Local Section Meetings of the A C S Second in a Series of ArticS es on Local Section Activities ROBERT F. G O U L D , M i d w e s t Editor C V E N in their one common denominator, meetings, the local sections express individual differences, and just the activities connected with the conduct of meetings offer many interesting contrasts. For instance, some sections prefer profound scientific lectures while others like a more popular talk. The majority o f sections have a meeting every month; some hold meetings more frequently than this, some less. Some sections rely almost entirely upon the ACS Tour Service for their speakers; others use local talent. A few conduct divisional programs, joint meetings, or regional meetings. Even i n the seemingly simple subject of meeting notices there is variety. Some of these differences are environmental, and tiie e x pressions to which local conditions gave rise may not be suitable to all sections. Other customs, however, show the genius of invention and might be adapted t o general use. N o effort is made i n this series of articles to separate activities as t o particular or general application; t h e y are all given for what interest they m a y have and with the possibility that some may b e found useful to others. The functions essential to the conduct of meetings are discussed here. Nontechnical programs, plant trips, films, and supplementary functions such as dinners, hospitality„ and social affairs, will be described later. Meeting Notices
Notices of local section meetings are distributed in a number of ways, by letter or postal card, on bulletin boards, and b y announcement in local section publications, daily newspapers, state joiariials, campus publications, and technical societies bulletins. Very often several media, are employed. A letter is the most popular form of meeting notice, wnth 43 of the sections reporting that they use them.. Thirty-nine sections use postal cards-, witli 23 depending on them as the primary means of notification. Nine sections using local publications for their notices also report using letters or cards on occasion:. Five sections use cards or letters to supple>ment notices in local technical societies bulletins; 5 use both cards and letters t o get out meeting notices, and 2 (Indiana and North Carolina) use all 4 media. Several of the larger sections whicli plan their meetings far in advance issue schedules which may serve as convenient re>minders when displayed on laboratory walls or under glass desk tops. New York prints a postal card schedule o f meeting dates for the year showing, n o t t l i e speaker for each meeting^ but the sponsorV O L U M E
2 3,
NO.
ing group and the subject of special meetings. . In the January issue of the California Section's bulletin this year, there was included a 4 by 6 inch card listing the date and day of the month of each meeting for 1945. It was a dark blue card of heavy stock and was tipped in for easy removal. A variation of this idea is Toledo's pocket-size pamphlet, 8 pages and cover, with the program for the entire year on the 2 center pages. Also included are the section's constitution and lists of past officers and present members. Pittsburgh gets out a 4 by 6 inch calendar which announces the meetings for the year. The meeting ua,te tor the month is marked "ACS" in place o." the numeral on the calendar at the bottom of each page which is perforated for easy removal, and the remainder of the page lists the speakers for the monthly meeting. The use of bulletin boards is reported by 33 sections, posters by 1, and in every case these are supplementary means of publicising local section meetings. Notices are usually posted in campus buildings and in industrial laboratories and plants to attract nonmembers and interested visitors to the meetings. The Midland Section has developed an arresting form of bulletin board notice. It consists of 3 parts, a background of red plastic sheeting forming a border for a white plastic panel which carries a blue print inscribed with the notice of the meeting. The red supports are mounted in strategic locations all over the Dow plant and are slotted to exhibit the notice in 2 panels, each about 2 by 4 inches, one above the other. The Pittsburgh Section has introduced this year the enclosing of a handbill announcing the meeting with every issue of the monthly paper, and each member is requested t o post his copy on a bulletin board. Several sections publish news letters that are essentially meeting notices to which notes and secretarial comments are added. These will be described in a subsequent article on publications. The Erie and the Washington Sections circulate printed meeting notices. Those sections which publish local section papers usually print meeting notices in them although Isotopics of Cleveland and sometimes the Syracuse Chemist are exceptions to this practice. Where meeting notices are published they are usually full or halfpage displays, and some papers print an advance notice of the meeting for the following month in another place in the magazine. The Chicago Section reprints the 2-page meeting notice from the local
24 -DECEMBER
2 5,
1945
