One SPE Guiding Principles
The Society of Petroleum Engineers is a diverse community of professionals that provides valuable knowledge and services to those professionals and to the industry in varied forms.
The concept of One SPE reflects the goal that each function and activity of the Society should serve the broader membership while addressing local needs, supporting technical and professional excellence, and making wise use of Society resources.
The voluntary donation of time and talent by SPE members is our most vital asset and the creative energy of volunteers must be encouraged and supported by the Society.
Background
The vision of One SPE is to improve continually and to be the best in how the Society supports and interacts with members worldwide in fulfilling its mission of capturing and disseminating technical knowledge for the benefit of all members. This means that all elements of the Society will work together in a way that leverages volunteer efforts and creates greater value for the membership as a whole. One SPE provides vision and context for web sites, meetings, publications, knowledge capture, central services, new ideas, and specialties.
Meetings of the Society can take many forms and be conducted in widely varying formats. For meetings beyond local membership, volunteers and SPE Inc Member Services support the planning and implementation of the meetings and should be committed to capturing the knowledge presented and shared in meetings in ways that will serve the entire Society. Meetings should meet high quality standards and wisely steward funds in a manner that is consistent, and fair. SPE Inc staff is committed to delivering cost-effective services for planning, implementation, and knowledge capture to provide volunteers with the freedom to focus on high value-added content and other ideas to make the meetings broadly successful.
Sections serve local members, who often share similar specialized needs on a geographical basis. The sections are often SPE’s greatest source of new ideas to address the needs of members. Section activities can invoke the resources of Regional and Society-level strengths and capabilities (e.g., Distinguished Lecturers). Section leadership should conduct and plan activities consistent with these Guiding Principles of One SPE and with SPE’s mission. SPE Inc staff is committed to providing flexible, cost-effective services to assist the sections in conducting their activities.
Publications of the Society serve current and long-term member needs. Technical quality is paramount, as publications provide a major mechanism for the primary mission of the Society. Volunteers generate content, evaluate and review publications, and provide feedback on value creation. Society volunteer leadership should solicit member ideas to make sure that SPE publications maintain their high standards and are a cost-effective way of sharing and preserving knowledge.
Websites of the Society provide important links and are ‘portals’ to knowledge and to other parts of One SPE. Members are the key source of creativity and commitment to design and update these sites. SPE Inc staff is committed to providing IT expertise to support these member initiatives, and are responsible to insure there is one ‘backbone’ system throughout SPE, consistent with the Mission to collect and disseminate knowledge globally, through SPE.org.
Role of Specialties
SPE’s establishment of six specialty areas, with the appointment of Specialty Directors to the SPE Board, is part of an evolution in how members interact with each other. The Technical Interest Groups (TIGs) foster interaction between members using SPE.org to eliminate geographic and other barriers. Society leadership and SPE Inc. staff are committed to making available the resources required to give these technical communities an opportunity to thrive.
Specific Guidelines for Organizing and Planning Meetings, Publications, Web Sites and Member Services
Early consultation among organizers and their respective SPE Director and mentor is essential, and SPE Inc staff advice should be considered in their discussions. It is understood by all members of the Society that their SPE Inc. Board is charged to insure staff resources are available to support organizers in their efforts. In the case of products and services, which extend beyond local membership, utilization of these resources and their expertise by organizers is a key to insure the high standards of knowledge exchange expected by members throughout the world are consistently and efficiently achieved for mutual benefit.
The SPE Board is accountable to the membership for insuring these resources are fit for purpose and competitively priced. The recovery of these investments and expenses is absolutely essential to enable the Society to deliver consistently high quality products and services to all members in all locations.
