Building the Future of IEEE

IEEE Young Professionals Business Plan: 2017-2019

Mario Milicevic Rafal Sliz

IEEE Young Professionals Committee IEEE Young Professionals Committee
2015-2016 Chair 2017 Incoming Chair
mario.milicevic@ieee.org rafal.sliz@ieee.org

8/9 December 2016

Purpose of this End-of-Year Call

Review recent budget proposals made to MGA and IEEE Board of Directors
that will impact funding of IEEE Young Professionals program over the next
3+ years

Highlight the implications for Regional Coordinators and Society Liaisons on

how the new funding will be able to assist them in delivering the IEEE Young
Professionals program in their Region/Society

Discussion about what’s next, and what to look forward to in 2017

Highlights from 2016
Highlights from 2016
Presentation made to
MGA and IEEE Boards at
Nov. 2016 Board Series
Young Professional involvement across the IEEE

1 out of 3 IEEE members is a Young Professional:

113,565 members in 181 countries, with 75% of members in 11 countries:
USA, India, China, Canada, UK, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Australia, Italy, Brazil

Meetups at IEEE Technology IEEE Student Member IEEE Entrepreneurship

Society Conferences Bootcamps Elevation Events

Webinars IEEE Career Products 168 Local Affinity Groups

Success of IEEE Young Professionals is key to
ensuring long-term vitality of the IEEE

MGA supports the future growth of the IEEE Young Professionals program,
and is keen on launching proposed projects in 2017

Our goal:
 Evaluate and implement new products and services to improve the IEEE Young
Professional member experience through strategic, data-driven decision making
 Implement and execute a 3-year plan by working across the IEEE to maximize
impact and strengthen MGA’s cooperation with other OUs and geo-units

To date, we have:
 Evaluated the performance of existing IEEE Young Professional programs based on
feedback from members and volunteers through:
focus group activities, 2016 MGA member segmentation study, and IEEE data sets
 Communicated and revised the plan with the MGA OpCom, MELCC, and MGA Staff

The ask: US $1.93M to be invested in the next 3 years

What does the data tell us?

Overarching trend:
 9% decrease in Young Professional membership (Oct 2016 vs. Oct 2015)
 Young Professional volunteer and member engagement/satisfaction are declining

IEEE Young Professional members want:

 To stay technically competent and up-to-date
 To be more involved in the IEEE community, but in a way that suits their lifestyle

Existing issues:
 Insufficient support for IEEE Young Professional affinity groups and active volunteers
 IEEE Young Professional members feel that products and services are difficult to use
 Lack of IEEE Young Professional representation at conferences, activities, and
events
 What do we specifically need to address?

0.65

Access to technical
0.60
content is very important,
Mean satisfaction very low
0.55 but not every member
has access
Satisfaction (Mean = 39%)

0.50

0.45

0.40

0.35

0.30
Strong need for local
member engagement
0.25
and professional
networking
0.20
0.25 0.35 0.45 0.55 0.65 0.75 0.85 0.95

Lower priority improvements Importance (Mean = 60%) Top improvement opportunity

Source: 2016 Member Segmentation Study

What do we recommend doing?

Subsidize subscription to IEEE Member Digital Library (access to IEEE Xplore®)

 Leverage an existing IEEE service to provide IEEE Young Professional members with the
technical content they desire as a membership benefit (not for opt-ins or grad students)

μVolunteering platform
 Introduce a platform that allows IEEE Young Professional members to create and find
micro-volunteering opportunities with low time commitment

Volunteer loyalty and recognition program

 Recognize local volunteer efforts on a higher level, track their achievements (modernize
reporting), apply game theory to increase participation and engage more members

Presence at high-profile events

 Support presence at high-profile events to expand global IEEE Young Professionals
community, attract industry practitioners, and showcase IEEE membership benefits

Seed funding for local events

 Increase volunteer engagement/satisfaction by providing support for local volunteers to
deliver engaging event experiences for IEEE Student and Young Professional members
 Projected revenue based on membership growth

Key Performance Indicators: Membership growth, satisfaction, and retention

Annual % increase in
higher-grade IEEE Young 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Professional membership
$51K $154K $258K $363K $469K
1% (64,660 (65,306 (65,959 (66,619 (67,285
members) members) members) members) members)

Cumulative Additional Revenue $51K $205K $464K $827K $1.30M

$153K $466K $787K $1.12M $1.46M
3% (65,940 (67,918 (69,956 (72,054 (74,216
members) members) members) members) members)

Cumulative Additional Revenue $153K $619K $1.41M $2.52M $3.98M

$256K $781K $1.33M $1.91M $2.52M
5% (67,220 (70,581 (74,110 (77,816 (81,707
members) members) members) members) members)

Cumulative Additional Revenue $256K $1.04M $2.37M $4.28M $6.80M

Based on October 2016 Membership Development report with initial 2017 member count forecasted 9% below 2016
US $80/member dues estimate for first-year joins, US $160/member dues estimate for renewing members
 Proposed division of funding for MGA and IEEE

