May 5, 1998 at the Hyatt Regency South Park in Charlotte, North Carolina

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. and all were welcomed by Vice Chairman J. Lewis Dorrity.

Attendance:
Walter Lukitsch, Larry Sloan, Bob Balmes, Asa Hill, Bob Daniels, Lew Dorrity, Ken Fussell, John Henderson, Phil Camp, Philip Bedingfield, Bud Becker, Ron Ghizzoni, Lou Guidotti, Wayne Stebbins, Jeff Dougherty, Eric Bolin, Richard Fuselier, Tom Nield, John Stevenson, Bill Evans, Ron Glenn, and Paul Giler.

Operating Subcommittee Reports:
Lew reiterated the need for soliciting papers and follow up. Following breakout and discussion by the various subcommittees, the full committee reconvened. Reports were received from the subcommittees on proposed papers and tutorials. At 9:55 a.m., Lew turned the meeting over to Robert Henderson.

Full Committee Business Meeting:
Robert Henderson called the business meeting to order at 9:55 a.m.

Minutes:
The minutes of the October 7, 1997 meeting in Greenville, South Carolina were corrected to indicate that Ken Fussell was Chairman of the 1998 Conference instead of Ken Fuselier as stated in the last paragraph on page 2. This correction having been noted, the Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.

Standing Subcommittee Reports:

Membership:
Jeff Dougherty was voted in as a new member of the Committee. Phil Camp handed out a Membership List and requested that they be corrected by the members and turned back in to him in order that he might update the Membership List.

Publicity:
Ron Ghizzoni solicited suggestions on ways to promote our conferences. In the past, he has attempted to get on various calendars of events. See New Business.

Awards:
Bob Daniels reported that no Meritorious Achievement Award will be presented at this conference.

Records and History:
Bill Evans provided a write-up.

Paper Review:
Richard Fuselier reported that the Best Paper Award for the 1997 Conference was presented to Gary L. Skibinski of Allen Bradley for his paper entitled "Installation Considerations for IGBT AC Drives." He asked for volunteers to judge papers for the upcoming 1998 Conference. He went over general procedures for judging.

IEEE IAS Standard Liaison:
Larry Sloan opened a discussion on whether or not there is a need to form an IAS Chapter within the IEEE Piedmont Section.

TOD Safety Liaison:
No Report

Treasurer’s Report:
Bob Balmes reported that he had received approval for the budget for the 1998 Conference from IEEE. There was discussion regarding possible increase of sponsors fee. He noted that there were 11 sponsors this year. Bob provided a Summary Financial Report (final report).

Conference Committee Reports:

1998 Conference in Charlotte - Ken Fussell reported that we were looking forward to good presentations and a tutorial. At the time of this report, 15 had signed up for the tutorial, 7 of which were committee members. Robert Henderson and Lew Dorrity proposed that we start charging for the tutorial, particularly for those who do not attend the conference. This is especially true when we start confirming contact hours for Professional Development Hours (pdh’s).

1999 Conference in Atlanta - John Henderson is Chairman. The conference is currently scheduled for May 5, 6, 7 at the Atlanta Marriott North Central Hotel. Room rates are locked in at $109.00 single/double. Banquet and entertainment, "The Young Singers of Callanwolde," wil1 be provided for an honorarium of approximately $900. John Henderson is to check to see if the dates can be shifted one day forward or backward, and then report to Robert Henderson.

2000 Conference in Greenville - Ron Ghizzoni is Chairman. He has received a proposal from the Hyatt with a room rate of $98.00 per night for 125 room-nights. Someone pointed out that there were problems with parking at the Hyatt. Embassy Suites is open for May 2, 3 and 4, but we do not yet have a proposal. Ron wil1 pursue a proposal from Embassy Suites and will check into the possibility of moving the date to May 3, 4 and 5.

2001 Conference in Charlotte - Jeff Dougherty was assigned to chair this conference.

Old Business:
1.) It was decided that credit cards would not be used for registration.
2.) Ken Fussell, Eric Bolin, Lew Dorrity, and Jeff Dougherty will work on advertising our conferences on the Web. Ken Fussell is going to look into other advertising means.

New Business:
We discussed various ways of promoting the conferences. A proposal wits made by Phil Camp that our survey should be a mail out, we should solicit papers by mail. Perhaps these can be pre-addressed as a fax sheet. Phil can provide labels. A working group was formed consisting of Jeff Dougherty, Lew Dorrity, Phil Camp, and Ron Ghizzoni to study this proposal. Also, the group will investigate preferred time frame for the conference, location and the possibility of verifying in writing contact hours for professional development hours. Many believed that the conferences should be promoted only as an "IEEE conference sponsored by the Textile, Fiber and Film Committee" rather than "IEEE Textile, Fiber and Film Industry Conference." Reasoning for this is the broad appeal of other topics covered in the conference.

Meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.

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