Q: how does your association provide value to international or student members?

One of the association clients we serve, although international in scope, had not been able to develop a strong connection with members in the Pacific Rim and elsewhere outside the United States. The solution was simple: Move the annual conference to their backyard every other year or so, recruit aggressively to diversify the volunteer workforce, and demonstrate a greater sensitivity and appreciation for cultural nuances.

The same holds true in cultivating relationships with student members: Move the game to their turf, listen and learn from their ideas, and let their good work manifest throughout the organization.

The value to the association is incalculable. Activating the creative energy of a diverse population enriches the overall experience of membership for all and improves retention.

Sammi Soutar, CAE President, Able Management Solutions, Inc., Columbus, Ohio; [e-mail]

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We serve our international members primarily through a detailed Web site. In the members' section, we post all of the documents, analyses, administrative filings, and similar material that we prepare in our role of advocating public policy on behalf of our members. In addition, we send our members weekly e-mails that detail all of the new additions to our Web site.

The site itself is quite dynamic. The home page is changed often to communicate new developments that affect our industry and its members. We also serve our international members through personal visits to the companies with briefings to senior management.

Thomas R. Kuhn, CAE President, Edison Electric Institute, Washington, D.C.; [e-mail]

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We want and highly value both our international and student members. And we offer membership options that make it affordable for them to join. International members may join at the regular rate, but for those for whom this is not affordable, we offer three options:

1. We award five international membership grants annually to professionals in developing countries.

2. We offer an international e-associate option for $50 that provides e-benefits only (e.g., online journal vs. a paper copy).

3. We provide 100 free subscriptions to our professional journal to libraries and institutions in third-world countries.

Once international members join, we provide further value by offering an Honorary Fellow award, which is only for professionals outside of North America. And about every 12-15 years, we host the World Congress of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology.

For students, we have reduced dues to $25, and we offer them a graduated dues structure for the first few years of their professional careers. Many of our officers sponsor, or pay dues for, the students with whom they work. We also include a student column in our newsletter. All members, including students and international members, have access to our multiple listservers. In addition, our journal is online, which makes it fast and easy to use for researching papers.

Carmine M. Valente, CAE CEO, American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, Laurel, Maryland; [e-mail]

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We give student members of the Council for Learning Disabilities a deep discount for membership and allow them to participate on committees and present at our international annual conference. In our field, it is important that students and professional educators have a strong service record for their vitae. Active participation in the association provides a mechanism not only for PhDs to continue to build their service record but also doctoral candidates and graduate students.

The association is very volunteer-driven; therefore, we are always looking for members who are interested in becoming involved. We have a very active Leadership Development Committee that is charged with developing association leaders from the field. They often draw from member doctoral students who are eager to become involved.

Andrea M. Falzarano, CAE Executive Director, Council for Learning Disabilites, Leesburg, Virginia; [e-mail]

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