Good Things Come from
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Sue Heim (our former VP of Membership) and I took the Amtrak Surfliner to attend the STC Southern California Leadership Forum on June 27 in Chatsworth, CA. It was hosted by De Murr, who presented at our January chapter meeting, and was attended mainly by chapter presidents and other officers from several of the nine SoCal chapters. Beau Cain, our new Region 8 Director, was also in attendance. One of Sue's many contributions to the forum was to create the new Yahoo! STCSoCal discussion group: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/stcsocal/ If you have not already joined, I highly recommend doing so. It costs nothing to join, and your contributions are welcome. It's bound to become very busy in the future, so you might want to opt for the once-a-day digest option. The Yahoo! STCSoCal discussion group is a means for all the SoCal chapters to collaborate on projects, and share information and resources. One of the many things the group is already providing is a pool of qualified speakers, who will make themselves available to speak at the various SoCal chapters as needed. I have more information about the collaboration below. It's getting harder to find any official STC correspondence these days that does not mention the transformation effort. For the latest information in that regard, I highly recommend checking STC's Web site periodically. STC also wants to hear your suggestions: http://www.stc.org/transformation Beau told us that the STC considers this to be a three-year effort, and that it was already six months behind schedule at the time. They are trying to apply a business model to the STC, to better serve its members as our industry continues to evolve. Although the STC's Hippocratic oath, or prime directive for you Star Trek fans, is to “First do no harm,” any and all ideas for change are being considered. One of the many changes suggested that I thought was particularly interesting was the proposal for industry-based chapters, as opposed to our current practice of geographically-based chapters. This could mean that instead of having San Diego and Orange County chapters, for example, we might instead have a Biotech chapter, a Telecom chapter, a Wireless chapter, among others, that could extend well beyond the county line. Beau warned that these changes could cause some chapters to merge, split, or be dissolved altogether, but he did promise that no members would be left in the lurch, unless they chose to be. Some members have requested that they not be aligned with any particular chapter, so joining a chapter will be as optional as joining a SIG when memberships renew next year. The next Leadership Forum is tentatively scheduled to be held here in January. I will keep you posted on updates. As we returned home from the Leadership Forum on the train, Jeff Randolph (my friend and Orange County counterpart) and I discussed collaborating on various efforts throughout the year to benefit both of our chapters. This could mean splitting the cost to bring in some of the top leaders of our industry to speak at either chapter. I will coordinate this effort with Jeff and Michael Cardenas (our VP of programs) and keep you posted. This is an exciting time for both STC and our chapter, and I welcome both your attendance and your participation. If there's anything anyone on the council can do to help you get more out of your membership at the local level, please let us know. I look forward to seeing you again at Lin Laurie's Qarbon Viewlet Builder presentation on November 10! All the best, Lance
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President's Podium |
