Letter from ESDA President Terry Welsher: Achieving Global Presence From Survival to Transforming the Organization As I was looking at the scheduled events for the remainder of the year I was struck by the international flavor of the second half of 2014. It is certainly still true that the key annual event of the ESDA is the EOS/ESD Symposium which this year will be in Tucson, AZ. But the significant events occurring outside the US stands in stark contrast to the events calendar of 2004. This year’s “ESDA world tour” actually began in May in the French Alps near Grenoble for the 8th Annual International ESD Workshop. In fact in many ways the small team that conceived the IEW and made it a reality were the ESDA’s first international event explorers. The event has alternated between the U.S. and Europe quite successfully since its beginning. Through this experience the ESDA learned how to partner with local organizations while remotely making preparations and dealing with the (largely hidden to many) details that must be addressed for an event to be a great experience for the attendees. In fact, the Rome, NY Headquarters Staff (Lisa, Christina, Terry) does an amazing job. Once ESDA and especially HQ figured out the “blueprint” for this and “Achieving a Global Presence” became item #1 in the ESDA Strategic Plan, the barriers and the boundaries began to fade. The first Symposium for Factory Issues (SFI) in Singapore in 2011 was in fact first thought of as bringing an IEW-like event to Asia. Of course, we soon learned from our local colleagues and partners that the event must be tailored to local interests and culture. This learning experience helped us all broaden our horizons. Then, a second successful SFI was held in Penang, Malaysia. Still to come this year is another SFI in Singapore, an ESD Design Seminar series in Munich, and a Factory Symposium in partnership with the German ESD Forum e. V. also in Munich. In addition, for the third year, the ESDA will participate in an ESD Standards workshop in Suzhou, China. Also on the international stage, an ESDA Student Chapter officially began operation in Chengdu, China in June in large part thanks to Steve Voldman and later Charvaka Duvvury. This reminds me that Steve and Charvaka did a lot of pioneer relationship building in Asia and elsewhere to get us where we are today. It is interesting to recall why we placed “Achieving a Global Presence” so prominently in the Strategic Plan in 2010. I would say, though maybe it was largely unspoken, that everyone had survival of the organization on their mind. The attendance trends and demographics and the possible global barriers to the use of ESDA standards were all looming large in the planners’ minds. We were playing defense. But I would now assert that it is transforming the organization. Today, we have very strong participation from many countries not only in technical contributions to symposia (this has long been true) but also leaders of Standards working groups, many more tutorial presenters and elected members of the Board of Directors. It is likely that this will transform the organization in ways we have not anticipated and it will be for the good of the industry and the organization.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 17:48:24 +0000
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