Convention Update

I have some good news and some bad news regarding the upcoming convention. The good news is that the Board of Directors listened to the Chapter officers regarding the cost to attend the Convention in Philadelphia.

The bad news is that the Board of Directors listened to the Chapter officers regarding the cost to attend the Convention in Philadelphia.

Let me explain. The cost of registration to the Convention was lowered to $695. This is more than $250 less than was originally proposed in the budget submitted for the Grassroots Budget Meeting.

All of the Chapters asked for help by the lowering the cost of 

registration for members to attend the Convention. The Board listened to these concerns and lowered the cost. While this sounds great, the cost to put on the Convention has not been lowered. The bad news is that the Board approved a cost of registration that will make it so that the Convention and Business meeting will be a major financial loss for the Society.

While it is easy to ask for a cost savings in registration, it appears very difficult to ask for less in return. Let me give you the hard and fast numbers.

With a lower registration fee, the anticipated income for the Convention is $567,070. The budget for running the Convention and Business meeting is $857,462. That amounts to a projected loss of $290,392.

When there is a loss of this much money, it has to be made up somewhere. Basically, this loss comes from providing other services to Society.

The Board puts together the cost benefits of the Convention. That value comes to $985. Simply identified, that means that Society underwrites $290 for each person that attends the Convention.

We often compare the cost of attending to other organizations. I just received a flyer for the NFPA Convention in Las Vegas. The cost of registration is $795 per member. That is $100 more than our registration. The amount of education sessions is about the same for NFPA. They also have a business meeting and a show. However, their show is much smaller than our show.

One of the big differences is that NFPA does not feed their registrants. If you want a cup of coffee or danish, you pay the going price. There is no banquet included in the price. Plus, there is no Saturday night reception nor Sunday night blow out party.

By comparison, they charge more and provide less. But they do charge a fair price. What does that say about ASPE?

 

High Attendance

With the lowering of the cost of registration to the Convention, it is my hope that there is a very large crowd attending in Philadelphia. To put it mildly, the ASPE Convention is a steal.

In addition to the lower registration rates, the hotel rates are phenomenal. You cannot touch a room in downtown Philadelphia for the price ASPE has for the Convention.

I expect smaller Chapters to have 5 to 10 members attending the Convention. For the larger Chapters, I expect to see 15 to 20 members attending. That means that our attendance should be around 1,000. That is my goal.

I need the help of every Chapter to realize that goal. You need to promote attendance at the Convention. Each Chapter should consider ways to sponsor so many members (in addition to your delegates) to attend the Convention.

Some Chapters have informed me of fundraisers they are having to fund attendees. To those Chapters, a big THANK YOU. For the other Chapters, consider doing the same thing. Let’s all make this the most successful Convention ever.

 

Budget Approved

One of the most important decisions made by the Board of Directors at the April Board meeting is the approval of the 2010-11 Budget. This budget will be used by the Society beginning  July 1, 2010.

Normally, a budget in a Convention year shows a major surplus. This budget does not. The projected surplus is $91,537.

Typically, we look for a surplus of $600,000 during a Convention year. So why such a low number?

The Board tried to be realistic in predicting the income and the costs. Some factors that must be realized are:

  There has been a drop in membership due to the poor economy.

  The members tend not to purchase the books and engineering tools provided by Society.

  The membership wants a low registration fee for the Convention.

  Costs have increased to run the Convention.

  The EPE booth registration is down slightly although the show will still be one of the largest ever.

  CPD registration is down.

  Sponsorships are down due to the poor economy.

  Webinars have been very successful.

  We will be hiring a new Executive Director.

I have attached the cover sheet of the approved budget. Realize that the complete budget is a couple of hundred pages in length.

 

Cash Flow

As many of you may have heard, there is a cash flow shortage at ASPE. What this means is that the anticipated cash coming into the Society office is much less than anticipated. Unfortunately, while the cash is less, the expenses are not. The result is a shortage of funds.

Chapter officers often ask me why this occurs. That is easy to answer. ASPE is like any business; we operate on a budget that requires prediction of certain income sources and various expenses. When the income sources are lower than predicted, or the expenses are higher than predicted, it throws off the cash flow for day-to-day operations.

Sometimes, one event can create a crisis. For ASPE, that event was the Technical Symposium. We went from the most successful Technical Symposium (in Atlanta) to one of the lowest attended (in Dearborn). It was a great Symposium, just poorly attended. The drop in attendance was 68 percent. The Board thought they were conservative when they predicted a drop in attendance of 40 percent.

The net result is a drop in cash flow of $300,000. That has hurt the Society. This means that certain payments have been delayed. One of those areas is dues rebates.

Society is behind in paying the dues rebates. But, they are being paid, (just a few months late).

So I would ask every Chapter to be patient. In the meantime, if anyone has a pot of gold worth $300,000 that they could donate to the Society, that would surely help. I have been looking, but I have yet to find one.

What can you do to help? Keep membership up, sign up new members, encourage your members to purchase the various books and other items available for plumbing engineers, and encourage members to attend the educational programs and webinars.

