Your Phoenix AIAA officers have been trying to come up with events for local Section members, but it has been difficult. We had a dinner meeting in October with modest attendance and were hoping to pull off another dinner before the end of the year. Unfortunately, we have been unable to close the loop with any of the guest speakers we were planning to invite. We had ideas for a smaller, simpler event than a dinner with a guest and a PowerPoint presentation, but appropriate venues are hard to find and without a speaker even that fell through. We do have alternate ideas for a January event and are definitely planning to have a joint meeting with the ASU Student Branch in February, so stay tuned for that.
From my perspective as Section Chair and having held this same position over twenty years ago, I'm having a frustrating time figuring out what local members want out of the Phoenix Section. Based on low attendance, traditional dinner meetings with a speaker are no longer very popular. I am quite aware of the generational issue where younger people prefer on-line connections and information exchange via the Internet. I get that, and I acknowledge the power of the Internet, but I also think there is a great deal of value in face-to-face networking and socializing. We've tried happy hours and tours over the years, but they don't seem to attract more than handful of people. We've held off on purely technical workshops because Phoenix has such a diverse mix of engineering disciplines (rockets, satellites, commercial aircraft avionics, spacecraft components, aerospace communication equipment, helicopters, etc.) that it would be difficult to plan an event with a broad appeal.
I'm open to suggestions on what sort of events members would like to attend. We need help implementing these events and determining what members really want. Please consider getting more involved in the Phoenix Section activities. You'll meet interesting people, learn something new, and help the community. You can contact me directly at: michael.mackowski@gmail.com.
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Michael Mackowski, Phoenix Section Chair
Gilbert AZ
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