A Leadership Challenge in 2009

A s president of the IEEE Computer Society, I am going to ask each of you to take a moment to refl ect on what your membership in the Society has meant to you. I will also ask you to share your personal experience with someone in 2009. Many professionals do not understand the importance, contribution, and necessity of nonprofit technical organizations like the IEEE Computer Society. The Society, and organizations like it, are challenged with membership retention. One of the most interesting, albeit US-centric, statistics that I found is that “In the 1970s two-thirds of Americans belonged to organizations with regular meetings that they attended; that number had dropped to around onethird by the 1990s” (Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone, Simon & Schuster, 2000). While there are many theories as to why this is occurring, the main concept that abounds is that in this digital age many have become too “digitally disconnected” to think about volunteer work or social organizations. WhY Join an associaTion? There are many reasons why individuals join technical associations. When asked, people usually respond that they join because of the perceived benefi ts they receive. I classify these benefi ts into two categories: tangible and intangible. Tangible benefi ts are those that are immediately identifi able—material goods and services provided as an exchange for membership dues. Intangible benefi ts are harder to quantify or measure, but they are also a very important part of an association’s identity. Table 1 provides a list of what I see as some of the value offered by IEEE Computer Society membership today.