Technical Communication, User Assistance, Management and Leadership

The election season for the open 2010 STC Director, Secretary, and Nominating Committee seats has officially begun! The candidate pages are up, and within that subset of STC Notebook you can ask the candidates the hard-hitting questions about their take on STC issues that are on your mind. Take advantage of this, as it will ensure you vote for the people who most resonate with how you feel the STC should be functioning!

If you do ask questions, please post what you asked to STC Ideas so we can all see the questions being posed to the candidates!

I’ve asked the following questions of all candidates. I think no matter the position, they all should be in a position to answer these from their point of view and sphere of involvement.

• Question: From many discussions in many different channels, it sounds like 2010-11 is going to be a period of winning back members’ trust, faith, and in some cases, their actual membership. What improvements, changes, or plans do you have for your role that will positively affect members?
• Question: One big concern of mine is that of transparency into member-facing Society-level initiatives. It was this lack of transparency that caused me to create STCIdeas. What steps will you take to further bring transparency to Society initiatives and matters that involve members?
• Question: What is your position regarding STC’s use of social media, and how do you see it being used going forward both within the Society and publicly on the web?
• Question: What changes would you advocate making to improve Society/Member communication?
• Question: One concern we’ve been hearing from many is that STC isn’t relevent to younger technical communicators… that STC isn’t progressive or innovative enough to suit their needs. How do you respond to this and what–if anything–would you change about how STC recruits and retains members in order to address this concern?
• Question: What is your position regarding technical communicator certification? What–if any–types of certification do you see appropriate for STC to endorse or provide?

And the following question went to Director and Secretary candidates:

• Question: Susan Burton, in her Nov 10 blog post (http://notebook.stc.org/exec-direct-blogging-with-susan-burton), said that “the board always speaks with one voice”. What does this mean to you? Do you think “speaking with one voice” will affect the decisions you make? Do you feel comfortable carrying the board’s voice even if you disagree with the message?

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If you’re an STC member, you’ve probably heard all about the new dues models and likely the new chapter funding model. What you likely aren’t aware of is the level of confusion and misinformation around these changes. I will attempt to clarify this a bit, as there seems to be a growing misunderstanding that chapters do not get money to work with from STC, which couldn’t be more wrong.

A couple of notes before I begin:

1. I am neither a STC staffer nor a STC Board member. I’m a SIG manager and outspoken senior member.
2. I may be rather blunt in this entry in order to clarify the issues and the facts.
3. This blog entry is not a formal STC communication by any means, rather it is my own understanding based on the facts, without emotional or political spin.

The 2010 membership model is different. There is a core membership price with add-on pricing for any chapters and SIGs you want to join. There is a Gold package deal where a chapter is included among many other benefits, but for the most part you now need to add chapter membership to your base society membership.

When you enroll in a chapter membership, you pay STC, not the chapter. That money stays with STC and is given to chapters to fund budgeted events and resources. In essence, as a member you see nothing different than what you are already accustomed to; you pay for chapter membership and you get it.

Now, chapter funding works differently. In years prior your money went to STC, who then gave the chapter a healthy chunk of that money to use in funding activities and resources. While chapters needed to budget their spending, they had looser rules around budgeting since they were given money up front to work with and were allowed to hold it in their own savings accounts. Today, chapters must budget ahead of time and are given the funds budgeted when needed. They are not allowed to build a cash reserve of their own, rather the STC holds the money for the chapters.

Many chapters have voiced opposition or their disapproval of this new structure, but really I see this as merely different. Chapters still get the funding they need for budgeted events and resources, but need to be better about budgeting for them. If anything, it adds greater accountability to the budgeting process.

Some people have suggested paying society level dues and then giving the chapter money separately. This is a dangerous approach, and I will explain why. You will not be officially enrolled in the chapter, meaning that according to STC records your chapter will be minus one member: you. While the chapter has your money, it doesn’t count toward their submitted budget, which takes membership size into account among other data points. The more people who indirectly join a chapter, the fewer members it has on official record, which negatively affects budgeting for the following year.

My advice is, in order to support your local chapter, to elect for chapter membership when renewing. If you have already renewed without a chapter, you can add one in at any time. Provided your chapter has budgeted appropriately, you should receive the same value for your money.

It is fair to note that SIGs have budgeted and been funded in thus manner successfully for years. While new for chapters, zero-based budgeting is not a new concept within STC, and has been proven to work.

If I am incorrect here in any way, please let me know.

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Early registration for the STC Technical Communication Summit runs today through March 15th. Register early at the $845 rate and save $150 over the Advance rate and $350 over the walk-in rate! Details here.

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If you are out of work or otherwise meet the qualifications for STC’s membership aid, you can still submit an application for either free membership or subsidised membership. STC will accept applications for aid through Tuesday January 19th. Details here.

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The deadline for registering for the 2010 STC Technical Communication Summit at the “really early bird rate” is Friday January 15th. Sign up now at the $695 rate! The cost goes up to $845 after Friday! Details here.

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