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NEDEA NED Engineers Association of Greater Chicago

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CHAIRMAN

Badar Hussain

(630) 210-1572

[email protected]

DIRECTORS OF

THE BOARD:

Mohammad Afzal

Director of Information

& Communication

(630) 724-7331

[email protected]

Iqbal Ahmad

Director of Membership

and Finance

(630) 808-4573

[email protected]

Aminul Hassan

Director of Professional

Development

(630) 456-0434

[email protected]

Muhammad Farhan

Zafar

Director of Social Affairs

(630) 456-6139

[email protected]

General Body Meeting Minutes

Date: March 22, 2015

Time: 11:30 am - 12:45 pm

Location: Ashton Place, Willowbrook, Illinois

Prepared By: Iqbal Ahmad

Attendees:

Last Name

First Name and Middle Initial

Last Name

First Name And Middle Initial

1 Afzal Mohammad 21 Hussain Rashid

2 Ahmad Amiruddin 22 Kamal Ghulam M.

3 Ahmad Anees 23 Kazi Shahzad

4 Ahmad Iqbal 24 Kazmi Saqib H.

5 Ahmad Bilal 25 Mahmood Fazal

6 Ahmed Saad 26 Mozaffar M. Mansoor

7 Akbari Munawar A. 27 Mallick Samina

8 Akhtar Saleem 28 Mallick Tanweer

9 Ali Syed S. 29 Nasir Jamal

10 Ansari Arshad 30 Nizamuddin Khawaja

11 Asghar Umair 31 Paya Anis

12 Baig Iqbal 32 Rehman Imtiaz A.

13 Baig Naved 33 Siddiqui Imran

14 Fakroddin Nabi 34 Siddiqui Mohsin

15 Hafeez Afzal 35 Syed Naeem

16 Hassan Aminul 36 Yousuf Muhammad

17 Hassan Mohammad S. 37 Zafar Muhammad F.

18 Husain Aslam M. 38 Zaidi Jawed

19 Hussain Badar 39

20 Husain Muzaffar 40

The general body meeting proceedings were started with recitation of The Holy Quran by Imtiaz Rehman. After the

recitation, Badar Hussain welcomed the general body and introduced the board of directors and their designations. Badar

than briefly discussed/highlighted the following items/issues through the power point slides:

Meeting agenda

o Revisit the objectives of NEDEA

o Future of NEDEA

o Activities

o Members role and their participation
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

FIRSTGENERALBODYMEETING

BoardofDirectors20152016

MARCH22,2015

NEDENGINEERSASSOCIATIONOFGREATERCHICAGO

RevisittheobjectivesofNEDEA

FutureofNEDEA

Activities

Membersroleandtheirparticipation

AGENDA

ThedayyoufirststeppedintoNED,youbecameanNEDian

ThetitleNEDianisnotbyyourchoice.NEDbestowedittoyou

ItisaSpritofRelationship

Sharetheknowledge,wisdom,experience,andcreativity

Networkingtopursuesocialandprofessionalgoals

Mentoring

Opportunitiestoalignindividual,teamandorganizationalperformance

Onandon.

WhydowewantNEDEA?

Tofosterandcultivateacommonbondofpride,affinityandconnectivityamongNEDians andfriendsofGreaterChicagothroughqualityprograms,servicesandevents

DoYouAgree?

Missionstatement

CommunicatethevalueofNEDEAtoitsmembers

Recognize,Acknowledge,DecideJustnameisnotenough,nomatterhowbigitis

Youhavetocommunicatevaluestrongly

WhatNEDEAcanofferin20152016

Goal#1:Increasemarketingandoutreach toNEDians

Goal#2:Establishbenefits forNEDEAmembers

Goal#3:Improvetheefficiency andeffectiveness oftheNEDEA

Goal#4:Improvethecoordination amongNEDEA,NEDUETthroughNEDIANNAandotherchapters

Goal#5:StrengthenexistingNEDians traditions anddevelopnewones

Goal#6:Increasegiving toNEDiansprojects,scholarshipprograms,capitalcampaignsandotherbudgetaryneeds

Oursixgoals

Asaresultoftalkingtosomemembers,itshowsthey.

