When Yusak Setiawan read in the EXPLORER that the top recruiter in last year's AAPG membership drive would receive a trip and registration to the AAPG International Meeting in Barcelona, Spain, he thought, "I think I can do it. Yeah. I'm going to Barcelona."
Since this interview took place in Barcelona, after attending technical sessions where he was also a judge, it is obvious that the quiet, unassuming Setiawan is a man who not only sets high goals -- he meets them.
"It was fun," he said of his recruiting of 48 new members.
How did he do it?
"For the geoscience community, it was easy. They know about AAPG and what it's all about. I would just ask, and make sure they had an application," he said. "And, I'd make sure they sent it in."
For the non-geoscience community, Setiawan used a different approach.
"They would say, ‘I'm not a geoscientist,' and I would have to explain what (AAPG) is and that you don't have to be a geoscientist to join.
"I would explain that, in my opinion, it is related to your profession," he continued. "At a minimum, you receive two monthly publications -- and some practical information about the oil industry.
"I would give them a copy of the EXPLORER. They would read it and say, ‘Hey, I think I can use some of this,' and they would join."
Setiawan joined AAPG in 1992 as a master's student at the Colorado School of Mines, attending on a scholarship provided by the education monies collected as part of the licensing/production agreements in his native Indonesia.
"As a student, I wanted to be in a professional organization that could help me in my profession," he said. "AAPG is quite practical in terms of work-related information."
Setiawan also cited the "professional contact" potential as a career resource to the new recruits.
He said he chose to pursue a profession in geology "almost by accident."
"I was hanging around with some older friends and I couldn't decide what to do," he recalled, "and they said, ‘Try geology. It's fun.' So I did. They were right. It opened my mind.
"It's a good profession," he added, "and I like to drill wells."
That's working out for Setiawan as well, since in his position as senior geophysicist with Unocal in Jakarta, he is helping to develop the West Seno Field, Indonesia's first deepwater field. Setiawan said the field is in about 3,200 feet of water offshore Kalimantan, and a 28-well program is scheduled for the first phase of development.
Congratulations, Mr. Setiawan. But what next? Are you going to continue to recruit at the same pace -- and win a trip to Cancun in the 2003-04 membership rewards program?
"No," he said. "I have to let other people win."
Then he smiled and said, "But maybe not."