STC Notices

Imagine a two-day course covering the things you need to advance your career in technical communication – an in-depth, focused course taught by some of the most respected names in the field.

Now imagine that you have a choice of five such courses, each covering a different subject within technical communication. That's the STC Training Program – a new learning venue designed for today's professionals and scheduled for October 20-21. The five two-day courses, described in detail at www.stc.org/training, cover the following subjects:

• The Architecture of Content. Instructor: Jonathan Price, STC Fellow
• Creating and Using Personas to Improve Usability. Instructor: Whitney Quesenbery, STC Associate Fellow
• Focusing on Content: Making Web Sites Work for Users. Instructors: Janice (Ginny) Redish, STC Fellow, and Caroline Jarrett
• Leadership in Information Management: Developing the Business Framework and Implementation Roadmap for Single Sourcing, Content Management, and Knowledge Management. Instructor: Benhong Rosaline (Roz) Tsai, STC Associate Fellow
• XML: From Hand-Coding to WYSIWYG Authoring. Instructor: Neil Perlin, STC Associate Fellow

The STC Training Program will take place at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Crystal City, Virginia (near Washington, DC). Register by September 21, 2005, and the cost for STC members is $1,095 (with hotel, $1,295*) and $1,255 for non-members (with hotel, $1,455*). After September 21, costs increase $150. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity. For information or to register, please visit http://www.stc.org/training.

*Note:
Hotel accommodations include up to three nights lodging in Crystal City, Virginia. Registration includes two breakfasts and two lunches. Discounts are available for multiple registrants from the same company.

Hello STC members!

Some important changes are occurring in the leadership of both the board and the Society office. Because of the many ways I’ve made these announcements, you may already have heard about these changes, but I’m using this method to let everyone know who has agreed that STC can send them important messages by email.

Update on Change in STC's Board of Directors
Mike Bates, STC's first vice president, has resigned his position on the board of directors effective August 12, 2005. Mike's family is expanding and he feels he will not be able to commit the time required to serve on the board for the remainder of his term. We certainly do wish Mike well as he channels more time into his family and home. Please help me thank Mike for the many years of service he has already given STC.

STC's Bylaws, Article IV, Section 5 gives the plan of action to replace Mike. " A vacancy in the office of first vice president is filled by the second vice president unless that office is also vacant, in which case the first vice president is elected from among the board members by majority vote of the entire board. Persons nominated by the president to fill vacancies in the offices of second vice president, secretary, treasurer, and director are elected by majority vote of the entire board. Vacancy appointments extend to the next annual business meeting and are not deemed a term of office within the meaning of any restriction imposed by Section 4.." To ensure the correct interpretation of this section of the Bylaws, the Society sought the advice of legal counsel and our actions follow that advice.

1. Our second vice president, Paula Berger, will now move into the office of first vice president when Mike leaves next week.
2. As the president, it was my responsibility to nominate a candidate for the vacant office of second vice president. The nominee, Linda Oestreich, was ratified by a majority vote of the voting board of directors on August 4, 2005. Beginning on August 12, Linda will serve as our second vice president until the next annual business meeting. Linda is a qualified Fellow of the Society with previous board experience. In addition, she was thoroughly evaluated by the Nominating Committee for the position of second vice president in the last election where she received the second highest number of votes. She not only is a well qualified nominee, she is a logical choice.
3. Because this is the first time that a position on the Society's Executive Council has become vacant in the middle of a term, we have realized that the STC bylaws are unclear regarding the succession of a positions of first vice president and president. Therefore, I have asked the Bylaws committee to analyze the current bylaws and bring suggestions for clarification and possible change to the Board of Directors at their September 2005 meeting. Any decision made there will be announced in our regular board report and posted at http://www.stc.org/chapterResources.asp.

Please help me congratulate both Paula Berger, our new first vice president, and Linda Oestreich, our new second vice president. I have every confidence in them both!

