Local Section Annual Reports: Your Blueprint for Success!

It is that time of year again when local section past-chairs reflect on their accomplishments and record them for all posterity. For incoming chairs and chairs-elect (who are just taking office), the annual report may be the last thing on their minds. After all, overseeing a year’s worth of monthly meetings, newsletters, award ceremonies—not to mention the NCW—can seem a bit overwhelming at first. During this transition the annual report can be a useful tool, guiding you through the upcoming year and helping put your section’s activities into perspective.

While the annual report website is a good starting point, here are some other helpful tips to ponder as you focus on your annual report and your year as chair.

• Review the greensheet evaluation of your 2002 annual report. Are there suggestions for improvement, or perhaps kudos for a job well done? Build on the ideas suggested by the Local Section Activities Committee (LSAC) member who reviewed local section annual reports. Contact information is provided on the form. If you need a copy of your greensheet, contact the Office of Local Section Activities

• Review your 2003 accomplishments and outline your goals. The best way to determine where you are going is to review where you’ve been. Work with the 2003 chair to complete the 2003 annual report, and be sure to outline your 2004 goals (see Part II).

• Pencil in your anticipated 2004 accomplishments now. Begin charting your course, and use the annual report as your road map. Highlight activities that you plan to undertake during the year, and begin to build your 2004 calendar. You may not be able to accomplish all of your goals in one year, but you can begin to lay important groundwork for some great new activities.

• Identify a new activity based on an entry in the annual report. Find an unchecked box and make it your goal to check it next year. Most activities listed in the annual report are supported by an ACS office or committee, and resources are often available to help get you started.

• Don’t wait until the February 15 deadline to complete the report. Start an annual report folder and update it each month. Encourage your executive committee and program chairs to send in monthly reports and record your activities as they take place.

• Share your report by posting it on your local section Web site. It’s permissible to brag about your accomplishments! Let your inactive members know what they are missing. Success is contagious.

• Visit the annual report webpage for more information on annual reports, including Annual Report Forms and Electronic Submission (SOLAR). Peruse reports from other local sections for program ideas that your section can adopt.

Congratulations on all your success in 2003.You are already off to a great start for 2004!

Mark O'Brien
Lead Technology Specialist, Office of Local Section Activities

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