ACM President's Letter: chapters and verses

The chapters pot having been boiling vigorously for some years, now seems a good time to attempt a summary of what the chapters are all about, as I see it, and to urge those of you not involved to take a look and maybe think about getting active. Among the approximately 80 active regular chapters and over 200 student chapters can be found a truly remarkable range of activities. -Chapters are the Association's face to the local community. More non-ACM members hear of ACM activities through seeing chapter newsletters and press notices of chapter mee t ings , I shou ld th ink , than through any other means. -Chapters are a primary channel for the flow of technical information to individual practitioners. For the most part the effect (and intent) is broadening of horizons, rather than imparting detailed specialized knowledge. But that kind of mind-stretching is precisely what most of us keep promising to do for ourselves through wider reading, but somehow never got around to. The hugely successful National Lectureship Program, one of the many ways the parent organization supports chapters, is an important component of this information flow. A wide range of community service activities is to be found, including professional development seminars, o m b u d s m a n p r o g r a m s , s tuden t scholarships, high school computer clubs, and others. Some chapters' newsletters are of interest in their own right for their technical content and commentary. -Qu i t e a number of chapters have local Special Interest Groups. Most of these are loosely affiliated with one of 31 ACM SIGS, usually bearing the same name, but a few, like the SIG on Electronic Funds Transfer that the New York Chapter ran so successfully for several years, are geared to the needs and interests of the local community. -Chapters are a source of members for the parent organization. People come into ACM through the chapters door, so to speak. The lowering of the ACM dues to $28 July 1, combined with a much more broadly based Communications will, I believe, induce significant numbers of c h a p t e r m e m b e r s to jo in ACM. (Roughly a third are ACM members nOW. ) -Chap te r activities are a fine leadership training ground. There are chances to test and develop peopleskills, organizational talents, public relations abilities, strengths in dealing with other organizations, public speaking expertise, and on and on. Younger people who have an opportunity to develop skills and interests in the smaller arena of a chapter, later utilize those skills in work, community, and other ACM activities. For whatever it is worth, something like a third of the present members of ACM Council are past chapter chairmen. --Chapters provide the primary pool of talent and energy for running annual meetings. From an organizational and management standpoint conferences come under the control of the Conferences and Symposia C o m m i t t e e of the M a n a g e m e n t Board, but it would be most unusual to schedule a meeting in a location ~vithout a chapter strong enough to provide the workers to make it go. Chapter business is not all business: It is fun, too! There are lots of nice people in ACM. It's pleasant to meet old friends and meet new people. Sometimes useful business relationships develop. The combination of new technical data, presented in a friendly social context, is not to be dismissed lightly, if you haven't tried it.