You've let your membership run out. We lost you. Maybe you just forgot to renew. Maybe you decided to move on. That's OK, we understand. You had your reasons. But times change, we've changed. Renew your membership and find out what you've been missing.

Renewal Incentive

To sweeten the deal a little, we're offering a gift card that you can use at any Southwestern Ontario Chapter event from now until June 30, 2011. It will be for the same amount (in Canadian dollars) as your re-instatement fee, which is $15 for renewing within a year, or $30 for renewing later than a year. You can spend the gift card in $5 increments, and if you want to share it with friends, that's okay. Just tell us when you've renewed, and when we see you on the membership roster, we'll send you a card. This is a limited-time offer--you have to renew before June 30, 2010 to qualify--and we won't be doing this every year, so don't miss this chance!

WHY RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP WITH THE STC?

Hey, you’ve been a member before and you know more or less what the STC is about, but did you know…

Build Your Career

Actively participating in the STC offers major benefits to you…

Build a portfolio and gain experience that can advance your career, such as leadership, web design, marketing, and presentation skills.
If you are a chapter member for more than one year and an active volunteer, you might win a trip to the annual international conference.
It gets you out of the office (or the house) once a month, usually to within walking distance to a nice pub.
If you are a senior member, you can take your turn mentoring (or abusing) new members.
You’ll have fun. If you don’t, say so and you get to throw the next party.

Advertise a Job. Find a Job. Get a Job.

Being a member of the STC can help you to find employment or employees.…

An STC event is a networking event. You might meet a future employer, a future employee, or a future client. (Wouldn’t be the first time someone found a spouse.)
Send your resume to our Employment Manager ( employment@stc-soc.org) and she will review it for you and offer comments.
Find potential employment opportunities to pass on to the annoying writer/editor/manager you work with now.
Come to our annual employment progression featuring industry professionals who can provide personal assistance with resume-writing, interviewing skills (from both sides of the desk), professional development advice, and job-hunting tips.

See the Society. See our Chapter. See its Value.

Our chapter is working to promote the technical communication profession and the STC – in our region and our country….

We’re partnering with Communitech so that we can reach new audiences and tell them about our profession and local activities.
Maybe we can set the ground work for your company to pay for your membership (next year) so you have implied approval to leave early on meeting days.
We are marketing technical communicators to local companies and promoting what the STC can do for technical communicators.
Would a Canadian salary survey be of interest? We’re working on one.

Use Technology. Overcome Distances. Get Involved.

There are lots of ways to participate from just about anywhere…

Take in industry webinars at a significant discount. Our chapter hosts one of these every other month. (If you are a member and join the studio audience, you get in for free. Can’t beat that.)
Our chapter broadcasts Education Evenings as live web seminars, where you can watch the presentation on your computer and listen using VoIP or a toll free telephone line.
Visit our blog to keep you up-to-date on news, both at the local level and on the national and international scene.
Online participation in an event is always a relaxed way to get some learning time—in your pajamas if you like.

Recognize Value. Provide Support. Renew Today.

With the high Canadian dollar, the amount that you pay for your membership this year is almost the same as what you paid last year, even with the dues increase!

We can’t provide these services without your support. Please renew your membership today and get involved.

If there’s something that we aren’t providing that you would like to see, you can tell our membership manager, Gordon Varney: membership@stc-soc.org. Or go to the top of the food chain and write our President Fei Min Lorente: president@stc-soc.org.

Hey, if you’ve read this far, we’ve either entertained you or you’ve got some spare time to spend on technical communication. Either way, come hang with us for the rest of the year, ok?