The EEEVic Story
Many readers will have seen meetings advertised on EEEVIC dodgers, but will have little knowledge of the background and significance of this venture. EEEVIC - Electrical and Electronic Engineering in Victoria - is an informal co-operative agreement between the four professional bodies in Victoria active in electrical and electronics engineering: The Institution of Engineers, Australia (IEAust), Victorian Division, The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) , The Institution of Radio and Electronics Engineers (IREE), Australia, and the IEEE Victorian Section. Since the IEAust Has two specialist branches with relevant interests in Victoria The Electrical and Communications Engineering, and Control and Computer Systems Branches there are actually five participating parties in the EEEVIC agreement.
EEEVIC is directed by a steering committee composed of representatives (usually Chairmen) from each of the participating parties, and meets 2-3 times per year. The main business is coordination of technical programs and organisation of joint meetings, the latter numbering about five per year. EEEVIC had its origins at an informal dinner held at the Harbourside Inn, Port Melbourne in July 1983. Present were Norman Bell representing the IEEE, Bill Bonwick of the IEE, Calvin Crisp and Kishor Dabke of the IEAust, and Barry Harrison of the IREE, together with the convener for the evening, Tony Gascoigne. The meeting was called because of increasing frustration felt with the uncoordinated, overlapping, and at times conflicting activities in the various organizations. In fact, the need for comprehensive coordination of effort had often been recognised previously, but no positive measures had been put into effect. During the dinner, the discussion was friendly but business-like. It was unanimously agreed that some sort of ongoing collaboration was required, and that resources has been needlessly wasted in the past through lack of coordination. However, the idea of a completely common technical program was just as quickly rejected; this was seen by some present as a threat to the individuality of the respective organizations. After some debate it was decided to aim tentatively at about some five common activities per annum, representing about 50% of the technical programs of the larger participating organizations (IEAust, IREE, etc.) Further, it was agreed to make the program for the following year (1984) a trial before attempting to formalise any ongoing cooperative arrangements. A working group was subsequently set up to plan on this basis, and consider the matter of publicity for joint meetings.
This group quickly developed the joint portion of the 1984 program, and produced the EEEVIC dodger form that is still in use. In the event, the 1984 program was a significant success, and continuation of the project indefinitely was unanimously agreed upon. Early fears of possible reactions to the dodger (on the basis that the order in which logos appeared may connote priority, etc.) and similar apprehensions were quickly forgotten as the overall success of the arrangement became apparent. In particular, the original decision to aim for nominally 50% commonality between the major programs together-apart philosophy has proved to be fundamentally sound. It has permitted a very worthwhile degree of rationalisation and cost reduction, without materially affecting organizational identity. In a similar vein, it was decided at the outset to allow the participants to organise and run joint meetings in their own way, without any externally-imposed standard. Thus, EEEVIC events organized by the IEEE are typically scheduled as lunchtime meetings in the city; those organised by the IREE are usually mid-evening events, and those organized by the two IEAust branches and the IEE are usually early-evening meetings. Another strategy, which has proved thoroughly workable and consistent with the above philosophy, is to fund EEEVIC meetings entirely from the resources of the sponsoring member, rather than attempting to collect multi-way contributions for each event. This has avoided complex bookkeeping and harassed Honorary Treasurers, and has been shown to be fair and equitable to all members. Of course, problems have occasionally arisen, but these have typically been simple misunderstandings rather than fundamental differences. EEEVIC has worked satisfactorily as a gentlemen s agreement to date, but there may now be a need to document some of the basic requirements and procedures, for the benefit of individual organisers.
EEEVIC continues to be a winner that deserves the full support of member organisations for both pragmatic and idealistic reasons. Firstly, it has been shown to save quite significant sums of money, let alone organizational effort. Secondly, it has proved an effective channel for inter-society cooperation and goodwill. In the future, there is the possibility of EEEVIC-sponsored special projects and other joint activities in addition to the organisation of technical meetings.
Author: Tony Gascoigne.