Society of Women Engineers Region i

Wendy: It is important to have a transitional meeting with old and new officers so that information and tips can be passed on.  Many sections do this as a large group and many have the officers meet one on one with their replacements.
 
Kristina: The University of Colorado had an all day officer training event.  They used the CLCC for training in the morning and then in the afternoon old and new officers met and passed on information.
 
Wendy: One thing that can help with the transition from year to year is keeping good records of what has been done in the past.  Many schools have binders associated with each position that they pass on.  Other schools store their files electronically.  It is very important that all passwords, etc. are passed on.  A group e-mail account can help to record the section’s communication history.
 
Sarah (new University of Colorado President): it was very beneficial to meet in person with the old offices instead of just being handed a bunch of old files.  The old officers were able to walk us through the files.
 
Wendy: You will also probably want to have a planning meeting either now or in the Fall with all the new officers.  At this meeting you can brainstorm ideas, set goals for the year, plan out the schedule for the semester.  At WashU we try to set all the dates of each event and meeting so as not to interfere with freshmen exams and then pass out handouts with the dates at our first meeting so students can mark their calanders in advance.
 
Kristina: invite your faculty advisor and SWE Couselor to your planning meeting.  They have been around for a while and often know what’s been tried before and what works and what doesn’t.
 
Wendy: Another resource is the CLCC.  As Kristina mentioned they can help with your officer transition meeting as well as with planning for the year.  Contact Gretchen (gretchen.gonzales@gmail.com) if you are interesting in having the CLCC work with your section (for FREE).  They are also a great resource in terms of attracting new members.  The CLCC can do a module on SWE and the requirements of being a section as well as provide your members with an overview of the structure of the entire organization and the resources it provides to all members.  More information about the CLCC and the modules they offer can be found on the Collegiate Leadership Coaching Community on My SWE Communities.
 
Wendy: Something else to start thinking about is WE09.  It is in mid-October this year and may require some planning and coordination over the summer.  It is in Long Beach, CA and so will be expensive.  You will need to coordinate flights, ground transportation, and hotel rooms.  Flights seem to be relatively inexpensive right now and I would recommend reserving a block of rooms (you can cancel them later if need be).  The conference website (http://we09.swe.org) is up and has promotional materials in the “toolkit” section.  Volunteer registration is also open and won’t be available for long (if you volunteer your registration is free).  Also, if you look in the “toolkit” section of last year’s site (http://we08.swe.org) you’ll find some fundraising materials.