Behind the Scenes of Creating Value

There's a lot of volunteer work that that goes on behind the scenes by chapter members to create value. Today, I'm inviting you to get involved so you can take part in and benefit from creating value.

Koster-Lenhardt, Victoria 'Vici'. Carolina Communique (2004). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Benefits Too Great to Miss

To get the most out of your STC membership--take action. Join a committee, write an article for the newsletter, go to a workshop, volunteer for the chapter conference.

Feldman, Diane. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

A Bright Idea: Online Financial Transaction Services

Looking for a quick, simple way for your members to register and pay for chapter events? Many chapters are turning to online services that facilitate financial transactions over the Internet (also called P2P, or person-to-person transactions).

Tieline (2003). Articles>TC>Community Building

A Bright Idea: Technical Communication Week

If you’re looking for ways to boost your chapter’s profile, consider having your state declare a technical communication week. Currently, about a dozen states celebrate the event. One of the first was Arizona, where Thomas P. Barnett, a senior member with the Phoenix Chapter STC, has been manager of Arizona’s Technical Communication Week for several years. Last October marked the thirteenth year that technical communicators in Arizona have celebrated their profession.

Barnett, Thomas P. Tieline (2001). Articles>TC>Community Building

Celebrate Technical Communication

he recognition activities of STC generate a key component of the value provided to its members. Establishing a Technical Communication Week celebration can help boost your community’s profile and the perceived value of our work.

Barnett, Thomas P. Tieline (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Chapter Presidents Share "Bright Ideas"

A list, organized in alphabetical order by chapter name, of the best sixteen tips from STC chapter leaders in 2000.

Laurent, J. Suzanna. Tieline (2001). Articles>TC>Community Building

Circles of Leadership: Resources for Chapter Committee Managers  

Every chapter relies on volunteers for its success. The secret to successful chapters, then, starts with recruiting the right people, training them well, delegating to them carefully, nurturing them along the way, and rewarding them for a job well done.

Brown, Dennise C. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Communities of Practice: Dealing with the Changes in the Technical Communication Field

STC has been challenged by the changing economy and the evolving nature of our work and career development. These challenges have required Society leaders to look carefully into how the STC should change to better serve a diverse and global membership.

Bachmann, Karen L. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Consistently Leading A Successful Community  

Boston, one of the founding chapters of STC, has a distinguished 50-year record of accomplishments. Boston recently won its third consecutive Chapter of Achievement award. We strive to consistently provide an outstanding level and value of services to our members.

Sztaimberg, Ilana. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Defining Moment for the Eastern Iowa Chapter

The Define-a-Thon is a new word game from the editors of The American Heritage Dictionary. The idea is that you can spell a word without knowing its meaning. So why not develop a competition where the contestant has to pick the right word after its definition has been given?

Crawley, Charles R. Tieline (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Discover Buried Treasure at Your Local STC Chapter Meetings  

You don't have to be an officer to benefit professionally from your local STC chapter meetings. Start attending your local chapter meetings and discover the many forms of buried treasure. These treasures will result in a new perspective of your writing, an increased library of professional resources, professional writers being hired at your workplace, and the chance to view the 'Best of Show' writing. You can reap rewards such as these with a small investment of personal time.

Lunemann, Rhonda S. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Finding "A Winning Community" at the STC 53rd Annual Conference

An STC conference is a unique type of education that supplements the formal theory and ideology one can learn in school. It is a place to interact with and learn from people with a range of professions, viewpoints, and expertise. It is a place to experience passion and vision for the field as a part of an international community. But most of all, it is a place filled with resources just waiting to be used by the next eager technical communicator.

Rothwell, Kimberly M. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>TC>Community Building

Free Professional Development: Starting a Journal Club

Have you ever wished that someone would offer advanced training for technical communicators in your community? In Winnipeg, we certainly did. However, we found that most training is expensive. Our chapter would bring in workshop leaders, but have difficulty getting enough people to sign up. Those of us who wanted training often had to leave the city, but not all of us could get our companies to pay to send us for training, or even to annual conferences. About four years ago, the Manitoba chapter stumbled upon an easy, cheap solution: We started a journal club. Four times a year, several chapter members meet to discuss the contents of the latest issue of Technical Communication.

Campbell, Alexa. Tieline (2003). Articles>TC>Community Building

Have Chapter Meetings that Members Love to Attend!  

