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.
A report on the May 18, 2010 program meeting by Catherine Kerr, with photographs by Pam Drucker and Marika Piehler.
This program year, our final event coincidentally sustained the theme of teamwork strategy that Ben Hechter had explored the month before in his witty and wise talk about project scheduling. When an emergency forced our scheduled speaker to cancel, the day was saved by three experts on a different subject—the pros and cons of Agile development from a technical writer’s point of view.
Fishbowl format in action: David Drucker, Gabriel Gosselin, Eagranie Yuh, Helen Glavinas, Pam Drucker(Photo by Tony Chung)
After the panel introduced themselves and voiced their answers to the first question posed by moderator Lois Patterson, the panel went into fishbowl format. How does a fishbowl panel discussion work? Read the article to find out!
Ben Hechter, principal of Objectives.ca (http://www.semitake.com) and coordinator of our chapter’s Consultants and Independent Contractors Special Interest Group, gave a very interesting, entertaining, and useful presentation on Tuesday, April 20. His “Simple Strategies for Meeting Documentation Schedules” not only covered planning, estimating, and prioritizing, but also included many practical tips for speeding up the documentation process, using innovative methods with the tools we are already familiar with such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Erin McKean is the famous dictionary editor awarded an honorary fellow designation prior to presenting the keynote address at the 57th annual STC Technical Communication Summit in Dallas, on May 2, 2010. Her opening statements both credited the STC for successfully lobbying the Federal Bureau of Labor and Statistics (U.S.) to develop a special job classification for technical writers, and expressed regret that after all that, dictionary editors aren’t considered a distinct profession.
Somebody get her a microphone: This girl knows how to tell a story.
The STC’s progress toward developing a certification program for technical communicators has been a hotly debated topic recently, most notably on the STC Notebook Blog and the Techwr-L mailing list.
As there have been so many questions as to the history and the process, the STC Carolina Chapter is hosting Steven Jong, Chair of the STC Certification Committee, in a presentation and webinar on August 19, 2010 from 6:00pm - 8pm EDT.
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.
Each year, we take the time to recognize the incredible time and effort that the chapter volunteers donate so that we can continue to provide programming, professional development and resources to our members. STC CWC is an entirely volunteer-run organization, fueled by the sheer energy and passion that the volunteers bring to every task. We do our best to thank our volunteers, and that includes a mention at the May meeting, along with a small token of our appreciation. Last weekend, we also had the volunteer luncheon, which is a chance for incoming and outgoing volunteers to get to know each other and to celebrate another year gone by. These aren’t nearly enough to make up for the countless hours that most volunteers put in, but it’s our way of saying thank you.
Michelle Fredette, a technical writer and editor, believes we should back away from our computers, projects, and deadlines and engage with our community. Recently she took the opportunity to do just that, at Car-Free Day on Commercial Drive.
Technical writing students can be expected to regard informational interviews as an important step in beginning their careers. Karen Rempel relates her recent experience with a student who demonstrated a startling lack of awareness at his interview.
Kevin Cuddihy, assistant editor of STC publications, and the STC notebook blogger, asked me to share a few thoughts at the end of the summit. He offered me 30 seconds, and I gave him 2 minutes. Summit. Was. That. Good.
When I renewed my STC membership late last year, I contemplated purchasing an early bird Summit ticket because it was reasonably priced. As the conference committee released preliminary details of the conference topics, I knew this was my year to go. I had never been before, but I was won over by the topic list, and especially the keynote speaker.