Wanttobetterunderstandthevalueandbenefits. Wantclearandlivelycommunications. Wanttheirneedstobeasked whattheywantordont

want.

Wantmoreappreciationfortheirinvolvement. Wantqualityprogramsfortheirtimespent. ..

Recognizingitisnottheproblemisaproblem.Howwerespondanddealwithitisachallenge.

WhatMemberswants

BeStrategic

HavetoHaveaBigPictureViewof NEDEA

ClarifyVisionWhatareweultimatelystrivingtoachieve?

OurMission Forthenext1 3years?

OurGoalsWhatdowewanttoachieve/getdone?

Whydowebelievewecanachieveourgoals.

RETURNTHEQUESTIONNAIRETODAYORSENDITASAP

OurStrategyfor20152016

Membershipisaprocessnotanevent

Simpleappealsarenolongerenough

Tactics/channelscannotoperateinavacuum

Cultivationandinvolvementarekey

Noteverycommunicationisaboutaskingformoney

Membershipiseveryonesresponsibility

OurChallenge Membership

Membershipis.

awaytostayconnectedtoNEDUETanditsGraduates

avotefortheenduringvalueofaNEDUETeducation

awaytopreservethepastandensureavibrantfuture

awaytosocializewithfriendsthatNEDUETcreated

anotherwaytogivebackandsupporttheUniversity

MembershipBenefits

EstablishwaysforNEDians tohavemeaningfulinteractionswitheachother,withNEDUET,andprovideahomeawayfromhome.

RecognizetheaccomplishmentsofNEDiansandunitethemembersthrough servicesandprogramsthatareofinteresttoNEDians.

Thecurrentpoolofapproximately100NEDians mustbeengagedtoincreaseinvolvementandsupportforNEDEA.

CompletingandupdatingdatafortheNEDiansisaseriouschallengeandmustbeupdatedwiththeassistanceofactivemembers.

Atpresenttherearelessthan100accurateaddressesforthepoolofmorethan300NEDianslivinginChicagoarea.Needhelptoreachall!

SystematiceffortstosampleNEDians opinionwillbeinitiated.

Volunteersshouldberecruitedfortaskbasedactivitiestoaugmentthecapacityof20152016BoardofDirectors.

OurTargetin2015

OperatingBudget2015Revenue

Item Quantity Unit Price Total

FundsReceivedfromNEDEABoard20132014 1 Each (a)1200.00 (a)1,200.00

PicnicSubsidizedCoverCharge(b) 50 Person 20.00 1,000.00

AnnualDinnerSubsidizedCoverCharge(c) 100 Person 25.00 2,500.00

MushairaandEid Party 1 Each LumpSum 1,000.00

AnnualMembershipFee(d) 25 Member 35.00 875.00

LifetimeMembers(Donation) 38 Member LumpSum 2,000.00

FundstobeRaisedfromPrivateBusinesses 10 Each 100.00 1,000.00

FundstobeRaisedfromAdvertisement 10 Each LumpSum 1,500.00

TotalProjectedRevenue $11,075.00

Expenses

Item Quantity Unit Price Total

GeneralBodyMeeting(3/22/2015) 1 Each LumpSum 450.00

Picnic(b) 1 Each LumpSum 1,650.00

AnnualDinner(c) 1 Each LumpSum 4,500.00

MushairaandEid Party 1 Each LumpSum 1,500.00

ProfessionalDevelopmentSeminar 2 Each LumpSum 1,000.00

WebsiteDevelopment 1 Each LumpSum 2,000.00

2014NotforProfitTaxReport/AnnualRenewal 1 Each LumpSum 150.00

LiabilityInsurance 1 Each LumpSum 500.00

Miscellaneous 1 Each LumpSum 500.00

TotalProjectedExpenses $12,250.00

NetProjectedRevenue (1,175.00)

OperatingBudget2015(contd.)

