Region
8 Director-Sponsor Candidates
Beau Cain
Election time is approaching, and once again Signature is printing campaign articles by the candidates for Region 8 Director-Sponsor.
We welcome
submission of articles by other candidates for this position. Signature
does not endorse any candidate.
Send your article to the editor at stcsignature@yahoo.com.
To ensure publication, we'll need your article by the 5th of the month prior to publication. Articles received after the 5th will be inserted if possible.
Alison Reynolds, Candidate for Region 8 Director-Sponsor
Beau
Cain, Candidate for Region 8 Director-Sponsor
by Beau Cain (Silicon Valley)
During the next three years, our Society will attempt radical changes in order to serve members better in our more competitive professional climate. I want to be "the man in the middle" for the next three years, helping Region 8's chapters voice their needs to STC's Board of Directors as we tackle ambitious transformations. I ask that you vote for me for Region 8 Director-Sponsor in the upcoming Society election.
What qualifies me to undertake this challenge is my professional experience in managing clients' communication needs--whether they are planned and organized or unforeseen and chaotic--plus my continuing experience as a volunteer and as an elected chapter official. As a child, I spent my young life moving from school to school, client to client, state to state, and sometimes even country to country; so I can state confidently that I flourish in situations that require quick adaptation to unknown situations.
I've provided information about my other qualifications to STC, and they're posted at http://www.stc.org/STCElections/election_cain.asp.
What I want to do during the next three years is to visit each chapter's elected council in the far-flung and culturally diverse Region 8, listen to their concerns and their ideas, and work with each chapter to address those concerns as effectively as possible. Additionally, I'm excited about the prospect of working with the Society's Board of Directors, and of having a voice--your voice--in developing Society policy that best addresses the challenges our profession faces.
I've accepted Andrea Ames' offer to serve on the Board's Communication Support Sub-committee, and I have experience serving chapters other than my beloved Silicon Valley chapter. I'm proud of the role I played in producing two leadership events that helped each of the six Northern California chapters address their common challenges. In particular, I'm very pleased that my efforts helped stop membership attrition and, after a two-year struggle, increased Silicon Valley chapter's membership to over 1,000 members.
As a member of the World Future Society, I avidly study the trends and predictions of acknowledged experts and try to apply their foresight to the changing fortunes of our profession. I've presented more than a half-dozen lectures and I've moderated panel discussion about the future of our profession, even before the dot com bust.
As a teacher in the Business and Technical Communication Certificate Program at SJSU-Professional Development Center, I created and taught two new courses that address the changing demands of local companies who hire our colleagues. I've also addressed San Jose State University's Community of Writers twice about career management.
I'm prepared to continue serving in all these capacities because I care about our profession and for my colleagues. By nature, I approach all projects with a desire to assist others, and I'm driven to serve my colleagues as they strive to achieve their professional goals. I ask that you vote for me to fulfill the exciting, challenging, changing duties of Region 8 Director-Sponsor for 2004-2007.
Alison
Reynolds, Candidate for Region 8 Director-Sponsor
by Alison Reynolds (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Greetings to all of you from "down under"! My picture is probably a surprise to those of you who think New Zealand is a land of hobbits, orcas and strange, flightless birds that venture out only in the dark. I am sorry to disappoint you! I don't have large hairy feet and I do make appearances in the daylight (although some of you who have met me at conferences might disagree).
Let me tell you what I can offer if I am elected as your director sponsor.
My greatest "claim to fame" is my experience building virtual and real communities of technical communicators and information designers from all around the world. In recognition of this experience, I have recently been asked to be a member of the STC Board Communities Support Committee.
My "community" experience has grown from my association with STC and from my role as the director of the world's first international online Graduate Diploma of Information Design (formerly Technical Communication) beamed "live" from Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology here in New Zealand. We have a talented student group from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the US, India and Europe. Our staff and advisory board also span the globe and we have a virtual STC student chapter of over 100 students. I arrange and supervise work placements nationally and internationally and I have worked steadily to raise the profile of technical communication among employers and in organizations.
In my role as an academic, I am a front line leader in the development of technical communication and information design as a profession and as a research-based discipline. I have a master's of business management and a graduate diploma of business administration in communication management from Massey University (New Zealand). My thesis was a comparative study of technical communication and information design trends in New Zealand and North America.
Forget flightless birds! This "bird" is a sought-after international speaker. I have presented papers at STC's 45th, 49th, and 50th Annual Conferences; at the 2002 region 7 conference; and at the 1998 region 8 conference. I taught in China and India as part of an STC initiative to promote technical communication in developing countries, was a guest visitor at the San Francisco chapter meeting 1998, and attended STC's 43rd Annual Conference in Seattle.
In 2003 I trebled the New Zealand chapter membership with the creation of virtual student membership. I also established the first New Zealand STC student scholarship and arranged seminars by international STC speakers such as Carol Barnum, JoAnn Hackos, and Raymond Urgo.
I believe my experience, innovativeness and skills to represent the international face of the region will ensure its continued growth, strength and diversity.
