IEEE Members Out of Touch

(This article was recently published by the IEEE Los Angeles Council.  It applies equally to the Eastern Idaho Section, and is reprinted here -- with permission -- for the information of our membership.  Please respond accordingly if you wish to receive our newsletter, which is now published exclusively in electronic form on this website, with infrequent reminders sent by e-mail.  --Gene Stuffle, Newsletter Editor)

Are you missing out?  Are you one of the 20% that doesn't get the word?  If you have not been receiving electronic notification of the LAC e-Bulletin or news from other IEEE units, you may not have an e-mail address in your membership record at IEEE headquarters.

Increasingly, IEEE units have abandoned mailed newsletters due to the cost and labor involved in producing one.  Instead, communication with members and volunteers is done by e-mail and web pages.  All of this e-mail relies upon e-mail addresses provided by members in their membership record at IEEE national headquarters.

However, in order for you to receive e-mail from IEEE units, your current e-mail address must be on file inyour membershiprecord at IEEE headquarters.

About 20% of the membership has not supplied an e-mail address in their membership record.  Another 1 or 2% has an incorrect e-mail address in their record.  These members do not receive notices of meetings and other events sponsored by sections and chapters.

You can easily update your e-mail address on-line at http://services1.ieee.org/membersvc/coa/intro.htm.  An IEEE web account will be required and may be obtained by following links from that location.  If the omission of an e-mail address is not simple oversight, we'd like to hear from you to help us address the problem.  If your e-mail address does not end in "@ieee.org", consider applying for an IEEE e-mail alias to use as your primary e-mail address;  an alias is very easy to update as you change jobs or providers.

The Los Angeles Council will shortly begin sending a postcard notification to those members not having an e-mail address in their record when the eBulletin is published electronically rather than in paper format as the Bulletin.

--Walt Whipple