HTCIA chapter leader training invites volunteers to grow with us

Flock together with other HTCIA chapter leader volunteers!

One of the sessions offered at the 2011 HTCIA International Training Conference & Exposition will be Monday afternoon’s Chapter Officer Training, a session that will help chapter leaders – or anyone interested in volunteering to be an officer – develop better methods for recruiting new members, offering quality training, and running the chapter overall.

Last year’s session was quite successful, with chapter leaders able to ask and answer many questions. The open forum allowed them to help one another out, to brainstorm new solutions and ideas based on leaders’ experiences. We talked with International President Duncan Monkhouse about this coming year’s training:

HTCIA: Why have a training session for chapter officers?

DM: The purposes of this training session are many:

• It is an opportunity for the IEC [International Executive Committee] to interact with the chapter officers to provide information about running a chapter, and the functions of chapter officers.
• It provides a forum for the chapter officers to interact with the IEC, providing suggestions about the running of chapters and the association.
• It provides a location where the chapter officers can exchange information between themselves about how to make a chapter successful.
• It will assist members who are interested in becoming chapter officers a way of finding out how the association works and the work involved in being a chapter officer or IEC officer.

HTCIA: Don’t current and previous officers provide institutional knowledge?

DM: The major way that institutional knowledge is passed down is from current to future chapter officers. However, there can be gaps in the knowledge that is passed and this training session is a way to insure that these gaps are filled.

It is also a way for the IEC to reach out to the chapter officers to give and receive suggestions about the functions of the officers, the chapters and the IEC.

HTCIA: You’re covering how to hold meetings, what the officers’ functions are and also allowing officers to network. Why these three things in particular — what have you found that officers misunderstand or need to know better?

DM: These things are important to a successful HTCIA. The frequency and content of the meetings are the key to having a successful chapter. No regular meeting means a chapter is in trouble. Good content on a regular basis attracts new members and builds the chapter and the association. More members in a chapter means more candidates for the chapter officer positions and more possibilities for a wider range of speakers.

By assisting the officer in understanding their positions, the whole association benefits with smoother running administration and better service to the membership. The ability for chapter officers to network allows the chapters that have been successful to make suggestions to the other chapters on how they can achieve the same success.

HTCIA: Will it be sort of a “roundtable” like last year, or more directed this year?

DM: The plan for this year is to emulate last year. The format appeared to work well, allowing the officers to interact, but with some formal part at the start to initiate discussion.

Monkhouse acknowledges that it’s important to have the flexibility and support of both family and employer, for what can sometimes be a time-consuming role. However, he adds that his volunteerism at both chapter and international levels leadership has given him even more quality networking and job opportunities than just membership alone. “This is an opportunity to see what the association can give to you and how you can give back to your community of cybercrime professionals through HTCIA,” he says.

The chapter officer training will be informed by, and will also feed back into, the the association’s 5-year strategic plan that’s under development this weekend. Knowing where the past 25 years have taken us, and where we’ll be going in response to the high tech crime investigation community as a whole, will help us better serve our chapter leaders – at the conference, and beyond.

Chapter President, Vice President, Secretary, or Treasurer – or have interest in running for any of these positions? Please join us on Monday, September 12 at 3:30pm in the Emerald 8 room. Be sure to register for the conference!

Image: lifeinfrozenframes via Flickr