Council Retreat 2016

Introduction:

SNAME’s Council Retreat 2016 event was held in Crowne Plaza Hotel in Virginia, USA (901 N. Fairfax St., Alexandria, VA 22314), started on the 10^th of June and lasted for three days (up until 12^th of June).

Council Retreat is an annual event where the main purpose is the familiarisation of the attendees to the by-laws and internal structure of the society. In addition, the new Section Chairs are being informed about their leadership responsibilities and the internal operations of SNAME. All of the foregoing in a training, practise, mentoring style agenda. 

Friday, 10th of June:

The first day started with a visit in the National Museum of the United States Navy (Washington, DC 20374).  An hour presentation was given by Ms Robin White, Director of Surface Ship Design and Systems Engineering at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) on her work duties and challenges. Then a self-guided tour followed.

It is important to mention that the museum chronicles the history of the United States Navy from the American Revolution to the present conflicts and the attendees had the chance to see numerous of naval items, naval ship models and weapons.

After the museum tour, all participants returned to the hotel and the presentations started. The first day presentations were focused on Membership issues. The various membership types were outlined and their contribution to the total number of SNAME members. The need for increase of members was highlighted and Mr Ed Rigsbee, writer of “The ROI of Membership” book, gave a presentation on the techniques and tools that can be used for this purpose.

The final presentation of the first day introduced the duties of each stuff member of SNAME’s Head Quarters.

Saturday, 11th of June:

Presentations started at the 08.00 and lasted until 21.30. Emphasis was given on SNAME’s online services and how and why members should make use of them. Furthermore, a panel of representatives of the different faces of SNAME (students, educators, engineers, manufacturer, shipbuilder, operator, and recycler) presented the different characteristics and expectations that they have from SNAME. A discussion followed on the difficulties that each group of interest is facing and countermeasures were proposed.

The day concluded with a group activity, all the participants were grouped in teams of 8 people and asked to design a floating vessel and its propulsion system using materials such as tape, cardboard and aluminium cans. A battery and a rotating motor with its shaft was also given but it was left to the teams to design different methods of propulsion using these materials.

Sunday, 12th of June:

Last day of Council Retreat was dedicated in identifying the key differences of SNAME and other marine related professional societies. The attendees were again grouped in teams of 10 and were asked to make charts of the benefits and features of SNAME against the level of how well these are executed. Similar chart was then created for other ‘competitor’ societies and the weaknesses of SNAME were able to be identified. After that, discussion followed on the strategy that should be implemented for the growth of our society.

As a final activity, a design competition was held in the parking area of the hotel were the cardboard boats designed the day before were placed in plastic over ground pools and their performance it terms of speed and sustainability was tested.

Overview:

This year over 100 people attended the Council Retreat representing members of the various faces of SNAME and our student section’s representation helped once again to the promotion of the University of Strathclyde and the department of NAOME. Our presence in this kind of global events and our contribution to the growth of SNAME are vital steps towards the professional development of both students and professionals since they connect the members with the industry and allow for the creation of a very useful network.

Finally, it is important to thank SNAME’s stuff for organising the event and the SNAME volunteers who made it a splendid experience for all the participants.

Fotios Stefanidis, Chairman