Council Meeting Minutes: October 25th

by emily layng, Recorder/Secretary

Our meeting was held a week later than usual, because of location difficulties. We held the meeting on the 25th, in the basement of the Peer Group. The room is fine; we may be able to hold it there more often.

Kim Creed and Ursula McCloy, who work at PEER Group, waited at the door to let everyone in, which seemed to work out well. The parking lot across the street is big and better yet, no one got ticketed!

Education

Kim presented an update on the Education Seminar. She conducted a poll on the website, has taken the top four, and tried to contact them to see about pricing and availability. She has also received a suggestion about another potential speaker. So far she’s heard from two of the potential speakers and hopes to have the speakers by the last meeting of this year so the advertising can start.

Volunteering

There was some discussion about how to obtain postings for the job bank portion of our website that have to do with volunteer positions. Fei Min Lorente, the Volunteer Coordinator, was looking for assistance with getting the project moving forward, and Ruth volunteered to assist her. With the posting of volunteer positions, technical communicators who are new to the role can obtain experience and expand their portfolios while helping volunteer organizations. It’s a win-win situation, and a great project to get underway.

Public Relations

A while ago Lori Jankowski suggested that we prepare presentations to explain a bit about the STC, and what it can do. Lori knows someone who works at Rogers, and there is a possibility that we could be interviewed on the local station. Some further discussion is required before we finalize what type of presentation we might provide.

We would also like to explain to businesses what technical communicators can do for them. Debbie will put together an initial team to brainstorm and develop a presentation. Lori will look into possible places where this presentation might be given to have the largest impact.

If you are interested in participating in this project, contact Lori Jankowski at pr@stc-soc.org.

The Quill

And finally, a reminder from our Quill editor, Margie Yundt, for the council to submit profiles and bios. We had also discussed adding some humor or some crosswords or other fun things to The Quill, so if you have anything to contribute, submit it to Margie at quill@stc-soc.org…

We adjourned at 8:00 and we ate all the pizza.

emily layng (Secretary/Recorder)

Emily is currently working at ATS, in Cambridge, and has recently been promoted to Team Leader of Systems 1. As part of a busy group, long days and short weekends are the norm. She has been a technical writer since 1996, and has created documentation for both hardware and software companies. Outside of ATS, she is involved with a local Astrology group that is putting together correspondence courses for learning Astrology.