Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 1

Council GRID Services

Paul Wesling

SFBAC Communications Director and

GRID Editor

p.wesling@ieee.org

Outline

• Overview: What IS the GRID “system”?

• How to make the best use of the GRID:– When/how to send meeting/event information

– What you can expect

• Resources

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 2

The GRID “System”• The GRID is a powerful publicity utility for Chapters

in the Bay Area Sections: SCV, OEB, SF– As a monthly PDF – the GRID.pdf– As a twice-a-month e-GRID email to Members &

others (now up to a circulation of about 30,000)– As a website (events come up in Google searches)– As a web log (blog) and RSS feed - Google indexing

in <30 minutes – www.e-grid.net/BayAreaTech– As a Google Calendar that people can integrate into

their own Calendar; and a Twitter feed (@ITripMan)– Aimed at both Members and non-Members (to

encourage non-members to attend and get involved)

GRID services: the GRID.pdfFront cover of the GRID.pdf is a

hyperlinked index to the issue (like SJ Merc, Wall St Journal, etc)

• Each Chapter mtg is profiled & linked to the full details inside

• Conferences are profiled and linked to internal ads

• Your Chapter Seminars, Courses are highlighted, linked to internal descriptions

(demo)

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 3

GRID services: the GRID.pdf• Each Chapter meeting has its

own feature page with over-view of talk, details, bio sketch, and space for our advertisers

• These can be “extracted”from the full PDF to provide a Chapter with a small document (~60 kB) that can be circulated separately to Members

Ads for Marketplace, Conferences

GRID services: the e-GRID

“Push” Technology – Sent as an email to all Council Members twice a month

• All future upcoming meetings, plus conferences, short courses, seminars

• Sent also to non-Membersubscribers (ListServ)

• There is also a text-only version, for those who request it

• The e-GRID tends to be forwarded to co-workers around the company/lab

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 4

GRID services: the e-GRID (cont.)

Upcoming Chapter meetings – summaries, links

• The e-GRID Conference Calendar lists upcoming conferences, workshops

• Conferences – plus Chapter-advertised seminars, classes and workshops – are profiled for 6 to 8 weeks before the event

(demo)

GRID services: the GRID Website• Links to the

Marketplace, QuickRefCalendar, “contact us”

• Tweet, Blog, RSS• Each Chapter meeting is

profiled, and linked to details on your own Chapter website

• Paid banner ads for upcoming conferences

• Banner ads for Chapter-advertised Seminars, Courses

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 5

• Google Calendar

• Meetings

• Conferences

e-grid.net/gcalendar.html

Integrate into your ownCalendar

The GRID Blog and RSS FeedMeeting Title, Details

All, or “Category”:eg, BioEng, Comm’ns,

Computers/SW, Power, Design, Engng Mgmt, Nano, Optics, Semiconductors

Search functionLook for past meeting topics

www.e-grid.net/BayAreaTech

WordPress automaticallycreates an RSS feed …

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 6

The GRID RSS Feedeg, SAGE in Firefox browser (sidebar)or on a Tablet

Various Subscriptions (CNN, NYTimes, CNET, etc)

Most recent 10 “Stories” in blog

Story Summarieswww.e-grid.net/rss

The GRID Mobile PageComes up on a smartphone or tablet

Fly-out menu to narrow choices

Shows all upcoming meetings, events –click, for full details

Conference ads, at bottom

www.e-grid.net/mobile

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 7

Coming soon – GRID Apps • For the iPhone and Android:

– Using HTML5/CSS3/Javascript

– SJSU class project this winter/spring

– Should be available this summer

– Able to customize your smartphone/tablet app with keywords to find events of interest

• Would you like to be part of the beta team?– Let me know!

GRID services to Council Chapters• The Council’s GRID is a primary service for

alerting the broader membership and the full technical community about your Chapter’s Meetings and other events

• Over 50% of IEEE Members have NOT joined any Society – your Chapter can’t get to them.