section publication (with advertising on the back) and uses it as a program for dinner guests at the section meetings. Where a local section contributes to a paper published by another section, it is often difficult to carry this cooperation to the extent of publishing meeting notices for all. Problems of coordinating meeting dates and getting the paper out early enough for all concerned often make it necessary for the contributing groups to rely on different media. Thus, although the Virginia Blue Ridge, Western Connecticut, Lexington, Kanawha Valley, and South Jersey Sections contribute to papers published by other sections which occasionally carry their meeting notices, they also use letters or cards. The Chemical Bulletin of the Chicago Section and The Memph-Ion, although they a»re joined by cooperating sections i n publishing news and reports of meetings, carry only the meeting notices of the parent section. The Accelerator, of the Indiana Section, publishes a full page each month with the meeting notices of all of the sections of the Midwest Cooperating Group. T h e Catalyst (Philadelphia), and the Bulletin (Virginia Section) often carry meeting notices of their other cooperating sections, and the Indicator (New York and N o r t h Jersey jointly with Western Connecticut contributing) always does. Nine sections invite the public to their meetings through the regular use of newspaper publicity and, in addition, 2 sections buy advertising space for this purpose— the University of Michigan Section advertises in the campus daily, and the Midland Section in the local newspaper. In addition t o the use of premeeting publicity in the local press, s o m e sections attempt to have their meetings covered in the newspaper's with next-day reports. Such notices also provide entering wedges for ACS publicity material such, as that offered in recent editorials. The Indiana Section has been notably successful in this regard. Out of 103 sections reporting, 66 state that they send meeting notices to nonmembers, 3 indicate that they invite outsiders on occasion, and 4 state that the only nonmembers circularized are associates. The remaining 30 sections apparently make no effort to solicit or encourage nonmember attendance although there is no indication that nonmembers are not welcome if they wish to attend. Those which are affiliated with technical societies councils are tacitly inviting other technical people, which is tantamount to inviting the public, when t h e y include 2331
their notice in a combined meeting schedule. Among others issuing general invitations, St. Louis circularizes neighboring ACS sections, and Peoria sends notices to & noarby army camp. A few sections report that they will put o n their mailing list anyone who is interested. Some regularly circularize technical employees in local plants and laboratories, but others confine their extra invitations t o ospective members, students, and high-school teachers. Indiana exchanges meeting notices with the student affiliates at Butler University. Professional people in related fields of science are invited to meetings by a number of sections, and Nashville extends invitations to local business men, depending on the subject. Hanoi* A. Webb, secretary of the Nashville Section, reports that he mails about twice as many announcements as there are names on his roster. He studies t h e subject, and if it might be of interest t o any industrial or commercial men of t h e region, announcements are sent to them. For example, when Gustav Egloff spoke at Nashville in 1944, Dr. Webb sent notices to all of the oil executives in the city, many of whom attended. Likewise, when a speaker gave a talk on wheat gluten, all of the bakers were circularized. Frequency of M e e t i n g s
Most sections operate on a schedule closely paralleling the school year with a recess of several months in the summer. The majority meet once a month during this period. Of the 103 sections reporting, 8 7 operate on a monthly schedule, 6 to 8 meetings a year, 74 meet 8 to 10 times, the Puget Sound Section recesses only during August, and the California Section holds 12 monthly meetings. In some sections which are difficult of access or whose members are widely scattered, meetings arc held less frequently. Eleven s'ections hold bimonthly meetings. Nebraska and Southeast Texas meet whenever a speaker is available although in the latter case it h a s usually been monthly. In Maine, where the members are widely scattered and winter travel is difficult, only 2 or 3 meetings are held a year, aiways in the fall and spring. The wartime restrictions or* travel reduced the activity of the Connecticut Valley Section which formerly held 8 meetings a year in various parts of its territory. Since many of the members of that group must travel to attend meetings, for the past 2 years 4 meetings have been held annually divided between Springfield and Hartford. The by-laws of the Lehigh Valley Section specifically provide for at least 10 meetings a year in different parts of the section's territory and require that 2 each shall be held in 4 different localities— Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, and Palmerton. Among other sections whose members are sufficiently scattered t o warrant holding meetings in different localities are the Washington-Idaho Bor-
2332