Notes:

(a) Roundedtonearestten.

(b) Forrevenueestimation,50personsareassumedtoparticipate.However,75personsareassumedfortheestimationofexpenses.

(c) Subsidizedcostof$25perpersonisassumedfortheestimationofrevenue.However,costof$45perpersonisassumedfortheestimationofexpenses.

(d)Atotalof25annualmembers(15existingmembersplus10newmembers)areusedfortheestimationofrevenue.

AnnualMembers:15LifetimeMembers:38 TotalNEDEAMembers:53

Myth:RaisingfundsforNEDEAisBoardsresponsibility

OperatingBudget2015(contd.)

ThankYou

Questions

hussainbadarFile AttachmentPresentation_NEDEA-GeneralBodyMeeting032215.pdf

hussainbadarTypewritten TextPresentation


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General Body Meeting Minutes (Continued)

Why do we want NEDEA?

Mission statement

What NEDEA can offer in 2015-2016

Our six goals

What Members wants to know

Our Strategy for 2015-2016

Our Challenge Membership

Membership Benefits

Our Target in 2015

Iqbal Ahmad continued with the power point slide show and presented the year 2015 budget. He explained the need to

have a budgetary estimate to run NEDEA. The presentation highlighted the need to raise some funds to adequately plan

for expenses to offer the expected member services.

During the slide show, a questionnaire was distributed to the attendees for soliciting their inputs and feedbacks. Later the

completed questionnaire were collected which are being compiled for review.

Next, Badar opened floor and invited members present to express their views. The members were requested to speak for

no more than a minute for expressing their views. Twenty-three (23) speakers expressed their views/criticism and

provided suggestions. It is our understanding that some participants may have transferred their time to others to speak on

their behalf. Few members took a little more than a minute; whereas, most of the members spoke for about a minute.

The following is a summary of the views/comments of the speakers in the order they spoke which is replicated from the

notes and audio recordings of the speakers. Any error or deviation of the content is not intentional. If there are any

reservations or concerns to individual content below, please indicate and/or request for correction.

1. Muzaffar Hussain

Part of the organization from the beginning when NEDEA was founded in 1996 and Shabbir was leading it.

Participated in lot of programs and enjoyed every one of them. Noticed some ups and downs over the years.

Sometime programs were very good and some time there was slow down.

In his opinion, it was good that Badar took over. They were trying to bring in Badar since long time but he was

avoiding it.


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Suggested to plan first and then execute. Praised that Badar has planned very well, as if he is running a big

organization with big goals. Badar is showing us how to achieve the goals. We should support him and

contribute.

Did not expect that so many people will come. In fact at some point they talked among themselves about closing

the organization because of no interest from the members. In his opinion, so many people have come due to

Badars efforts and that is a good sign.

Badar asked him to arrange a Mushairra as it was done in the past and thought people will be interested in it. He

will help Badar and suggested that everybody should help him; like Anis Paya helped Badar to organize the

general body meeting at this venue.

Agreed with Badars request for the need of more volunteers.

In his opinion, since we are professionals with good education and good jobs, we can make NEDEA a very good

organization. Also, community (NEDEA) is because of us and hence we should make it a good community.

2. Mohsin Siddiqui

The goals are very obvious based on what he read today and what board members presented.

NEDEA members are struggling since very long time to achieve their goals.

Suggested couple of things which he thought a lot of members wouldnt like.

First one was the NEDEA annual membership fee. As a member of other organizations over a period of time and

since professional engineers now-a-days are doing very well, he thought NEDEA members should be able to

contribute not only with the time but also with more money. If needed, he is in favor of voting on this issue to find

out majority opinion on this issue.

