As days get longer and warmer, the STC CWC program year draws to a close—and I conclude my term as chapter president. It has been an eventful year, full of challenges and opportunities. I am humbled and honoured to have had the opportunity to serve you in this role.
Programs and professional development
The core offering of STC CWC are the program meetings and professional development sessions that provide our members time to grow their network and their skills.
This year, we featured six program meetings:
- Darren Barefoot, discussing social media faux pas and how to avoid them.
- Doug Burns, offering advice on how to find that elusive work-life balance.
- Karen Rempel, leading us in office yoga for stress reduction.
- Rahel Bailie, sharing her expertise on content strategy.
- Ben Hechter, educating us on project scheduling.
- Susan Patch, Tony Chung, David Drucker and Lois Patterson in an impromptu panel discussion about agile methodology.
We also held two professional development sessions:
- Takuro Ishikawa led a very effective session about conflict resolution.
- Rahel Bailie taught technical communicators how to use social media for an online brand.
Technology
After two years of planning, research and discussions, we held our first remote program this year. Rahel Bailie’s content strategy session was held via Genesys webinar, and nearly 40 people participated from all over the province, plus a few folks from Alberta. This is something we’ve wanted to do for a while, and it’s wonderful to have such great attendance. We’ll definitely look at holding more webinars in future. Many thanks to Bruce Sharpe and Lois Patterson for helping put this together, and to Rahel Bailie for being our webinar guinea pig.
We’re also hooked up with social media outlets. The chapter is on Twitter and Facebook. We also have a LinkedIn group for members; just search for “STC Canada West Coast.”
State of the Society
There has been a lot going on behind the scenes this year. To quickly recap, our local chapter is affiliated with STC International Office (IO) in the United States. With the economic downfall in 2008, STC IO found itself in some financial trouble. The past year has been one of audits, budget and conference calls to stabilize the Society and continue to provide value to members. STC IO requested funding from the chapters to stabilize its finances, and STC CWC donated $5000 in good faith and to ensure the viability of STC IO.
Rest assured that the local chapter is not in any trouble. We have a comfortable cushion in the bank account and will continue to provide quality programming and support for our members. While we’re affiliated with STC IO, we’re a registered non-profit in British Columbia, and are subject to provincial—not American—laws. STC IO has, for the most part, stabilized its finances and is now looking at strategic planning moving forward. A significant part of this strategic planning will be based on the recommendations of the STC Task Force: a group of chapter leaders from all over the world who discussed issues ranging from chapter relations, logistics, finances and education. Our chapter participated on this task force, and I am very grateful to Catherine Kerr and Tracey Martinsen for donating their time and energy to this project.
As unfortunate a situation as this has been, it has resulted in some opportunities for the chapter. As a result of the STC Task Force, we have a better understanding of how STC IO works. And I have been speaking with the presidents of the other Canadian STC chapters—which is, to my knowledge, the first time that a Canadian discussion has occurred. These discussions have been very fruitful, and I feel like it’s the beginning of a Canadian perspective of technical communication.
Membership
With the tumult of this year, coupled with a raise in membership fees, membership in the Society has taken a hit. In Vancouver, especially, there were a series of large-scale layoffs right before STC memberships were due for renewal. While we have seen a drop in membership (from approximately 225 to 130), this is also an opportunity for us to really look at how we bring value to our members and to make that membership worth your while. We continue to make all program meetings free for STC CWC members, and offer reduced rates on our professional development sessions.
This year, we offered a grant for one member to attend the STC Summit. We’re also investigating options for health insurance or medical plans for contractors. If you have any suggestions for other things we can do to bring value to your membership, please let us know.
Odds and ends
We’ve continued to see great attendance at the monthly Contractors Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings, handily led by Ben Hechter. Though the group is on hiatus for the summer, they’ll be kicking off again in September. While the group used to meet at St. Augustine’s on Commercial Drive, they’re looking for a new meeting spot. If you can think of something easily accessible by transit from all directions (suburbs and downtown), let Ben know.
We also saw the revival of the documentation competition, led by Pam Drucker and Liessi Haussler. Find out more about the winners. Thanks also to Liessi Haussler of Cyberscribe Solutions, who provided food and beverage for our fall meetings, and continues to provide a meeting room for our volunteer meetings.
Thank you
This chapter is an entirely volunteer-run organization. A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who has donated time and effort to the chapter this year. Every little bit counts. We’re always looking for new volunteers, so if you’d like to get involved, please contact Heather Sommerville, our volunteer coordinator. Also check out this Coastlines article about STC CWC volunteer appreciation.
It has been a real honour to serve the chapter as your president. Was it a challenging year? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. When I started as president, the Society was in danger of collapsing—and now, a year later, things have stabilized and we’re looking at next steps. Stepping into this role, I worried that I wouldn’t be up to task. But the thing with daunting challenges is that they force you to face those worries and exceed your own expectations. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunities that I had this year, to meet the people that I did, and to have led this chapter through a very difficult time. I couldn’t have done it without the support of the volunteers, especially Catherine Kerr, Helen Glavina, Tracey Martinsen, Heather Sommerville, Pam Drucker, Lois Patterson and Karen Rempel.
Most important, I certainly couldn’t have done it without the trust of the members. Thank you.
So now, I pass the torch to Catherine Kerr, who has been an invaluable support through this difficult year. Her wisdom and expertise is immense, and I can’t wait to see the great things that she’ll do.
So long, and thanks for the fish!
Best wishes,
Eagranie Yuh
STC CWC President 2009-2010
