Feedback regarding ACS National and LSAC:

First, I found the Leadership conference/workshop that LSAC organizes for Chairs-Elects to be an excellent, professional and enjoyable experience. I recognize the difficulty of planning a program for such a diverse group of leaders, but for me I would have been better served by sessions that informed me specifically about the national organization and provided the opportunity to get to know the staff involved and how to take advantage of the programs offered. While I enjoyed them, the motivational talks geared toward leadership in general were less helpful in preparing me to lead the New York Section.

Also, I would like to see the national coordinators reach out more to section leaders in a personal way through phone calls, notes, or best of all, an offers to visit the area (as opposed to e.g. an email announcing a group video conference). My experiences when I have contacted national offices have not been inspiring. As a volunteer, I look to the national organization to facilitate my work. Instead, as I leave this job, my encounters with national ACS have left me with the impression that taking advantage of national programs usually involves more tasks I need to carry out (obstacles) rather than encouragement from national to move forward.

One comment on SOLAR:

Re: Question 7.22 in the questionnaire.

Our section struggles with this question every year. With 4000 plus members the numbers of talks they give that are open to the public is certainly in the 100's if not thousands. On the other hand, the number of talks given in the context specific section sanctioned events is considerably fewer. We recommend that this question be rephrased to reflect the information you are seeking here.

Question 7.22 How many talks were given by section members to the public in 2006?