Presidential Transition Report
STATE LETTER Chapter of Tau Beta Pi
Last Updated: October 3, 2015
Contents
Chapter 1Some Words of Wisdom
Chapter 2Pre-Semester Tasks
Section 2.1Determine the semester schedule
Section 2.2Reserve meeting rooms
Section 2.3Coordinate the office key transfer
Section 2.4Obtain the electronic list of eligible students
Section 2.5Obtain materials for the mailout meeting and plan accordingly
Section 2.6Determine the budget for the upcoming term, jointly with the treasurer
Section 2.7Encourage the new officers to begin their start-of-term duties
Section 2.8Explore the Association’s website and resources that HQ offers
Section 2.9Provide officers access to the shared files
Section 2.10Update university/college posting
Section 2.11Meet with university administration
Chapter 3Meetings
Section 3.1Officer Meetings
Section 3.2Advisory Board Meetings
Section 3.3Regular Meetings
Section 3.3.1MI G Semester Schedule
Section 3.3.2IL D Semester Schedule
Section 3.3.3Extra Information—Candidate Election
Section 3.3.4Extra Information—Elections
Section 3.4Initiation and Banquet
Chapter 4End-of-term Wrap Up Tasks
Chapter 5Semester-specific Events
Section 5.1District Meetings
Section 5.2Annual Convention (Fall)
Chapter 6University Obligations
Chapter 7Description of Folders
Chapter 1Some Words of Wisdom
“A huge part of being president is coordinating the efforts of the other officers. This requires that you know all the responsibilities of the other officers, and of course that they know those responsibilities. An effective president is able to motivate the officers to work hard, follow through and feel as though they have a stake in the society, even though they are all really just volunteers. This requires a delicate balance of consistently maintaining expectations without being too harsh or strict.”
—Adam Tury, MIG President Fall 2005
“Consult this document early and often.”
—Elson Liu, MIG President Fall 2006, AZA President 2000-01
“Build a strong team of officers. This means ensuring that all members feel like equals in the boardroom despite what the underlying hierarchy of officer positions may imply.”
—Edwin Yik, MIG President Winter 2009
“Keep in mind long-term goals. The task is not only to run the society for a semester but also to set the society on the right track for coming semesters. Always consider how present actions will affect the future of the chapter.”
—Rob Warren, MIG President Fall 2010
“Try to create a well-oiled machine and a base of support early on with officers you can trust to perform. Then work from your platform and create and develop new things to really make a difference.”
—Dan Kiefer, MIG President Fall 2011
“For president, there are two categories of tasks: visioning for the future, and ensuring that what is supposed to happen this semester does. Anytime you spend doing one, you can’t do the other. If you have to spend a lot of time ensuring that your officers are getting tasks done you won’t get much visioning done. If you spend a lot of time visioning, things will fall through. Draw on your advisors for help with visioning and on reliable officers for ensuring things get done, and you should be just fine.”
—Mike Hand, MIG President Fall 2012
“Perform your duties with integrity, and put the needs of your community above all else. Envision how your actions will affect the future of the chapter, and set your sights on the goals that you aspire to. At times you will be overwhelmed, but just remember the hard work that got you here, and know that you will accomplish your goals! Finally, work with your officers, establish chair positions, and delegate as much as you possibly can, so that your mind is free to focus on chapter growth and enhancement.”
—Stewart Baskin, FLE President 2012
“Connect with other TBP presidents both past and present. Learning how other chapters overcome their specific challenges will help you to gain insight into how to your overcome your own. Many chapters face remarkably similar obstacles, and a strong network will almost certainly benefit your leadership.”
—Chris Douglas, ILD President Spring 2012-Spring 2014
Chapter 2Pre-Semester Tasks
Section 2.1Determine the semester schedule
Things to consider when planning the semester.
At least one advisory board meeting must be scheduled— usually one to kick-off and another to wrap up the semester. (Relatedly, ensure that your chapter has enough advisors and that no terms expire without someone stepping in to fill the spot.)
Coordinate the schedule with the Corresponding Secretary to ensure there is enough time between the election of candidates meeting and Initiation. Generally keys and certificates require 4 weeks after submission of report of election.
Section 2.2Reserve meeting rooms
Who to contact, how to contact, when to contact.
This section is very university-specific;update accordingly.
Section 2.3Coordinate the office key transfer
If you have an office with specific keys that need to be transitioned (MIG has a lockbox for the key). Include details here.
Section 2.4Obtain the electronic list of eligible students
Determine/Assign who is responsible for obtaining the lists from the registrar or dean’s office. The duty may fall to one of your Advisors.
You will use the list of eligible students for two purposes — the Report of Eligibility and mailout. The corresponding secretary should remove current members (make sure your chapter keeps good records!) so we don’t invitemembers again. However, they must remain on the report and be marked as members if they are currently eligible. The corresponding secretary mustremove students who are pursuing non-engineering majors not recognized by HQ. The updated list of majors that your chapter considers are included in your chapter bylaws.
