end numbers over the last two years, it should be noted that there is a slight shift in the geographical distribution of the membership from the US to outside the US, specifically Canada. Low-Income country membership has also increased about 42% from 2003 to 2004. It was pointed out that overall member retention is slightly up as well.

We’ve also started tracking some new member statistics in the areas of membership by employer and by membership dues category. Tracking over time will give us an indication of shifting trends in these areas.

Budget Report
2005 Budget Forecast
At this point, we are anticipating a budget deficit Society-wide by year’s end of approximately $67,000. This could all change if the annual international meeting turns more of a profit than anticipated.

2006 Proposed Budget
The 2006 budget is stating an approximate $61,000 loss due to a lesser number of specialty conferences and declining history book sales.

Gary indicated that the MDC will be dealing with further budget issues at the Tampa meetings.

The Finance Committee (FC) met in April and they as well as the Board of Trustees (BOT) indicated that they expect to see a balanced budget by the FC’s meeting in November.

ASAE Student Branch Eligibility Bylaws Change Update
It was anticipated at their April meeting that the BOT would vote to change the bylaws section dealing with student branch eligibility to allow non-four years schools to form student branches. Prior to the BOT meeting, it was realized that ASAE’s E-02 Constitution and Bylaws Committee really needed to review the request before the BOT dealt with it. E-02 will review the request between now and the Tampa meeting and give their recommendation so that the BOT may vote to make the change in Tampa. It is anticipated that the change will go through without any further delays.

Decline in Preprofessional/Student Membership Discussion
Gary reported that Preprofessional/Student membership is down 241 from a year ago (comparing 12/31/04 to 12/31/03). This may be primarily attributed to student members transferring to the new Graduate Student category; a potentially negative impact from not changing our name sooner; and an increase in university-wide site licenses making membership obsolete. Potential ways to address declining membership include: the introduction of the e-mentoring program; a thorough promotion of the name change; and a proposed ASAE online job board through Boxwood Technology (see discussion below).

It was also pointed out that historically, ASAE preprofessional competitions have been aimed at the power & machinery and soil & water students. ASAE need to explore ways of creating more competitions for the biologically-focused students to peak their interest in ASAE membership. It was also pointed out that bio faculty at universities need to believe in ASAE membership if their students are to as well.

Potential Job Board for ASAE Web Site by Boxwood Technologies
We've been approached by Boxwood Technologies, a group that would like to work with us on hosting a job board on the ASAE Web site. Their services include resume posting and job searching. Organizations post jobs for a fee. It's free for members to search and post resumes. Could be a significant source of income after it's been established a few years. They come highly recommended. Initial feedback from the MDC was that it’s a good idea and could really help with increasing ASAE Preprofessional membership. Mark and Donna Hull will continue to review Boxwood’s program to determine if it would negatively impact the current monies we make from the existing Resource personnel service listings and if it would be a good source of non-dues revenue in the future.

E-Mentoring Program Progress Update
Due to delays from updating the ASAE Web site and member-only pages, the e-mentoring program for Preprofessional and young professional members is currently being developed. A model has been developed and we are currently working on the mentor side of the project. We hope to have it up and running by later this summer.

Specific Concerns from a Member
Chris Butts, District 2 Representative wished to bring forward concerns from a member within his district which included the following: ASAE's life insurance provider; dues structure and electronic access; and the tone of ASAE's recruitment material, but he was not able to make the call. Since more specifics were needed, this agenda item was not discussed at length. The MDC briefly discussed the tone of ASAE recruitment materials. Feedback was expressed that they did not paint an unusually rosy picture of employment opportunities for ag/bio engineering graduates. A few who work at universities said that their graduates were receiving multiple job offers.

Updates from April Board of Trustees Meeting
Gary overviewed a few items from the April BOT meeting which included:
- NCEES placing ASAE on probation for not having enough people sitting for the PE exam.
- Education Division was approved.
- Industry Task Force was approved.
- Kishida Award Committee bylaws change was approved to enable the chair to break a tie, should the committee become deadlocked.

Tampa Meeting Dates/Times
The MDC will be meeting in Tampa on Sunday, July 17 from 1:30 - 3:30 and Thursday, July 21 from 8:00 - 10:00. More information to follow as we get closer to the annual international meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m.