President’s Message

Welcome back from 2006. Hope your Holidays went well. As we look forward to the New Year, we look back at the first six months of my term and look forward to the next six.

• We brought back this newsletter (with the fantastic efforts of our editor, Dave, and his staff).

• We introduced podcasting of our speaker programs. We just added our second podcast with Mike Hamilton of MadCap Software presenting their online help software, Flare. The url for accessing that podcast is http://www.ebstc.org/podcast_access.html. His presentation went long by request, so we divided it into two parts, a main presentation and a question-and-answer period. Remember, as an East Bay member, you have access to these podcasts. You should have received, or will receive shortly, an email giving you the username and password.

• We have our budget for the year. It will be posted soon. Click on Administration.

• We have reconnected with O’Reilly Books for STC discounts on their books. We will post details soon.

• By far, our biggest challenge was to connect more with our membership, especially through our meetings. Our V.P. of Programs, Lis, had a tragic family issue to deal with. This caused us to miss a speaker for the October meeting, but she got Mike Hamilton for December. Otherboard members jumped in and were able to fill in November, and January through April (we are still filling in members for the panel in March). We urge you all to attend at least one East Bay function, either a meeting or a social event. See below for a list of meetings.

• We have started sending our postcards announcing our meetings – sorry about the date confusion for the January meeting – it is for Thursday, the 4th, not the 5th (as sent).

• One way to connect with all of our members is through a Yahoo groups discussion website. We will sign up all members and if you wish to have your name removed, let me know at jojohumx@aol.com. But we urge you to stay on for a couple of months to see if it’s of any value to you. We appreciate it.

• We will finally focus on re-writing our Strategic Plan and re-chartering. We invite any members who have had experience in writing our current Plan or have re-chartering experience to again contact me.

• The EBSTC College Connection committee is looking for professionals from a variety of jobs within the technical communication arena to talk to students about the many career paths, opportunities, and rewards in our chosen profession. This may take the form of panel discussions in classes or one-on-one conversations at career days and other employment related activities. If you are willing to describe your work and help young college students explore this career potential for themselves, join our Speakers Bureau. To access the appropriate forms, go to the EBSTC homepage (http://www.ebstc.org/).

Thanks for listening, and again, make it a New Year’s resolution to come to a meeting. We would love to see you.

Joe

January/February 2007 \| Home	President’s Message

	by Joseph Humbert EBSTC President
	Welcome back from 2006. Hope your Holidays went well. As we look forward to the New Year, we look back at the first six months of my term and look forward to the next six. During the past six months: • We brought back this newsletter (with the fantastic efforts of our editor, Dave, and his staff). • We introduced podcasting of our speaker programs. We just added our second podcast with Mike Hamilton of MadCap Software presenting their online help software, Flare. The url for accessing that podcast is http://www.ebstc.org/podcast_access.html. His presentation went long by request, so we divided it into two parts, a main presentation and a question-and-answer period. Remember, as an East Bay member, you have access to these podcasts. You should have received, or will receive shortly, an email giving you the username and password. • We have our budget for the year. It will be posted soon. Click on Administration. • We have reconnected with O’Reilly Books for STC discounts on their books. We will post details soon. • By far, our biggest challenge was to connect more with our membership, especially through our meetings. Our V.P. of Programs, Lis, had a tragic family issue to deal with. This caused us to miss a speaker for the October meeting, but she got Mike Hamilton for December. Otherboard members jumped in and were able to fill in November, and January through April (we are still filling in members for the panel in March). We urge you all to attend at least one East Bay function, either a meeting or a social event. See below for a list of meetings. • We have started sending our postcards announcing our meetings – sorry about the date confusion for the January meeting – it is for Thursday, the 4th, not the 5th (as sent). For the upcoming six months, we have planned: • East Bay meetings: January 2007 – Harris Kravatz – “What Makes Websites Usable?” February 2007 - Jim Bisso – “Documenting APIs: Your First Week on the Job” March 2007 – Panel – “Trends in Technical Communicaton” April 2007 - Jack Molisani - "The Top 10 Mistakes Professionals Make When Looking for Work" April 2007 – A possible ice cream social in San Ramon on a Saturday – watch for announcement • Bay area meetings: Berkeley - January 10, 2007 – Holiday Party, including winners of Technical Writing Contest Berkeley - February 14, 2007 – Meet Susan Burton, Executive Director, STC, “The STC, How it Works and How it is Run.” Silicon Valley – April 5, 2007 – A possible Job Fair – we’ll keep you posted. • One way to connect with all of our members is through a Yahoo groups discussion website. We will sign up all members and if you wish to have your name removed, let me know at jojohumx@aol.com. But we urge you to stay on for a couple of months to see if it’s of any value to you. We appreciate it. • We will finally focus on re-writing our Strategic Plan and re-chartering. We invite any members who have had experience in writing our current Plan or have re-chartering experience to again contact me. • The EBSTC College Connection committee is looking for professionals from a variety of jobs within the technical communication arena to talk to students about the many career paths, opportunities, and rewards in our chosen profession. This may take the form of panel discussions in classes or one-on-one conversations at career days and other employment related activities. If you are willing to describe your work and help young college students explore this career potential for themselves, join our Speakers Bureau. To access the appropriate forms, go to the EBSTC homepage (http://www.ebstc.org/). Thanks for listening, and again, make it a New Year’s resolution to come to a meeting. We would love to see you. Joe

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