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2008 at a Glance: Calendar for Community Leaders

Codes for Communities:

Chapter Task: C

SIG Task: S

Chapter and SIG Task (Both): B

January 2008

  • 11 B: Competitions: To continue your submission process for the Newsletter Competition, submit second and third issues of your newsletter to the STC office (January 11 is the postmark date).
  • 18 C: Competitions: Entries for technical publications, technical art, and online communication competitions must be received by the STC office.
  • 31 C: Finances: Distribute IRS 1099-MISC forms to individuals (such as speakers) who were paid more than $600 in the previous fiscal year.
  • B: Technical Communication Summit: Remind members to register for the 2008 conference, to be held June 1–4, 2008, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • B: Membership renewal: Members must renew their membership by February 28 to be eligible to vote in STC’s annual election.
  • S: SIG reports: Prepare and submit report to the SIG Advocate.
  • S: SIG elections and surveys: Begin planning and process (if applicable).
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Brainstorm ideas.
  • S: Hardcopy mailing: Send hardcopy mailing (such as SIG brochure, list of community events, etc.) to SIG members, if applicable.
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.

February 2008

  • 28 B: Membership renewal: Members must renew their membership by February 28 to be eligible to vote in STC’s annual election.
  • S: SIG election: Continue planning (request nominations and work with the Web team on election site and gathering votes).
  • S: Member survey: Conduct if applicable.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Begin planning details of activities, including SIG’s meeting and details of any SIG-sponsored sessions. Arrange to purchase giveaways; work on booth and table theme for welcome reception; design printed materials; assign responsibilities; publicize SIG-related conference activities; encourage members to attend; and identify any volunteers to be recognized at conference during SIG-related activities.
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.

March 2008

  • 4 B: Competitions: Entries must be received by the STC office for the Public Relations Competition.
  • 15 C: Competitions: Entries for STC’s International Student Technical Communication Competition (ISTCC) must be received by the STC office.
  • 17 B: Technical Communication Summit: Last day of early-bird registration.
  • B: STC election: in progress.
  • C: Chapter bylaws: Review for possible updating.
  • C: Chapter nominating slate: Prepare.
  • B: Community Achievement Award (CAA): Submit application materials.
  • B: CAA: If your community has an activity to be considered in place of an activity listed on the CAA form, send a description of the activity to Evelyn McCamey, STC Manager of Community Relations—before the submission deadline.
  • B: Technical Communication Summit: Remind members to register.
  • S: Elections: Hold them and begin mentoring newly elected SIG leaders to prepare for handoff of responsibilities at conference (or sooner, if chosen by SIG).
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Create roadmap of SIG-related activities and sessions with rooms and times when available. Place roadmap on your SIG Web site and send broadcast e-mail to members with link, if feasible. Complete plans for SIG-related conference activities and materials; send reminder to members to plan to attend Leadership Day.
  • S: Recognition: Complete list of SIG members to be recognized this year for contributions.
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.

April 2008

  • 18 B: CAA: Deadline for submission of CAA application materials.
  • 30 C: Finances: STC fiscal year ends for student chapters.
  • B: STC election: Election ends.
  • C: Elections: Hold for chapter officers and announce results.
  • B: Technical Communication Summit: Remind members to register for STC’s 55th Annual Conference.
  • S: SIG reports: Prepare and submit report to the SIG Advocate.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Make final conference preparations and place the updated roadmap on the SIG Web site. Obtain list of SIG members who have registered for the conference from STC staff and send personal e-mail to them, inviting them to SIG meetings and any networking or social opportunities. Distribute agenda for SIG’s annual business meeting.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Recruit and schedule conference volunteers for SIG luncheon tables and welcome reception; call for additions to the agenda for your SIG’s business meeting, and e-mail a schedule to all volunteers.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Order recognition pins, make buttons or hats, or other small tokens for volunteers so they will be recognized at the conference as SIG supporters. Write thank-you notes (signed by the SIG manager).
  • S: Recognition: Contact the SIG Advocate to make sure you know where and when and by whom the Distinguished SIG Service Awards (DSSAs) will be handed out. Consider offering to write letters of congratulations to the senior managers/vice presidents of awardees’s employers or clients.
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.

May 2008

  • 12 C: Community Status Reports: Deadline to submit to the Community Status Reporting (CSR) team.
  • 23 B: Technical Communication Summit: Last day of advance registration.
  • 31 C: Finances: Student chapter financial reports for the period May 1, 2007, to April 30, 2008, are due at the STC office.
  • 31–June 1 B: Technical Communication Summit: Preconference certificate sessions.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Ship conference materials to your conference site hotel and coordinate materials accordingly. Assure that there are volunteers available to move materials to location of welcome reception and to set up display as planned.
  • C: Elections: Install new officers.
  • B: Elections: Send names, addresses, and telephone numbers of incoming officers and committee managers (including newsletter editor, employment manager, membership manager, and webmaster) to the STC office.
  • C: Competitions: Begin planning chapter competitions; send the name of your competition contact to the STC office for posting on the STC Web site.

