Looking back at the 2014 IAC it's a bit easier to notice the many details that were involved in making the conference a success. Every session and activity had people behind the scenes making the event look and feel effortless. As the saying goes, many hands make lighter loads. I suspect that there was a small army involved in making the event so enjoyable.

So what's next, you may be wondering?

ASEM has activities at all levels that happen over the entire year. For example, I have mentioned ASEM committees in earlier blogs. Volunteering on a committee is a great way to learn about what's happening in the organization, as well affect changes in how the association is run.

If you are on campus - as a faculty member or a student - see if your institution has a student chapter. Getting involved with tomorrow's engineering managers is a terrific avenue for fostering ideas and discussing topics of interest.

Other ways to become involved include providing time and content for a webinar or a blog post; consider sharing an article or start a conversation at LinkedIn, Google+ or Twitter. If writing in a more formal style is your passion, you can even submit work for the Practice Periodical or the Engineering Management Journal.

In fact (note to self), it's not too early to think about drafting an abstract for the 2015 IAC.

The organization is gaining attention worldwide and needs to adapt to the changing conditions. This won't happen overnight or on its own. Your input and contributions will help ASEM remain strong during this dynamic period. Even the smallest suggestion can have value, so don't keep those ideas to yourself. Consider putting your interests to work; together we can all usher ASEM into a bright future.

"It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we are." - Joyce Carol Oates

Graphic credit: https://openclipart.org/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tricia Simo Kush is a recently certified Professional Engineering Manager. Her background is in Information Technology with a goal is to take her career to a higher level through Engineering Management. To her, Engineering Management is a fascinating mix of technology and business, people and process. Follow her on Twitter (@TSimoKush) or check out her profile on LinkedIn.