History of Happenings in May

by Carol Lawless, Treasurer

For many of us, May is a time when we look forward to summer and allow ourselves to think about vacation time. The same is true of the STC. May is a time when council members get their portfolios in order and think about a small break over the summer until the next STC year begins. Internationally, STC members take the opportunity to learn and network by attending the Annual STC Conference. Locally, our chapter has accomplished many things in May. 

• 1993 - keeping with the theme of networking and education, our local chapter began hosting an Education day. This ran for several years and included workshops on topics such as "Technical Communication Consulting as Entrepreneurship", "Project Management in a Corporate Environment", "Plain Language: How Do Documents Construct Audiences?", "Networking and Training: The Professional's Tool".
• 1993 - Jack McFadden, our founding president, was recognized at the annual conference with an Associate Fellowship in the STC.
• 1996 - Celia Clark became the second of our members to be awarded an Associate Fellowship.
• 1997 - For the first (and only) time, the annual conference was held "north of the border" in Toronto. We had eight speakers on the roster, and many of the volunteers for the event came from our chapter
• 1999 - Our chapter won the Region's PaceSetter award, for outstanding programs and growth in 1999.
• 2000 - We followed up the PaceSetter award with the Chapter Achievement award, "in recognition of (our) outstanding continuing work to promote the growth of its members, the technical communication profession, and the benefits of STC".
• 2002 - We won another Chapter PaceSetter award, in conjunction with Toronto, "In recognition of outstanding efforts made to continually improve the joint Technical Publications and Online competitions." As well, Leanne Logan became the third chapter member to receive an Associate Fellowship, "For continuous and outstanding contributions to STC locally and internationally, and for outstanding service in both teaching and promoting the profession of technical communications."
• 2003 - Back to Back! We won another Chapter PaceSetter award "For developing a valued community and synergy between STC's Southwestern Ontario chapter, STC's London Ontario student chapter, Fanshawe College, and the University of Waterloo."

While May has traditionally a time for winding down, our chapter continues to work toward its goals until our final meeting in June.