Present: Kymm Nelsen,
Rachel Houghton, Margaret Jennings, Vicki Miller,
Debbie Layton, Patrice Dodd,
Teresa Shelton, Patti Loverink, Valerie
Allison, Kellie Pierce, Kathee Kuvinka,
Dorinda LaFlash, Dave Grassmann,
Kate Evans
* Our Associate Fellow nomination has been sent to National.
* Rachel Houghton reported that 50 people attended
the October program
meeting and 96% RSVPed. We talked about our Pay Pal policy,
and Teresa will
prepare a Pay Pal announcement for the general membership.
*
Vicki Miller reported that we have $10,035.82 in checking and $2,627.51 in
our
Money Market fund. We should be receiving about $11,000 from National in
November.
Vicki requested and we approved putting that amount in our Money
Market account.
We need to set aside about $5,000 for the Sept. Board
meeting.
* Mike
Engel (in absentia) reported 2 people attended John Watkins' (Lingo
Systems)
presentation on single sourcing and localization. Mike has spoken
to Kymm about
the low turnout, and he will survey his SIG members and other
Single Sourcing
SIGs to find topics with broader appeal. The Nov. 11th
meeting will be on XML.
*
Jean Richardson had earlier asked Kymm to use the President's List to find
out
about SIG attendance and health nationally. Attendance is down
everywhere,
except for the Usability SIG in D.C..
* Patti Loverink, coordinator
of the Senior Panel, discussed the information
from the Senior lunch on 10/17.
Here are Patti's notes from the meeting:
Oct. 17 Sr. Member Advisory Panel
- Lunch Meeting
Attendees:
David
Grassmann, Rachel Houghton, Len Humbird, Russell Pike, Kymm Nelsen, Jean Richardson,
Patti Loverink, Dick Miller
Why Some Sr. Members Are
Inactive:
Too many interests
and STC is just one of many.
STC
isn't the most fun I have.
Willing
to contribute in an advisory capacity, but ongoing, time-consuming
commitments aren't realistic given an already full plate.
We
all have lives and some are more involved than others.
Level
of activity goes in cycles.
No
plan or routine involvement.
Not
all programs feed me.
STC
is seen by many other professions as a society for beginners.
Why
Sr. Members Go to Meetings or Are Active in STC:
To
meet with friends even if topics may be for beginners.
Meeting
people - networking is valuable.
Feel
isolated at work.
I'm so busy working,
I haven't grown in 7 years.
The mentoring
program (serving as a mentor).
The Society's
Lone Writers' SIG.
Suggestions:
Success groups are interesting; get tech. comms. with common goals together.
Bring in nationally known speakers (Ginny
Reddish, Joann Hackos).
Make Sr. members
greeters: they could wear ASK ME buttons
and serve as a valuable information source for newcomers.
Offer programs on (April/May topics are TBD for program meetings):
o. Retooling.
What's next for Sr. tech. comms?
How do I transfer my skills to other niches?
It's easy to top out and get bored in this profession.
o. Focus on age issues.
It is an issue even though we've ignored it.
o. Tap into offshoots of the
profession (journeymen).
o. Round table of people who:
Work in cleanrooms
Teach college courses
Usability experts
e-learning experts
Help people learn
to get published in journals, generate new
information, give presentations.
Use
1/2 of bi-annual Sr. member breakfast as a program geared toward Sr.interests.
Formalize networking.
Identify years of experience in the membership directory (useful for research
purposes).
We talked about having Senior
Members act as networkers and greeters (with
an Ask Me button). We also discussed having a miniworkshop and brainstorming
at the Nov. breakfast meeting.
* Valerie Allison reported they had 6 attendees
at this month's Online SIG
meeting, with 2 nonmembers. The next meeting's topic
will be merging Web and
Windows Help and the Dec. 4th topic will be writing
for multimedia.
* Michael Horenstein (in absentia) reported the next Contractors'
SIG
meeting will be on taxes.
* The ELSIG is on hold.
* Valerie Allson
reported that there were about 7 people at the Managers'
meeting on negotiating.
*
Ken Miller may step down as Webmaster and continue to help as an advisor.
Valerie
Allison might be interested in the position.
* We talked about having an Ask
Me table/tent sign and buttons. We also
discussed redesigning the nametag.
A rose could be included for new members
and visitors and a star for Senior
members. Teresa will do the nametag
redesign.
* Kathee Kuvinka reported
that we have 420 members, with 4 new members. If
people join between now and
Dec, they will receive membership for the Fall
and all of next year,
* Teresa
Shelton reminded the Admin Council to RSVP to events.
* Margaret Jennings,
our Chancellor of Education, submitted this draft of a
Scholarship Program
Proposal:
1. Funds are available only to applicants who have a need for financial
assistance
in order to take classes.
2. Funds are available only to applicants who are
not able to get assistance
they need from their companies.
3. An applicant
must explain in an essay:
* What learning outcomes he or she hopes to achieve
* Why the course or courses she or he plans to complete will help achieve
that
goal
* How he or she plans to use the learning
4. Scholarship funds will
only be awarded to individuals who have well
defined learning outcomes, a clear
goal for using the learning in the
workplace or community, and a reasonable
plan for getting the skills needed
to accomplish their goals.
5. STCWVC
will determine the size of the scholarship based on funds
available and the
student's learning goals.
6. If a prudent use of the scholarships funds, STCWVC
will make a financial
commitment at whatever level is deemed appropriate to
the entire course of
the individual's study.
7. The scholarship will be
available to STCWVC members only or members of
the student chapter.
8. STCWVC
may award scholarships at any time of the year.
We need volunteers for a
scholarship committee; we also need to decide what
we want to accomplish with
a scholarship fund. The scholarship will not be
to a particular school. Do
we want this to be a needs-based or a merit
scholarship? We discussed having
an essay and possibly an interview as part
of the application process. Possible
goals are making a difference in
people's lives, promoting good will for the
chapter, and attracting new
members. We [plan to name the scholarship for Margot
Beutler to honor her.
Our goal is to have this in place by Spring term.
*
Kellie Pierce said people want to use a credit card to subscribe to the
job
list. Ken will take care of this.
* Darinda LaFlash has 30 volunteers, including
an editorial pool. She will
have some volunteers work on updating the chapter
brochure.
* Rachel Houghton talked about the holiday party location. The party
will be
free to members. Rachel also reported we have 53 competition entries,
13
art, 23 pubs, and 17 online.
* Patrice Dodd needs some help with preparing
the PR material for the
Chapter Achievement Award. Rachel will do this, with
the assistance of
volunteers. Patrice also needs to have people submit information
for the
quarterly flyer.
* Dave Grassmann presented a proposal " Managing
Skills for a Lifetime", a
new SIG, which we will discuss at our next meeting.
*
Our next meeting was scheduled for Dec. 5th, but because of the conflict
with
the holiday party, it has been rescheduled for Dec. 2nd.