Telecom user group votes to disband

Computerworld - The Communications Managers Association (CMA) said its board has voted to end operations of the New York-based user group, which was formed in 1948.
At the group's peak in the late 1990s, about 150 large companies were members and paid up to $600 annually for the right to send three employees to monthly educational meetings, said CMA President Bill Moore. The CMA also held annual meetings in New York that drew hundreds of IT and telecommunications professionals looking to learn about new technologies and government regulations.
Moore said several factors led to the decision to disband, including a steady membership drop that began in 2000 and culminated when a recent membership renewal drive brought only one response. The CMA has about $10,000 in its treasury, and the group's six-member board will hold a final meeting Sept. 25 to discuss donating the funds to a charity, said Moore, who is telecommunications manager at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and heads the CMA on a volunteer basis.
Tough Times
These are tough times for many IT trade shows and conferences, although some user groups and industry associations are flourishing. Moore said he might join the Wall Street Technology Association, another New York-based group that has taken in some CMA members in the past.
The Technology Managers Forum, also in New York, is entering its 10th year of operations and has 400 members, dozens of corporate sponsors and three full-time staffers, said Priscilla Tate, its founder and executive director.
Jim Luisi, executive director of the Society for Information Management (SIM) in Chicago, said that despite the hard times for IT spending, the membership of his group recently has grown by more than 10%. SIM has nearly 3,000 members and 28 chapters. "One important factor [in staying successful] is being relevant to your constituency," Luisi noted.
Colleen Boothby, an attorney at Levine, Blaszak, Block and Boothby LLP in Washington, has spoken about regulatory issues at CMA events and called the group's demise "very sad." Corporate executives face an "eternal dilemma" over whether they should pay association membership fees and give IT workers time to attend events that don't directly affect the corporate bottom line, Boothby said.
But the training offered by user groups can yield savings on IT investments, she added. For example, the Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee, a Washington-based association of 20 companies that Boothby represents, estimates that every dollar spent by the group results in $100 in telecommunications savings for its members.