Moving Forward With The LESI Value Proposition

By James Sobieraj, President, LES International

In my last two columns, I reported on progress that we have made on education and publications. In this column, I will provide an update on communications and meetings.

Communications

The chair of the Communications Committee, Shawn Jacka, has drafted the following mission statement, which has been approved by the LESI Board of Directors:

The Communications Committee’s mission is to facilitate communications among LES International (LESI), its respective Committees, and members worldwide. The Committee distributes the deliberations of LESI and its Committees, as well as matters of interest related to licensing.

The primary responsibility of the Committee is the managing of the LESI website (www.lesi.org). Our website presents a face of the LESI organization to our mem­bership and to the public, and provides information about LESI and our member Societies. Valuable members-only content is hosted on the website, including les Nouvelles, LES Global News, events notices and educational programs and materi­als provided by LESI and/or our member Societies, as well as content generated by the LESI Board and Committees. The Communications Committee also maintains and updates the LESI membership directory, another valuable members-only re­source available on our website. Member Societies are encouraged to create their own websites or establish their own pages on the LESI website. Finally, the Com­mittee is responsible for creating and implementing LESI’s social media strategy.

This mission statement highlights why communications is an important deliverable for LESI. The LESI website is a contact point for every one of the 9000+ members of LES around the world, where they can view the most current information available from LESI every minute of every day of the year. At the Winter Planning Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, on January 23, 2016, fifty leaders from LES Societies around the world discussed how LESI can improve its communications with members. Some of the ideas include:

• More frequent and relevant communication sent directly to members
• Develop and maintain communications in the platforms used more and more by younger members
• Creation of an e-library and video vault

Meetings

Members who attend LES meetings, by and large, report that they obtain the most value from the LES membership from the educational content and networking oppor­tunities that they receive at meetings. At every Board meeting we discuss how we can improve the quality of LES meetings. These efforts will come to fruition at this year’s International Conference in Beijing on May 15-18.

Yibin Feng and Ningling Wang, and the rest of the Beijing Organizing Committee, have prepared an outstanding program. The Board, under the leadership of Fiona Nicolson, has worked with the Organizing Committee to obtain the right balance of international and China-centric program content. High-profile speakers have been lined up from large Chinese companies, like Xioami, TenCent, BOE and Alibaba, and from well-known international companies like LG Electronics, Merck, Novartis, Mi­crosoft, Aramco, L’Oreal and Shishedo. The networking opportunities will be unsur­passed. Many people have registered already. I encourage you to register now, and make your travel arrangements today. You will be glad to attend this conference.

My best wishes to all LES members for a healthy, happy and prosperous 2016. I hope to see you in Beijing in May.