Hi everyone,
As you may be aware, I have recently taken on the role of Executive Director of SAE Australasia. As an active member of these forums, I recognise the value of engaging in constructive discussion with the Formula SAE community. Therefore I would like to open a little discussion about the value of the SAE here in Australia, its purpose, and how we might go about building an active and dynamic society that engages you, the next generation of automotive engineer.
I'll preface this by stating that I'm speaking on my own behalf, and partially on behalf of SAE Australasia. The views I am putting forth are my own and are open to your criticism and feedback.
The role of professional societies
Professional societies such as the SAE are in a bit of a strange space the moment. We have moved into a new work environment where the traditional model of a professional society does not have as strong a foothold as it might have had in previous years. Firstly the traditional model traded in part on the status of being a member, whereby engineers’ credentials were measured partially on what clubs the engineer belong to. We are now in a much more egalitarian society where status alone does not get you very far. Secondly the traditional model relied heavily on the trading of information relevant to your own particular profession. Being a member of the club gave you access to information that you needed to complete your job. Obviously nowadays in the Google generation information is much easier to come by, and therefore access to information is no longer the tradable commodity that it used to be. So we, as the directors of such a society, have some work to do in plotting a new course for the SAE.
Sure the SAE continue to exist? I am absolutely certain that it does. I would not have taken on this role if I didn't think so. I am passionate about the SAE for the opportunities are provided me during my undergraduate degree, for the brilliant learning experience that was Formula SAE, and for the lifelong career skills and network of contacts I gained through competing in it. I have some very solid ideas about where I should be driving the society, and I'm equally keen in hearing your ideas.
SAE Australasia
SAE Australasia is at a turning point. The society recognises that the work environment has changed and its old business model is no longer working. It is also noticing that student members are only staying involved as long as they need to compete in Formula SAE and for the most part are moving on once they graduate. Thus membership is dropping as the older generation move on and as the younger generation don't hang around either.
Many around me are speaking doom and gloom, but I see this as an opportunity. We have the chance to design and build a professional society from the ground up, in a way that it delivers what we want and not what others had decided we might want on our behalf.
I have a Board of Directors behind me who are open to ideas and who are looking to the new generation to drive the society in a new direction. Having seen the quality of work that is presented at the Formula SAE event each year, I know we have the human resources and the imagination to achieve whatever we want. I flatly refused to believe the stories I keep hearing about the apathy of the Y- generation because I've seen what this generation can achieve when appropriately motivated.
Having said the above, put quite simply nothing is going to happen if we all just sit around and wait for someone else to do it. It is a bit like a Formula SAE project. No matter how many committee meetings you have and how many good ideas that are put forth, unless there are people on the ground willing to do the legwork, you are not going to end up with a final product.
We can rebuild as a dynamic organisation, whereby the members take an active interest in the welfare of the society and get involved in organising and delivering as well as attending society activities. Or we can be a more passive organisation, whereby for the most part the members wait for services to be provided to them. If we adapt the former model, we have a huge pool of resources to which we can draw from. If we adopt the latter, then society members will only receive that which we can achieve with an office staff of three people. The latter isn't a model that will take us into the future.
There are some of you who will put the argument that if the SAE were to disappear, then FSAE would be taken on by some other organisation and would continue to run as if nothing had happened. Maybe that could be the case, maybe not. For the sake of FSAE, I don’t want to risk it. But my argument is that if that were the path we travelled, we lose this opportunity to build anew. It seems to me that most other organisations, successful or not, are wedded to the old traditional vision of the professional society. What I'm proposing to you here is that if we act quickly we have the opportunity to build the society that we want. If that is what we want, the time to act is now while I have the Board's attention.
My vision of the future of SAE Australasia
The good thing about Formula SAE, aside from the obvious learning outcomes, is that it builds a certain sense of community within and between the universities. A well structured and dynamic Formula SAE team is the ultimate learning environment, whereby a motivated team work towards a common goal and whereby the team members help each other to achieve that goal. However for the most part, once we graduate the teams and the communities dissipate and we all get lost in our corporate anonymity.
I think most of us would like the idea of retaining that engineering club that we have in our Formula SAE days. And I think most of us would retain some sort of passion for things automotive, whether we choose to work in the industry or otherwise. I honestly believe we have the opportunity to build the world's best automotive club, where engineers can learn about automotive stuff, build a professional network, share their knowledge and ideas and work with each other on interesting projects.
The picture I have in my own mind of a society that I want to belong to look something like the following:
Firstly, the society has offices in each state. I recognise that we have not had much of a presence outside of the State of Victoria for many years and that needs to change.
The SAE office does not look so much like an Administration office as it has until now - but more like an engineers drop-in centre. There are interesting cars / bikes / displays in the foyer. There are social and meeting areas, a pool/billiards room, maybe a cafe and bar. There are seminar rooms with projection facilities, openly available to members to teach each other stuff. There is a workshop attached, and membership would give you access to a range of engineering tools that you might need to complete an engineering project. There would be computers on hand loaded up with the latest CAD and engineering analysis packages. Four-post hoist? A shock dynamometer? Maybe a chassis dynamometer? Maybe through an arrangement with an outside supplier, members could get access to CNC machines, rapid prototyping machines et cetera. Through the society we can recruit members to work together on projects of interest - such projects of interest would be projects designed to safeguard and stimulate the Australian automotive industry. I have my own ideas as to what those projects might be, but I will keep them to myself for the time being lest you think I have become completely barking mad.
