January 15, 2016 - View this as a web page - View eblast from January 8, 2016

Save the Date: Upcoming Events

In an effort to keep the System well-informed ahead of time below is the current 2016 NIST MEP calendar of events.

• March 1: Local and National Board Distinctive Practice Meeting in Washington, DC. More information below.
• March 17-18: Marketing and Communications Working Group Face to Face in Arlington, TX.
• May 17-18: MEP System Update Meeting (Location TBD).
• May 19: Advisory Board Meeting (in conjunction with the Update Meeting).
• September 13-14: MEP System Update Meeting (Location TBD).
• September 15: Advisory Board Meeting (in conjunction with the Update Meeting).

MEP Center Board Member Distinctive Practice Meeting

NIST MEP will be holding a meeting with center board members on March 1, 2016 in Washington, DC as the first effort in a series of activities to promote communication and distinctive practice sharing between the Center Boards as well as initiate dialogue with the National MEP Advisory Board. The meeting will take place from 8:30am – 4:30pm on March 1st at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC located at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004. The meeting will include a 2 hour joint session with the MEP National Advisory Board to discuss the importance of center boards and begin building better collaboration between the national and center boards. In addition, the meeting will include topics such as board assessments, being a voice to and for manufacturing, board recruitment and overall challenges center boards are faced with. Please see draft Center Board Meeting agenda here. Additionally, the evening before (February 29th at 5:00pm) we will be holding an informal networking event (location TBD) providing center and MEP National Board members a chance to network prior to the start of the meeting.

Following the joint session between center board members and the MEP National Board on March 1st from 8:30am - 10:15am, the National Board will be meeting separately for the remainder of the day holding one of the three required board meetings for the year. See draft MEP Advisory Board meeting agenda here.

If Center Board members, Center Directors or other staff are interested in attending the meetings on March 1st, please send names of attendees to Monica Claussen at Monica.claussen@nist.gov.

Updated Impact Numbers

The FY2015 MEP Impact Numbers and Survey Data is out. To view a detailed report - which includes impact and national network numbers, survey results, project distribution, center profiles and more- you can find them on MEP Connect by clicking here to download the Data One Pager. Below is summary of the national impact numbers. All marketing materials and state one pagers will be updated shortly.

• Interacted with 29,101 manufacturers
• $8 Billion Total Sales
• 68,477 Total Jobs
• $3.2 Billion Client Investments
• $1.2 Billion Cost Savings
• Survey Response Rate: 71%
• Of the 8,419 clients selected to be surveyed, 5,940 completed the survey.

If you have any questions please contact Cindy Orellana.

Narrative and Financial Reporting

Webinar Recordings Now Available.

For centers filling out their Semi-Annual Reports, two webcasts from Dec 31, 2015 and Jan 6, 2016 covering the Progress Narrative and Financial Reporting have been posted on MEP CONNECT along with the  presentations. These presentations covered how the new progress plan is organized relative to the NIST 2.0 Partnership Model along with demonstration of the new approach. You can sign in to MEP CONNECT using your MEIS user name, from the home page click on the Resource icon and click on the file “NIST MEP Webinars” where the recordings and presentations are located. For general questions please contact Tab Wilkins, for financial questions contact Sunni Massey or your Regional Manager or Federal Program Officer.

Marketing and Communication Working Group

Save the Date! 2016 Schedule

The MEP Marketing and Communications Working group will be hosting webinars and face to face meetings on a variety of topics and pressing issues that are of interest to the MEP Marketing community. These webinars and face to face meetings will bring MEP marketing professionals together with leading experts from across the nation to share their experience on issues including strategy, research and best practices. Below are scheduled dates for upcoming webinar and face to face meetings.

• January 27: Webinar: Brand Engagement. Fred and Elliot of MMTC will talk about their current brand engagement and how they are using market research to build a brand strategy. The webinar will conclude with a discussion on issues Centers are facing with branding and ideas on how to improve them. Register Here
• March 17-18: Face to Face Meeting (1 full day and a half day) - Arlington Sub-Courthouse in Arlington, TX
• May 17-18: Face to Face Meeting (in conjunction with the System Update Meeting)
• June 29: Webinar
• September 21: Webinar
• November 16: Webinar

More information regarding each activity will soon be available. We are currently working with the Marketing and Communications Steering Committee to finalize the details. If you have any questions please contact Cindy Orellana.

Vacancies Around the MEP System

• Tennessee MEP is seeking two Solutions Consultants for the Northeast and Southern Middle Tennessee Regions. Vacancies close on January 29, 2016.
• NIST MEP is seeking two Regional Managers for the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Region. Vacancies close on January 25, 2016.
• Impact Washington is seeking an Account Executive in Eastern Washington. Learn More