March/April 2005 | Home

President’s Message

by Becky Rude
EBSTC President

Several of our leaders have been busy trying to improve EBSTC and to make it a better organization for you. Following is a discussion of these improvements.

College Liaison Committee

Gwaltney Mountford is leading a committee consisting of May McKoon, Angelina Nachimuthu, Rosalind L. Rogoff, Joy Montgomery, and Janet Gray. The purpose of this committee is to “speak to student and faculty audiences in selected local colleges for the purpose of promoting the technical communication profession and STC, influencing and contributing to the content of technical communication curriculum, and developing an ongoing relationship that will benefit the schools and EBSTC.”

If you would like to work on this committee, please contact Gwaltney.

PayPal for Reservation and Payment System

EBSTC is now using PayPal as our reservation and payment system for chapter meetings. We sent an email notice to all members in January regarding this change. One of the main reasons for the change is that some people make reservations and do not show up for meetings. We must pay for any dinners that are reserved so this can be costly to the chapter. A great benefit of the new system is that it is easier for members, as you do not have to carry cash or take your checkbook to meetings. With a few clicks your reservation and payment is made electronically. This new system will also streamline our meeting check-in process to prevent lines at the door.

To make a reservation, simply go to the Meetings page and click Reserve. Click the Add to Cart button next to the rate that applies to you (Member, Non-Member, Meeting Only). Then, follow the on-screen instructions.

You can read more about PayPal on our About PayPal page. Thanks to Janet Bran, Hillary Russak, and Joe Humbert for making this change happen.

Email Communication Service

This month we stopped using bCentral, a Microsoft small business product, for email communication. We are now using a free service with our ISP to communicate with members. When we used bCentral, we received comments that members were not receiving mail (there was a problem with AOL users in particular), that members using Lotus Notes could not open the messages, and that many members couldn’t read the HTML format. Messages are now sent in text format so that a larger number of members should be able to open the messages.

Please let us know if you have problems with receiving or reading chapter messages. Thanks to Janet Bran and Hillary Russak for researching and setting up this new service.

Touchstone Revival—Seeking Executive Director

I am happy to announce that the NorCal chapter presidents are planning to get Touchstone, the popular Northern California technical writing competition, up and running in time for entries this fall. We will need scores of volunteers, so please consider whether you would like to be involved in this prestigious competition. Watch for announcements about these openings.

Currently we are seeking an Executive Director who will be responsible for oversight and planning of the competition. If you would like to nominate someone, including yourself, please contact me by email or phone at 925-462-1676.

Other Opportunities

We have other opportunities for you to contribute to EBSTC if you want to become involved. You can see these opportunities on our Volunteers page.

I hope that you have a chance to attend one of the remaining monthly chapter meetings. Melody Brumis, V.P. of Programs, has some great programs lined up.

If you have any suggestions, concerns, or questions, please send me an email.

Becky

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