Operations Research Management Science - Forum

<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff" link="cc0000" vlink="cc0000" text="#000000"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br>   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480><tr valign=top> <td width=10><img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 hspace=4 border=0></td> <td width=470> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><I><A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top">OR/MS Today</A> - February 2004</I></B></font><BR> <hr size="1"> <img src="cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <font face="times new roman, times"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>Forum - Side Story</B></FONT><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <FONT SIZE="+2"><B>The Science of Better</B></FONT><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> <FONT SIZE="+1"><I>Progress report on the INFORMS initiative<BR> to market the profession</I></FONT><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>By Barry List</B></FONT><br> <hr size="1"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br>    "The Science of Better" became a rallying cry at the INFORMS annual meeting in Atlanta last November, and we continue to build on the effort endorsed by INFORMS membership and our Board of Directors. <P>In Atlanta, the theme for the new campaign to market our profession was apparent everywhere as people wore large black pins with "The Science of Better" emblazoned in large letters. Members stopped by the Science of Better booth to chat and sign up to become volunteers. And the Marketing Steering Committee led by INFORMS Past President Tom Cook joined in a panel discussion with Philip Johnson, the president of PJA, a Cambridge, Mass.-based marketing firm that is collaborating on the effort. <P>Our effort is unique. As INFORMS has surveyed fellow engineering and scientific associations, we have identified some association campaigns to increase membership and others to enhance a field's known reputation. But to the best of our knowledge, no one has set out to make the public aware of an important profession like ours that deserves widespread recognition. <P>Since the annual meeting, the committee and PJA have been advancing our efforts on a range of fronts to spread the word about OR. Here is a progress report. <P>INFORMS and PJA have been working together on the first phase of the campaign: designing a Champion's Kit that INFORMS members will use as personal advocates for OR. <P>The Champion's Kit will appear online during the third quarter of this year and an accompanying print piece will mail to members. <P>The online kit will provide members with a host of resources: <UL> <LI> A section on the OR opportunity: the value created by OR, success stories and new opportunities for applying OR.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> A section providing materials to help internal practitioners, external consultants and academics promote the field of OR, their departments and their consultancies.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> A practitioner's corner of networking resources including special interest groups and vend or resources. </UL> <P>Look at your INFORMS E-Newsletter and future issues of <I>OR/MS Today</I> for the link to the online Champion's Kit. <P>As part of the campaign, your INFORMS representatives will conduct a press tour, visiting editors at major business publications and also industrial analysts. To help INFORMS expand into new territory, the association will begin working with the Massachusetts-based Schwartz Communications, a public relations firm specializing in technical clients, that often collaborates with PJA. The intensive campaign will be launched in the spring of this year. <P>To plan and manage the range of activities included in the campaign, INFORMS Past President Tom Cook has formed subcommittees working on ten projects that directly relate to the campaign. The subcommittees include: <UL> <LI> a PJA Subcommittee, coordinating the work of INFORMS' marketing agency.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> an <i>OR/MS Today</i> Subcommittee, helping bring news about the Campaign to INFORMS membership and trying to find ways of leveraging <I>OR/MS Today</I> resources for the Campaign.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> a Measurement Subcommittee, which is designing the metrics and processes necessary to measure the effectiveness of the Campaign. You probably received the subcommittee's baseline survey in an email from INFORMS this January.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> a Subcommittee on Management and Governance to insure that the Campaign is managed effectively and has ongoing board visibility and accountability.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> a Finance Subcommittee to seek innovative funding sources for the campaign.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> a Publishers' Subcommittee, to develop partnerships with book and journal publishers.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> an <I>Information Week</I> Subcommittee, to pursue mutual opportunities with the respected trade magazine.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> a Liaison Subcommittee to work with sister societies around the world.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> an Editorial Subcommittee to write and provide editorial oversight for the print and online materials.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> an IT Subcommittee, to handle the details of making the websites live. </UL> <P>The roster of those serving with Tom Cook on the Steering Committee shows its vitality: <UL> <LI> INFORMS members Gary Lilien, the former president of TIMS who currently is the Research Director of Penn State's Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM); ILOG's Irv Lustig, a Round Table Executive Committee member and self-proclaimed "evangelist for optimization;" and Randy Robinson, chair of the Public Information Committee (PIC) and former executive director of INFORMS;<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> from the INFORMS administration Executive Director Mark Doherty and PR Director Barry List;<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> PJA's Phil Johnson and his staff;<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> ISBM's Ralph Oliva, the Institute's executive director and a veteran high tech marketer, Karen Jensen, who studies organizational change and momentum, and graduate interns;<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> John Llewellyn, president of Lionheart Publishing which produces <I>OR/MS Today.</I> </UL> <P>You can join the excitement. Volunteer by writing <A HREF="mailto:scienceofbetter@informs.org">scienceofbetter@informs.org</A> or calling INFORMS PR Director Barry List at 1-800-4INFORMS. <BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> <font size="2" face="verdana, arial, helvetica"> Return to main story: <I><A HREF="forum.html">'Better' Campaign Doesn't Go Far Enough</A></I></font><BR>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=5 border=0><br>  <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <font face="verdana, arial, helvetica" size="1"> <CENTER><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></CENTER><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="tocfr.html" Target="_top"><I>Table of Contents</A><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top"><I>OR/MS Today</I> Home Page</A><br>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b><i>OR/MS Today</i></b> copyright © 2004 by <A HREF="http://www.informs.org/" target="_new">the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences</a>. All rights reserved.<br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=3 border=0><br> <img src="../bargrey.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b>Lionheart Publishing, Inc.</b><br> 506 Roswell Rd., Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060 USA<br> Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969<br> E-mail: <a href="mailto:lpi@lionhrtpub.com">lpi@lionhrtpub.com</a><br> URL: <A HREF="http://www.lionhrtpub.com" target="_top">http://www.lionhrtpub.com</A><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=3 border=0><br> <img src="../bargrey.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> Web Site © Copyright 2004 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. </td></tr></table> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> </BODY>