Fellow geoscientists and HGS Members! In all respects the HGS had a great January!
As we move into month two of our 100th year as a professional society the momentum continues to build in membership, improved attendance/participation in events, and in making progress toward achieving our goal of financial sustainability.
A quick lookback at attendance of the four January events.
- January 9 Regular Dinner Meeting. 44 registered
- January 11 E&E Meeting. 44 attended. (Mostly different folks than those attending Jan 9)
- January 20 Continuing Education Deepwater Sandstone Course. 28 registered
- January 23 North America Meeting. State of Private Equity. 28 registered.
Given that we had multiple events that ranged over a broad number of topics and those topics drew from different membership components of our society, we had very good participation in our in-person events for January.
Furthering our primary goals for the year, here’s what coming up in the near term.
Our Premier Event February 13th is the HGS Annual Scholarship Night. This will serve as our regular Monthly Dinner Meeting and is our fundraising event for future HGS Scholarships. It is the event where we award Scholarships from both the HGS Foundation and the Calvert Scholarship Fund to deserving undergraduate students and graduate students from several universities. Preliminary indications are that sponsorship income for this worthwhile event/cause may significantly exceed that of several prior years.
If you have not joined one of the Society’s in-person events in the last couple of years, please consider joining us for this worthwhile event and support the future of our profession. Buy a couple of tickets or a table for this evening event. For registration and details see the HGS Bulletin or HGS Weekly Announcements.
February 8 Environmental & Engineering will hold its dinner meeting Craft Republic, 5:30 to 9:00
“Environmental Testing & Monitoring at Carbon Capture & Sequestration Sites”
For registration and details see the HGS Bulletin or HGS Weekly Announcements.
Additional 2023 events include:
Guadalupe Mountain and Delaware Basin Field Trip. March 23-26. There is still time to sign up for this fantastic opportunity to learn and make some new friends and contacts.
HGS Shrimp Peel and Crawfish Boil. Friday April 21. 12pm to 6pm. Bear Creek Pioneer’s Park
This is one of our annual premier events. Reserve your tickets and considering sponsoring this fun event.
GeoGulf 2023 (formerly GCAGS). April 23 to 25. There is a fantastic technical program planned by Linda Sternbach and her team. Plan on registering and attending this multi-day event.
Grand Canyon Raft Trip. June 1-8. Accepting wait list reservations.
We continue to make progress on the other two points of our Three Point Plan.
Increasing Membership.
We continue to add new members as well as continuing to have renewals over the last few months. Revisions to the Website and announcements with regard to the online process have facilitated the exercise of renewing memberships and new applications.
Please continue to encourage your work colleagues and service company contacts to join our society. Remember, your service company contacts may join as associate members.
Financial Sustainability.
We continue to make progress on the goal of financial sustainability. Critical to achieving this goal is having a thorough, in-advance understanding of all the costs associated with running individual events. Over the last six months we have made great strides in this understanding.
Above all else, remember, achievement of our financial sustainability goal requires membership support and active participation by the membership in the society-sponsored events as well as active solicitation of sponsors.
The entire Board of HGS officers and I thank you for your support of the Houston Geological Society with your membership and your participation in the scheduled events. We also thank all the committee chairs and volunteers who help us carry out our mission. We encourage you come out, join us, and get reconnected in your local geological community.
Keep up the great work!
Walter S. Light, Jr. - President