Second he invited everybody to participate a little more than what they are participating now.

3. Shahzad Kazi

Did not want to go over what has already happened, what we did and what we are going to do.

We are here because we have a problem. People who are interested they are here. People who are not here,

they are not interested and lets forget about them for a while.

The big question is why people are part of this organization. One reason is the social welfare aspect and giving

back to the alumni. The second aspect is the networking, entertainment and socializing. Those are the two

reasons why people join these organizations and nothing else.

Now the question is, if these are the two things that people want, we can have questionnaire and whatever;

nothing will come out of it.


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We are here, lets take a route how to deliver on those two things, and thats the only issue we have and we can

figure it out.

4. Arshad Ansari

Remembered the very first day when he, Afzal and Muzaffar were at Shabbirs house in his basement and talked

about the organization. Today when he saw at least lot of people, he thought that we achieved something and

not otherwise.

Voted yes for the need of NEDEA and continuation of what we are doing.

Also voted yes for the need to be more organized and plan first and then act on it.

Expected Badar will straighten things.

Suggested to decide for our goals and we are going to achieve it. Very positive that we will be real good in the

next couple of years and we will continue on.

5. Imtiaz A. Rehman

Involved with NEDEA from the very inception.

We have a problem because there is no tangible interest for lot of people. For example, in organizations like Arab

Engineers Association, medical association APNA, etc., there are some tangible benefits for the members. They

are involved in lot of businesses of their own. There is referral going on and there are financial interests.

Unfortunately we do not have it here in NEDEA. Most of us do not own businesses, the referrals does not mean

nothing to us unfortunately. We should find a common ground where we can benefit from each other, not

necessarily financial benefits but in some other aspect; however it should be done.

Also, favored the community event.

Emphasized not to forget that the intellect we have lot of community members dont have. We can make a good

use of it which he will explain in some other program.

6. Aslam M. Husain

Thanked Badar and all the people present.

Considered this general body meeting a great occasion and resurgence of board activities an excellent thing.

In his opinion, all the objectives that were talked about are extremely important. If he has to choose one he would

like to talk about objective #6 that relates to NED itself. He had discussion with his class fellows and NED Vice

Chancellor, Muhammad Afzal Haque. As far as carrier development of NEDians over there, there are couple of


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things he thought will be very useful if NEDEA start focusing on them. Its a long topic and he thought these are

the two things he would like to share and start.

7. Naved Baig

One thing that struck him in the audience is generation X and generation Y. Youngest graduate is 2002, the two

guys sitting behind. He thinks we need to reach out to them.

Social media is a great tool. NEDEA just made Facebook page. Through LinkedIn and Twitter, like Imtiaz said,

we should have job postings, professional advises and all that to attract this young crowd.

8. Anis Paya

Involved with NEDEA for a long time in Chicago. In the past, he was NEDEA Chairman and board of director and

led the NEDEA convention 2010 in Chicago. Currently he is Vice Chairman of NED International Alumni Network

of North America (NED-NA) which is progressing. NED-NA has meetings and one of the things they talk about is

how to interact with each chapter to send regular communication. Also, they are working on the 2015 convention

scheduled to be held in Mississauga, Canada.

Congratulated Badar and his team for organizing such a great event. Numbers of participants show people are

really interested and see the group result of NEDEA. Members want to see regular activities and social programs

which provide interaction between our people.

At the beginning of the year general body meeting is a very good start by Badar and his team, and along the road

they have planned other programs.

All of us should support financially as well as with our time and hoped this way we will continue and prosper in

future.

Badar thanked Anis Paya for helping board to organize the general body meeting at this venue.

9. Anees Ahmed

Supported the comments of Anis Paya about the revival of NEDEA.

Good participation in the meeting means lots of people are interested which is a very good sign.

Although NEDEA is a professional, cultural or social organization, he is more interested to see NEDEA tone down

towards professional level, just to keep the interest level high.

