President’s Column: Energizing Tomorrow: SPE’s Value Proposition

_ As I visit with members worldwide, one question comes up repeatedly - especially from section and student chapter officers: How can we clearly show both current and prospective members the value of joining SPE? This is an excellent question, as it gets to the heart of a member-driven society such as SPE. At the same time, it can be a bit challenging for two reasons. First, there are so many benefits to SPE membership that it’s sometimes hard to highlight them all while focusing on what matters most to a particular person. Second, the conversation can feel transactional, which is not always comfortable in some settings. That said, in this column, I’ll hit on both aspects. Before launching into things, I’ll note that the member benefits SPE emphasizes are quite data driven. The surveys SPE conducts - from post-conference feedback to widely distributed member surveys and everything in between - help the Board of Directors and SPE staff understand what is most important to our members and where to best focus resources and time. Please keep that in mind the next time one of those pesky surveys lands in your inbox - I promise it’s worth your time to complete it and voice your opinion! First, let’s launch into the benefits of being an SPE member. And, again, I want to reinforce that the answer to “why join?” can be highly individualized. When talking with someone about the value of SPE membership, it’s best to start with what’s most important to them and to recognize that those priorities can change over time. With that in mind, I’ll group the benefits into four major categories: access to technical resources, networking opportunities, professional development, and recognition and awards. Access to Technical Resources This might be the most obvious category. After all, SPE’s mission focuses on knowledge exchange to innovate and advance technical and professional competence. Let’s start with OnePetro, which contains over 1.4 million searchable items from 23 different publishing partners, not just SPE, and is the definitive collection of articles for those working in our industry. As a member, you receive 10 free papers each year (you’d be amazed at how many people don’t take advantage of this), along with access to thousands of open-access articles at no cost. From core oil and gas topics to new energies and carbon management, it’s all here. SPE’s peer-reviewed journal, SPE Journal (SPEJ), also feeds into OnePetro. With a current impact factor of 3.0, SPEJ provides members with a place to publish peer-reviewed content, as well as access to that content through OnePetro. Then there are the magazines: the flagship Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT) and The Way Ahead (TWA). For anyone who reads JPT, you know it focuses on topics that are critical to our industry from a technical standpoint and how that technology impacts commerciality and future developments. Many of the articles are written by JPT editors, but there is also content from multiple sources, including guest editorials, and articles are posted on a continuous basis. TWA is written “by young professionals for young professionals,” and while that is the tagline, much of the content is relevant across all career stages. It includes technical articles, as well as professional development, mentorship discussions, editorials, and timely discussions on trending topics.