Investing in STC's Future

News from the Board

By Paula Berger, STC President,
and Susan Burton, STC Executive Director

It's no secret that STC is at a turning point. STC grew dramatically in the 1990s as it was carried along by the large macroeconomic forces that made technology king. Then, boom. We were hit with September 11 and the dot.com bust, and STC membership has been dropping steadily since 2000. Just as the great growth had little to do with STC's internal management, so the decline has had little to do with STC's internal management.

Or has it?

Overall, the research indicates that as much as 90% of STC's declining membership is a result of changes in the external environment. But there have been several internal factors that also need to be addressed.

First, STC's annual conference was perceived as not providing the same educational value as some of the other related industry conferences. Members complained that there were too many sessions in each time slot, that thought leaders were not on the programs, that the presenters were all internal to STC, that the topics were too elementary, and so on. This year, the Board of Directors addressed this head on. The annual conference has been carefully and consciously redesigned. The certificate programs and "institutes" should satisfy the most discriminating and advanced practitioner.

Second, anyone who has tried to use the search function on the STC Web site would agree that the site needs a major redesign and content management system. In October, the Board voted to fund a complete redesign. The first step is to get member input. Bogo Vatovec has chaired a committee of members who have started the process to get member input. We will see the results of this in 2008.

Third, STC's internal systems have been woefully outdated and ineffective. This affects every member. Why? Because when the STC staff is focused on "housekeeping" issues, they cannot focus on developing new and innovative programs that add value.

For a starters, STC's accounting system was developed in-house long ago. It wasn't even double entry, which is a fundamental requirement of any accounting system in order to ensure accuracy. Staff members were keeping track of checks with pencil in a green ledger. Hard to believe? Absolutely. As soon as the Board became aware of these practices, we knew things had to change. At the Board meeting in October, we voted to get a real accounting system. And just in time, because STC's auditor gave STC a big black mark in the 2006 audit for having this old, outdated system.

We are pleased to report that the new accounting software has been installed and the first financial statements for July-January have been produced. We have cut out eight days of staff work per month already, and we will see additional savings when other process changes are put into place.

STC also had an internally developed Association Management System (AMS). This is the database that contains your member records. This "homemade" system was a complicated and convoluted concoction of spreadsheets and databases. Individual member records could appear in three, four, even five different databases that were not connected to each other. So your address could be correct in one list but not in another list. Furthermore, your membership record was not connected to the accounting system. Talk about a nightmare!?

Again, as soon as your Board learned details about this system, we knew that it was time for STC to enter the 21st century. The Board voted to purchase a new AMS that keeps everything in one database, enables you to keep your own records, cuts down on staff time, and increases the accuracy of our record-keeping!

Fourth, because STC's systems are outmoded, we have an unusually high proportion of staff members who just try to keep the infrastructure going. STC has two full-time programmers. Other associations of like size usually have no programmers on staff and outsource the work. We also have five staff members handling some portion of the accounting and data entry functions. Our total staff is fourteen, and now you know what a lot of them have been doing. Our new systems should free these staff members from clerical work to handle projects that matter to the members.

While we have extra clerical staff, key positions that help shape the profession of technical communication have been absent. Until this year, STC did not have a Director of Education. We need someone in that position to help us continue to re-define and re-shape the annual conference, and also to develop new educational programs and services that members want and need. In addition, until this year STC did not have anyone on staff with marketing expertise. We need help to “tell our powerful story”! Marketing expertise is critical to the future of STC in order to reverse the declining membership trends, expand attendance at the conference, and increase STC's visibility with related organizations.

Overall, STC has been understaffed by about three to five positions, compared to associations of similar size and budget. Over the last year, the Board made the hard decisions to fill those positions—so that STC can increase its marketing reach, build its membership, and improve its educational offerings.

But we have not yet done enough. STC needs a Director of Professional Development to focus on developing the body of knowledge to solidify technical communication as a profession. STC needs a Director of Community Relations—an expert to help our community leaders be effective and to support our volunteer LCR. Can we afford this additional staff? Not quite yet. But we have made some difficult decisions already that we hope will lead to a stronger financial position for STC. We are hopeful that the savings we gain from our investments in new systems and the additional revenues that will be brought in by our new education and marketing staff will allow us to add these positions soon.

Finally, we discovered this year that STC was not in compliance with some IRS regulations that could affect our 501(c)3 status if not addressed. They include regulations in both New York State, where we are incorporated, and Virginia, where the office is located. STC's new legal counsel is acting firmly and clearly to get STC back in good standing. But this costs money, too.

The STC Board has had to make some hard decisions this year. We focused on many of these financial topics during the budget discussions at the October Board meeting. Should STC have a "balanced" budget and not add the needed staff positions? Should STC have a "balanced" budget and just keep the same outdated, old, inefficient systems? Should STC ignore our lack of compliance with the law and not pay for appropriate legal action to correct past oversights? Or should the STC Board be strategic, big thinking and take an educated, calculated risk that would mean voting for a deficit budget to cover the cost of new staff positions and legal counsel? Should the Board be even bolder and vote for capital expenditures to change ineffective systems now, knowing that new systems will ultimately enable STC's staff to do far more valuable work than just supporting the infrastructure?

This was the complex series of issues and questions that the Board of Directors had to consider earlier this year. We spent many long hours weighing all these issues, spending over 10 hours each day in intense discussions. The Board decided it was time to take a strong position to invest in STC's future. We voted for a budget that adds the new positions we need and covers the new systems.

The Board is fully aware that these investments are a calculated risk. No one can predict the future. But we are all certain that the Board needed to make those difficult and bold decisions or STC would be further behind in serving members and advancing the profession.

We are truly in a new STC now. Most of the changes won’t really pay off until 2008, 2009, and beyond. It will be exciting to watch STC’s progress over the next few years as we reap the rewards of the hard decisions this Board has made.