Having worked at IPC for six years -- and as the staff liaison to the Designers Council for 2+ years -- and having covered the IPC and the industry for far too many years now as a journalist, I have a couple of points to make.

First, "IPC" is really two bodies. 

One is the administrative staff in Illinois, which except for Dieter Bergman in the 1960s, does not have any former designers. (Gary Ferrari was one, but he left the organization a couple years back.) And I think it is safe to say the staff is out of touch with what designers want and need.

The other is its members, mostly companies but -- in the case of designers -- individuals too. Those members pay, typically, $1000 a year to belong to IPC. For that, they get access to price reductions on specs, educational programs and trade shows. Also, they can participate in the standards development process. This includes the software and other add-ons that are often the brainchilds (brainchildren?) of folks in the industry who can't get the funding within their companies or from the gov't to make their ideas reality. Now, it should be noted that non-members can also have a say in the standards process, because by law (Sherman Act, etc.) associations cannot write standards for the purpose of excluding a company or technology (I'm not a lawyer, so keep the legal  nitpicking to yourselves please :-) ). So even if a company isn't a member, it can send agents to a standards meeting and voice its opinion. 

Now when this forum takes aim at IPC or the DC, there is usually blowback. And the reason for that, best as I can tell, is that many folks don't distinguish between the admin staff in Illinois and the volunteers from the member companies. The staff generally stays quiet (althgough I assume they are monitoring all this); and the volunteers -- folks like Rick Hartley, Andy Kowalewski, etc.--  end up taking a lot of unnecessary heat. Fact is, the DC executive board is made up of volunteers, some who pay out of their own pocket to participate, and the shame of it all is they while they have a voice within IPC, they don't really have any influence. So while the EB knows what designers want and need, and they make themselves heard time and again on all sorts of matters big and small, by and large that input goes for naught. I can't get into why that happens -- it would be more conjecture than anything, although I'd bet dollars to donuts (or doughnuts, if you prefer) I would be dead-on right. But suffice it to say, a handful of folks ponying up $50 a year aren't going to draw the same seats at the table as, say an exec at Solectron or Sanmina. Plus, like most companies IPC as an organization is going to do what's in the best interests of 1) its best-paying customers and 2) its most influential staff.

I think it's obvious from the recurring comments in this forum that IPC (the staff) does a crummy job at best at communicating why what the organization is and how it can help designers. And no, saying membership gives you the chance to spend even more of your hard-earned money is not what I'd call an attractive selling point. As an industry we'd all be helped by an IPC staff that was more active, imaginative and knowledgeable. One man (Dieter) can only do so much. I personally think it spoke volumes that when Gary Ferrari left, the IPC didn't really replace him (no offense to any specific person is intended). Likewise, the signal that the IPC is serious about the DC will come when it assigns a high-level staffer (preferably a former designer) to manage the Council. But when it's time to assess the situation, let's be sure we are pinning the tail on the right, er, donkey.

Mike

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