Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter
August/September 2004
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Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter August/September 2004 |
In this, my first article to STC's Region 8 newsletters, I offer my thanks for your support, and I ask for your involvement for changing our Society at the chapter and SIG levels. Along with this, I'll offer a brief explanation of things that have happened, and how those happenings will affect your participation in the Society for the next three years.
First, I thank each of you who voted for me in the Society's election. I expected my remarkably accomplished opponent, Alison Reynolds of Christchurch Polytechnic in Wellington, New Zealand, to win the election. The best I was hoping for was that the vote might be close, and that her supporters wouldn't trounce me! The vote was very close, but in my favor. I thank Alison for being an affable opponent, and particularly I thank her for the help she's already given me in office. Thanks, Alison!
As well, I thank Paul Sinasohn for asking me to run for office. One never knows what might happen at the Society's annual conference! Thanks, Paul!
Now for the business part of my message.
Our Society is undergoing a deliberate transformation in order to better serve our members and the profession. This was prompted by a large drop in Society membership, the consequent decrease in income, and subsequent surveys that revealed that members were not renewing their membership because they didn't perceive value for their money. The Transformation Initiatives are all aimed at making Society membership more valuable, and the Transformation Team has done an admirable job of allaying members' fears about the changes, while deftly designing the transformation as it happens.
Now this need to re-assess the value of what we offer to our colleagues has hit home. This year's Region 8 conference, Charting a Bold Course, cancelled just a week before the opening keynote speakers presentations. One week after this expensive cancellation, the 2005 Region 8 conference team withdrew from producing the conference also.
An admittedly small survey of a tightly targeted group revealed that they didn't register for the conference because their employer didn't pay for it, and they didn't see the value of paying for it themselves.
There's that word "value" again. The Universe is trying to tell us something.
I believe that in order to find value at the local level, we should question the efficacy of our chapters' and SIGs' operations, and imagine ways to make them more attractive to a wider audience.
With reduced dues rebates returning to our chapters' coffers this year, it may prove important to examine all chapter expenses and imagine ways to reduce them, while trying to improve the service to our members and colleagues. Does the chapter subsidize dinners at monthly meetings? Might that be changed? Does the chapter lose money on seminars and workshops? Can we adopt a more profitable model? Does the chapter buy services that might be donated instead?
The same frugal perspective can help us avoid planning events that cost more than they earn. It seems that the old model of conferences -- a big welcoming event with famous speakers, followed by a day or two of educational sessions, all laced with dedicated networking events and corporate promotional events -- may not be the draw that it used to be. Attendance at COMDEX is down, and the Content World conference was, euphemistically, "postponed indefinitely." And our own Region 8 conference has become an object lesson for future conference management teams.
Further, I've received reports from colleagues that their employers aren't spending money to send them to conferences. And if the colleagues themselves don't see enough value in the event to pay for it themselves, then the problem is clear: we're not offering value to our colleagues.
So, I encourage everyone in Region 8 to rethink how your chapter and SIGs offer value, both to our Society's members and to our non-member colleagues. Are you getting the best return you can for what you spend? Are you getting a return at all?
Please join me in imagining ways to offer more of what we join STC for. Think about the resources we enjoy in our Society, and think of how they might be improved to serve you better. I invite you to e-mail me with your ideas, which are likely the most valuable resource we share.
Beau Cain is the recently elected Region 8 Director. Region 8 includes 20 STC chapters in California, Nevada, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia. For more information about Region 8, see www.stcregion.org/region8/.
Copyright © 2004 by the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter (www.stc-sf.org). This article may be reprinted in another STC publication, provided that the publication give credit to the author and to the ActiveVOICE as the source of the article.