It is a tough year for everyone, so please bear with us.

 

Green Convention

The Board did approve a green convention. The Convention and Business meeting will be paperless. We are working on the details.

It is anticipated that all delegate information will be e-mailed to the delegates prior to the delegates meeting. The delegates will be able to review this information on their own computer. Most delegates bring a notebook computer to the Convention. Hence, if they need to reference the information, they can do so on their computer.

The hope is that delegates will not print out all of the material sent to them. This would defeat the purpose of being paperless and green. So, I will encourage you to print as little as possible of the information you will be sent.

The educational programs will also be paperless. All of the handouts will be provided electronically.

 

Keynote Speaker

In Philadelphia, we will have Vince Papale as our keynote speaker. I am really looking forward to Vince’s presentation.

Vince was the subject of the 2006 Disney picture entitled, “The Invincible.” 

If you are unfamiliar with the story, when new Philadelphia Eagles Coach Dick Vermeil took over, he  ran an open tryout. Vince participated, and eventually made the team, playing three years for the Eagles. He was a rookie player at the age of 30.

The Board of Directors has breakfast with our keynote speaker prior to the delegates meeting on Monday. I would like to extend the invitation to join us for breakfast to the officers of two Chapters. To be one of those Chapters, you must have the highest percentage of members registered to the Convention (excluding Society Board of Director members and Convention Co-Chairs). By basing it on percentages, all Chapters have a fair chance of winning. So start signing people up to go to the Convention. Come meet Vince Papale backstage!

 

Technical Symposium

The Board selected Orlando as the next site for the Technical Symposium. The host Chapter will be the Central Florida Chapter.

There were many excellent sites that the Board reviewed before selecting Orlando. Thank you to all of the Chapters that put in for hosting the Symposium.

The Symposium will be on Disney property at the Buena Vista Palace. This will be a great opportunity for families to join members at the Symposium.

My wife also indicated that the weekend of October 28-30 would be when Disney holds the “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.” But she also cautions you to buy your tickets early since the party sells out quickly.

 

Executive Director Search

One of the questions I am always fielding is, “What is going on with the Executive Director Search?” The answer is that the Search Committee is doing their job.

Within the next few weeks, a notice will be posted advertising the position of ASPE Executive Director. Candidates will be invited to submit their resumes.

The Search Committee plans to review all of the resumes and reduce the number of candidates down to present to the Board of Directors. The finalist will be interviewed for the position.

The Board will make the final selection of the next Executive Director.

It is hoped that the next Executive Director will be announced at the Business meeting in Philadelphia. The plan is for the new Executive Director to start in December of this year. This would allow for a one month overlap of Executive Directors to facilitate the smooth transition in leadership.

 

New Books

There are some new books about to be released by ASPE. I would encourage all of you to purchase these new books.

One book is a dictionary of all plumbing engineering terms. This is a low cost book that will benefit all of the members.

Another book is the first in a series of the “Hunter Papers.” These papers provide valuable information regarding the background of plumbing research at the National Bureau of Standards.

As a young plumbing engineer, I studied, in detail, the Hunter Papers. This helped me tremendously in the profession. When I am asked how to get ahead, I always suggest starting with the Hunter Papers.

In the very near future, there will be an electronic form of many of the tables in the Plumbing Engineering and Design Handbook of Tables. The electronic tables are in Excel format. They are very user friendly, with printout capabilities.

I have had the opportunity to review all three of these new items. I would highly recommend that all of your members purchase one of each of these. You can’t go wrong.

 

RF Update

Normally, I let the ASPE Research Foundation toot their own horn. But, since there was a change in the status of the Research Foundation, I figure I should let you know the status.

Each April, the Research Foundation is required to have an Annual meeting. At the meeting, the officers of the Foundation are elected.

The Research Foundation elected me as the President. Elected to the positions of Vice President were Max Weiss and Bill Hughes, CPD. Stan Wolfson was elected Acting Secretary and Acting Treasurer. The reason for the “Acting” designation is because of Stan’s upcoming retirement in December.

At the annual meeting, two research projects were approved. The research will be conducted at two different laboratories. It is anticipated that the reports for these projects will be presented at the Bi-annual Convention in Philadelphia.

In the meantime, keep supporting the Research Foundation with your donations. As money comes in, additional research projects will be undertaken.

 

Sponsorship

How can you help the bottom line? Consider becoming a sponsor for the Philadelphia Convention. Your Region Directors will be getting you the information on becoming a sponsor.

Another way you can help is by asking manufacturers to become sponsors. The information on the manufacturers’ sponsorship program is on the ASPE website.

Let your local sales representatives know that the manufacturers they represent should be sponsors at the Convention and EPE. Many manufacturers respond to your requests, so be sure to ask.

 

Your Comments

I received a number of e-mails following my last Newsletter. Thank You! Keep your e-mails, cards, and letters coming. They are always appreciated. All of your comments are welcome. Also, feel free to share information with other Chapters through this Newsletter.