June 2008

  • 1 B: Technical Communication Summit: Preconference certificate sessions (continued from May 31).
  • 1 B: Technical Communication Summit: Leadership Day.
  • 1–4 B: Technical Communication Summit: STC’s 55th Annual Conference.
  • 30 C: Finances: STC fiscal year ends for professional chapters.
  • B: Transitions and planning: Turn over community committee files to new committee managers.
  • B: Elections: Submit nominations for Society-level officers to the Nominating Committee.
  • C: Competitions: Contact the STC office to reserve traveling exhibits of competition winners for upcoming chapter events.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Recruit new volunteers during all SIG-related events—luncheon, meetings, SIG-sponsored progressions and other sessions, Leadership Day, etc.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Mail recognition notes to those volunteers who did not attend. Frame and mail certificates if any remain.
  • S: Transitions and planning: Review SIG manager or leader information available to new SIG leaders. Identify leaders to include in SIG leaders’s e-mail list. Send information for points of contact and any updates to the SIG’s description on the STC Web site to the STC office. Hold first meeting led by new leadership team to identify activities for the year consistent with the SIG’s objectives. Contact potential volunteer leaders identified at conference and recruit key leaders. Make tentative plan of activities for the coming year and assign responsibilities.
  • S: Finances: Obtain and review accounting of SIG spending for the year from Society office (SIGs’s banker) and reconcile with SIGs’s spreadsheets. This should include any charges against your SIG for conference calls, Web seminars, or other tools charged to the STC office.

July 2008

  • B: Finances: Send your community’s end-of-year financial report to the STC office.
  • B: Transitions and planning: Hold an organizational meeting with the new community leadership team council. Begin community planning for the new fiscal year, ensuring that the plan for anticipated activities for the year is consistent with the community’s mission and objectives and longer-range or strategic plan. Determine volunteer needs for the coming year.
  • C: Transitions and planning: Check past president files and request missing information from the STC office.
  • S: Transitions and planning: Estimate cost of anticipated activities and submit as draft budget to SIG Advocate for submittal to Society office and Board for consistency with guideline amounts, based on number of SIG members as of July 1. Identify any SIG-sponsored project that will require funds above the guideline amount and gather information to submit business case to Board for additional funding. The project must be worthwhile and of benefit to the Society as a whole, consistent with the identified plan and mission of the Society as charted by Society leaders, and feasible to accomplish.
  • B: Finances: Transfer treasurer’s records to the incoming treasurer and change signature cards for the chapter’s bank accounts.
  • B: Elections: Submit nominations for Society-level officers to the Nominating Committee.
  • B: Competitions: Return completed international competition forms to the STC office if your community plans to hold one or more competitions.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Prepare SIG-sponsored conference proposals for the 2009 conference. Identify moderator for progressions, if proposed, and recruit participants.
  • S: Transitions and planning: Update SIG Web sites with relevant new information and establish regular dates for future updates.

August 2008

  • C: Community Status Reports: Deadline to submit to the Community Status Reporting (CSR) team.
  • S: SIG reports: Prepare and submit report to the SIG Advocate.
  • B: Technical Communication Summit: Submit proposals for the 2009 conference, to be held May 3–6, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • B: Finances: Work with your community treasurer to prepare a budget for the coming year.
  • S: Transitions and planning: Plan community programs for the year.
  • S: Technical Communication Summit: Plan SIG public relations activities for the 2009 conference, including, if feasible, a fact sheet and brochure.
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.
  • S: Transitions and planning: Purge SIG discussion lists.

September 2008

  • 30 C/S: Finances: Deadline for chapters and assigned SIGs to file financial reports with the STC office for the period July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008.
  • B: Recognition: Deadline for associate fellows interested in applying for nomination as fellows to send their résumé updates to the STC office.
  • C: Competitions: Deadline to return the chapter sponsoring form for the International Student Technical Communication Competition (ISTCC) to the STC office if your chapter plans to host a high school competition for the 2008–09 year.
  • C: Finances: Approve chapter budget.
  • B: Transitions and planning: Publish the year’s schedule of community events.
  • C: Transitions and planning: Update chapter mailing lists.
  • B: Recognition: Seek fellow and associate fellow candidate(s).
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.

October 2008

  • B: Recognition: Deadline for those recommending candidates to submit nomination packages for the rank of associate fellow to the STC office.
  • B: Recognition: Deadline for candidates applying for the rank of fellow to submit nomination packages to the STC office.
  • B: Competitions: To enter the STC Newsletter Competition, submit the first of three issues of your chapter newsletter to the STC office (postmark date to be announced closer to the beginning of the 2008–09 competition).
  • B: Membership renewal: Promote.
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.

November 2008

  • 1 B: Recognition: Deadline to submit Sigma Tau Chi and Alpha Sigma nomination forms, recommendation letters, résumés, and transcripts.
  • 30 B: Recognition: Deadline to submit recommendations for the Distinguished Chapter Service Award (DCSA), Distinguished SIG Service Award (DSSA), and Distinguished Service Award for Students (DSAS) to the manager of the Distinguished Community Awards Committee.
  • B: Membership renewal: Watch for notices from the STC office.
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.

December 2008

  • B: Membership renewal: The deadline for payment of 2009 dues is January 1.
  • S: SIG reports: Update monthly slide to be incorporated into monthly SIG Board slide.