The Calendar of Events
Anthology On Training
A new anthology from the STC Press provides information to industry, government, and research organizations that wish ... read more.
Competition Time
Mark October 1st on your calendar. That's the early bird entry date for this year's Technical Publications and Online Communication competition
... read more.
Conference on CDROM
The proceedings from the STC's 45th Annual Conference are now on sale on CD-ROM. This is the first time the STC has offered a complete set of its annual conference proceedings in this format. read more.
Little Laughs
from the article "The Top 50+ Geek T-Shirt Slogans," reprinted from the newsletter of the Vancouver Island Chapter, Ink-Wirer, June 1998. read more.
Money in Technical Writing
Turn Your Writing Skills Into a $100,000/Year Job - If you are looking for a book that will increase your salary as a full-time writer to $100,000 a year, this isn't it. Although Kent's book is specifically about possible financial benefits for technical writers ... read more.
Feature Story
Bridging the "Big Ponds"
by Lance Gelein
STC President
Part one of the "Celebration Series" for technical communication
Did you know that our organization now includes members from more than 25 countries? Did you know that we have chapters in 11 countries, and that there are grassroots efforts to form chapters in about a half-dozen more? Did you know that the STC's largest growth in percentage terms is outside the United States?
If you are a member of a U.S. heartland chapter, perhaps these facts have escaped you. But I'll bet they haven't. More than ever before, the claim that we live in a global community is a fact, rather than some economic slogan.
Except for just a few remaining locations, the main markets for U.S. goods and services are no longer seated in the once-deep pockets of the U.S. government. Instead, our markets are in the U.S. commercial sector; they are with the European Union; they are in the Pacific Rim; they are in the "developing nations." And when I say our markets, I do mean all of us; not just the "U.S." us.
One could argue that the Society for Technical Communication—one of 17 members of INTECOM, a global confederation of technical communication service organizations—is really a U.S. professional organization, or at best, a transnational one, and not an international society. One might extend the argument to describe the STC as a North American organization, given the dramatic growth, in both numbers and quality, of the Canadian chapters. At this point, I might be compelled to agree.
My vision for the STC is one in which our organization is truly global - an international partner with the other member organizations of INTECOM. I envision the STC sharing its strengths and successes with others, and learning from those of its partners.
To this end, I envision building a bridge across the "big ponds," a simile often used to describe the oceans between the continents. If you attended the 45th STC Annual Conference, you might have heard about one of the planks of this bridge—a planned STC Board of Directors meeting this fall in Paris to be hosted by the France Chapter, STC's largest non-North American chapter. But the Board meeting is just one of four events that will occur during our visit: ... read more.