2017 2018 2019 3-Year Total

Research Implement Roll Out

Current Budget:
Meetings, Travel, Awards $60K $60K $60K $180K
Events and Outreach $50K $50K $50K $150K
Total Operational MGA Committed $110K $110K $110K $330K

New Projects and Initiatives:

1. IEEE Member Digital Library Subsidy $50K $250K $300K $600K
2. μVolunteering Platform $25K $70K $5K $100K
3. Volunteer Loyalty and Recognition Program $75K $175K $50K $300K
4. Presence at High-Profile Events $50K $110K $140K $300K
5. Additional Seed Funding for Local Events $50K $70K $80K $200K
6. Business Planning Task Force $40K $40K $20K $100K
Additional Funding Required $290K $715K $595K $1.6M

Total Funding Required $400K $825K $705K $1.93M

Additional MGA Funding $90K $90K $90K $270K
Revised Total MGA Funding $200K $200K $200K $600K
Timeline and next steps

Key Performance Indicators: Membership growth, satisfaction, and retention

Spending beyond 2020 will be determined by success of projects in 2017-2019

– Projects will be operationalized into MGA budget

2017 by Project/Initiative:
1. IEEE Member Digital Library Subsidy ($50K) – implementation with IEEE MDL team
2. μVolunteering Platform ($25K) – identify vendors, and define project scope
3. Volunteer Loyalty and Recognition Program ($75K) – scope project with vendors
4. Presence at High-Profile Events ($50K) – 2/3 major events
5. Seed Funding for Local Events ($50K) – Funding distributed based on applications
6. Business Planning Task Force ($40K) – 2 F2F meetings for strategic planning team
Motion passed by MGA Board on 19 Nov. 2016

Resolved that MGA supports the proposal from the

IEEE Young Professionals for additional funding of $90K in
2017, 2018, and 2019, for a total of $200K in each year,
to support the delivery of the current program and the
projects proposed in the business plan and asks the MGA
Finance Committee to advise on the proposal and future
funding.
Motions for IEEE Board of Directors

Proposed:
Resolved that the IEEE Board of Directors supports the
proposal from the IEEE (MGA) Young Professionals for funding
of $200K, $625K, and $505K in 2017, 2018, and 2019,
respectively, to support the delivery of the current program
and the projects proposed in the business plan and asks the
IEEE Finance Committee to advise on the proposal and future
funding.

Passed:
Resolved that the IEEE Board of Directors supports the
proposal from the IEEE (MGA) Young Professionals for
funding of $200K in 2017 with a review in 2017 for
further continuation.
Current funding for
2017-2019
 Current division of funding for 2017-2019
Funding for 2018 will need to be secured by May 2017

2017 2018 2019 3-Year Total

Research Implement Roll Out

Current Budget:
Meetings, Travel, Awards $60K $60K $60K $180K
Events and Outreach $50K $50K $50K $150K
Total Operational MGA Committed $110K $110K $110K $330K

New Projects and Initiatives:

1. IEEE Member Digital Library Subsidy $50K $250K $300K $600K
2. μVolunteering Platform $25K $70K $5K $100K
3. Volunteer Loyalty and Recognition Program $75K $175K $50K $300K
4. Presence at High-Profile Events $50K $110K $140K $300K
5. Additional Seed Funding for Local Events $50K $70K $80K $200K
6. Business Planning Task Force $40K $40K $20K $100K
Additional Funding Required $290K $715K $595K $1.6M

Total Funding Required $400K $825K $705K $1.93M

Revised Total MGA Funding $200K $200K $200K $600K
So what does this mean for
Regions and Societies?
More funding for events/initiatives

Current STEP funding portal will be modified to be a general event funding

platform where affinity groups can apply for seed funding for events:
http://yp-events.fluidreview.com

Regions and Societies will be able to apply for larger amounts of money than
before
– Previous $2000 for a single Signature Event in a Region can now be
$5000 split over multiple events in a Region
– Societies can also host standalone professional networking/development
events at conferences, and apply for such funding through the new portal

μVolunteering platform will allow local members to help out at events

Rewards/recognition program will create new ways of recognizing high
caliber volunteers
What’s Next?
Introducing the Incoming 2017 Chair: Rafal Sliz

Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Oulu, Finland

2016 Vice Chair, IEEE Young Professionals Committee
MGA Representative to Regions 7-10
Past Chair, IEEE Finland Section
Past Chair, Region 8 Young Professionals Committee

IEEE Young Professionals Committee focus in 2017:

– Implementation of the new business plan
– Increase the value of IEEE membership to young members
– Create an environment where young volunteers feel supported and volunteering will be fun
– Improving cooperation between young members from various units with IEEE

“Taking into account the motivation, energy and sparkling spirit of the members
of this committee, I am certain that Young Professionals will positively influence
the IEEE in an unprecedented way.”
- Rafal Sliz