STC San Diego is a 100% volunteer-run organization. STC San Diego volunteers boost their resumes, have fun and learn a lot. Our volunteers experience personal satisfaction and growth because of their experience volunteering with STC San Diego. We are fortunate to have a great group of dedicated, passionate volunteers who give back by sharing their experience and expertise with our community.

Volunteering is also a way to get even more value from your STC membership. It is also a great way to get to know your community members on a deeper level!

You can contribute to our community on a part-time, à la carte basis by helping out with a small task or project of your choice. Alternatively, you can opt to fill a position with specific responsibilities. Most positions require an hour or less of time per week. We have options for everyone to participate in, no matter your skill level or the amount of time and energy you can dedicate. We welcome new professionals in the field, students and people considering entering the field.

As a volunteer with STC San Diego, you can:

• Engage with the technical communication community on our social media.
• Help with equipment setup at events.
• Greet guests at events and help with registration.
• Gather and share information about staffing agencies and recruiters.
• Write a review of a chapter meeting for our website.
• Update and maintain chapter documents, and policies, and procedures.
• Coordinate our chapter goals with STC’s Community Achievement Award (CAA).
• Venue coordination for our events in Sorrento Valley and the Greater San Diego Area.
• Speak to college classes about technical communication and STC San Diego.

Contact us if you are interested, we are open to your ideas and any contribution you want to make.

Become a Volunteer

We ask new volunteers to submit a post for the STC San Diego blog. It will get published under your name (great for your portfolio!) and is the best way to begin your volunteer experience with us. This activity also gets you points in the Active Membership program.

You can submit anything that will be relevant to our STC San Diego community. Possible topics include:

• Your experience at one of our events or another industry event
• Tools or strategies you’ve learned and apply at work
• Your journey to becoming a Technical Communication professional
• Thoughts on industry trends
• Anything else! See a recent example.

The recommended length is 300-600 words. Please contact us if interested!

Join our Leadership team

Your contributions in any role will directly influence the quality of chapter membership for all members. Roles are flexible–you can always contribute new ideas and place your focus where you see fit. Members meet once a month for planning meetings. Tasks that don’t require in-person interaction are completed online. We encourage community participation on our Slack channel. Are you interested in becoming a leader? If so, serving on the STC San Diego leadership opportunities may be for you. Council members enjoy many benefits, such as:

• Discounted meetings and workshops
• Improved leadership, public speaking, teamwork, and planning skills
• Experience to add to your resume and LinkedIn profile
• The opportunity to make new contacts and friendships
• Free registration to the annual STC Summit when you serve as president

Elections for council take place in the spring. Elected candidates serve for a full calendar year.

Leadership Opportunities

President

• Presides over monthly chapter meetings.
• Presides over monthly council meetings.
• Liaises between international STC and the local chapter.
• Supports and guides council members.
• Provides a vision to keep our organization relevant to our community.

Treasurer

• Manages payments collected for meetings and events.
• Deposits money into the bank checking account.
• Updates all chapter accounts each month.
• Receives and verifies the monthly bank statement.
• Pays periodic bills such as the website hosting company.
• Submits a balanced budget to the STC San Diego council.
• Prepares a fiscal year-end financial report to International STC.

Employment Coordinator

• Directs members to post job opportunities and resources on LinkedIn and our Slack channel.
• Posts open jobs on STC San Diego’s LinkedIn and Slack groups.
• Shares recent job postings at meetings.
• Coordinates an annual networking event for unemployed or under-employed technical communicators.
• Provides up-to-date information about resumes or interviewing skills.
• Helps unemployed members find value in STC San Diego.
• Liaises with the tech comm community.

Social Media

• Actively posts on a regular basis using SEO strategies to boost post reach on our social media channels which include LinkedIn, Twitter (@STCSoCal), Facebook, Meetup, and Slack.
• Generate excitement and interest in chapter events and tech comm discussions on our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Meetup and Slack pages.
• Eliminates inappropriate or outdated posts.
• Posts links for tech comm meetings, workshops, trade shows, conferences, seminars, webinars, and local jobs to the Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.
• Maintains the DLVR.IT RSS feed for @STCSoCal.

Community Engagement Coordinator

• Facilitates our Active Membership program
• Helps drive member interaction
• Spreads awareness of chapter events and activities
• Contributes new ideas, develops new programs, expand our reach

Programs Manager

• Helps plan engaging meeting content.
• Schedules meetings and coordinates event details.
• Obtains a topic description and biography from the presenter.
• Ensures that event details are communicated to members across our web, email, and social media assets.
• Creates post-meeting surveys.
• Surveys the tech comm population to find appealing programs.

Registration

• Welcomes meeting attendees and helps them get settled.
• Helps with event setup.
• Verifies attendee registration.
• Collects PayPal payments if necessary.
• Distributes pre-printed name tags for meeting attendees.
• Distributes door prize tickets if applicable.

Professional Development Coordinator

• Maintains our online resources directly or indirectly
• *Develops workshops and classes.
• Shares information about webinars that can improve writing and technical skills.
• Shares educational opportunities.
• Surveys tech comm members to find the most desired educational topics.
• *Liaises with company documentation managers to stimulate meeting participation.
• Promotes useful new professional media.

Membership

• Promotes STC membership.
• Maintains a database that tracks current and non-active STC members.
• Surveys the techcomm population to discover current attitudes toward STC.
• Maintains relationships with other professional writing communities.
• Announces new STC programs that may add value or reduce the cost to members.
• If possible, obtains Summit webinars and attendee reports for presentation to chapter members.