Meeting Notes
September 2002 - Brainstorming session

Surveying chapter members, building better programs

Chapter President Rita Johnson set the tone for the meeting by telling us that, after a year of balancing the need for great local programs against our duties as host chapter for the national conference, it is time to renew our focus on services that will strengthen our members and our membership.

The chapter had strong attendance at is program meetings in the past year, she said, but several meetings had no general membership program because they were focused on preparing for the STC's 49th Annual Conference, which was held May 5-8 at Opryland Hotel.

One of the key challenges for the chapter this year, Rita said, will be to help our members communicate the economic value of professional technical communicators. The chapter faces other economics challenges as well as the result of increased unemployment and a decline in employer support for technical training and increased reluctance to pay professional association dues.

Several ideas were presented by board members and members, including our newest chapter member - George Wilson, a technical communicator working on an aviation training contract at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Wilson, whose career focuses on training and presentation skills, said he joined STC in hopes of improving himself in the skill areas particular to STC members — especially clarity in writing. He recommended that the STC reach out to other professional organizations whose members might recognize a need to focus more on the writing and editing aspects of their own crafts.

Among the initiatives discussed were:

• Changing the meeting schedule so that it is not always on the same day of the week. Some members have outside commitments on specific days and cannot attend.
  
  
• Reaching out to members via a comprehensive survey to determine what members need from the chapter, identifying meeting topics that can be of immediate tangible value on the job.
  
  
• Restructuring the meeting so that the business portion starts earlier, with networking and social opportunities deferred until after each meeting's presentation. This way, said member Stacie (Popp) Baker, people who need to leave early for family or other obligations will not be feel pressured during the presentation, and those who can stay afterwords can network and casually discuss the just-presented topic.
  
  
• Adopting a more personal touch, with a deliberate goal of reaching out one-to-one basis to members on a who don't often attend meetings, or who have dropped out completely.
  
  
• Seeking ways to make more employers and managers aware of the value of technical communicators and of the value of organizations like STC that help hone and expand those skills.
  
  
• Developing a process to allow and encourage members to offer their special skills to not-for-profit community organizations.
  
  
• Seeking out and the teachers and students involved in area technical communication education programs, such as the new online technical communication course at Nashville Tech and ongoing writing and communication coursework within institutions like Vanderbilt and Belmont.
  

~~Summary written by Ed Gregory. If you have any corrections, additions, or amplificiations, please email him at edgregory@stcmidtenn.org.