One of the greatest needs of a Professional Engineer is the ability to communicate effectively, especially with large audiences. The application of several fundamental principles of public speaking can minimize nervousness, build speaker confidence, and improve results for greater success. The true test of a professional is not only their knowledge, but also their ability to effectively communicate that knowledge to others.

Advancements in multi-media personal computers offer new and exciting methods of communication to small and large audiences. These systems bring a new dimension in audio/visual options and will continue to grow in popularity. It is important to use these multi-media systems to improve communications and not to be a barrier to delivery of the message by distracting the audience with fancy electronic demonstrations.

Our speaker for this meeting will be Jim Watson. Jim received a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University. He is a Registered Professional Engineer, a Senior Member of IEEE, a member of IEEE Professional Communications Society, a charter member of IEEE Student Professional Awareness Committee, member of IEEE Communication Committee, member of the 1997 IEEE President's Vision 21 Project Team, a national S-PAC speaker, and an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer.

Following a 36 year career with Ohio Edison Company, in which he held numerous engineering and staff positions, Jim left to devote full-time to his consulting activities. Founded in 1989, Watson Associates provides consulting services in communication and management skills. The Writetalk Communication System, developed by Watson Associates to provide communication skill development within the engineering curriculum, has been provided to more than 10,000 students at major universities including California State University - Northridge, Lehigh University, Temple University, and the University of Toledo.

Jim has provided more than 1,160 presentations in 43 states, District of Columbia, 3 Canadian Provinces, Puerto Rico, and Hong Kong to a total audience of over 64,000. This includes 178 presentations at Student Professional Awareness Conferences, 4 MPAC's, and 19 communication skill development workshops for practicing technical professionals.

It's time to be thinking about nominations for Siouxland Section Awards. Each year three Outstanding Engineer awards are considered: one for a non-student member of the IEEE Siouxland Section, one for a student member from Dordt College, and one for a student member from South Dakota State University. The minimum requirement for an award is membership in good standing in the IEEE. The award criteria are educational and collegiate achievements 5%; IEEE activities 25%; other professional/technical activities 15%; civil and humanitarian activities 15%; continuing competence 15%; engineering achievements 25%; and professional registration 5%. Awards will be presented at the April meeting.

In order to serve you best, the Section needs you to make a nomination or two. If you know of a Siouxland IEEE member who could serve in one of the offices listed below, you should seriously consider making a nomination. It only takes a phone call. You may nominate yourself if you are interested. Nominations are due by March 26 and may also be made in person at the March meeting in South Sioux City. We will vote on the nominees at the regular May meeting, tentatively scheduled for May 28 in Sioux Falls.

1. Chairperson
1. Vice Chairperson
1. Secretary / Treasurer
1. Professional Activities Chairperson (PACE)
1. Educational Activities Chairperson
1. Student Activities Chairperson
1. Membership Activities Chairperson
1. Section Awards Chairperson
1. Power Engineering Chapter Chairperson

To make a nomination, Call, write, fax, visit, or e-mail:

At our regular May meeting we will elect officers for the next year of operations. Your vote is coveted. The nominations will be announced in the next newsletter. If you cannot make it to the May meeting, you can vote by mail. Instructions for voting by mail will be published in the next newsletter.

After the elections, our Section's webmaster, Steve Wolterstorff, will give a talk on the topic of web page development and maintenance. He will use our section's web site as an example discussing the tools he uses and some of the technologies involved.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 1998. Let the free market solve high-tech workforce imbalances says the IEEE-USA President. "Claims of high-tech worker shortages are inflated, the available domestic labor supply is understated, and the wisdom of expanding immigration is overrated" by groups lobbying Congress to increase or eliminate the current annual cap on H-1B skilled-employment visas, according to Dr. John R. Reinert, president of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - USA (IEEE-USA), who testified at immigration hearings held by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Reinert, representing the public-policy interests of 220,000 U.S. electrotechnology and information-technology professionals, urged Congress and U.S. industry to help free-market mechanisms work more efficiently to correct labor imbalances rather than "resort to increased immigration as a quick fix for growing workforce demand."

Reinert recalled "the checkered history of using immigration to avert predicted high-tech worker shortages." In the late 1980s, an expanding economy and National Science Foundation reports of an impending shortage of engineers led Congress in 1990 to create the H-1B visa program, which was followed shortly by a recession, large-scale defense cutbacks, and the corporate restructuring movement. The combination of lowered workforce demand and expanded immigration resulted by 1994 in historically high levels of engineering unemployment and the lowest real engineering salaries in two decades, according to Reinert. In addition, he said, the H-1B system has been abused, causing U.S. workers to be fired and replaced by lower-paid foreign workers. "The potential for large-scale abuse of the H-1B program ¾ highlighted in a 1995 Labor Department Inspector General’s report ¾ is still there, since legislative and regulatory attempts to reform the system have been thwarted over the past several years," he stated.