[Chapters-l] And the Winners Are...

[Wallace, Amy]

A special thank you to everyone that submitted an annual report and/or
chapter award submission.  The committees were impressed by the number
and quality of submissions this year.  And it is all thanks to you!

 

Chapter of the Year

 

The Chapter of the Year Award goes to the New England and Potomac Valley
chapters. These two chapters were commended on their ability to set
clear goals and articulate relevant accomplishments, which included
efforts to enhance membership, improve communication, and organize
programs that drew both members and non-members. So much was
accomplished in so many areas by these chapters that when the judging
was over, only a quarter of a point separated them.  

 

New England hosted ten business meetings and eight programs, which drew
243 attendees. Judges were impressed by the chapter's continued
commitment to providing no-cost or low-cost programs, and the chapter's
willingness to explore new program models, such as the TED Talks
Festival. This program provided high quality content at no-cost to the
attendees, and required little money and time to organize. The chapter
improved communication by converting its website to Wordpress, created
program committee and board wikis, and established a Twitter feed to
conduct business, keep members informed about upcoming events, and
recruit new members. All of which added to their already impressive
suite of Social Tools of NEASIS&T, which also includes Facebook and
Flickr.

 

Potomac Valley was granted chapter development funds for activities to
increase membership. The chapter developed a student membership award,
and creative incentives which included allowing friends to attend
programs at the member rate, free student attendance at all programs,
and enticing new professional with discounted memberships. The chapter
also created a marvelous recruitment brochure and sent targeted mailings
to new professionals and information science programs in their area. The
chapter's recruitment project is still on-going, but they have already
added eight new members. The judges were also impressed by the variety
of programs offered. Programs touched on both the theoretical and
practical, and topics ranged from Beats and Bytes: Music and Creativity
in the Information Age to From Data-to-Visualization: Emerging tools for
Research. The chapter also paired a preview of the ASIS&T Annual Meeting
with the PVC Annual Business Meeting for local members who were unable
to attend the national meeting in Ohio.

Congratulations to both chapters!

Chapter Innovation of the Year Award

The 2009 Chapter Innovation of the Year Award goes to the New England
Chapter of ASIS&T for their "TED Talks Film Festival".  This event
leveraged the free, virtual content from TED to gather together a wide
variety of information scientists, developers and librarians.  Their
approach to grouping and discussing the films impressed the judges.  As
one judge noted, "This was an innovative way to share a variety of new
developments, in an accessible and simple format, at minimal cost to
attendees."  We applaud the NEASIS&T and encourage other chapters to
consider using this innovative idea for chapter events.

Chapter Event of the Year Award

The 2009 Chapter Event of the Year Award goes to two events this year:
the Introduction to Content Management Systems workshop held by the
Carolinas Chapter of ASIS&T and "Mobile Mania" an event hosted by the
New England Chapter of ASIS&T.

More than 40 students and professionals attended cc:asis&t's half-day
workshop on content management systems.  The workshop introduced ASIS&T
to the larger technical community in North Carolina and began building
relationships with other professional societies in the area, as a way to
promote ASIS&T's mission and recruit new members.  The judges felt that
the event was timely, valuable, and affordable and were impressed with
the chapter's ability to present such a technical topic in an accessible
and introductory manner.

 

NEASIS&T's "Mobile Mania: Developing Information Services for Portable
Devices" event was a collaborative event between the New England and
Simmons chapters of ASIS&T.  This event brought together a diverse
audience of more than 60 participants, including public librarians,
mobile device vendors, freelance programmers, and mobile device
developers.  The judges were impressed by the timeliness of the topic
and the way in which the event engaged a variety of participants.  As
one judge commented, the chapter was able to benefit from the event "by
reaching beyond its boundaries to other groups."  

Chapter Member of the Year Award

The 2009 Chapter Member of the Year Award goes to Nicole Henning of the
New England Chapter of ASIS&T.  Nicole is the current Chair of NEASIS&T
and has been the key motivator behind a number of chapter events and
publications.  Nominators called her "ideas person" of the Chapter and
the the "brain child" of the TED Talks Film Festival, which won the 2009
Chapter Event of the Year Award.  Her skill in planning events was
noticed by the judges.  As stated by her nominator, Nicole "has a unique
ability to turn ideas into practical and accessible events."  The judges
were also impressed by her work in developing communication tools for
the chapter, in particular her ability to implement innovations that
will allow the Chapter to communicate over a broader geographic
distance.

Chapter Member of the Year Award

The 2009 Chapter Publication of the Year Award goes to the Potomac
Valley Chapter of ASIS&T for the PVC blog.  The blog connects the other
online communication tools of the chapter, such as the Chapter website,
Facebook page, LinkedIn group, and GoogleCalendar.  The judges were
particularly impressed with the offerings of slidecases and podcasts on
the blog, allowing participation to continue after the events have
occurred.  Judges were also commented on the professionalism exhibited
in the structure and presentation of the blog.

 

 

 

 

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