communication department

Volume XX Number 1

Membership

STC’s Corporate Value Program Off to a Successful Start

STC’s Corporate Value Program (CVP) is an effective way for an organization to collaborate with STC to help define the field and practice, while at the same time giving the organization a new route to the technical communication marketplace. The CVP helps the member organization grow its business, while the member organization helps STC grow the profession—a win-win collaboration. Just a few months after its initial launch, STC’s CVP has five participating organizations with over 300 individual members.

What Is It?

STC’s CVP is a nontraditional membership program aimed at organizations with a varied number of technical communicators on staff. The program is designed to meet the needs of individual members and their employers.

The goals of the program (as outlined in 2005) include:

1. Raising the visibility of technical communicators and technical communication departments within corporations, thereby increasing the perceived and real value of technical communication to the corporate mission.
2. Growing STC’s membership by offering compelling value for corporations to support their technical communication staff by paying for employee membership.
3. Expanding the core customer base for STC services such as live Web seminars, telephone seminars, etc.

What Does It Do?

The CVP brings value to STC and its members. It helps STC tell our powerful story, grow valuable relationships and partnerships, and make money. It gives the organization a new pool of resources for sponsorships, advertising, speakers, competitions, and potential volunteers.

The CVP offers a variety of benefits, tailored to meet an organization’s individual corporate technical communication needs. Organizations can choose between offering memberships to all their staff, or just a select few.

Benefits for participating organizations include:

• E-memberships for company employees, which include access to STC’s members-only knowledge base
• The ability to transfer memberships if employees leave the company
• Special CVP rates on STC training and educational offerings, including live Web seminars
• Special CVP rates on STC exhibits and sponsorship benefits at the Annual Conference
• Recognition on STC’s homepage
• Special CVP rates on advertising in STC’s online and printed publications
• Eligibility for inclusion in a new Corporate Value Program Spotlight column in Intercom
• Special CVP concierge service for company employees registering for STC training and educational offerings, including live Web seminars
• Opportunities to participate in sponsored panels at the STC Annual Conference
• Eligibility to introduce the organization’s products, services, and events to STC members

One of the biggest benefits is the transferable membership. This allows the organization to reap the continued benefit of STC membership—the benefit is not lost when an employee leaves. The CVP helps both large and small teams. It is a tailored program that emphasizes STC membership, a valuable position that helps one shape the field and profession and provides access to the technical communication marketplace.

How Can You Help?

You can spread the word to possible CVP members—like the Houston Chapter STC did. Yvonne Wade Sanchez, Houston Membership Manager, sent an announcement to the Houston mailing list, asking members if their companies sponsor the membership of multiple employees in STC. The announcement was brief yet effective, asking members to please consider the STC Corporate Value Program. As a result, STC signed on another CVP member!

If you have any questions about the CVP or want to apply for membership in the program, please contact Mary Kabza, Director of Marketing and Membership, +1 703 522-4114, x206.

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Nonmembers Active on Your List or Web Site? Recruit Them as Members!

Are some of the responses to the discussion posts on your chapter or SIG e-mail list coming from nonmembers? Are nonmembers registering or posting on your chapter or SIG Web site? Consider taking a little time to recruit them to join STC.

 

For example, we’ve recently seen nonmembers registering on the SIG Web sites Hyperviews Online, Global Talk, and DocQment (see stc-on.org). The sites’ administrator, Ann Wiley, e-mails those registrants (except for the obvious spammers!) to let them know we’d like them to join STC. She cc’s her e-mail to Mary Kabza, STC’s Director of Marketing and Membership, who follows up with additional information from the STC office about the benefits of membership.

Why not try this yourself if you’re noticing a similar trend? If nonmembers are active on your list or Web site, why not e-mail them to encourage them to join? If you copy Mary, Cara Gardner, or Ella Carlson on your message, the membership department will follow up with information relevant to potential new members.

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Community Membership Drives

To attract new members during their membership drives, chapters can use the promotional items mailed to all membership managers and student chapter advisors in early November. These items include membership applications, flyers promoting STC's 54th Annual Conference, and copies of the Discover the Benefits brochure. Discover the Benefits contains information about STC and its services, publications, and special interest groups. Applications and brochures can also be downloaded from the Society Web site.

Below is a list of STC membership drive achievers. The communities listed are leading their respective categories in growth percentages from June 30 through December 31, 2006. Chapters are ranked in the size category they attained on June 30, 2006; the list also includes a category for SIGs. The numbers in parentheses denote the number of communities in each category as of June 30, 2006. As an inspiration to all STC communities, Tieline will publish an updated version of this list in every issue through March 2007.

Professional Chapters, Size Category 1
More than 600 members (2 communities)

Chapter	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
Silicon Valley	11.84
Boston	10.08

Professional Chapters, Size Category 2
301 to 600 members (9 communities)

Chapter	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
Toronto	16.62
Washington, D.C.	13.79
Houston	13.40

Professional Chapters, Size Category 3
151 to 300 members (18 communities)

Chapter	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
Wisconsin	20.37
Eastern Ontario	17.95
Carolina	17.00

Professional Chapters, Size Category 4
76 to 150 members (24 communities)

Chapter	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
India	38.10
Indiana	19.77
Southwestern Ontario	17.16

Professional Chapters, Size Category 5
41 to 75 members (21 communities)

Chapter	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
James River	26.23
Four Lakes	21.43
West Michigan Shores	17.74

Professional Chapters, Size Category 6
Fewer than 41 members (30 communities)

Chapter	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
Susquehanna Valley	66.67
Metrolina	32.50
Alaska	28.57

Student Chapters, Size Category 1
20 or more members (7 communities)

Chapter	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
James Madison U.	118.75
North Carolina St. U.	20.69
U. of Minnesota	20.00

Student Chapters, Size Category 2
Fewer than 20 members (23 communities)

Chapter	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
London Ontario	175.00
Miami U.	100.00
College Station	60.00

Special Interest Groups
(20 communities)

SIG	Percentage of growth since June 30, 2006
Quality and Process Improvement	100.98
Environmental, Safety, and Health	77.57
Lone Writer	71.23