To improve your chapter meetings, begin by forming a vivid ideal of how you would like the meetings to be. You can realize your dream if you: (1) find out what chapter members want, (2) form an enthusiastic team to do the many tasks involved, (3) publicize meetings beyond your membership list, (4) ensure good presentations, (5) energize the audience for lively meetings, and (6) keep looking for ways to meet your members' wants. For advice and encouragement in doing these things, participate in a support group with leaders of other chapters.

Dean, Morris. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Hosting the Traveling Exhibits: A Primer

In April 2005 the Vermont Chapter STC hosted the STC traveling exhibits, which include award-winning entries from the five major STC competitions: the international technical art competition (ITAC), international technical publications competition (ITPC), international online communication competition (IOCC), Society newsletter competition, and Society public relations competition. If your chapter, like ours, is in a small market, you probably don’t get the opportunity to network with technical writers from different industries or to see documentation for other markets. Hosting the traveling exhibits is a great way to see what other technical writers are doing in the field.

Myers, Patricia. Tieline (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

How Can We Attract More Members to Our Meetings?

Make the meetings fun--after a long day at work, we need to relax. If you can help them relax at the meeting, you are a step ahead. Some chapters use a relaxation technique at the beginning of their meeting. One California chapter president responded on the listserv that he wears a Santa suit at his chapter's December meeting, so don't be afraid to try something new!

Laurent, J. Suzanna. Tieline (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

How to Find Volunteers

All STC community leaders know the difficulty of finding volunteers. In recent years, the Orlando chapter has seen steadily increasing membership counts and meeting attendance figures, implemented creative and successful chapter initiatives, and even won consecutive Chapter of Distinction awards. But when it comes to soliciting volunteers for chapter leadership positions, you may as well be asking them to wrestle the sharks at SeaWorld! On the other hand, there are some things you can do to at least lessen the pain.

Murray, Mike. Tieline (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

The Impact of Social Media on Technical Communication

In this podcast, I talk with Bill Albing, founder of KeyContent.org, about the impact of social media on technical communication. Bill talks about different ways social media helps audiences interconnect and interact. Good social media technologies enable professionals to collaborate easily, without being encumbered by complicated technology or even burdened by managing and filtering feeds. Bill explains that the web is more than just a venue for publication -- it's a medium that allows people to interconnect and work/collaborate with information. This is the direction we're moving towards, and technical communicators are starting to integrate social media, such as user forums, directly into their help.

Albing, Bill and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>Online

Increasing Your Membership

In order for chapters to stay relevant to their members, they must provide intrinsic value to their members and show themselves as professional and authoritative leaders in the field of technical communication.

Opsteegh, Michael. Tieline (2007). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Lead Volunteers to Superstardom

Thanks to the Orlando Chapter, we now have a program that our volunteers enjoy. Whether or not you decide to do something like this for your community is up to you. But remember this: someone out in the world of STC has tried something. Rely on their expertise. You don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Haughton, Mel. Tieline (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Managing Chapter Newsletters: Shooting for Best of Show  

Newsletter editor is one of the most challenging and visible positions in your chapter. Now that you've accepted the job what should you accomplish over the next year? Never mind that, what are you supposed to do?! And how do you make sure this 'part-time, volunteer' experience doesn't n take over your life?

Disch, Cheryl and Cheryl Lockett Zubak. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>TC>Community Building>Newsletters

The Marathon of Chapter Presidency  

This panel discussion takes shape as the audience molds it. Each panelist is a past STC chapter president. Issues are audience-dependent but may include topics such as handling volunteers, managing money, recruiting members, and so forth. Join this informal discussion to share ideas, quandaries, and solutions for successfully leading a chapter.

Blankinship, Ann, Barbara B. Brogan, LaVonna F. Funkhouser, Gary L. Higgins and Gary M. Smith. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>TC>Community Building

Membership Drives

Many chapters have membership drives in the Fall. Not a big deal, something we’ve always done. However, today membership drives can play an important role in sustaining STC.

Baker, Jonathan W. MetroVoice (2002). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Networking Your Way to Success

You don't have to spend hours making cold calls or squander money on invisible advertisements in order to find new clients. In fact, savvy businesspeople--technical writers included--know the best way to expand your client base is by leveraging the resources you already have. You might ask, "What resources?" Well, pull out your personal address book. This database of contacts--friends, relatives, and co-workers--is a gold mine when prospecting for business. By knowing how and who to ask, you can soon have as much business as you can handle!

Chroust Ehmann, Lain. TECHWR-L (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>Collaboration

Online Communities, Member Maps, Virtual Chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and More

In this podcast, Heidi and Tom talk about online communities, member maps, virtual chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and more.

Johnson, Tom H. and Heidi Hansen. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>TC>Community Building>Online