Each year, I present SAME members with HQ priority initiatives for the new year. We have a very ambitious plan for 2006; just as we did in 2005. As always, we strive to make significant progress in 10 areas that will support the SAME Strategic Plan. You can see our 2005 progress report in this newsletter.

1. Acquire a Web-based Association Management System (AMS). SAME needs to invest in state-of-the-art technology to improve the responsiveness of its membership database for use by our Posts and HQ staff. The technology we have, acquired more than 10 years ago, is now outdated. We have hired a consultant who will assist us in evaluating technology solutions. We plan to make a selection and gain Board approval at the Spring Board meeting in New Orleans, La. The new AMS should provide an integrated solution for membership, conference registration, national committee memberships, and tracking of member training and education. A financing plan for the AMS will be presented to the SAME Executive Committee in February.

2. Initiate Quarterly Training and Education Webinars. This is a carry-over from 2005—we plan to initiate a series of training and education Webinars for SAME members, hosted by four SAME national committees. Announcements will be made soon on the dates and times. These Webinars will address topics of interest, provide value to SAME members and be a new source of revenue for SAME.

3. Establish and Maintain a Training and Education Calendar. Currently, the SAME Web site publishes only a calendar of events for conferences and workshops. We plan to expand our service to members by including Education and Training opportunities available through our Strategic Alliance partners (NSPE and IFMA) and our Academic Members.

4. Develop Retention Metrics for Individual Members. We are still in the process of converting Individual Members from an anniversary renewal date to an annual renewal. We plan to track retention data by looking at renewal rates for those members that expire each Dec. 31. In December 2005, we sent out 4,500 renewal notices; in December 2006 we should be up to 6,000 and to 7,000 in 2007. This information will be helpful to SAME to provide feedback to Posts on their retention rates as compared to the national average.

5. Promote Academic Membership and the Establishment of Student Chapters and College Mentoring Programs. We plan to launch a major campaign this year to interest more engineering, environmental and architectural departments at U.S. colleges and universities in becoming Academic Members of SAME, affiliating with a SAME Post for mentoring their students, and subscribing to The Military Engineer magazine. SAME established an Academic Membership in 2004, but we have yet to market it.

6. Institutionalize 25-year Member Recognition. We plan to establish a program to recognize Individual Members when they attain 25 years of membership. Each year we recognize 50-year members (see Page 4) and we plan to expand that program to honor 25-year members as well.

7. Redesign SAME News and Make it Available Electronically. SAME News is being redesigned as an electronic newsletter that will be sent via e-mail to those members for whom we have e-mail addresses. The interactive PDF format will be sized to fit 8-1/2 x 11-in paper and include links to each article for ease in reading and navigation. Members without e-mail addresses, and members who specifically request a printed copy, will continue to receive SAME News through the mail. This change will provide members the option of reading the newsletter on their computers, or downloading the newsletter and printing a copy themselves while reducing SAME’s operating costs. SAME News will continue to be available on the SAME Web site; however, the new format will be much more user-friendly for both printing and reading.

8. Collection of Conference Data. We have established templates for regional and national conferences and will make a major effort to collect financial and attendance data. This information will assist Posts that are planning to host similar events in the future, and provide information to Sustaining Member firms that need to make decisions on sponsoring and exhibiting at SAME events.

9. Member Survey. We plan to conduct another Member Survey in September 2006, asking similar questions to the ones we asked in 2005. This will enable us to benchmark our member responses and identify areas needing improvement and areas that are getting high marks from our members.

10. Century House Renovation. We hope to complete the fundraising campaign and the design for the Century House renovation project during 2006. Our goal is to raise $300,000 to cover the costs of renovating the conference room and foyer, establishing a Gallery of Military Engineer Leaders, and restoring the building’s exterior and the windows on the front of the building. We thank Sustaining Member company Kling, of Philadelphia, Pa., for providing SAME with a wonderful interior design concept and to Sundt Construction Inc., Earth Tech, KBR and Jacobs Engineering Group for becoming our first 4-Star sponsors.