Are you looking for a way to make a Senior Member elevation easier to arrange for colleagues in your area? Plan a Senior Member Nomination Night at your local chapter. With Senior Members and Fellows willing to coach candidate members, the evening becomes a social networking event.

First, identify Senior members and Fellows through your Section’s membership database. They don’t all have to be EMC Society members; simply IEEE members – Senior Grade or higher. Contact them personally to ensure their commitment to coach candidates and make this a successful event. Several higher grade Members per candidate Member is preferred. Experience shows that a recommended ratio is two Senior members for each Candidate.

When you invite prospective members who are appropriate candidates for Senior Grade elevation, remind them to review the requirements so they are prepared. They should bring their resume to help guide conversations with the higher grade members offering to provide references.

On the evening of the event, the Senior members and Fellows work “one on one” with candidate members, clarifying the significant performance requirements of the application process. Once documented, this makes the reference writer’s job much easier. When the Society or Section takes the job of nominating the candidate, only two references instead of three are required.

The Senior member process is all online now. Schedule the evening in a room with network access and a number of computers. Have some snacks and beverages to keep the evening casual and the conversation flowing. Chatting around the tables and making careers the feature of the evening offers the chance to exchange backgrounds and talk about useful career directions.