Director's Message:
Spring Cleaning STC Style

by Cindy Currie, STC Region 1 Director

It’s time to brush up on the candidates, polish your Community Achievement Award application forms, and dust off your business wardrobe and get ready to head to the (new, updated!) annual conference to put a new shine on your technical communication career! So, my advice to you is...

Get Out (er, Online?) and Vote!

The STC election / balloting opens soon, so here is your opportunity to participate in choosing the leaders that will take us forward into the future and continue to shape the profession of technical communication! For detailed information about this year's slate of candidates, visit http://www.stc.org/candidatesFAQ/index.asp . All candidates are very willing to be contacted for further discussion about their views, so please take advantage of this opportunity to ask your burning questions.

The voting will be conducted from early March through mid April. Get to know the candidates' views and make a truly informed decision about who you think can best guide STC to new levels of professional leadership and global recognition. The percentage of members who voted last year (about 18%) was up nearly 5% over the previous year and we are looking forward to another big increase this year!

If you vote electronically, it's a breeze again this year. If you vote by paper ballot, please be sure to fill it out and return it quickly.

Shine up and submit your Community Achievement Award application!

Community leaders, it's time to put the final polish on your Community Achievement Award (CAA) applications. Your 2007 application form should reflect activities and events conducted between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007.

The CAA recognizes a community's (SIG, professional or student chapter) accomplishments in achieving the Society's goals through a wide range of programs and activities. Additional information, including the newly updated CAA guidelines and the CAA application forms are available at: http://www.stc.org/recog/awards01_comAchievement.asp .

I am available to review applications as a sanity check (dir1@stc.org ) if you'd like a fresh pair of eyes to look yours over before you send it in. The application form and supporting materials must be emailed to the STC Office (peg@stc.org) by April 5, 2007.

Note that the CAA should be particularly interesting to community officers because pursuing the award criteria ensures that your community provides value to members, even if your community does not apply for the award. Studying the criteria can also help your community officers develop strategic and tactical plans.

Ascend the Summit !

This year, make the Technical Communication Summit (STC's 54th Annual Conference) your primary source for career education. Whether you're a senior or novice practitioner, manager or individual contributor, the Summit is designed to further your professional growth and develop your job skills.

To learn more about the conference and to register, click on the Technical Communication Summit logo online at http://www.stc.org

Don't miss this event; it's going to be the best STC conference ever! We've heard your feedback and have incorporated it into this conference, STC's flagship annual event.

Send your incoming leaders to Leadership Day!

The annual Leadership Day event is being held as usual the day before the conference begins; so on Sunday, May 13. This year's schedule is choc-a-bloc full of exceptional information for new and incoming community leaders.

And, the Leadership Community Resource (LCR), STC's new definitive resource for community outreach and support, is officially being launched during this event. Come learn what the LCR offers community leaders and how it all works to ensure that STC communities can become strong, self-sufficient entities, with various levels of support available to them, as required.

NOTE: This event is highly recommended for incoming Chapter and SIG Officers!

Take in a Region 1 Conference!

Two communities are holding conferences in March:

• Philadelphia Metro Chapter, 4th Annual Conference, Current & Future Trends in Business Communication, March 17, 2007 (with workshops on March 16, 2007), www.stcpmc.org
• Rochester Chapter, Spectrum 2007, 49th Annual Conference, March 23, 2007, www.stcrochester.org

Each is a high-quality event with lots to offer attendees on many levels. Check ‘em out!

Attend a Board Meeting!

The STC Board of Directors recently held its winter Board meeting in Arlington , VA. The focus of this meeting was on Communities, and many strategic community-related topics were discussed, including:

• Society/Community relationship models
• Greater parity between types of communities
• Even more flexible membership options
• Restructured dues models
• Flexibility for geographic communities (chapters) to group themselves in ways other than the traditional STC “regional” model (virtual communities, SIGs, were never bound by this model)

Look for additional information on these topics and more as the board continues work on reshaping and improving the Communities area to ensure more valuable services are delivered to all.

Socially, we were treated to an evening reception held at the STC Office with many members of the Washington DC chapter attending. It was fun to meet and mingle with some old familiar faces and many new ones!

In case you are not aware, the STC Board meetings are open meetings (all except the Executive Session portion of these meetings), so any STC member may attend. I encourage you all to do so when you can. “They are enlightening,” so says everyone who's ever attended! The next Board meeting will be on May 12 in Minneapolis , MN (in conjunction with this year's conference). Be there!

Drop by If You're Nearby

My community visit plans for this year have been firmed up, and they look like this at the moment:

• Boston Chapter, STACIES, February 28, 2007
• Rochester Chapter, Spectrum Conference, March 23, 2007
• Southwestern Ontario Chapter, March 27, 2007
• Eastern Ontario Chapter, March, 28, 2007

I hope to see many of you at one of these events! Check the individual community websites for more information, and do plan to drop by if you're nearby to any one of these locations.

About Cindy Currie

Cindy is currently the Director of STC Region 1. She is an STC Fellow and a member of the Northern New England and United Kingdom chapters, and well as numerous SIGs. She is a senior project manager at Hewlett-Packard Company.