Provide name/email of contact to obtain an electronic list of eligible students.
Section 2.5Obtain materials for the mailout meeting and plan accordingly
Once you’ve received the final list(s) of eligible students, make note of the total number of undergraduate students that will be included in the mailing. Add some to this number as a buffer (call this quantity ), and use itto determine the materials you’ll need. Also, countthe number of eligible grad students (call this quantity ) should you choose to send letters to these students.
Update the students’ and parents’ Dean’s letters and have the Dean sign them. Requestfor the signed letters on blank paper, and ask for sheets of the Dean’s letterhead and of the Dean’s envelopes (this assumes the grad students’ permanent addresses are not mailed, if you do mail them, you’ll need sheets of letterhead). We send the parents’ letters in the Dean’s envelopes andthe students’ letters in regular envelopes.You will need to purchase regular envelopes ( if mailing the grad students’ permanent addresses). If you are not mailing to grad students at all, only and amounts of the Dean’s letterhead and envelopes, respectively, will be needed.
For the student’s letters, we include additional materials (get of each). All except item 1 are available from HQ (
1.A president’s letter including information about our local chapter. Update the previous term’s letter with the new names and dates and make copies.
2.A chapter brochure. Copy the chapter trifold document onto the brochure after updating that document with the new names, dates, and numbers of active chapters and initiated members. (MIG has not included these for a few semesters, as they are a bit of a hassle.If you wantto include them, order the materials from HQ.)
3.An Introductory Brochure.
4.An Electee Brochure (optional).
5.An Engineering Futures Brochure (optional).
6.A MindSET Brochure (optional).
7. A white wallet with a gold bent on the front.
All of these materials, including the Dean’s letter for the students, should be included in the white wallet and mailed in the letter.
Order the materials from HQ well in advance of the start of the term. Check the inventory in Appendix C.1 before ordering. In the fall order enough to get through the year. In the winter, if necessary, order enough to include with the mailout. Rebecca will panic if you order more than she thinks is reasonable. You should not order more materials than what you think will be used. Materials are updated annually or as needed.Excess supplies should be kept in the storage area(or the office or another suitable storage location if your chapter does not have one). Keep a few extra blank envelopes for mailing a few letters throughout the semester.
You need address labels for the eligible students (get this with the eligibility list(s) or make your own), and return address labels. Once the mailout materials are obtained, gather the officers to stuff and labelthe envelopes. Inform the officers that participating in mailout is mandatory.Recently we’ve found that planning this on a weekend morning makes it go very fast (which makes everyone happy).If your chapter is on a tight budget, you may request assistance from the Dean’s office to mail them for you. They should be willing to help and have the budget to accommodate this fairly easily.
It is recommended that you plan an officer social following themailout(either immediately or shortly after) to get the officers talking to another and becoming friends.
It is also advisable to email every student on the eligibility list. For MIG, the most effective way is to have the president (or whoever is in charge of initiates) email each candidate individually using a professional, but personal, email (see Appendix B for an example from ILD). For large chapters, this is likely only practical by using an email script, such as using Python or some other language/program. An alternative is to split the eligibility list into groups and have each officer/advisor send personal emails to each candidateinviting them to the chapter’s information meeting. For smaller chapters, this may be better replaced by in-person invitations. Further, it may be beneficial to share the eligibility list (notelectronically; perhaps at the first member meeting) and encourage current members to personally invite candidates they know.
Section 2.6Determine the budget for the upcoming term, jointly with the treasurer
Include general advice on how to budget and what to/not to spend money on.
A new budget is created each term with the treasurer, who will propose a budget based on the last two terms. Please go over the budget to make sure everything looks correct. This is usually done at the beginning of semester advisory board meeting. Keep in mind that sending additionalmembersto Convention in the fall can be costly, depending on location.
Section 2.7Encourage the new officers to begin theirstart-of-term duties
Include in here the tasks that need to be done at the beginning of the term.
It is easy to fallbehind during the start of term chaos. Encouraging officers to get started early is an important way to minimize this.
There are a number of semester start-up tasks that need to get done. This list is not exhaustive; update it as needed. Use your judgment as to when to remind who of what, as some officers will need more nudging than others. This list is to give you an idea of what should be happening early in the semester (before the informational meeting with candidates).
In general, get the officers in gear to work hard the minute school starts! If any officers are lacking the necessary transition material and cannot reach or contact the previous officer who held their position, please send any previous material you have. Try to update adocument library of old reports at the end/beginning of each semester.
It is also beneficial to meet one-on-one with officers at the beginning of the term. If you do this, you will likely see that the first ones to actually set up a meeting are the ones who, unsurprisingly, do not necessarily need to meet. It is still helpful, and if you have any officers that seem to be less responsive, you may wish to schedule them directly.
