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Greetings East Bay STC Chapter members!
Happy New Year! As they say, "Out with the old and in with
the new". EBSTC has been busy over the last few months. We
have some great ideas brewing, and we had some informative programs
so far. In September, we had a technical talk on DITA. In October,
Nancy Rains talked about translation and writing for an international
audience. It was an informative and lively topic. In November, Max
Dunn talked about the different Adobe publishing tools.
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Holiday Party
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For those that missed it, we had a holiday party in December at
The Bighorn Grill in San Ramon. This was a way of saying "thanks"
for being a member and continuing to support EBSTC. We had a great
time. We enjoyed good food, fun games, and great company. We raffled
off prizes and one lucky member walked away with an iPod Shuffle!
See a more detail article in this newsletter
with photos.
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Updates
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I wanted to pass along the following updates and information to
keep you in the know about our chapter:
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If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to renew your
STC membership. The STC chapter funding model is different this
year. We will not receive a January payment based on 2007 membership,
as we did in prior years. Instead we will receive $25.00 of
your 2008 dues soon after you send them in. So, the sooner you
renew your STC membership, the sooner our chapter receives the
money. To renew your membership, go to stc.org
and log in.
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Leah Guren, STC Director at Large, is teaching a one-day writing
workshop on Monday, January 14th at the Hilton Hotel Oakland
Airport. This class is open to members and non-members. Visit
our Web
site for more information and to register. The Early Bird
rate of $100 ends on Monday, January 7th. After the 7th, the
price goes up to $120. We hope you will be able to attend this
workshop.
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As you may have noticed, we had to increase our meeting prices
by $2 this year. This is due to increases at the Crow Canyon
Country Club. As a reminder, we also changed our Early Bird
registration deadline. We now ask that you register via PayPal
at least one week before the meeting to get the early-bird rate,
and if you pay by check, the check must be received one week
before the meeting. Visit our Meetings
page for more details of the price structure.
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We are still pursuing a Webinar for a program this year. To
help get this off the ground, we have formed a committee to
see how we can make it happen. Under the leadership of Joe Humbert,
the committee includes: Karen Byers, Jane Olivera, and Elaine
Pendergrast. If you would like to help and take part in this
committee, please contact Joe at JoeHumbertSTC@aol.com.
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We made a lot of progress with the Strategic Plan, and I'm
happy to report that we have a solid plan in place and we are
now ready to start the rechartering process. I have formed a
committee to put together the Rechartering Plan. The committee
includes: Don Benesh, Farah Bullara, Richard Mateosian, Gwaltney
Mountford, and myself. If you would like to help with the rechartering
process, please email me at helen_ews@yahoo.com.
To kick-off the efforts, the committee will be meeting in January.
Helping with the Rechartering Plan is a great way to get involved
with our chapter. This is also your chance to voice how you
want the Society to view the chapter and what you want your
chapter to do for you and for our members.
- Our Membership Manager, Joe Humbert, is continuing to send welcome
packets to new members. This packet contains information about
our chapter as well as a ticket to a free entrance to a meeting,
which also includes a dinner.
- We entered our newsletter, Devil Mountain Views, in the STC
Newsletter Competition.
Unfortunately, our
editor-in-chief, Dave Eicher, whose exemplary work won a Newsletter
Merit award last year, is unable to continue. Joe Humbert has
temporarily taken over as editor to get out this issue but he
needs help for the March/April issue and beyond. He is wearing
too many hats as a volunteer to continue as Managing Editor. He
is willing to do the website portion of the work. He just needs
help in finding and editing articles.
If you have any articles, book review, a poem, or a short
story to contribute to our newsletter, or more importantly can
sign on as an editor, contact Joe at JoeHumbertSTC@aol.com.
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Upcoming Programs
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We have some great programs scheduled for the rest
of the year. Here is a partial list:
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January 3 -- "Everything You Ever Wanted
to Know about Resumes and Portfolios, But Were Afraid to Ask"
-- Andrew Davis
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February 7 -- "Mashups and Wikis and
Blogs, Oh My! What does Web 2.0 Mean for Technical Communications?"
-- Tim Bombosch
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March 6 -- "Trends in Technical Communication"
-- Panel to be announced
- April 3 --To be announced
- May 1 -- To be announced
- June 12 -- "Changing of the Guard"
and a report from the Annual Conference
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Get Involved
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Get involved in our chapter! We are always seeking new volunteers.
To read about open positions, visit our "Volunteers" page
at http://www.ebstc.org/volunteers.html.
I also encourage you to participate in our Yahoogroups discussion
board. Remember, this is a forum for you to share your ideas and
concerns. To sign up, click on the "East
Bay STC Network" link in the upper right corner on the
homepage of the Web site.
I want to hear from you! I believe open lines of communication
keep the chapter going. If you have any questions, feel free to
drop me a note at helen_ews@yahoo.com.
I wish you a healthy and prosperous 2008. See you at the next meeting!
Helen 
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