Volunteering the STC-SOC Way

by Opal Gamble, Past President

As you know, our council began our annual campaign to recruit a month ago. We have many new volunteers who stepped up to join the council, and we're still looking for more!

Contrary to popular opinion, volunteering does not take much time from your busy schedule. Many of the jobs up for grabs take only a few hours a month, or a burst of energy for a few months!

Finally, portfolios and manager positions are absolutely share-able! Consider splitting the work between yourself and a colleague!

Our chapter has the following positions available

Vice-President

Supports the President in administrative duties, maintains a special awareness of all chapter operations and confers frequently with the President. The Vice-President assumes the duties of the President when the President is unavailable. The preferred candidate has served on other Council positions and has a good understanding of the chapters operations.

The Vice-President represents the chapter at general meetings, social events and program events, leads special projects, volunteers on committees, and supports and mentors other portfolio managers, when necessary. (Approx. 10-15 hrs/month)

Education Manager

Manages the chapters annual workshop(s) or seminar(s). The preferred candidate possesses excellent organizational skills and has a flexible schedule during the event. The Education Manager conducts surveys or uses previous member feedback to determine an appropriate topic, speaker, venue and date. As chapter host for the speaker, the Education Manager schedules the speaker, gathers speaker biographical data, develops an agenda and publicizes the event. He/she also maintains a workshop budget, manages registrations and books a venue and services.

The Education Manager works with the Public Relations Manager to publicize the event. (Approx. 20 hrs/month, over a 3-month period)

Public Relations Manager

Increases public awareness of our profession, our chapter and the Society. The preferred candidate has a marketing or public relations background.

The Public Relations Manager produces and distributes general meeting posters, press releases and announcements to advertise general meetings, cultivates new public relations media channels, fields new member inquiries, establishes liaisons with chapters and branches of other communication organizations, provides promotional material for special events and publishes information on the web. (Approx. 5-10 hrs/month)

Program Manager

Plans, schedules and coordinates general chapter meetings and special events. The preferred candidate has a proven aptitude for public speaking and is well organized.

The Program Manager contacts all potential speakers and secures biographical data, maintains future speaker and topic lists, surveys members for topic preferences, presents evaluation feedback to the Council, liaises with the Toronto chapter Program Manager and publishes program information on the website and in the Quill. Some of the general meeting responsibilities include arranging speaker gifts and door prizes, and booking meeting rooms. There are FOUR general meetings planned for next year.

The Program Manager works closely with the President and Public Relations Manager. (Approx. 10 hrs/month)

Management SIG Coordinator

Maintains SIG membership information, arranges and chairs meetings, chats or discussion groups. He/she maintains SIG membership information and moderates chats or discussion groups. (Approx. 2 hrs/month)

Committee Members

And, of course, we need committee members! If you would like to assist a portfolio or initiative, but don't have the time to be the person in charge, a committee is just the thing!

Step right up!

To volunteer, email nominations@stc-soc.org or use the handy-dandy web form.

About Opal Gamble

Technical writer, web monkey, and general geek, Opal became a STC-SOC council member in 1997. She is a UW Rhetoric and Professional Writing graduate, a Technical Writer at Campana, and a contractor.

When she's not fixing a website, Opal drives, climbs, and generally lives on the edge.