NEDEA platform need to be more flexible in the interaction. He has seen lots of stifling, for example if someone

send email it get stifled.


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People should be allowed to speak their minds and should promote more social issues and issues of common

background like Karachi and NED. If someone has some ideas and want to discuss we should promote those

ideas, even if it touches some political boundaries.

10. Saad Ahmed

Supported Naveds comments. Both graduated in 1989-1990, a young batch.

More members from their batches should be in NEDEA. He knows lots of people from their batches or newer

batches who are not present in the meeting. He will work to bring them into NEDEA.

Interested in passing on the fun and part of the life spent in NED to the other generation especially to his kids.

Interested in the NEDEA social events for the families to participate and the knowledge base programs.

We have excellent expertise and are part of different organizations. Suggested we should use this skill for

networking and passing on the knowledge.

Other NED organizations are scattered in various parts of USA and Canada. Suggested linking and networking

with all of them will make NEDEA more effective and stronger organization.

11. Syed S. Ali

Congratulated Badar and his team. Noticed lots of energy in the room.

Goals are very laudable, we should make them measureable. For example increase in membership by how

much. This is necessary so that at the end of two years we should be able to measure it.

Getting to know one another. We can come here and meet for 5 minutes to couples of hours; still we dont get to

know one another. Suggested all of us should create information package about ourselves and upload it on the

NEDEA website. This way it can always be referred or members can access when they are in need of help.

Create a mentorship program. Noticed lots of gray hair which means lots of experience that can be shared and it

will be an attraction for the younger people to join NEDEA.

Four people can do only so much. To put more energy in to the program, volunteer program suggested by Badar

appears to be of great value. We all need to volunteer our services to help organize various functions and

activities which will add energy to the program as well.

12. Jawed Zaidi

Graduate of 1978 and class fellow of Anis Paya.

Gave credit to Anis Paya for bringing lots of people to NEDEA.


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Living in Chicago since 2000 and attended national conventions in Chicago, New Jersey, Washington D.C. and

San Jose. No doubt Chicago convention was very well organized, but the irony is number of attendees from

Chicago were much less than the numbers of NEDians actually living here in Chicago. For some reason Chicago

NEDians did not participate in the NEDEA convention here. In the last convention at San Jose, unfortunately

there were only very few NEDians from Chicago. That is one of the issues.

There is little bit of disconnect in NEDEA. Badars initiative to revisit the objectives and to reinvigorate our

organization is very good.

As someone else mentioned, we should make NEDEA purely a professional organization. Our country Pakistan

has fallen apart due to politics, religion and ethnicity. We should try to keep NEDEA free from politics and such

other distractive things. This way more people will be attracted.

Some people are little bit worst because we get all sorts of emails. People dont even open such emails.

We should have very clear objectives. Some of the objectives are very good and socialization is one of them.

We should make goals meaningful and effective. In his opinion, starting of the activities with this session by

Badar will lead NEDEA in the right direction.

13. Naeem Syed

We are at the later part of our carrier and we have no interest in the professional development. We have already

achieved what we needed to achieve.

The new generation is missing.

Advised the board or anybody who is coming up that we need to keep ourselves away from imposing our ideas on

the other people. NEDEA is a neutral social organization, keep it that way.

Pointed that there was a time when we were flourishing and all of a sudden these whole individual ideas started

coming in which is not right and keeps us apart.

Expected that this board will at least try to do that.

14. Khawaja Nizamuddin

Past Chairman of NEDEA. Acknowledged that NEDEA has done wonders for him. It provided a springboard for

him to advance to the Structure Engineers Association of Illinois where he served as the first president from the

Indo-Pak.

Suggested to keep NEDEA going.

It is very heartening and commendable to see that Badar and his team have come up with a thought process in a

very detailed and elaborate plan. Deeply appreciated the boards efforts.