You may also plan an officer bonding event at the start of the term. This is a fun way to get to know other officers. Make sure the event allows everyone to get to know those in attendance (so not a movie, for instance). Generally speaking, chapter funds should not be used for this.
Some chapters grant the president the ability to create chair positions or committees as needed. Others grant this to the officer corps collectively. Some don’t grant it at all. Consult your chapter bylaws to figure out where this power resides as these extra positions can be useful for delegating tasks.
Section 2.8Explore the Association’swebsite and resources that HQ offers
On the Association’swebsite ( you’ll find many things relevant to your term as president. Among them is the President’s Book. Read through this document with an open mind; your chapter may do things differently and still find them successful. It contains valuable information and suggestions to help strengthen the chapter. You will likely not have a reason to do so, but if you want to log into the website with the chapteraccount, ask the corresponding secretary (who should take care of the online reporting) for the latest username and password.
A few important points of contact from HQ:
• : This goes to Roger, who routes the email to the appropriate person.
• : Curt Gomulinski is the Executive Director of TBP. If Roger or Rebecca has a situation that requires Curt’s involvement, he will be included.
• : Roger Hawks is the assistant Secretary Treasurer. He assists with the planning and correspondence for Convention.
• : Rebecca Davis is the collegiate chapter assistant (secretary’s best friend). She is very helpful whenever we have issues with reporting or membership.
• : Point of contact for chapter/member material orders.
•1-800-TAU-BETA : For urgent or complicated matters, HQ recommends calling. Office hours are 8am–5pm, Monday–Friday.
Read the chapter bylaws and encourage the other officers to read them as well. While it is not absolutely necessary to run the chapter effectively for a semester, having knowledge of the rules under which the chapter operates helps gain the respect and trust of the organization’s members. Additionally, it is important to ensure that the bylaws are up to date.
If you are somotivated, you can read the Tau Beta Pi Constitution and Bylaws. While you have little need to read it front to back, skimming the C&B will give you an idea of how the Association is structured, and how your chapter fits into that structure. Article VIII on Membership is very useful.
Ensure you have current C&Bon hand for reference (and bouts of insomnia).
Section 2.9Provideofficers access to the shared files
It’s a pretty good practice to have some shared files (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) where everyone can collaborate on documents. Google docs are especially useful for creating weekly announcements/meeting agendas where input from all officers is important. This is tremendously important for award nominations such as Laureate, McDonald Mentor, etc.
Include any relevant login information here
Section 2.10Update university/college posting
If you have any centralized student organization web space (student group pages, etc.) make sure to update TBP’s contact info.
Section 2.11Meet with university administration
Toward the start of the term (or end of the previous term), you should meet with college administrators to get acquainted. In particular it is useful to meet the engineering student affairs contact and the dean of engineering. The more connections you or your officers have, the easier it is to get things expedited. Some chapter presidents find it beneficial to periodically visit the dean’s office. It’s also useful to get to know the professors and the staff. Being familiar with these people can be helpful when you need a guest speaker, funding, or some event space on short notice.
Include information on setting up these meetings here.
Chapter 3Meetings
It is the responsibility of the president to plan and prepareagendas for all the core meetings, as well as the officer and advisory board meetings. In the president’s materials, you should include examples of agendas from previous terms for reference. It may be useful to create these agendas with input from the attendees and to send them out prior to the meeting. You should select someone to take minutes (your recording secretary is a good choice) and to keep time.
Section 3.1Officer Meetings
Include information on how to conduct officer meetings and how often they should be held.
It is essential that you convey the importance of these meetings, and it is your responsibility to pinpoint relevant topics to discuss. Getting the officers involved in understanding what the other board members are working on is what helps the group develop as a team. You should encourage officers to assist each other when you find it to be more efficient or when one officer is particularly overwhelmed.
Make sure your meetings have a purpose. Don’t waste your officers’ time with unnecessary meetings. Officer meetings vary from chapter to chapter, so you should include some information on the meetings at your chapter. Some chapters use officer meetings as brainstorming/discussion forums.It is beneficial to have as many officers present as possible, but it is not required that all officers be present for every meeting.
Section 3.2Advisory Board Meetings
Include here what is usually done at Advisory Board Meetings.This likely varies from chapter to chapter.
The advisory board is comprised of the chapter advisors as well as the president, vice president, and corresponding secretary. If there are any chapter issues which need to be voted on by the advisory board, these meetings can be used for that. The corresponding secretary shoulduse the advisory board meetings to obtainthe signatures of any officers or advisors that are needed for chapter reporting. Feel free to invite other officers to the advisory board meetings who you think will contribute to the discussion or that have relevant matters to raise, but you probably do not want to invite all the officers. At least one advisory board meeting must be scheduled, it may be helpful to have two meetings (one at the start and one at the end of each semester). See Section 2.1.