September Chapter Meeting
The next chapter meeting will be September 8, after the summer break. Please join us then, when Bonni Graham will present "Producing Quality How-To Videos for Social Media Publication."
Providing social media support for software products is a natural outgrowth of online help and electronic user assistance; but hardware products can benefit from this approach too. This session describes the development of online help for a traditional hardware product: the stand-alone Scantron test scoring machine (the one that reads the green #2 pencil forms you used in school). Bonni explores the entire process: selling management on the online approach, the development of the online information, the production of the video, and the social media mechanisms that support classroom teachers using this device.
CEO and president of her own company, as well as Manager of Documentation and User Experience for Scantron Corporation, Bonni Graham Gonzalez has spent 18 years as a practicing technical communicator. In 1994, she started Manual Labour, a technical documentation outsource provider. Since 2003, Bonni has been teaching technical communication to engineers for the UC Riverside engineering department and to technical communicators for the Technical Communication Extension Certificate program at UC San Diego. Bonni is an Associate Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication.
Where and when
Where: The chapter meeting will be held at the Coco's on 4280 Nobel Drive.
When: Wednesday, September 8.
Check In: 5:30
Dinner: 5:45-6:45 (order and eat)
Presentation-only check-in: 6:30-7:00 (no food ordering after 7)
Meeting business: 6:45-7:00
Presentation: 7:15-8:45
Click here for more information.
LavaCon 2010: Manage your Online Brand
Learn how to use social media to advance your career
OK, you're on Facebook and maybe Twitter. Now what?
Join other technical communicators at the LavaCon Conference on Digital Media and Content Strategies, Sept. 29–Oct. 2 in San Diego, CA and learn how to use social media to advance your tech comm career. Read Jack Molisani's cover article on the June Intercom magazine to see if social networking is for you: http://intercom.stc.org/.
To view the LavaCon program and register, go to http://lavacon.org. Register by August 6th using the referral code STCCASD to receive $50 off your conference tuition!.
The LavaCon Conference\
Sept 29–Oct 2, 2010 San Diego, CA
www.lavacon.org
866-302-5774 x201
Get $50 off conference tuition and help your chapter
The LavaCon Conference on Digital Media and Content Strategies is launching an Affiliate Program this year to help generate income for STC chapters who help get the word out about our conference.
If anyone from our chapter registers using the referral code STCCASD, the attendee will get $50 off their conference tuition and the chapter will receive a $100 referral fee. Fees will be paid within 30 days after the conference.
Questions? Feel free to contact the conference chair Jack Molisani at jack@lavacon.org or at 866-302-5774.
President's Yearly Address
By Jeff Freeman
2009-2010 STC-SD President
We are coming to the end of our 2009-2010 year very soon, and I wanted to update you on my first year as your San Diego STC president. This has been a challenging year for our local San Diego chapter as well as the International STC organization. The STC-SD council is trying to meet these challenges in order to maintain the viability of our local chapter.
When I became president last year, the International STC society was faced with a million-dollar deficit. The International STC leadership requested that all local chapters financially assist the International organization. Our local chapter provided $10,500. This expense and the termination of International STC reimbursement to our chapter (about $4000 a year) significantly reduced STC-SD finances. Fortunately, thanks to the foresight of previous councils, we have a reserve fund to sustain us over the next year. But, going forward, we must carefully budget our funds, reduce the amount we subsidize for events, and pass along most meeting costs to our attendees.
Despite the lack of new funds during the past year, the San Diego chapter has continued to provide high-quality meetings and workshops. During 2009-2010, we had nine regular monthly meetings, plus a holiday party in December. Sarah Litoff, a technical writing student, volunteered to write monthly articles about the meetings, which you can find on the website.
We also sponsored the following activities:
- A successful all-day XML workshop taught by Webucator®. This workshop provided valuable information with an instruction book that participants could keep for future reference.
- A networking meeting for under-employed people in our industry to discuss job opportunities and best practices in locating and applying for them. The employment volunteers kept the website up-to-date with new job possibilities gleaned from referrals and from online sources. A list of open job positions was available for attendee at each chapter meeting.
- An updated STC-SD library, which allows members to request books to be checked out by email in advance of meetings. We also bought new books for our library.
We are now approaching the election for 2010-2011 STC-SD board officers. In order to keep our chapter strong into the next decade, we must retain current members and we must add volunteers who can contribute a small amount of time for chapter activities, such as writing articles or maintaining the library. The biggest threat to our continued existence is the lack of volunteers. Other organizations, such as ISPI, are having so much difficulty obtaining volunteers that they are in danger of folding. Do we want our 40-year San Diego chapter to end because of lack of volunteers?
I urge you to support our officer elections in May by volunteering for a vacant board position. I will continue to do my part to assist the San Diego chapter. I am running for a second term as chapter president, and several of our current board members are also returning.
People have asked how the economic recession and the STC dues increase are affecting San Diego chapter membership. The news is not good, but there is a silver lining. Last year, at the start of the recession, membership dropped 20% from the previous year; and this year, at the height of the economic downtown,membership dropped nearly 50% from the 2009 number. However, monthly meeting attendance has remained the same or increased, indicating satisfaction with our meetings and speakers. With continued good meeting attendance, I am confident that membership will increase as the economic situation improves.
In summary, the current state of our San Diego chapter is good; but STC-SD needs your continued support to keep the chapter strong and functioning in the years ahead.
If you are interested in volunteering, please email me and our council at Jeffstcsd@gmail.com.
Through the collective assistance of all of you, our San Diego STC chapter will overcome its current challenges and continue to provide high-quality services to technical communicators for many years.