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NEDEA Boards strategic planning is really good. When he was at leading SUI, he came up with a five years

strategic plan and formed committees. Each goal in the strategic plan was assigned to committees, regularly

deliberated and came up with solutions. Still working on that plan and it is moving forward. He appreciated that

board came up with this concept the first time that NEDEA is seeing.

Questioned why board has a goal of increasing only 10 memberships this year and why not 53. At present there

are 53 members in NEDEA. Suggested assigning each person the goal to bring one new member in the next 3 to

4 months. If someone does not bring a member he will be charged with that membership fee. Although jokingly,

in his opinion it is a viable plan. Each one of us probably knows few and we can even share between ourselves.

But the goal should be to go all out and increase as much membership as possible.

The infusion of new blood is very necessary to advance NEDEA. Recalled when we were young, our kids and

parents used to come in NEDEA events, it is not happening anymore. So for survival and moving forward we

need increase in membership.

15. Amiruddin Ahmed

Youngest because came to USA just one year ago. Youngest not because of the age.

Worked throughout in the international market. Led and operated several companies including multibillion dollars

companies.

In his opinion, it was not the right age and time for him to come to USA and establish.

For NEDEA to grow, membership and sustainable income is needed.

Basic problem is membership. For membership you will have to reach out.

What are the ways to reach out?

NEDEA website does not work at all that should be corrected.

There is a silence. He accidently met Nizam and thats how he knew about NEDEA.

Since the last annual dinner, he was waiting to hear from the board for the updates about the ongoing activities.

Although he left his contact details but he was not contacted. He has not received any email directly from

NEDEA. All the NEDEA emails came to him through Nizam. He thanked Nizam for inviting him in the meeting.

Membership is a must and it should not be a burden. Dont burden people with too much membership fee.

Had lot of things to speak but left it for some other time.

Badar agreed membership is not about money.


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16. Jamal Nasir

Same old goals we are seeing since 1996.

We have not gone much farther because of the way we are.

If we want to keep NEDEA a neutral organization that is awesome, we must continue and nothing is wrong with

that.

But if we want to take it anywhere like one notch up in seriousness, all of us should sit together again. Get trained

on how to think on next level to get the sense of togetherness and team feelings. Get the confidence that we are

capable, take the ownership, sense of security with each other and sense of direction.

A different session will be needed if we want to take NEDEA to the next level. Otherwise, just the way Naeem

said, keep NEDEA a neutral social organization and thats the best way to do it.

Website and stuff like that are good tools for NEDEA to have.

17. Mohammad S. Hassan

Heard from everybody that we want to keep this organization alive. He was struggling to see what people will

say, shut down or continue.

Strongly recommended to keep the scope limited to what we can do.

One extreme would have been do all, become everything for everybody and second extreme would be shut down

NEDEA.

Suggested to do what was done in the beginning period of NEDEA. Do couples of programs in a year, give

opportunity to meet each other and keep in touch.

Now of course we have gone farther than that. We have webpage so that we can do more and more stuff to keep

us connected. But if he has to choose he would go with limited scope.

Each program should be self-funded. If a program cost $45 we should charge $45. If we do Iftar party it should

not be free. Why would he donate for Iftar to support NEDians. He will give it to poor people. This is a wrong

message to begin with.

If we do a picnic, there should not be a very high level food which we cannot afford. When they did picnic in

1996-1997 there were 150 people. People who were there must have remembered that. He questioned that why

the current board is targeting only 50 people for picnic.

In his opinion people dont come in the picnic anymore because the picnic does not have a gathering used to be

in the beginning of the NEDEA. If he has to take out time on a Saturday or Sunday from his other activities for the

picnic and find out that he met only four new people and rest of the people either he already knew or met with

them. He wants to meet more people and that gathering is not there anymore.


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Suggested increase in gathering by charging less and making things interesting. At present main focus in the

picnic is on food. For food we can go to any restaurant and eat whatever we want. Main focus should be on

gathering and network.

