Getting to Know the Candidates

Want to see some new faces on the STC executive? Here's your chance — head office will be sending out instructions and ballots in early for next year's executive. The following are just what a few of the candidates have to say:

Cindy Currie - for Second Vice President
Leah Guren - for Director
Robert Young - for Director
Steven Jong - for Director
Nicky Bleiel - for Director

To learn more about all of this year's candidates and to ask questions, visit:
http://www.stc.org/candidatesFAQ/index.asp

Cindy Currie (Candidate for Second Vice President)

Hello STC members! I’m Cindy Currie, a candidate for Second Vice President (2VP). I’m currently a Director, Community Affairs Committee chair, and a Strategic Planning Committee member. I belong to the Northern New England and UK chapters and five SIGs. I’ve been a member since 1991 and a Fellow since 2005.

For the past two years, I’ve worked hard to help STC deliver more value for all members. I want to continue this work, and I feel that I can best do that by increasing my commitment to STC through the office of 2VP.

My primary focus is promoting the value of technical communication to business. We need to ensure that senior management fully understands the role we play in helping to increase the bottom line of business. It is through relationships at this level that we will succeed in bringing the profession closer to the core of business, raising its profile, and creating new and higher-level roles for technical communicators. I know we can do this by concentrating on four key areas:

Codifying our body of knowledge – The certification debate continues, with strong feelings on both sides. Certification—if we choose to go in that direction—isn’t possible without a body of knowledge (BoK) against which to certify TCs. In either case, a BoK is essential to elevating the profession in the global business hierarchy, helping to further legitimize it.
Enhancing and expanding professional growth opportunities—Members must be ready to meet new and exciting challenges, so we must provide a variety of business and leadership learning opportunities, as well as education and training on methods and tools.
Creating a solid identity for STC—We need strong brand identity that loudly trumpets STC’s industry leadership of the profession, and is quickly and easily recognized as one that means quality—of both the practice and its practitioners.
Reworking our business model and infrastructure—We must be able to identify, support, and promote changes and improvements with clarity, speed, and agility. STC is a business and we need to run it like a business with all the right frameworks in place to deliver on all of our commitments—to members, partners, academe, and business.

So, let’s take technical communication to new heights!

Leah Guren (Candidate for Director)

Greetings! My name is Leah Guren, and I am a running for one of the Director positions in the upcoming STC elections. I appreciate this opportunity to tell you a bit about myself and what I would like to focus on over the next few years.

My background: I entered the field in 1980, and have been active in chapter leadership (STC Israel) since 1997. In addition to serving locally, I’ve been an unofficial “international consultant” for the Society, pushing STC to slowly become more aware of international issues. I truly believe that this makes the Society stronger and helps all members become more competitive in today’s global market.

My work career spans the gamut from writer, editor, tech pubs manager, and Help author. Now, as a consultant and trainer in the field, I have the opportunity to travel and meet with technical communicators all over the world. I am continually impressed by the amazing range of skills, backgrounds, and work realities that I find as I visit different chapters.

My goals: This diversity is what helps make STC a strong and viable professional organization, and yet that diversity is not currently being supported as well as it could be. I would like to see STC focus on these key areas:

Do more to support the needs of diverse communities. I’ve had the chance to meet with many different chapters, and believe me, they are truly different! The number of members, the demographics of members, the location, and the physical size of the geographical area are just a few of the factors that create different challenges for different communities. Clearly, 600-member chapter based around one American city has different problems and concerns than a 50-member chapter that spans an entire country. At the same time, there are some common problems (getting volunteers, for example) that are shared by all communities.

To address this problem, the Society itself can explore more flexible solutions, such as offering all communities a standard base of services with a menu of pick-and-choose items, allowing each community to best meet their members’ needs.
Give STC members an edge in emerging trends and technologies. The world around us is changing; while the underlying theory of technical communication may be the same, the tools, technologies, and even deliverables have changed drastically. By looking ahead at trends, STC can provide training programs to keep members competitive and current. This also means providing more advanced courses and certificate courses.
Expand the PR push outside the field. We all benefit when our profession becomes better recognized and respected. However, the Society’s PR work needs to be fine-tuned for different markets. A chapter that sits in a financial corridor won’t benefit from PR work that talks to manufacturing, nor will an American campaign work well in another country. Currently, there is no program in place to produce localized PR campaigns, and STC has relied on chapters to handle this daunting task on their own.
Readdress certification. It is a touchy issue, yet we must face it if we want to start gaining professional recognition. This goes hand-in-hand with both education and improving PR.
Continue to grow internationally. In the past three years, the biggest growth areas for STC have come from chapters outside of North America. Being part of an international organization and being aware of global issues will make you a better, more effective technical communicator, no matter where you live. STC has taken major steps in this direction and needs to continue to do so.

My philosophy: This is a challenging, exciting, and rewarding profession. Sometimes it is frustrating, funny, and just a little bit bizarre. How wonderful that we can walk into an STC meeting and share our latest adventures with colleagues who instantly “get” it. I hope that I never stop seeing the humor in our work!

I look forward to meeting you at future conferences.

Robert Young (Candidate for Director)

I am running for a director position at the Society level. In March, you will have the choice of electing three new directors from the seven-candidate field. I humbly ask for your support to carry on the proud tradition of past and present NEO STC members who have served in Society-level leadership roles.

Bob Dianetti, Region 4 sponsor and NEO STC senior member, is entering his third, and final, year as a valued director and board member. I hope to have the opportunity to learn from him so I can continue his fine work when his term expires.

