communication department

New & Improved!

Paula Berger provides an update on the activities of our Board of Directors.

News & Notes is back in a new, improved format. As STC President, I wanted to find a timely and personal way to let our members know what was going on in STC. That was the origin of News & Notes, and we received lots of positive feedback about it. I quickly realized just how much was going on in STC that I wanted to tell you about. And so News & Notes grew and grew… until I didn’t have the time to do it any more. Now, the STC Communication Staff has rescued me by taking on News & Notes as an official STC publication.

Over the next few months, we’ll be sending you News & Notes in this new format. This is an interim step, because we’re moving toward a full-blown monthly online newsletter later in 2007. We’ll start including the Society information that’s now in the blue pages of Intercom, we’ll add a calendar, Executive Director Susan Burton will be writing a column, and more. We’re hoping this will become a core communication tool for STC, along with our revamped Web site, which should be up and running late in 2007.

What do you think? Please let us know what you like – and don’t like – about News & Notes. Also tell us what other information you’d like to see included. This is your STC, so help us give you the information you want.

Telling Our Powerful Story

I hope you’ve heard this phrase already as one of STC’s key strategic objectives for the year. But what does it mean? Be sure to read From Writer to Communicator, which describes STC’s efforts, led by economist Rick O'Sullivan, to change how the U.S. government defines our profession in the Standard Occupational Classifications (SOC). The SOC is used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which collects information on and categorizes our profession. The other major government user is the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), which provides employers, human resource professionals, job counselors, and labor market analysts across the country with up-to-date occupational information needed to assist students and job seekers in making career decisions.

When we hired Susan Burton as STC’s Executive Director, we were looking for someone to help us raise the public profile and awareness of technical communication, a public spokesperson for STC and for our profession. Susan immediately started looking outward for ways that we can tell our powerful story to hiring managers, business leaders – and the world. This BLS initiative is one of Susan’s first major projects and we’re very excited because we can see STC making progress toward this critical objective. We believe that the results of this work will help you tell your powerful story to your employers, colleagues, HR departments – and the world.

Board of Directors Update

In early February, the STC Board met in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. Why Washington? The Board wanted to try having a meeting near the STC office to allow more interaction between the staff and the board. What a great idea!

Meeting near the office allowed all the key staff members to attend the Board meeting without incurring any travel costs. Working together this way helps both the staff and the Board be far more productive. To welcome the Board, the staff held a reception at the STC office one evening. For many Board members, this was their first visit to the office. Several Washington, DC and Baltimore chapter members also joined us to see the office and meet the Board.

The Board extended an invitation to all candidates for Director to join us at the Washington, DC meeting. We were pleased that several of the candidates were able to make the trip and sit in on the meeting and attend the office reception. Nothing can prepare a candidate for being on the Board better than sitting in on a Board meeting!

STC Members Everywhere

On a personal note, I have continued to travel the world in my job as director of a global technology association. Wherever I go, I meet with STC groups, speak to related groups, or catch up with STC friends. So far in 2007, I’ve met with the Berlin LIG (who graciously waited for three hours as my flight was diverted by a sudden snowstorm), and visited with STC friends in Vienna and Rome. I know first-hand that STC is a global organization!

Paula Berger
STC President
pres@stc.org