IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2014 - 6

leader's corner

Miroslav Begovic

a successful conference
2015 PES General Meeting recap

I had just arrIved at the Gaylord hotel in National harbor, Maryland, the venue of 2014 Ieee Power
& energy (Pes) General Meeting.
It was late Friday afternoon when I
heard my mobile phone ring. My wife
was calling. she was supposed to join
me that evening at the conference but
was still at the atlanta airport. someone mistakenly took her computer at
the tsa checkpoint and left his own.
tsa promptly took his computer and
insured that it was secure. they then
assured my wife that someone would
take the computer to "Lost and Found"
and would instruct them to expect to
receive her computer from the person
who took it. she reluctantly accepted
and went to the boarding gate-not a
pleasant beginning for her trip.
thoughts about a nice weekend
before the beginning of the conference
with some work done at the computer
were being overshadowed by her concern. I assured her that the computer
was going to be quickly found. she
boarded her flight, and I had a few hours
to explore the venue of the conference
prior to her arrival.
the recently built Gaylord hotel,
part of the Marriott chain, is situated
close to the Potomac river with beautiful views of Washington, d.C., alexandria, virginia, and surrounding areas.
the facility is in the vicinity of a number of good restaurants, and it is very
well equipped to handle a large conference such as the Pes General Meeting.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2014.2347693
Date of publication: 20 October 2014

ieee power & energy magazine

Many of you reading this know that-
you were there.
according to the
information that we
received, the conference hosted over 3,100
attendees. that is the
equivalent of 10% of
the worldwide Pes
membership! the general meeting is the largest Pes conference
without an exhibition
(the largest one is, of
course, the t&d Conference and exhibition, which celebrated
its 50th anniversary
last april in Chicago,
drawing over 14,000 attendees!). Our general
meetings always begin
with a large reception
for attendees and companions on sunday evening, followed
by a members meeting and plenary session on Monday morning. after that formal introduction, the conference evolves
into a myriad super sessions, panel sessions, paper presentation sessions, poster
sessions, technical committee meetings,
social events, informal gatherings, hospitality suite social events, and many other
happenings. It has evolved that way over
the years and developed somewhat of a
critical mass to attract such a large audience of researchers, practitioners, and students to its diverse portfolio of technical
and social offerings.
this year, I opened a members meeting with the presentation on vital statistics

and some of the programs Pes is offering
to its members. I informed the audience
that our membership
has grown to 32,373,
the largest number we
have ever had, and also
represents the largest annual gain in Pes
membership! regions
8, 9, and 10 have been
growing steadily, with
4,766 members (6.9%
gain), 1,866 members
(4.5% gain), and 4,372
members (8.0% gain),
respectively.
the Boston Chapter received the Outstanding Large Chapter
award. susan soergel,
the chair and a lead
engineer for transmission, Northeast utilities, accepted the award
on behalf of the Chapter. the Outstanding
small Chapter award was accepted by
Panama Chapter Chair Ivan Castillo of
the universidad tecnologica de Panama.
With 223 Chapters as well as an additional
117 student Branch Chapters worldwide,
Pes is rapidly growing. henry Louie, vP
Membership and Image, and Frank Lambert, vP Chapters, have worked hard to
maintain the momentum of membership
and Chapter growth, initiated over the last
five years by our former vP Chapters, Meliha selak.
this year, we continued to provide
an extensive and rich student program
to the several hundred students attending the conference. this tradition has

Our
membership
has grown to
32,373, the
largest number
we have ever
had, and also
represents the
largest annual
gain in PES
membership!

november/december 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2014