A director's duties include communicating the Society's objectives to geographic communities and virtual special interest groups (SIGs). This task will be equally important this year as STC builds on its Strategic Plan. Interestingly, many of the objectives of this plan—beefed up Public Relations and Marketing Committees, more training opportunities and corporate sponsorships, and recognition of member achievements—were successfully implemented in NEO STC's chapter last year. Therefore, I believe I could make an immediate impact in these areas.

Perhaps my biggest asset is getting others involved with the process. Participation is a key element for achieving any goal, whether at the local or Society level. I firmly believe that encouraging members to get involved instills pride and the willingness to help with tasks. It also breeds future leaders. In turn, a member develops skills and friendships to further strengthen the bonds of membership. As proof, just look at the success of our NEO STC membership campaign last year, (18% gain) which was due to the outstanding teamwork of the committees.

To further increase participation, I would like to assist in the development of templates that provide chapter leaders with clear instructions on how to implement committees and programs. A lot of the STC literature is outdated or does not provide innovative steps on starting/maintaining programs. A good example is the recognition program for saluting senior members and the work of volunteers. I learned of this program by talking with members of the Florida STC chapter at the annual Conference. NEO STC packaged its own guidelines and we incorporated the recognition program into the membership campaign.

By providing constructive guidelines, such as how to start up and run a successful Public Relations committee, it will undoubtedly contribute to more communities starting PR campaigns. This will allow STC to better explain its message, and, thus, reach out to more potential members.

Thank you for your support to STC and my bid for a director position.

Steven Yong (Candidate for Director)

Thanks for taking the time to read this article! I’d like to introduce myself and give you some of my background and ideas for the Society.

My Background

Professional: I’ve been a technical communicator for 30 years. Currently I’m a documentation project manager at 3Com. I've also delivered training in the US and Europe, and taught writing to law students.

Communities: I am a past president of the Boston chapter. I maintained services despite declining income; we won three chapter awards of Distinction in four years. I’m active in the Quality and Process Improvement SIG (where for ten years I was a columnist for DocQment, the SIG's award-winning newsletter) and the Management SIG.

Society: Since 2002 I’ve served the International Technical Publications Competition as a judge, lead judge, and Best of Show judge. I’ve presented papers at seven Annual Conferences and several regional conferences. I'm currently involved with ISO, as an author and reviewer, as they revise and consolidate the standards for software documentation.

Nonprofit leadership: I have experience founding and leading nonprofit organizations to long-term stability. I started a recreational volleyball league at Digital Equipment. The corporate subsidy was eventually eliminated, but we dealt with this transition so well that the league still operates 20 years later as an independent entity. Also, for two years I was the president of my community chorus, a 501(c)(3) corporation.

Society Issues

STC’s biggest issue is member retention. Our profession is growing worldwide, yet membership has declined by a third over the last five years. Today less than 10% of practitioners worldwide are members. Increasingly, employers don't subsidize dues, and practitioners don't see the value of membership. We need to create an STC that more practitioners want to join and more employers want to subsidize. The challenge is to provide more value, especially to senior members, and publicize that value to both practitioners and employers. We also need an open flow of information and ideas between communities and the Society. Finally, we deserve a transparent accounting of how the Society spends our money, and why.

The New Director Role

The current Director-Sponsors are being replaced by directors. While a D-S represented and supported chapters in one region, directors are expected to represent all communities and all members. The role requires a strategic view of Society goals and how to reach them. For example, a tactical concern is strengthening a community; a strategic concern is strengthening the Society. (The Leadership Community Resource is being established to support communities.)

Summary

I believe what sets me apart from the other director candidates is my long experience and broad perspective. I'm a life-long technical communicator; I've been active in both chapters and SIGs, as well as at the Society level; I've traveled abroad to deliver training; and I've led non-profit organizations to long-term stability and fiscal health.

In March, when you vote for directors, I hope you will cast a vote for me. Thanks in advance!

Nicky Bleiel (Candidate for Director)

Hi, I’m Nicky Bleiel, candidate for Director in 2007. I will get right to the point—I would like your vote in the upcoming election.

My Vision

Technical communicators make users more successful. I would like to help STC make technical communicators more successful by expanding its educational offerings, adding more training courses, seminars, conferences, and even books. One of STC's goals is to “Tell our powerful story,” and I plan to work on projects that help promote our profession to the business community.

Leadership Experience

I am the immediate past president of the Pittsburgh chapter. During my presidency, Pittsburgh was recognized as a chapter of excellence; during my vice presidency, as a chapter of distinction. I also served as membership chair and have been involved in program planning for four years, including serving on the planning committee for the successful Region 4 Conference held April 2004 in Pittsburgh. I am proud that I helped launch the popular “Software Saturdays” training program, which has been adopted by other chapters.

Professional Experience

I have been a technical communicator for twelve years. Like many of us, I started my career writing books and producing them in hardcopy format, but have since embraced online help and user assistance, Web design, single-sourcing, usability, e-learning, and knowledge management. I have experience writing for products in a variety of industries, including media sales, industrial automation, simulation, and pharmaceutical.

Speaking and Writing

I have presented talks at several STC annual conferences, both during general sessions and on Leadership Day. I have also presented at local and regional STC events, including Philadelphia , Cleveland , and Pittsburgh . Topics have included tools and technologies, user assistance design, single-sourcing, and wikis. I have been published in conference proceedings, on the web, and in STC's Tieline (the Society leaders' newsletter) and STC Pittsburgh's Blue Pencil.

Results-oriented

Accomplishing any goal – personal, professional, or as an STC leader—requires innovation, organizational skills, and focus. As a Director, I would use these traits to deliver results to our membership. I will work with the STC Board, as well as the members, to find new ways to tackle problems and drive initiatives that will make the Society a valuable resource for technical communicators.

Thank you, and I would appreciate your vote in March.

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