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HFES 50th Annual Meeting Student Host Committee Update

by Jim Beno

Although the HFES 50th Annual Meeting is not until October, most of the planning and preparation is taking place now. The Student Host Committee is off to a good start, but there is still a lot of work before us. So if you have some free time this Summer, please help!

Since our initial kick-off meeting in March, the Student Host Committee has made the following progress:

• Subcommittees - Five subcommittees were formed and staffed: Newsletter (chaired by Janice Tam), Hospitality and Social Events (chaired by Cassy Rowe), PR and Marketing (chaired by Ruth Loewenhardt), Keynote Speaker (chaired by Jason Wise), and 50th Anniversary Theme (co-chaired by Jason Wise and Mayuko Ueda; formerly co-chaired by Jose L. Garcia-Chico).
  
  
• Mailing List and Wiki - A mailing list and "wiki" web site were created to facilitate communication and collaboration. The wiki can be accessed at http://wiki.sjsuhfes.org. Parts of the site are open to everyone, but some areas are restricted and require registration and the appropriate permissions.
  
  
• Site Tour - A tour was held in April at the Hilton San Francisco in Union Square, the site of the 50th Annual Meeting. This visit gave us an early peek at the site of the conference, and helped inform the subcommittees, especially those responsible for signage and the student lounge.
  
  
• Best Practices - Information on best practices and lessons learned was acquired from University of Central Florida (UCF) students, part of last year's host committee, and communicated to the relevant subcommittees.
  
  
• Keynote Speaker - A list of candidates for the keynote speaker were generated, along with contact information for follow-ups, and this list was submitted to HFES for consideration.
  
  
• Newsletter - The Newsletter subcommittee named the daily conference publication "The Golden Gate Gazette," brainstormed some possibilities for content, submitted a list of required equipment, and created a draft layout template and masthead design.
  
  
• Social Event and City Guide - The Hospitality and Social Events subcommittee submitted a proposal for the Thursday night social event. After brainstorming a number of possibilities, they recommended a San Francisco Dinner Bay Cruise. They also created a proposal for a local guide to the city.
  
  
• Student Lounge - Student members of HFES were solicited for input on a proposed Student Lounge. Over 30 students responded, and their ideas helped shape a final proposal for the lounge. The lounge was approved by HFES executives and should be a focal point for the student community.
  
  
• Hotel Signage - A tour of the hotel revealed how important it will be to have good signs and maps. After this, guidelines for signage were obtained from the hotel, and plans were started for creating signage and a hotel guide.
  
  
• Local Organizations - To help with marketing efforts, a list of local HF/E organizations was created and submitted to HFES. These organizations will be contacted in an attempt to increase conference registration.
  
  
• 50th Anniversary Theme - A number of ideas were brainstormed for how to reflect the 50th anniversary theme ("Golden" and "50"). Contact was made with the overall theme committee, and planning is continuing.
  
  
• HFES Bulletin Article - An article about the conference was written for the HFES Bulletin. It invites HFES members to attend the conference, and highlights the region, technical tours, social events, and student lounge. It was written by Dr. Anthony Andre, Dr. Abbas Moallem, Jim Beno, and Jamie Kravitz.

While students were focused on these activities, Dr. Abbas Moallem and the Bay Area Chapter of HFES (BACHFES) pulled together a list of technical tours that include Google, eBay, NASA Ames Research Center, and IDEO.

Over the Summer, likely activities will include: planning the months leading up to the conference, defining responsibilities during the event, creating the first issue of the newsletter, preparing for the student lounge, creating hotel signage, planning public relations, writing the local city guide, and finalizing theme-related activities.

Want to help out? All students that volunteer with the host committee will receive free registration at the conference, have access to a "party suite" reserved for the host committee, get some great exposure to HFES, and have a lot of fun with fellow students!

To get involved, please contact Student Host Committee Co-Chairs Jim Beno (jim@jimbeno.net) or Jamie Kravitz (jfkravitz@yahoo.com), or any of the subcommittee chairs.