der Section, which alternates betweon the University of Idaho a t Moscow and the State College of Washington a t Pullman; the Pennsylvania—New York Western Border Section, which generally alternates meetings between Bradford and Warren, Pa.; Oregon; Florida; and all 3 of the Virginia Sections. The territory of the Oklahoma Section is tlie entire state, and meetings with tour speakers are rotated s o that Tulsa, Bartlesville, Stillwater, Ponca City, and Norman have at least one outof-state speaker per season. I n addition, the Bartlesville group, which includes a large proportion of the members in the section, holds meetings with local speakers every month. T h e programs are of the symposium type with 2 or 3 speakers o n different phases of a broad subject; each program is arranged "by a local member chosen for his familiarity with that subject. Invitations to the meetings i n Bartlesville are state-wide. Another section with a large territory is Indiana which usually holds its Octoher meeting a t one of the many colleges i n the state at a time to coincide with a home football game; the host obtains the speaker. The Syracuse Section generally holds several meetings a year at Utica, a t some of which t h e programs are repetitions of those presented at Syracuse. T h e Texas-Loiaisiana Gulf Section has approached the problem of a scattered membership in a different way. With its members principally distributed among 3 cities—Beaumont, Lake Charles, and Port Arthur, each of which serves in turn as a meeting site—the section has recently been divided into districts. Each has a vice chairman and a member-at-large on the executive committee, and t h e Section's committee chairmen coordinate t h e activities of subcommittees for each district. Some sections, where the concentration of ACS members is high, are able t o maintain more vigorous programs. T h e Midland Section meets 12 times between October and May. The Rochester Section holds 16 meetings a year, on the first and third Mondays of each month from October through May. For 12 of these meetings an out-of-town speaker is engaged while at t h e other 4 meetings local men, usually some of the younger members w h o discuss their own research, are presented. The Indiana Section has met for luncheon at a hotel i n downtown Indianapolis every Tuesday noon for 9 months of t h e year since 1911. Talks are given by local people unless a n out-of-town speaker is available- During the past year, 3 movies were shown, and at one meeting half a dozen speakers talked 5 minutes each. In addition t o this, evening meetings are held monthly at which outside speakers are presented. T h e S t . Louis Section holds weekly luncheons every Wednesday the year around a t some downtown hotel. N o program is arranged, however, and attendance i s usually not over 20, normally limited t o those in the
downtown area. The regular monthly meetings of the Hawaiian Section are luncheons. Heretofore only the annual meeting with elections has been held in the evening with a guest speaker, but this year a second evening meeting is planned. Programs
>
Eighty sections report that they have only one speaker at section meetings. Of the others, some have symposia or group programs, either regularly or at intervals. Some have a second speaker on occasion, and others have after-dinner speakers a t every meeting. Many sections obtain some of their speakers from the ACS Tour Service, conducted from the Washington office. Thi.s is to be described in a later article by Alden H. Emery, Assistant Secretary of the* SOCIETY, who lias been in charge of the activity since the SOCIETY took it over from volunteer workers in 1930. One group of sections manages all a s pects of its own tours. Known as the Midwest Cooperating Sections, it consists of the A C S sections in and close t o the Ohio River Valley. I t was started under the guidance of Ed. F . Degering, of Purdue, who served as its secretary for 5 years. T h e present secretary is E . St. Clair Gantz. The original group consisted of 6 sections—Cincinnati, Dayton, Indiana, Lexington, Louisville, and Purdue. T h e Kanawha Valley Section (Charleston, W. Va.) was added when the ACS Tour Service Wcis inaugurated several years later because it could be served better with its neighbors in the Midwest Cooperating Sections. Two sections that were organized subsequently in that region were added in later years: Peoria (1939) and Wabash Valley (1944). T h e University of Illinois Section belonged to t h e group for 5 years, from 1932 to 1938. Representatives of the Midwest Cooperating Sections meet once a year to plan a program for the next season and then leave i t up to the executive secretary to do what he can i n scheduling tours. Expenses are prorated in the same manner as the regular ACS tours arranged b y the Washington office, with which the group cooperates. The Lake Superior Section cooperates with local schools and clubs (rather than with local sections) to bring speakers into that somewhat isolated area. Thus b y sharing expenses with such groups as the Duluth State Teachers College, Duluth Saturday Lunch Club, Duluth Engineers' Club, Radio Station W E B C , and Superior Kiwanis Club, the Lake Superior Section has been able to import speakers which would otherwise have been far beyond its individual ability. Ordinarily, a speaker who can be scheduled for a minimum of 4 engagements can be afforded. When the section secured a speaker recently who was*«, willing t o give a number of talks without expense to any group, he was offered to the other local clubs and gave a total of 7 addresses in 2 days. The fact that the co-
Chi E M J G A L . A N D
E N G LN E E R I hLG
NEWS
operators a~re lay groups a n d require a less specialized talk is n o problem t o the Lake Superior Section, whoso members represent a broad diversity of interests and are so widely scattered 1 in tli