Talked about picnic in their time when they used to have programs for kids such as clowns and things like that.

That young generation is still present but why that young generation would come to senior citizens club. We need

to make it attractive to the young generation.

Everybody talked about increase in membership and that is good. Badar keep reminding it is everybodys Job.

Yes it is everybodys job, but somebody has to think it through about the process that we need to adopt to

increase it. Just talking we can do all day.

Nominal membership fee we have can be continued. Even membership can be made free.

Concept of life membership came from some other State. Suggested to revisit that because in his opinion

everybody should pay. Also, it is hard to keep track who is life member and who is not.

For example if he is a life member that means he will not pay anymore. On the other hand current board is

expecting from him to pay donation, might as well charge membership fee. Suggested every year everybody

should pay membership fee thats the minimum donation.

For a group of 200 to 500 people it is not that difficult to get some professional advertisement from so many

minority companies. In his opinion those companies would like to cater to our group to advertise them.

Suggested to focus on raising revenue that way.

Suggested to stop the idea of giving back to NED. In his opinion there is no need to give back to NED through

this platform. For that purpose there is a national organization, we should support the national organization and

let them deal with that. It should not be the scope of this local organization, let NED-NA should serve this

purpose.

18. Samina Mallick

Thanked Badar for establishing very good goals.

Volunteered her services which nobody offered and so she is the first one.

Noticed that people are sending resumes for other people on the group. In her opinion that is not the very

effective way. Suggested to assign couple of people who can work on those resumes, like accept that and then

individually go to the people who are in that organization or in that area that would be more effective.

Volunteered for any task and suggested Badar to talk about it instead of telling to the whole group (the board

members).

Also, suggested to have subcommittees and work it out.


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Badar commented we got one volunteer, we need another four.

19. Imran Siddiqui

Graduated with Farhan in 2002.

Believed that what senior said is valid.

But looking answers for two things, connectivity and motivation.

In his opinion there is no connectivity for the next generation to come over here and participate in the

organization. He questioned what vison NEDEA has given to the next generation? In his opinion NEDEA has

given no vision and he was sorry for that.

Talked about his personal experiences when he tried to bring couple of people. They asked what NEDEA is

offering them. What are we going to get from NEDEA? Why we should participate? Also shared the experience

with his current manager, an ex NEDian, one year senior to him, most likely of his age, but for some reason he

failed to motivate him to join NEDEA.

Still unsure how to increase membership in NEDEA. It is very easy to say in this gathering that we are missing

connectivity and we are missing motivation, but he did not get a single answer for how to motivate people.

Wanted to know concrete and tangible answers.

Thinks simply doing some programs will not create a vision. The way we are communicating with the future

generation to take over the organization, he doesnt see it happening. Thinks he may be wrong due to his limited

knowledge and limited vision.

People who are here they can reach NED and they can reach NED-NA. But if any one comes from NED to study

or work here, it should be communicated to him that NED-NA is a different organization within America that can

be contacted.

Since next generation dont have a knowledge of the existence of NEDEA, a link should be established between

NEDUET and NEDEA which should be known to people upfront coming over here.

20. Badar Explained Who We Are

Lets see who we are. We are an alumni association. So keep that definition in your mind.

Usually the way it happens, you can search, I can give you references or you can do your own search and search

all the alumni associations.

Read their mission and take that mission and try to translate it to the mission we the alumni of NED University

have. We are not by the university, we are own self, means we have created an organization with that

relationship.


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We just discussed, which is, we are NEDians, we want to be related, we want to have this organization away from

NED. It did not start from NED.

Typically what happens in this country or in any other country, universities as you graduate you are automatically

recruited as the alumni of the association of the university.

So separate these two things very clearly so that you can clear your mind what to expect as a member of the

organization in terms of benefits.