Update on Executive Director Search
When I announced the resignation of Peter Herbst as STC's executive director last month, I also committed to keeping the members informed of our progress for a new executive director during this important transition. I have now appointed three committees that will work together to ensure the transition is a smooth one and find the best possible
candidate(s) for STC's next executive director.

The Executive Director Search committee brings experience in diverse professional, management and leadership roles, and includes Annette Reilly, Committee Manager and Past President; Paula Berger, First Vice President; Linda Oestreich, Second Vice President; Vici Koster-Lenhardt, Director; Ken Cook, Past President; Associate Fellow Susan Jensen; Fellow De Murr; Fellow Larry Kunz; and Ex officio member: President Suzanna Laurent. The goal of the Executive Director Search committee is to identify highly qualified and experienced candidates from which we can choose one to serve STC effectively for many years.

The Search committee made a commitment to be open to the viewpoints of those throughout the Society who are concerned with its strategic direction, operations, and management. Before beginning its search for candidates, the Search committee will prepare an updated operational description of STC and a job description for the Executive Director. STC will support the Search committee with the services of executive search firms, legal counsel, and independent advisors. The entire process may take six months or longer, consistent with STC's commitment to an inclusive, open, and thorough search. The committee will regularly communicate with STC members, the office staff, and the Board about its process and progress, consistent with the personal privacy of candidates under consideration. Those who wish to submit ideas and suggestions to the Search committee should send a message to the committee at ExDSearch@stc.org.

I've also appointed an Interim Director committee that is charged with ensuring that Society office functions continue to run smoothly until a permanent Executive Director is in place. This may also include recommending an Interim Executive Director, if necessary. This committee consists of Thea Teich, Committee Manager and Past President; Jon Baker, past Director; and Deb Sauer, Fellow and AP for Education and Conferences.

The third committee involved in this process is the Compensation Policy Committee, a standing STC committee. Suzanna Laurent, Associate Fellow and STC president will manage this committee. The committee members are specified in STC's Bylaws: Andrea Ames, Associate Fellow and immediate past president; W.C. Wiese, Associate Fellow and treasurer; and Mary Wise, Fellow and Past President. The goal of this committee is to review the salary administration policy and procedure and benefits for the new executive Director.

Suzanna Laurent
STC President
pres@stc.org

"When a collection of minds, hearts, and talents work together, great things can happen!"

Are you a chapter or SIG leader? If so, chances are you've heard of the STC transformation. If not, there's a good chance you haven't heard of the transformation. The following few paragraphs will provide a very brief introduction to the transformation work, and the following resources will provide you with more details, updates, etc.:

• transform@stc.org – Get answers to questions or provide suggestions, comments, etc., and you will get an answer or a response within 2 business days
• Transformation News listserv (transform@lists.stc.org) – Opt in and receive updates and news about the transformation, status/progress updates, notifications of Web site updates, etc. (sign up via the transformation Web page, below, beginning Thursday, July 15)
• www.stc.org/transformation – Visit often to see the main repository of transformation information, and sign up for the Transformation News listserv (above) for update information

What started all this? And what's it really all about?

Frankly, the economy started all this. In short, STC income – both membership dues income and conference income that underwrites the cost of memberships (you might not realize that your dues don't cover the actual costs of your membership) – began to drop a few years ago, and the STC Board of Directors' efforts to cut costs did not solve our problem. When we dug into the cause of our drop in income, we found that many former members, for example, were unwilling to renew, because it meant paying for memberships that their companies had formerly covered. In short, although the economy moved the Board to act, what we found was that finances were merely a symptom of a greater problem – perceived member value. That's what the transformation is really about: Providing value that members want and need to develop professionally.

During our research, we confirmed something we already knew: Our industry and our members are incredibly diverse, with interests ranging from usability to editing, with skills and experience ranging from entry-level to senior, working in industries from financial to scientific, etc. We asked ourselves, "Can one Society really meet the needs and provide significant professional-development value in all of these areas and industries, to this entire range of people?" In answering this question, we confirmed something else we already knew: Our strength is in our "communities" – what we currently call "chapters" and "SIGs." The Society does not provide direct value to members in any or all of these areas; instead, the Society provides infrastructure, mentoring, financial and administrative support, policy, etc., for those communities exist and flourish, providing member value indirectly through those communities. Unfortunately, the Society support for and representation of communities today – and the members' experience across communities – is inconsistent.

