What's In It For Me? Getting the Most Value out of your Membership

by Debbie Kerr, President

Did you ever buy a pen and set it on the table, and then complain because it didn’t do anything? Would you say that a pen provides no value because it doesn’t write for you? It doesn’t make sense, yet many of us do exactly that with our STC memberships.

A pen or a membership is only as good as the person who is using it.

Reading Material

When you pay your membership, you get a lot of reading material that many of you never read. Intercom and The Journal have many great articles that are just waiting to be discovered. You make appointments for doctors, dentists, and haircuts. Why not make an appointment to sit down and read your magazines? If you want to grow as a person, then you have to care for all aspects of your development.

General Meetings

Our general meetings are a great way to get to know people and to learn new information. We try to vary the format of these meetings to keep things interesting. We are looking at a webcast for February, so that we can get everyone involved, but we have worked out the logistics yet. Make the effort to attend. Generate some excitement about the meetings. The more people who attend the meetings, the more perspectives there are for discussions.

Webinars

Our chapter offers Webinars free to members. They are just there for the taking. You just have to register and show up at the location, and you get to sit and listen to someone talk for a lunch period about topics that are relevant to technical communication. I realize that some of you are outside of the area and can’t get to these events, but for those in this area, you are missing out on an opportunity. Just because it is free doesn’t mean it is too good to be true.

Free Online Training

Since not all of our members can make it to our members, we are trying to look at ways to provide value to our members who are not in the Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, and Guelph area. When we came upon an article about the Sacremento Chapter offering free training to its members, we thought this might be something we could do for our members as well. We want you to see that the STC has value, and that we are providing you value as a chapter. Remember to vote on our home page to show that you would use this service, if we purchased it.

Networking

You can see the value of you membership if you don’t network. Remember, you can network in many ways. You can come to the general meetings and the Webinars. You can email each other. The council members have their email addresses on our website. We’d love to hear from you. Maybe you just want to introduce yourself, or maybe you have an idea to share. Why not write an article for The Quill or write to someone who has written an article? There are so many ways to network. Don’t say you can’t network, because you aren’t close by. With today’s technology, there are no excuses.

The Quill

Our newsletter is one of the benefits of being a member. You get some great information in here. While if may appear simple to read, so you may question its value, you would be surprised at how much work goes into creating it.

Education

Each year, our chapter offers education seminars. If you are an STC member, our education seminar is substantially cheaper. The topic of these seminars is always timely, and the feedback has always been good. The Annual STC Conference is another place where being an STC member comes in handy. Rates to attend this great conference are always a lot cheaper if you are an STC member. This is also expanding to Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) events, because the STC has worked out some deals with them. Today, more than ever, you get more value with an STC membership, when it comes to education.

Volunteer

This last item is certainly not the least. When you volunteer, you get back a lot more than give, although, to be honest, at times it may not feel that way. For example, right now I am judging in our chapter’s competition, and it is great to see the quality and variety of work that is out there. As president, you get to communicate with people that you may not normally talk to. Being on council, you communicate with a wide range of people, and you develop a wide range of skill sets that you may not develop in your regular job.

It takes commitment and effort. It can be like another job. You have to work at it. The end result can be like a fulfilling career. When I describe some of the things that I have done, people say that my face lights up. I feel a real sense of accomplishment and pride in how far our chapter has come, and I can honestly say I played a part in our success. That is my paycheque.

...and finally

For those who are already STC members, it’s time to renew your STC memberships. For those of you who are considering becoming members, take that leap, and then take the extra step, and get involved. If you don’t’ get involved, you will become one of those people who expects a pen to write by itself. You are a writer, so pick up that pen and write.

About Debbie Kerr

In the 20 years that Debbie has been writing documentation, she has worked in a variety of industries: government, retail, software, and insurance. She is currently employed at The Economical Insurance Group in Waterloo, where she has stepped out of her traditional role of writing user guides and help files, and now writes a variety of specifications.

Debbie has been a member of the STC since 1994 and has been a council member for many years. For the second year in a row, Debbie has bravely taken on the role of Chapter President.