You can also search all alumni associations created by the university itself, what their benefits are. Let me just

enumerate them. They have a library, they have games, they have this and they have that. Whatever they have

in their periphery, you get some benefit, thats the only benefit you are getting being the alumni of that university.

Now pick up this with NED University, because it is not created by the NED University, so for your benefits you

have to be very practical in the way you think. Here what we are talking at and that we are related and we want to

socialize

And if we have this organization, I will give you just one example of the extremities. What it is that lets say there

is one graduate coming out of NED and here we have some very accomplished seniors. Somehow it turns out to

be that the organization exists and he gets to communicate, if there is any possibility he gets it somehow.

Because he is just getting into this practical world, he is getting into the world of where he needs some mentoring.

What it may be, I dont want to list it, but there is one possibility that exist, that one is available, has vast

experience, resources, capacity. I dont want to name them, but it is a possibility. So in this organization it is just

that possibility that exist just because this organization exists.

We can talk about this, but I will suggest all of us go take a look at the mission of the alumni association and if you

find 70% of them (I will give a bigger number also that I tried to capture) is any different in the broad sense, than

we can talk. I would be very surprised if you find any different than what we tried to say, because we have to

apply in a way or in a sense that we can deliver. So this is all I wanted to say. But again we will address all the

concerns we are hearing here today and we will see how we can consolidate that in our programs.

21. Afzal Hafeez

Everybody said increase the membership but nobody gave recommendation how to do it.

Badar said we will talk about it and emphasized again that we just dont want to have questions. Because if

anyone has questions, for sure he has some sense of the answer, so at least give us that sense. We are not

saying give us the full answer. The question has a sense so the answer has to lead us to some degree so that

we can work on it.


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22. Tanweer Mallick

Endorsed the idea of increasing membership.

Estimated about 40 participants in the meeting.

Parallel to trying to increase the membership, we have to make a commitment, and if we have a commitment we

will have to increase the level of commitment to NEDEA and to NED. This is something that board cannot do and

the national organization cannot do. Each one of us has to do it.

Why? For one simple reason, not for networking, not for fun, not for music, not for professional development.

The one common reason that we need to make a commitment is to payback what NED has given us for pennies.

Most of us paid very nominal fees of about 200 to 300 Rupees per year for 4 years that is a total of 800 or 1,200

Rupees which is nothing in dollars. Most of us have studied here and know how much they have paid. Think

about what NED has given us so cheaply that helped us go to MIT, Stanford, UCLA, UC of Berkley, Michigan or

other universities to get master degree or PhD degree and be successful in life. But all of it started with the

simple bachelor degree of NED. We should be ashamed, if we dont feel obligated to NED.

Appealed and emphasized to increase the level of commitment and expected that everybody in the room is

committed.

In his opinion we need to step up and recruit other people by giving them the same long lasting message.

Networking, fun, children, like Shabbir said various other things such as clown were there when we started, since

all of us have little children and we had a good time. Now our situation is different. One constant that will remain

is our indebtedness to NED, so lets tap on that constant.

For those who dont know, NEDEA is the cause of the national organization. It was created by the efforts of the

2010 convention steering committee during the Chicago convention. Reminded that Anis Paya is the Vice

Chairman of NED-NA

Announced 2015 convention is scheduled to be held in Mississauga, Canada, on Labor Day weekend. Wanted to

see everybody in the room to make a plan and attend the convention. NED-NA proposed the convention in

Mississauga due to its drivable location from Chicago.

23. Fazal Mahmood

Part of this organization for about 10 or 15 years

Ansari came to his house and introduced this organization.

Silent member, sitting around and watching, generally have excuses for not to participate.

Suggested members to have passion and support, otherwise forget this organization and go home.


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Since board has the expertise, talent and consist of professionals, hence board should select members, instead

of saying we need volunteers, and assign them task with time limit and commitment.

Badar thanked participants and meeting was adjourned at around 12:45 pm. Participants were asked to take the lunch

boxes before they leave.


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