The bottom line

Members want value, and value means something different to each of us. For the Society to rebuild – and increase – its membership ranks, we need to provide (among other things):

• Consistent, equitably supported and represented communities from which members will derive their personalized professional development
  value (through the Communities, Finance, and Governance initiatives)
• A flexible membership model (through the Membership initiative), enabling members to opt in and out of various services and community memberships to customize their professional development experience
• Rich content – education (through the Education initiative), knowledge base, research, intellectual property of all types – that provides depth of practice in member-identified practice areas (through the Communities initiative by supporting practice-based communities) and is readily accessed (through the Technology initiative)
• Richer opportunities to network, within and beyond geographies (through the Communities initiative by supporting geographic communities and brand new kinds of communities)

And we need to communicate information (through the Communication about the transformation, its initiatives, the changes and status of those, as well as solicit feedback from members and leaders around the Society, to ensure that we all understand our options, make informed choices and decisions, and implement the appropriate changes during the transformation process.

What we're doing about it: The transformation

Some of these needs are met through today's community success stories – of which there are many! In our efforts to improve consistency and equality of support and experiences across communities, we're not losing sight of those that are working; instead, we're building on the foundation of their successes...and planning to go a step further to provide even more to those communities to enhance their successes. For communities that are struggling, the support we will provide is designed to help, not hinder, their progress toward providing as much member value as possible.

The work to meet all of these needs is complex... As we change our community support model to be more consistent, many changes are required – in the financial, governance, and technology (infrastructure) areas, as well as the expected community policy changes.

We have a high-level roadmap that we're following, outlining what we need to do at a very high level similar to the bulleted items, above. We don't have all the answers. We still need your input and your help. Contact us at transform@stc.org to contribute to the transformation.

Myths and misinformation abound!

If you have heard of the transformation, you might be concerned about some misinformation circulating. Here are a few of the most tenacious myths...debunked. For answers to frequently asked questions and more corrections to misinformation, sign up for the Transformation News listserv (via the Transformation Web page, starting Thursday, July 15) to get notification when we add the FAQs to the Web site!

• STC is not a chapter-based organization; it is a member-based organization, according to our Bylaws.
• The transformation is not about finances; it's about member value. Although the economic environment and STC's financial situation in that environment was a symptom that alerted us to the problem, the real issue was members' perception of the value of STC membership.
• The transformation is not about marginalizing, de-emphasizing, or eliminating chapters b– large or small. Chapters are communities, just as SIGs are. The goal of the transformation is to equally support and represent all communities – chapters, SIGs, and new, currently undefined communities.
• We are not taking away any chapters' money. At a Transformation Q&A session on Leadership Day at the STC conference in May, John Nardone, our Transformation Consultant, mentioned the well-known fact that STC's chapters have a greater net worth than the Society, and he suggested that chapters with large reserves might want to volunteer to donate some of those reserves to the transformation effort. (Interesting tidbit: Some chapters have contacted me to volunteer to support the transformation financially.
• The transformation was not instigated by STC's Washington, D.C.-based organization. STC's decision-making, policy-setting body is the Board of Directors, your elected representatives, who are volunteers and live and work around the world. STC's implementation and operations body is the paid staff at the STC Office, located in northern Virginia. Your elected Board of Directors voted to engage the transformation consultant (in May 2003) and to adopt the the transformation roadmap (in January 2004) that the consultant and the initial transformation team proposed. The STC Office in northern VA does not determine how money is spent; they implement disbursals based on STC Board decisions.
• The current dues rebates that fund chapters are not part of the transformed financial model. The new financial model has not yet been developed. Until it is, the Board of Directors will continue with the chapter dues rebate process: According to STC Bylaws, each year the Board analyzes the current financial situation – including the budget, membership renewals, conference income, etc. – and determines an amount to rebate to chapters.