Education The question we've asked chapters: What programs does your chapter offer its members and how do you measure their success? Read what the Knoxville, New Jersey and San Diego chapters have to say.

• Position: Conference news

We view annual programs as one of the foundations that drives engagement and growth for our chapter. Our Programs Committee, in conjunction with the chapter's board, has managed to find a great balance of offering not only continuing education opportunities, but also programs that offer insights into current topics and headline trends in business and finance--as well as human interest stories that provide takeaways in leadership and management skills. Our chapter seeks out speakers apart from those addressing other groups and professional organizations.

Overall, the chapter offers its members and guests nearly 16 hours of speaking programs per chapter year. Creating the foundation for our annual programs is our annual CPE day, held in conjunction with a local, publicly traded company. This event not only provides a benefit to our members in helping them maintain their professional credentials, but it also pays numerous benefits for our chapter and sponsors. We guarantee sponsors at our platinum level a presentation spot for the event. This speaking opportunity is seen as a value proposition for the sponsor and many of our sponsors take this opportunity to fly in experts from their organization at their own cost. CPE day provides them an engaged audience in the demographic they are pursuing, as well as providing our members access to subject matter experts that they may otherwise not have the ability to hear from. To benefit the chapter, we offer non-FEI members the opportunity to attend for a fee, but waive that fee if the person joins FEI during that chapter year. We will typically add two or three new members per year as a result of our CPE event.

With the CPE day fulfilling the role of providing educational credits for our members, the chapter feels less compelled to line up technical programs during...