I'm one of the dinosaurs too.  I like having my own diary to record what's coming up, rather than handing information on everything that I'm doing to Google or whoever.

I've only just spotted the email in my inbox from the IET.  A long paragraph about how the IET are trying to be eco-friendly, but then in the next paragraph they say it's to save a few quid.  I suspect the latter is the real reason.

Not sure if this is the place, but the old forums/communities aren't here and there doesn't seem to be any feedback area anymore.

The diary going was a quick announcement, no one was asked and it was slipped under the radar. I would be happy for the default to be not to get one, or to offer the option to pay a small amount more, but this seems ridiculous. They claim environmental reasons, but that is nonsense. Paper if anything is a carbon store, and it is so little as to be meaningless. I'm assuming that rates won't go down? Also saying that there are digital offering (not from the IET, not the same function as a paper diary. Google Calendar is not something the society can take any credit for!) was downright insulting. If The IET isn't offering a replacement, they shouldn't pretend they are.

It adds to my growing worry at the ever shrinking offering from The IET for the massive cost of membership and chartership. Local branches offer almost no lectures (compared to peers such as the Royal Aero Soc) despite the size and bredth of the organisation, they are doing less and less online and less magazines per year, and keep removing things like the diary with no consultation or real reason other than penny pinching (but without giving members of view of the finances to understand if this is reasonable). Will we be barred from visiting Savoy Place next? What is the money being spent on!?

Can we get at least more information and a better tone of correspondence, if not a rethink of the decision.

(FYI this was moved from it's own topic. I did search Diary and this didn't come up!)

Hi All

My colleagues in the membership team tell me that we did indeed consult the membership (i.e. those who had opted in to receive a paper copy diary) via email last year. As a result of the feedback received, a decision was made to not continue to produce it which again has been communicated to those affected. 

I would like to ask you all though, what is it about the IET diary that makes it useful, other than simply being a physical paper diary? Similar diaries can be purchased elsewhere in supermarkets, stationers and in many discount stores etc so what does the IET specific diary provide that you feel is a necessity?

 Adrian Hirst  Have you contacted the volunteers in the Local Network near you to suggest events and other activities you'd like to see in your area? Our volunteers always welcome feedback and suggestions from members in the area and are happy to follow up on any ideas for engineering events and other activities they can arrange for members (and members of the public) 

Find your Local Network here:  Local Networks  and visit your LN's page to find their contact details.

Hope that helps 

Hi Lisa.

Obviously one of the useful things is that it is a perk of membership and sent to one's house; versus having to go out and buy one with my own money, which is something I could do without paying the IET £250 a year.  Also it had a good amount of IET member specific layout and information, and it wasn't an embarassing thing to have at work with a big THE WORKS discount sticker strewn across it. Felt like a good advertisement for the IET in many meetings.

Probably most key however is the obvious: is it was a provided benefit that has been removed and replaced with *nothing*, unless we are getting ten quid knocked off our membership fee or the amount saved is going to something specific good that wasn't funded before? Necessity seems like the wrong word in this instance; how much of what the IET offers is a necessity? The subsidised meals and free coffee in Savoy Place? The magazines? Just feel like the megre offering for members is lessened for no real reason at at what seemed like no notice.

(Also as an aside, I have always got and used the paper diary, and I cannot find any email about it's removal until it happened. Did they ask a subset only?)

In terms of local networks, what is the contact for South Yorkshire please? All I can find is a email to offer to volunteer. I'm happy to do a lecture and see about using our buildings to host, but I would like to get something, other than post-nominals, as a member. I assumed there was some central feed from London towards helping with this? The event schedule is literally empty for this massive region, this feel like something that should at least be on the radar and supported centrally. If it isn't, what are we all paying for up here vs areas that are far better served (London and SE)?

Hi Adrian 

The contact email address for the South Yorkshire volunteers is on their page here:  Yorkshire South   

Hi, I'm happy to get direct emails via EngX if you want to discuss IET South Yorkshire matters. We're reasonably prolific in terms of putting on content and delivering activity, so if you want to get involved, let me know.

Adrian Hirst said:

massive cost of membership and chartership

Interesting one. Personally the only IET service I actually use is being able to put "CEng FIET" after my name, and in fact that is actually a benefit to my employer rather than me (which is why I'm glad to say they pay my fees). And definitely when I retire I will have to think very hard about whether I keep my membership on - it will probably totally depend on how much freelance work (and what type) I find myself doing.

However, relative to any other UK profession the professional registration fees for engineers are extremely cheap. Now, there is a flip side that our profession is less regulated than e.g. law or medicine, so it probably is a bit that we get what we pay for (or we pay for what we get). 

There's a few possibilities I can see here (and I'm sure there's loads more):

• The IET is taking money but not spending it on its members (or, more accurately, "the engineering profession"). The would be a very serious issue which if anyone has evidence of they should be raising with the Trustees - that is their job to ensure that absolutely doesn't happen.
• The IET is charging the right amount to cover its costs of its services, which suits the likes of me who absolutely need CEng for our jobs (or, more accurately, would not be allowed to have our particular level of seniority in our particularly industries and earn our exorbitant salaries if we didn't have it), but is not relevant to the majority of engineers who don't need those services.
• The IET is drastically undercharging, which prevents it providing effective policing of the engineering profession (as happens to a greater or lesser extent in other industries), and hence makes its services less appealing.
• The IET is slightly undercharging, which prevents it providing effective services to its members.
• The IET has its balance of spending wrong (which may also mean its charging too much or too little or the right amount). I expect every engineer will have their own opinion on that one - and again this is why we have a board of Trustees (and why I have no intention of joining it, if anyone really wants to get involved that's the thing to join - best of luck as you're going to deeply annoy some people whatever you do!!!)

It'll be no great surprise to anyone that I think the situation we're in now is probably the second bullet, with a touch of the third. I certainly wouldn't say it's the "right" or "wrong" place to be - I do get frustrated that such a small section of the engineering world thinks professional registration (let alone institute membership) is worthwhile, but I suspect that if fees were to be reduced that whilst it may increase the number of registrant applications there would (and should) be serious questions about the IETs, or any PEIs, capability to manage them professionally at that lower cost. Or conversely, personally I don't want to see engineering become a "closed shop" with high fees / high policing as other professions have, but that's very much a personal view. 

But regarding membership alone (excluding registration), I remember years ago tabling a question to Nigel Fine and the then current president "what actually should the role of a PEI be in the 21st century?" To which they gave the interesting answer "We don't understand the question". Hopefully things are moving on in the IET since then, without answering that question it's really difficult to decide whether membership fees can be worth the money. I'm now a member of three PEIs and the CMI. Of those four, three I use for a mixture of information and for work (i.e. CV when tendering) purposes, but sadly the IET is only for the latter reason. Which is frustrating. However receiving the magazine and the diary (both of which I stopped a long time ago) wouldn't help!

Cheers,

Andy

Hi John the event site is empty, do you have somewhere member can see what content and activity is on?

Hi Liza

Further to your response about cessation of the paper IET diary, I would like to report that I did not receive any consultation e-mail, which is why I too was surprised to receive the letter saying it was to be discontinued. It would appear the consultation was not comprehensive.

Perhaps there is time for a rethink?