It's time to choose next year's STCEO executive. The new executive members will be elected/appointed/cajoled/dragooned at the Annual General Meeting in May.

To volunteer, or to nominate someone, contact president Visnja Beg at president@stceo.org (or zoom to our handy Form).

The following is a detailed explanation of the Eastern Ontario chapter executive positions. This list of positions was adapted from the March 2000 edition of The Quill, the newsletter for the Southwestern Ontario Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. Most of it is fairly accurate.

President

The chapter President is responsible for all operations of the chapter. The President should be enthusiastic, energetic, responsive and good at solving problems and resolving disputes. The President should also be gracious and a good listener. The preferred candidate has experience in human resource and financial management and has a proven aptitude for public speaking. The President has served on other Executive positions.

The President chairs monthly Executive meetings, assigns duties to other Executive members, makes program suggestions, writes newsletter articles, submits chapter activity reports to the STC Director-Sponsor, provides advice and support for other Executive members and intervenes or mediates when necessary. Planning for the next Executive year takes place in August, when the President leads the Executive in establishing goals for the upcoming year.

Vice-President

The Vice-President supports the President in administrative duties, maintains a special awareness of all chapter operations and confers frequently with the President. The Vice-President assumes the duties of the President when the President is unavailable. The preferred candidate has served on other Executive positions and has a good understanding of the chapter’s operations.

The Vice-President represents the chapter at general meetings, social events and program events, leads special projects, volunteers on committees, and supports and mentors other portfolio managers, when necessary.

Treasurer

The Treasurer manages the chapter budget and chapter bank accounts. The preferred candidate has bookkeeping experience and knowledge of a bookkeeping application.

The Treasurer prepares a budget at the beginning of the chapter year, maintains a chapter chequing account, deposits funds and pays invoices promptly, prepares a monthly report of chapter income and expenditures and prepares a year-end report for STC International. The Treasurer also works with the Education Manager to assist with yearly workshop registrations, deposits and receipts.

Secretary

The Secretary takes minutes at the monthly Executive meetings. The preferred candidate can attend all monthly Executive meetings. He/she also distributes minutes to Executive members and other interested parties. At Executive meetings, the Secretary keeps track of action items, motions and votes.

Program Manager

The Program Manager plans, schedules and coordinates general chapter meetings and special events. The preferred candidate has a proven aptitude for public speaking and is well organized.

The Program Manager contacts all potential speakers and secures biographical data, maintains future speaker and topic lists, surveys members for topic preferences, presents evaluation feedback to the Executive, and publishes program information on the website and in Stimulus. Some of the general meeting responsibilities include arranging speaker gifts and door prizes, booking meeting rooms and hosting a pre-meeting dinner.

The Program Manager works closely with the President and Public Relations Manager.

Membership Manager

The Membership Manager recruits new members and maintains member information. He/she greets new members at meetings and through email, fields all new member questions, maintains member contact information jointly with STC International, produces a yearly membership directory, and contacts non-renewing members and potential new members.

The Membership Manager works with the Executive to ensure new members and potential new members feel welcome and have access to the information they need.

Newsletter Editor

The Newsletter Editor produces Stimulus, the chapter’s newsletter. The preferred candidate has some newsletter design and editing experience, as well as a flexible schedule near publication time.

The Newsletter Editor establishes submission deadlines and themes, coordinates articles with contributors, edits and formats content, publishes a PDF version, and continuously collects information from a variety of STC and other sources.

Newsletter Committee

Committee members assist the Newsletter Editor with reproduction and distribution of the newsletter. Committee members also contribute and edit articles.

Employment Manager

The Employment Manager publicizes employment opportunities for members. The preferred candidate has some experience in the technical communications industry and is trustworthy and professional. The Employment Manager also collects job seekers' information and assists employers with postings on the website.

The Employment Manager works with the Public Relations Manager to increase public awareness about our profession and the chapter. Traditionally in our chapter the Employment Manager is also the Webmaster.

Webmaster

The Webmaster oversees all web work. The candidate has a proven background in web authoring and graphics production. The Webmaster maintains a budget for ISP-related charges, monitors the work of remote authors (Employment, Program and Public Relations), updates pages on request and tests all pages.

Web Committee

Committee members assist the Webmaster with regular updates and testing. These committee members may also belong to the Public Relations Committee.

Public Relations Manager

The Public Relations Manager increases public awareness of our profession, our chapter and the Society and recruits new members. The preferred candidate has a marketing or public relations background.

The Public Relations Manager produces and distributes monthly posters, press releases and announcements to advertise general meetings, cultivates new PR media channels, fields new member inquiries, establishes liaisons with chapters and branches of other communication organizations, provides promotional material for special events and publishes information on the web.

The Public Relations Manager works with the following portfolios:

Program and Competition portfolio managers to develop promotional materials for events.
The Employment Manager to support job fairs and other events.
The Student Representative, to distribute materials and promote presence at local academic institutions.

Public Relations Committee

Committee members assist the Public Relations Manager with assigned tasks.

Online and Print Competition Managers

The Competition Managers manage the chapter’s annual Online and Print competitions. The preferred candidates are well organized and have flexible schedules during the event.

The Competition Managers works closely with STC International to organize, publicize and manage the competition. The Competition Managers solicit and organize entries, recruit judges, manage the judging process, maintain a budget, post results, present awards, submit local winning entries to the STC International competition and help to organize an awards event.

The Competition Manager works with the Public Relations and Program Managers to publicize and manage the event.

Competition Committee

Committee members assist the Competition Managers with assigned tasks.

Education Manager

The Education Manager manages the chapter’s workshops and seminars. The preferred candidate possesses excellent organizational skills and has a flexible schedule during the event. The Education Manager conducts surveys or uses previous member feedback to determine an appropriate topic, speaker, venue and date. As chapter host for the speaker, the Education Manager schedules the speaker, gathers speaker biographical data, develops an agenda and publicizes the event. He/she also maintains a workshop budget, manages registrations and books a venue and services.

The Education Manager works with the Public Relations Manager to publicize the event.

Education Committee

Committee members assist the Education Manager with assigned tasks before and during the event.

Hospitality Manager

The Hospitality Manager welcomes general meeting attendees and collects meeting attendance data. The preferred candidate can attend all monthly general meetings and is congenial, outgoing and professional.

The Hospitality Manager secures meeting room keys and parking passes, arrives early to set up a sign-in table, displays promotional material, creates and manages a sign-in list, arranges for refreshments, answers questions from visitors and directs visitors to Executive members, when necessary.

The Hospitality Manager works with the Membership Manager and the rest of the Executive to ensure new members and potential new members feel welcome and have access to the information they need.

Hospitality Committee

Committee members assist the Hospitality Manager with setup and greeting duties at general meetings. Committee members also help the Hospitality Manager field questions and direct visitors to other Executive members.

Student Representative

The Student Representative (currently at Algonquin College) publicizes the chapter’s programs and events at school. The Student Representative uses student connections to promote the chapter and its benefits for students.

Volunteer Coordinator

The Volunteer Coordinator arranges volunteer services for the chapter. He/she establishes a pool of potential volunteers for Executive activities and matches jobs to volunteers.

The Volunteer Coordinator works with the Membership Manager to approach new members who want to build their portfolios and with the Public Relations Manager, to promote our chapter’s services.