ASAE MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

CONFERENCE CALL

November 19, 2002

Minutes

Present:Nolan Clark, Gary Anderson, Wayne Coates, David Jones, Michael Delwiche, Paul Heinemann, Qin Zhang, John Miles, Paul Walker, Bill Koenig and Mark Crossley

The meeting was called to order at 2:05 p.m.

Agenda

1. Results of Balloting Since 8/02

-MDC Bylaws Revision

-P-120 Bylaws Approval

-MDC Budget Approval

2. Member Statistics & Survey Results

-Invoicing & Retention

-General Member Statistics

-CESSE Member Satisfaction Survey

3. Non-U.S. Membership Outreach

-Indian Society of Ag. Eng. Cooperative Agreement Update

-Chinese Membership Promotion

4. Louisiana Section Grassroots Funding Proposal Status

5. Position Paper on Accreditation of Biologically-Based Engineering Programs

6. Other

7. 2003 Meeting Dates

-Conference Call - 4/03 date TBA

-Annual International Meeting 7/27 & 7/31 - Las Vegas

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After welcoming everyone present, Nolan Clark gave a brief overview of the agenda. He stated that he would do his best to keep the call to one hour.

Results of Balloting Since 8/02

Three votes of the MDC were taken since the last meeting in Chicago. One to revise the MDC bylaws; the second to approve the bylaws of the P-120 Student Organizations Committee; and the third to approve the MDC portion of the overall Society budget for 2003. All were approved. Nolan went on to say that the overall Society budget was approved by the Finance Committee on 11/12 and will be recommended to the Board of Trustees at their 12/7 meeting.

Member Statistics & Survey Results

Member statistics through 10/31 were presented. Please see Attachment A for specific details. Overall, member numbers are up and we are well on our way to breaking the record for most new non-student members in a single year. We need 726 and we are currently at 686 as of 10/31. The goal Membership has set for 2002 is 800 and we need everyone's help to reach this.

Nolan then discussed the results of the CESSE membership satisfaction survey, which was conducted this past spring (Attachment B). He pointed out that the overall trends were positive and compared to other professional societies, our members feel that ASAE excels in such areas as responsiveness to members and fringe benefits. Other areas, which rated highly, included professional networking and standards development. The question of which societies are leading in member satisfaction was raised. Mark Crossley will research this information and send it to the MDC.

Non-U.S. Membership Outreach

The Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE) and ASAE have been going back and forth on a cooperative agreement for the last year or so. After many versions, agreement has been reached on a version that when signed and in place, would bring ASAE between 1,000 - 1,500 new members. ISAE representatives have requested that an ASAE representative come to India to sign the agreement at their meeting at the end of January. Plans to do so are in the works and it look like Melissa Moore will be in attendance.

Motion: To endorse the cooperative agreement between ASAE and ISAE. Passed.

Nolan then reported that during the Annual International Meeting in Chicago, a delegation from the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineers (CSAE) approached him and other leaders of ASAE about extending to them a discount on dues for members living in mainland China if they paid for four years in advance. At that time, they proposed $20 per person instead of the standard $35 someone from China would normally pay. They also promised a 10% growth in Chinese membership each year. This proposal was looked at more closely over the next few months, during which time financial analysis was done. With the savings in postage, it was determined that a counter-offer of $30 per member would be presented. This offer was accepted by CSAE.

Most MDC members spoke out against the issue including Wayne Coates, the International Commission representative. He stated that the International Commission has reviewed the proposal and feels that it is not a good idea to discount already deeply discounted dues. Concern was also expressed that this would set a bad precedent and that any group of members might feel they could negotiate their dues rate as well. The issue was tabled, pending further review.

Louisiana Section Grassroots Funding Proposal Status

The first Grassroots Funding Proposal from the Louisiana Section for a fishing trip was approved by the Foundation on 11/6.

Position Paper on Accreditation of Biologically-Based Engineering Programs

Nolan gave an overview of the draft position paper that was developed by members of the Board of Trustees to send to ABET (Attachment C). This issue was presented to the MDC for information only and no action is needed at this time. A few MDC members did give their feedback and felt that the paper was not strong enough and was too passive. They would like to see a firmer stance on this issue.

Other

Mark Crossley was asked to give an overview of Jobhog.net. Through Jobhog.net, an online resume hosting and job posting service for the agricultural, food, natural and life sciences industries, members may now post resumes and search for jobs and internships. This option seemed like a good fit for our members because they can actually see positions, which encompass their technical interests. To date, we have been getting positive feedback on these new career services.

The correct dates of the 2003 Annual International Meeting were then pointed out and it was noted that the membership has been alerted to this mistake via an e-mail blast and through Resource.

With no more business before the MDC, the meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.