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Greetings. While those still caught in the “lagging employment” associated
with economic recovery cannot take optimism to the bank, it does appear that perhaps
the worst is over. Some friends and family members who made it through the layoff
cycle have recently seen pay and hour cuts restored. Let’s hope that increased
hiring follows.
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Chapter Stats | |
- We have added one new member since the last newsletter, for
a total of 77. We have also seen some new faces at our Fall meetings,
thanks to excellent programs from Scott
Abel and Scott Prentice.
- The chapter cash
position is holding steady.
- Regrettably, we are no longer able
to offer free meetings for program-only attendees. We have re-instituted the $10
charge.
- How can you help? The most important contribution you
can make is to attend meetings. Currently, we lose money on most meetings. If
you value the opportunity to network with your peers, hear great speakers and
perhaps pick up a lead on that next job, please show your support by joining us
at our monthly get-togethers.
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Looking For Officers | |
- Our 2010 Chapter Officers will take office in January. The current
slate is as follows:
- President: Adrienne Tange
- President-Elect: Open
- Treasurer: Joe Humbert
- V.P. Programs: Gwaltney Mountford
- V. P. Arrangements: Jeanie Egbert
- Secretary: Open
- Nominating Commitee: Richard Mateosian
but open to one other member
- We are also looking for a volunteer for the role of Hospitality
Chair.
- Please contact any of the current voting leadership
officers if you would like to know more about the open positions.
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New Volunteers | |
- Liz Miller
has volunteered to be the Chapter’s database membership manager. The position
has been vacant for quite some time, so we leave it to Liz to figure out what
that entails. You will be hearing more soon.
- Adrienne
Tange and Melody Brumis,
co-owners of Write
on Time Solutions, are our new Education Managers. They plan
to survey companies in the Bay Area and ask them questions such
as what type of content development they are doing, how many technical
writers they have, do they use contractors, do they outsource,
etc. This information will be very useful to technical communicators
and also will clearly show current trends.
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Upcoming Programs | |
- At our January meeting, Jeff Gardiner,
Editorial and Production Manager at Sun Learning Services, will
talk about a wiki project that he has been leading. Jeff was on
our Tech Comm Trends panel last spring and talked a bit about
this initiative. He will be back to update us on how the wiki
is progressing.
- At our February meeting, Liz Fraley
of Single-Sourcing Solutions and Scott Allshouse of PTC will talk
about the latest developments in Arbortext and IsoDraw. Liz spoke
to East Bay on “Repurposing Content for Multichannel Publishing”
last March. She also organizes a series of excellent webinars
that cover a wide range of forward-looking technical issues. You
can sign up to be notified of the webinars at the San
Francisco Bay Arbortext PTC/User Group blog.
- In March, Joan Lasselle
of Lasselle-Ramsey will talk about Content Management Systems.
Joan was also a speaker at our last Trends panel.
- In April, we will have our Trends panel.
- In May, we will include reports from the conference attendees.
We are very grateful for our speakers’ willingness to come
and share their latest technical insights. As our upcoming schedule
shows, we even have people willing to come back again! Gwaltney
Mountford has done a wonderful job of recruiting speakers
and continues to fill our schedule with exciting and stimulating
programs.
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National Society Finances
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- The National Society finances and future are highly dependent
on two sources: member renewals at the end of the year and attendance
at the annual conference.
- You will see some changes to pricing and options for membership
in your renewal notices. Remember that you do have the option
to pay your dues in four installments. Details of the installment
plan will be on the stc.org
Web site.
- The Technical Communication Summit will be held in Dallas,
TX at the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion on May 2–5,
2010. Online registration will begin on December 1, 2009.
Details are updated at the Conference
site as they become available.
| Stay
Connected | |
We have several ways that we communicate with our members. Are you connected?
- The Yahoo! Groups discussion board currently has 59 members.
To sign up, click the East
Bay STC Network link in the upper right corner of the ebstc.org
Web site.
- President-Elect Adrienne Tange has started a linkedin group
for the East Bay STC. News and announcements can be posted and
shared here. The group currently has 16 members. Find the group
at
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1996708
- Late-breaking news and reminders are delivered to your e-mail
inbox through our announcements list. If you are not receiving
regular notices, contact Jeanie Egbert at jeaniee@flamingocomm.com
so that she can add you to the list.
- A good source of job leads and networking is the Linking Northern
California Yahoo group, led by super networking guru Irene Koehler.
Irene was the speaker at our Sept. 2008 meeting and continues
her leadership in social media in the Bay Area. You can find the
group at
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/LinkingNorthernCalifornia/
- We filled an open position at my employer last year with a terrific
tech writer who found the job posting on the KIT List. That next
job posting might be for you. Sign up at http://www.kitlist.org/
This is my last newsletter as President, but it is not the last
you will hear from me. After the first of the year, I hope to investigate
and experiment with communication vehicles for all of the Bay Area
chapter members. I welcome any ideas. What’s your favorite
way to keep up to date with STC?
Ann
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