• The GRID can get information to engineers a Chapter can’t: neighboring Sections, Members who are not in your Society, and non-members

• So, we supplement your own Chapter publicity

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 8

How to use the GRID• What to send:

RSVP info (if needed)Web link Article text

(one or two paragraphs)

Biography(s)(one or two paragraphs)

Attached photo (.jpg, .png)(optional)

Weekday and Date(I try to spot errors!)

Your Section/ChapterSubject of talkSpeaker(s) and companyTimeCostPlace

This listing is at www.e-grid.net/contact.html

How to use the GRIDWhat to send:

• These details, in an email, to editor@e-grid.net

• Or email me the link to your Chapter’s website page containing the details (I’ll grab the info)

I always acknowledge your email as I enter the information into the GRID:

• If you don’t hear back in several days, ping me again (I sometimes misplace an email)

• If I have questions, I’ll get back to you(eg, I may suggest another chapter’s publicity)

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 9

GRID services for Chapters• The GRID publicizes free Chapter events

(such as lunch or evening meetings) without cost.

• A low-cost course, workshop or seminar is publicized at no cost. If the non-member feeis less than $70/day ($80, if lunch is included), or $40/half-day, then the event is not considered to be a fund-raising event, and GRID publicity is free. (half-page ad or Chapter page;e-GRID; Calendar; etc)

How to use the GRIDYou will get my “Deadlines” email every 2

weeks:

• See if I’ve added your meeting by going to the website (www.e-grid.net) and checking the Calendar (www.e-grid.net/calendar.html) using the links provided in my email

• Let me know of errors, omissions, updates, and also of future meetings I should add

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 10

How to use the GRID BlogThe Blog provides a searchable database of

all meetings for the past ~5 years

• Search on your Chapter (eg, “control systems”) to find all of your past meetings

• Search on a topic (“cloud computing”)

• Search on a speaker or company, to see if he/she/it has given a talk before, and topics

How to use the GRID BlogOther uses:

• Search to see which chapters meet at a particular venue (eg, “cadence”)

• Select by one of the 9 Categories (demo)

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 11

Uses for the Google Calendar

Location: www.e-grid.net/gcalendar.html

• Scan past months to see which chapters also meet on second Thursdays with yours

(evaluate whether this might sometimes lead to conflicts in topics)

• Integrate the Calendar into your own Google Calendar, if desired, to monitor IEEE activities

• Promote it, at your Chapter meetings

When do we need your inputs?• Deadlines are usually around the 10th and 22nd of each

month, for the mid-month and month-end e-GRID and the next month’s GRID.pdf.

• But earlier is better!! I usually get it posted to our website within a day (sometimes with the hour)

• The Blog entry goes up when I first post the event, and then it is reposted the weekend before the meeting.

• We will publicize events up to three months in advance.

• An email goes out to all Chapter officers twice a month, with actual deadlines – be sure you’re seeing it.

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 12

GRID services: More InformationDownload from our website:

Single-Sheet “Chapter Seminar Rate Sheet” Flyer

www.e-grid.net/docs/chap-flyer.pdf

Six-Page “Conference Advertisements” Flyer

www.e-grid.net/docs/conf-flyer.pdf (demo)

Five-Page “Marketplace Advertisements” Flyer

www.e-grid.net/docs/marketplace-flyer.pdf

Other Resources• How to set up/configure IEEE ListServ email list:

– www.e-grid.net/docs/1203-listserv-setup.zip

• How to master your chapter’s website: – www.e-grid.net/docs/1401-guide-websites.pdf

• Other suggested tools for Chapter support:

• Online Spreadsheet, Word Processing, Collaboration: Google Apps

• Calendar: Google Calendar

• Discussion Groups: NING, IEEE Communities, Yahoo Groups, LinkedIn, FaceBook

Publicizing your Events in the GRIDPaul Wesling, Editor/Council Communications Dir

January 25, 2014Tri-Section Training Event

Visit us: www.e-grid.net Page 13

We Are Your Chapter’sNetworking Partner

• Each of you should already be on my e-grid-input@ieee.org Dlist, to hear about deadlines for monthly GRID input

• Questions, Answers, DiscussionPaul WeslingSFBAC Communications Director and GRID Editor

p.wesling@ieee.org or editor@e-grid.netCall: 408-320-1105 @ITripMan