Lotsa Links

By Lance-Robert, President

This month, I'd like to talk to you about some additional ways to contact STC that were borne of its ongoing Transformation Effort, which you can read about at http://www.stc.org/transformation.

Leadership Community Resource

One of the recent, heavily debated changes to the STC bylaws effectively eliminated the "sponsor" role of the eight regional director-sponsors. The director-sponsors were a key link between the individual chapters in their respective regions and STC HQ in Arlington, Virginia. They were the folks that chapter officers and council members could come to if they needed specific advice on STC-related matters, or had a problem that they could not solve on their own. One situation that required director-sponsor intervention, for example, was the ill-fated 2004 Region 8 Conference, which was originally scheduled to be held on the UC Davis campus.

Part of the justification for the changes to the bylaws was the fact that the SIGs, such as the Lone Writer SIG, did not have the equivalent of a director-sponsor to assist them if needed. Because their members can come from all over the world, some SIGs actually have more members than some local chapters, or "Geographically Based Communities (GBCs)," as the STC now prefers to call them.

To fill this void, a group of concerned and very determined STC leaders and members got together and formed the Leadership Community Resource (LCR). Still in its infancy, the LCR plans to support the leadership of all STC communities, which includes both GBCs and SIGs. The goal is to have a full sponsorship (notice that word "sponsorship"?) program in place for all of the communities, ready by the beginning of the 2007-2008 chapter year (July 1, 2007). Once that happens, the LCR should be able to help develop and mentor all STC community leaders as needed.

If you would like to read the most recent LCR Strategic Plan, which includes their current structure and their action plan for the next two years, download the document at http://www.stc.org/PDF_Files/LCRStrategicPlan.pdf

Unlike the director-sponsors, you cannot contact the LCR members directly. However, if you have any questions for them, you can ask them online once you join the Question and Answer listserv at http://lists.stc.org/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=stc_lcr_qanda

The LCR is always looking for additional assistance. If you have a little free time and feel that you can contribute to any of their efforts, the LCR highly encourages you to join the same listserv.

At this point, you might be asking yourself why the STC did not just appoint, or elect, additional director-sponsors for the SIGs. Alas, I do not have that answer, but I do feel that the LCR is the best way of addressing that need, given the current circumstances. I know many of the LCR members personally, and have complete faith in them.

Ask STC

Do you have a burning STC-related question, but aren't sure whom to ask? Then the new "Ask STC" feature might be just what you need: http://www.stc.org/FAQ/ask.stc.aspx

It might take a little while, but if your question is deemed appropriate for the general membership, someone from STC will post your question and respond to it online. You do not need to be a member to use this service.

STC Initiatives

If you want to know what's new and exciting in the Society, you can check out the most recent STC initiatives by visiting http://www.stc.org/initiatives01.asp

This is where you can find information about a variety of STC topics. Each initiative is fully described, and includes a statement about its significance in the overall STC strategy. Where appropriate, the description includes links to other, ongoing initiatives.

STC RSS Feed

Do you have a Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, reader to read XML news feeds, or simply want to post the latest STC developments on your own Web site to be the envy of your family and friends? If so, you can find instructions for reading and posting the latest STC news feed at: http://www.stcsig.org/oi/on_articles/incorporate_RSS_feed_in_website-050710.pdf

The latest news from STC is "pushed" to the news feed as it becomes available, so it is possible that the content will not change for several days at a time.

Sincerely,
Lance-Robert
President, STC San Diego Chapter
president@stc-sd.org