SIGAda membership benefits vs. costs

SIGAda membership benefits vs. costs

[John Gluth]

We are restarting the Ada working group here at my company, and
some of the folks have expressed an interest in becoming a
SIGAda chapter.

What are the benefits of being in SIGAda?
What are the costs?

I've gotten the 'how-to' info from the SIGAda folks, what I'm 
looking for is the 'why-to' (or 'why-not-to').

Any info would be appreciated.

Thx,

John Gluth
jpgluth@ccgate.hac.com
Hughes Missile Systems Company
Tucson, AZ

Re: SIGAda membership benefits vs. costs

[Brad Balfour]

In article <4r911d$afu@hacgate2.hac.com>, John Gluth
<jpGluth@ccgate.hac.com> wrote:

>We are restarting the Ada working group here at my company, and
>some of the folks have expressed an interest in becoming a
>SIGAda chapter.
>
>What are the benefits of being in SIGAda?
>What are the costs?

[Disclaimer: This is naturally a biased response as I am currently the
Secretary of ACM SIGAda and have been a member for 12 years]

John,

  There are lots of benefits to being a member of SIGAda both as an
individual and collectively for your company working group. In this
message let me focus on some of the benefits for a group when they become
chartered as a local SIGAda:

* Each local SIGAda can receive reimbursement for one speaker to talk at
their local meeting each year. Lots of the popular Ada "gurus" you see
here on comp.lang.ada speak at local SIGAda. For example, within the past
year, DC SIGAda (which I belong to) has had both Tucker Taft and Robert
Dewar speaking.

* Each SIG can petition the vice-chair for liaison for money for an
additional speaker (which is usually granted)

* There is currently a contest open to all local SIGAda organizations
sponsored by ACM SIGAda. The prize is two paid admissions to this years
Tri-Ada conference.

* As a local SIGAda group, your membership would be open to all in your
local area -- so your company members would benefit from the lessons
learned from other groups in the Tuscon area. These folks might not be
able to join a working group at Hughes.

* The same can be said for attracting local speakers. At a local SIGAda
meeting, you might hear lessons learned from projects at other companies.
These same speakers would probably be reluctant to go to a meeting at
Hughes and share what they've learned.

* It's easier to add new members because you'll have support from ACM
SIGAda who will pay for ACM mailing labels for your area. You can then use
this to intiate a mailing to local ACM members in your area to see who is
interested in Ada.

* You can get support from National ACM to set up an electronic mailing
list or web page for your local organization.

* If you have a special project that your group wants to work on, you can
apply to ACM SIGAda for a special projects grant.

* If you and your members are members of ACM SIGAda, then you receive a
discount on the conference fee for Tri-Ada '96 -- the Ada community's
annual conference.

As far as they costs go, they are minimal. The officers of the local
SIGAda organization must be members of ACM and ACM SIGAda (approx $90/yr,
but you get two magazines and a discount at conferences). The members of
the local SIGAda don't have to be members of anything else. There is no
other cost associated with forming a local SIGAda.

I hope this answers some of your questions. For more info, you might also
want to check out the ACM SIGAda web page at: http://www.acm.org/sigada/
The locals subpage has pointers to three locals who have web pages.

Brad
Brad Balfour                         SIGAda WWW Server
ACM SIGAda Secretary                    http://www.acm.org/sigada/
703/277-6767                         and also try:
bbalfour@acm.org                        http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/

Re: SIGAda membership benefits vs. costs

[Philip Brashear]

Benefits of SIGAda membership?

I joined ACM/SIGAda back in '85 simply because it seemed like the
'professional' thing to do.  That's when I discovered Ada Letters,
which quickly became my only real reason to keep up my membership.
It served as my only real contact with the rest of the Ada world,
and instructed me on all sorts of issues and opportunities having
to do with this exciting language and community.

Since that time, I've found other benefits, not the least of which
is the opportunity to attend interesting meetings and even participate
from time to time in policy discussions.  But my sustaining interest
is still Ada Letters.

That's why, a few years ago, I accepted (volunteered for) the unpaid
job of Technical Editor for Ada Letters.

OK, I just "commercialized" my response.  Yes, I want to see Ada Letters
be popular and useful, etc.  However, my initial reaction to this 
publication still holds.  I'm always anxious to see each new issue, even
though I've already read every technical article at least twice.  I'd
feel the same way even if I wasn't involved.



Besides Ada Letters, there's also the "what can I give" attitude.  I think
SIGAda is important because it supports the Ada community.  SIGAda
membership signals to the rest of the world (including my close colleagues)
that I believe in Ada and support its infrastructure.

Try it ... you'll like it!

Phil Brashear
CTA INCORPORATED