Volume XX Number 1

January 2007

Broadening Our Horizons: Organizing a Joint Program with a Sister Organization

By Holly Harkness, President, Atlanta Chapter

Because one of STC’s strategic goals is “partnering with other organizations,” I suggested that the Atlanta Chapter STC jointly sponsor a meeting with another professional organization in our area. Pulling off a joint event can be time consuming and even nerve wracking, but it’s well worth the effort. It turns the chapter outward and exposes us to other organizational forms and practices that we might consider. It also promotes STC and offers a unique networking opportunity for our members.

After some consultation with our council members, we decided that the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) was a logical partner for our joint event. The IABC has a large Atlanta chapter that meets monthly, as do we.

I knew no one in the leadership of the local IABC chapter, but I e-mailed the local chapter president and made my pitch. I’d recently read Naked Conversations, a book about business blogging. The authors devoted a section to Toby Bloomberg, who writes the Diva Marketing blog here in Atlanta. I suggested we cosponsor a meeting and ask Toby to speak.

The IABC chapter responded promptly, saying our program series was well regarded and they would be happy to work together with us.

The topic was an attractive one to them. Last year, IABC held a program called “Blogging 101” with Josh Hallet, a social media consultant who writes the hyku.com blog. After some e-mailing back and forth, we agreed to hold a panel discussion and call it “Beyond Blogging 101.” They lined up a panel with Toby; Dave Coustan, Earthlink’s official blogger; and a blogger from CNN. Josh agreed to moderate.

I had envisioned that all the Atlanta IABCers would trot down to the Marriott where we hold our meetings on the third Tuesday of the month and join our people for this program. Their assumption, of course, was that we would join them. Epiphany: not all organizations are alike! The IABC holds monthly luncheon meetings at a popular Italian restaurant in a trendy part of town. Members pay $30 and guests $45. Our meetings are free to members and we don’t serve a meal. Nonmembers get in for only $5. After some discussion in our council meeting, we agreed to attend their September luncheon and cancel our evening event that month.

To prepare for our joint work, I attended two IABC events in July and August. This was helpful in understanding their meeting format and typical audience, and in figuring out the details that can cause confusion at the last minute, like not knowing where to park. I met several people who began their careers as technical communicators and later moved into marketing communication. Some were former members of STC and asked how things were going in the profession. But the primary benefit of attending the meetings was getting to know Lou and Jo Ann, my main contacts and collaborators on the joint program.

In hindsight, it would have been better to involve a few other chapter members in planning the event. This kind of collaboration is a great learning experience and our chapter would have been stronger if several of us had worked on it together.

If you plan a joint meeting, be prepared for some pushback from your membership. New ideas are often met with skepticism and resistance. Some council members questioned the value of jointly sponsoring a meeting with IABC, especially since it meant foregoing our usual program for the month of September. They observed (correctly) that many technical communicators don’t have the flexibility to take off for a meeting in the middle of the day. Questions were also raised about the cost; $30 is a bit steep for lunch on a technical writer’s salary.

But in the end we agreed to try it as an experiment. We had some extra money in the budget and agreed to subsidize half of each STC member’s registration fee as an incentive to boost attendance. We also suggested that the program be digitally recorded so that others could view it later. The IABCers readily agreed and graciously made all the technical arrangements.

When it came to publicizing the event, I deferred to IABC, recognizing that this would be an opportunity to learn from people who practice public relations for a living. Others in the chapter preferred to stick with our own routines rather than try a new approach. Don’t assume that everyone will be open to the changes that joint work presents.

The program itself came off without a hitch. I took the podium at the beginning of the meeting to say a few words about STC and how pleased we were to cosponsor the meeting with IABC. I also asked all the STCers in the room to stand and be recognized. The panelists spoke enthusiastically about the benefits of business blogging, and fielded questions from the audience. It was the largest IABC meeting in recent memory, with almost 100 people attending. Sixteen of our STC chapter members attended. This is less than our usual turnout at an evening program, but a good showing just the same. Several made a point of telling me how excited they were about the chapter “doing something new.”

After the event, it was important to tie up the loose ends, particularly those involving reimbursement of funds. Fortunately, all the math worked out and everyone was pleased with the bottom line. In the course of our final e-mail exchange, Jo Ann wrote, “I think the luncheon was a great success, and we did hear a lot of good comments. . . . I’d like to do something like this again. Lou and I may have some ideas on that soon.”

If others in our chapter agree, it’s possible that a yearly joint meeting with IABC could become a regular feature on our calendar.

Holly Harkness is President of the Atlanta STC chapter. To facilitate communication with the over four hundred chapter members in the Atlanta area, she began a President's blog at the start of her term. For the last seven years, she has worked for Mirant, an independent power company, where she is manager of technical communications. Holly is a frequent presenter at local, regional, and international STC events.