The above is my dream, and it is surprising how many people in Australian engineering have the same dream. I reckon if we start to move part of the way towards that goal, then we will start seeing a lot of people pulling in behind us to help us along.
I am going to put this as simply as I can. My motivation is to help build a new Australian automotive industry. No I do not believe the SAE can do this on its own, but I do believe it can play a vital role. I also know that in my travels recently I have met many people in this industry who have similar ideas and who are looking for collaborations to achieve this goal. There are many that look to the SAE for the independent technical expertise that we can offer, and for the huge wealth of human resources we have in you guys, the Formula SAE community. And if there is going to be a future for the Australian automotive industry, then it is going to be driven by you guys.
Sorry this sounds like a load of twaddle, but I'm happy to put my beliefs to you for your own critical analysis and feedback.
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How do we get there
There is a bit of chicken and egg going on here. To get to the above, we need to build a bit of strength into the existing foundations of the SAE. We need to build our profile, which draws in money, which builds our ideal society. At the moment we don’t have money or people, and we are losing members because we don’t provide enough value – because we don’t have money or people to provide that value...
If you want to see the above come to fruition, or even part of it, then I urge you to get involved in whatever way you can.
Volunteer
For those of you who receive the SAE-A AutoEngineer journal, my column this month is all about the merits of volunteering. We have many opportunities including the Formula SAE event, various technical and training seminars, the various steering committees or even taking on a role within the SAE head office. Volunteering gets your name on your face known by the key players within our industry, develops workplace skills and adds that extra something to your resume that might just be the difference between getting the job and not getting the job. This is obviously something that is close to my heart given that my volunteering work leading up to Formula SAE last year was one of the key factors in my being awarded my present position.
Speak
In my new role I'm seeing endless opportunities for SAE presence at automotive events, public lectures et cetera. For example a general public have little to no knowledge about hybrid and electric vehicles and other new automotive technologies coming into the marketplace. As an independent technical expert the SAE would be the ideal candidate educating the general public in these new technologies. This raises all sorts of opportunities for SAE members to speak to the public, raising the profile of the individual, the society and the Australian automotive industry in general. If we know that we have the speakers, then we as the SAE can actively look out for opportunities to present our expertise to the wider community. More profile equates to more income for the society, which means more benefits to members....
Write
We as the SAE community have a wealth of knowledge about automotive technologies, and there are a lot of people out there interested in what we have to say. If you know of something interests interesting with an automotive bent, if you've designed something you think it is somehow unique, if you've attended an interesting event , or if you have some opinions on the Australian automotive industry, please write it down and send it through to is. We are always looking for content for our journal or our upcoming new E-newsletter. If you write well enough we can even look further afield to get your work published in magazines, newspaper opinion pages or the like. Don’t undersell yourselves, people want to know what we know, and you can do yourself a great favour by getting yourself published.
Produce
Why not go one step further than writing and produce a mini documentary on interesting automotive topic? Kevin Hayward and I spent a few hours recently giving an engineering critique of a friend’s off-road racing truck. I couldn't help thinking thereafter how good it would have been if we had have captured it all on video and posted up on the SAE website. And I've seen some videos produced by Formula SAE teams promoting their own team which is documenting the build phase of their vehicles. If you are doing this sort of stuff send it through - we can then do we can to promote your work.
We could do with some help producing an SAE video on the merits of FSAE – anyone want to help?
Organise
We are keen to get events running each State of Australia. Site visits, movie showings, race meetings, social outings, bike rides – pretty well anything that would interest automotive engineers. If you have an idea let us know, give us the topic and the venue and we can organise promotional flyers, mailing lists and all the necessary stuff to get things on the go.
Attend
When we put on an event, come along. The more people are being seen to be active, the more seriously will be taken as a society, and the more the key players in government and industry will pay attention to us.
Spruik
As we rebuild the SAE, tell your friends. Get them to join up.
Buy
I'm revising our pricing structure of SAE books so that they are competitive with the online booksellers. My belief is that the members of the society should be able to buy SAE books at a better price than your online booksellers. Now a 10% GST works against us on this front, but if you are looking for an SAE book please contact us for a price. A book bought through an online bookseller lines the pockets of the online bookseller. A book bought through the SAE is an investment in your Society, Formula SAE and an investment in our future automotive industry.
Join
When it all boils down to it, we are a membership-based society. The more members we have the more we can offer our members, and the more we can do to safeguard our industry's future. The Society puts itself a considerable financial risk to put on Formula SAE each year. It is your membership that avails you are this opportunity, as well is to the generations that follow you.
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Putting my money where my mouth is
For every individual member that is signed up to SAE Australasia as at the end of November 2012, I'm going to donate one dollar of my own money to the Formula SAE event. Half of that money will be allocated as prize money for an additional prize to be awarded this year, for the teams demonstrating the best use of design process. The other half will be donated to SAE Australia towards the running of the event.
This is not some funny accounting or diverting money from an expense account. I will be pitching in out of my own pocket. Last year we had around 1400 members, this year I want to be writing out a cheque for $2000+...
That is all for the time being, I am eager to hear your feedback and your ideas about how to build a better society.
All the best,
