Liessi Haussler, along with Pam Drucker, managed the STC CWC documentation competition earlier this year. She led a team of many interns, who spent many hours on the phone, talking to many companies about technical communication.

Liessi, as president of Cyberscribe Solutions, has been a great support to the chapter, officially sponsoring the food and beverage for the September 2009 and November 2009 meetings, and providing a boardroom for our volunteer meetings.

She wrote this letter that was read out at the May program meeting as part of the volunteer appreciation. It’s such a touching letter that it needs to be shared.

Thank you, Liessi, for your kind words and continued support.

~Eagranie Yuh | STC CWC immediate past-president

I apologize that I am unable to be here in person to accept on behalf of the 14 volunteers and interns who participated in the efforts associated with this year’s tech pubs competition so, with thanks to Eagranie for making it possible, I’m taking advantage of the technology that catapulted our industry into its present state.

Last summer, Cyberscribe turned into an outbound call centre, hosting wave after wave of volunteers to write phone scripts, survey questions, gather contacts and get the word out about the competition. Although last summer’s project resulted in fewer submissions than what we had hoped for, I believe the unseen outcomes were the ones entirely worth the effort. As some of you may already know, our team reached out through direct calls, emails, news releases and a mini website to roughly 800 companies across BC, some of whom had technical writers who were learning of STC for the first time and many who had no idea that the materials they were producing were even considered technical publications. There were also several companies who were—unbelievable though it may seem to us—hearing of the concept of technical writing for the first time.

I believe that the best, though least expected, benefit to arise out of this first-ever approach was the idea that STC could (and should) be promoting our industry to business at large, as well as the services of STC and the Canada West Coast chapter in particular, to isolated technical writers, many of whom are unaware that the work they are doing for their organizations is important enough to be considered a career, let alone an industry unto itself.

The folks who participated in our project literally came from around the world: Mexico, France, Colombia, Korea and one even came from as far away as Coquitlam. Armida from Chihuahua, Mexico was blown away to discover that she had been a technical writer for years without knowing it. Gabriel, former HR director for the Paris police, was excited about returning to France with a brand new job description, vowing every organization he worked in from here on would have a technical writer. Crystal, who left her full-time job to intern with us as the campaign coordinator, went on to immediate success as the public relations manager for the Vancouver International Dance Festival, earning them front page spreads in several leading entertainment publications – for the first time ever in the festival’s 10-year history. Although she is working tonight (and is now with VIDF full-time), her heart is fairly bursting with gratitude at the doors of opportunity that opened for her because of our chapter. Along with the graphic artists, web designers, survey writers, data collectors and very nervous cold-callers who made up our team, all of these people will go on to speak with enthusiasm about STC, about our chapter, and about the importance of technical writing in the world at large.

So, more than just saying thank you for the chapter’s recognition of our efforts, on behalf of everyone involved, it is we who would like to thank the chapter for allowing us to move ahead with our idea and open up so many minds to the value we bring, collectively, as technical communicators and that, moving forward, there will be even more opportunities to recapture and build on the enthusiasm and momentum we felt this past year.

To ALL the chapter volunteers, and especially to our executive for having the courage to lead with vision and embrace fresh, bold ideas, thanks for turning this chapter into the thriving community it has become. We’re thrilled to be part of you.

Cordially,

Annelies (Liessi) Häussler
President, Cyberscribe Solutions