communication department

Volume XIX Number 10

Chapter Holiday Planning Ideas

Chapter leaders shared their plans for holiday events in recent posts to the STC presidents' mailing list. (If you are a chapter president and not already a mailing list member, details on how to subscribe appear on the Web.) Below are several of their ideas, which you might consider using for your own chapter's holiday event—especially if you're concerned that your event may be seen as "just one more holiday party."

From Larry Kunz, Carolina Chapter STC:
"We'd been holding a holiday social for years, with modest success. Last year we invited a rep from the Salvation Army. She made a ten-minute presentation and collected a backseat-load of donated coats from our members.

"This year we've invited the Salvation Army rep back. We're also planning a presentation about StoryBlogging, a historical-preservation project in which volunteers interview senior citizens and preserve the audio files as podcasts.

"People seem to like mixing a social event with the chance to give something to the community."

From Carrie Cooper, Southern Arizona Chapter STC:
"We changed our holiday party model in 2003 and now include a meeting on a light topic. This has been a good change for us. We have a speaker who talks for an hour (shorter than a normal meeting) and a silent auction to raise money for our chapter scholarship fund.

"This year's topic is ‘Stress Reduction Desk Exercises.' Past topics include
‘Self-Promotion a Go-Go,' ‘Happy Holidays—or Stressful Holidays: You Choose' (review at www.stc-saz.org/borderline/05-01_BorderLine.pdf), and a writer sharing her personal experiences for tackling new and challenging writing jobs."

From Deanne Levander, Twin Cities Chapter STC:
"Our chapter holds its December meeting as a luncheon meeting, and plans a lighter-than-usual interactive presentation (this year it's a well-known stand-up comedian who also runs a corporate training company; one of his topics is ‘Think on Your Feet'). Members always like the interactivity, as it breaks up the tedium of sitting all day.

"We have the awards banquet in January as our annual gala event."

From Trish Spayer, Northeast Ohio Chapter STC:
"We have a holiday meeting that involves a charity. We hold it at a local restaurant, and have hors d'oeuvres. The meeting price is a few cans of food or some money, which we give to the local food bank. It's basically a networking meeting/social gathering. Although the turnout usually isn't as large as our regular monthly meetings, we do get quite a few people there."

From Tom Barnett, Phoenix Chapter STC:
"Phoenix has done a variety of things over the years. One year we had a comedian who pulled a number of people from the audience to participate (we found a really good Elvis impersonator in a former chapter president).

"Several years ago we did a jam with members who could perform—similar to the jam session at the annual conference—and it was very popular. This year we have a speaker who is a former director-sponsor but has a talent for cooking (been on TV) and will talk about culinary writing. We've also tied in a variety of charity organizations in the past—always popular."

From Richard Mateosian, Berkeley Chapter STC:
"For the last few years we've held ours in January. We usually have some sort of recognition ceremony, and we use a nicer location than our usual meeting place. Attendance has been good, so people must like it."

From an e-mail to Tieline editor from Richard Truscott, U.K. Chapter STC:
"Each holiday season (Christmas) the STC's U.K. chapter holds a dinner to which we invite members and their families or friends. The venue is usually a restaurant in central London, because it's easy for a lot of our people to get there and many live or work in the London area. We choose a day in advance of the main holiday (this year it's December 1) so that there is less chance of clashes with family and work commitments.

"The idea is to have a good social event; we don't intend to make money from it. The dinner is informal with no speeches or ‘business,' which does mean that members can talk and network together. We are holding the dinner so that members and their partners can come to London to shop or make a weekend stay for theater or other cultural events. There is no problem finding a midprice restaurant in central London if you book a few months before the date for the dinner. This year we're dining at a French restaurant called Chez Gerard in Covent Garden, which is run by a restaurant company that has several in London. We used another restaurant from the chain for the Region 2 conference dinner."