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Newsletter of the East Bay Chapter of STC
September/October 2002

President's Message
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Melody and son Maxby Melody Brumis
EBSTC President

 

Welcome to the new EBSTC year. What did you do on your summer vacation? I’ve heard (no T-shirts yet) from EB members vacationing in Hawaii, St. Thomas, Paris, and Kentucky. I’ve also heard from EB members who have started new jobs (contract as well as full-time) this summer. Good news is that there are still jobs in technical communication. Our goal is for the East Bay Chapter to become so visible that jobs find us.

In July, EB leaders met over pizza and beer to brainstorm plans for the upcoming year. Since many of the members were looking for work, our focus again was how to get work. Where are the jobs? Who’s getting them? Who’s hiring? How can we be first in line?

New Chapter Activities

This meeting of over 20 EB members kicked off many activities to promote our pursuit of work. I’ve highlighted some of the activities that you might want to participate in.

  • Revolutionize the jobs page

    While our jobs page has been great, the job postings have slowed down. The new Jobs page would allow members to post their resumes themselves, and on the other end, hiring managers to post their openings. Linda Shaltz, Scott Wallace, and Bill Ardis have been working on this.


  • Brand the East Bay Chapter

    Branding is a giant step in making our chapter more visible. A first step in branding is our logo, and we now have one already on our EBSTC web site. Kudos to Becky Rude who designed the logo, Bill Ardis who modified it so it fits STC standards, and Janet Bran, our web weaver, who posted it.

  • Bring in new members

    Last year our membership went down. This year we would like to attract new members as well as bring back some former members. A few ideas we have to increase membership are fun, interesting monthly programs, a new member kit and orientation, and publicizing our chapter to the community.

  • Share our knowledge

    Who’s counting? —but within our chapter we have years, nay decades of experience. Is there a way to share the skills and tools we’ve accumulated?  How about a mentors page on the web site where interested members list what tools or skills they excel in? We would then know whom to call if we had questions or if, perhaps, our company had an opening requiring set skills.

Volunteer

If you are interested in working on these or any other activities, please email me at mbrumis@aol.com. You may not only learn a new skill by participating, but who knows? This new skill, or friendships built while volunteering, may lead to the job of your dreams.Top of page
 

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