As the holidays approach, I wanted to provide a quick recap of what’s been happening in the chapter over the last few months.

We kicked off the year with an Instructional Design workshop in September led by Jim Tallman, a local guru in instructional design. The 12 participants had a chance to get hands on practice that they could use on the job and increase training effectiveness.

This fall we were able to offer our volunteer body some leadership training as well. During this informal discussion with Kit Brown-Hoekstra, the current president of the STC, volunteers were able to discuss volunteer motivation and retention as well as how we as a chapter can compete with the many other groups people are a part of. This event was a simple way for us to show our appreciation for all the hard work our volunteers do to organize events, keep content on the website current and run the chapter overall. It was a great way to confirm we are on the right track and get new ideas of what we can do to make membership more valuable.

Each month since July we have been holding a Tech Comm Café. This informal get-together is a great chance for technical writers from all industries to come together to network, share job leads and discuss that month’s burning questions. Check out the blog for recaps of each event and to find out when and where the next one will be held.

The dedicated volunteers have also been meeting monthly to discuss chapter administration and plan events. Council meetings are held on Saturday mornings in downtown Vancouver. We typically schedule them the second Saturday of the month but, they change based on availability. Meetings are a great way to find out what’s happening in the chapter. You do not need to be a member to attend or volunteer. The next one is scheduled for December 6th.

The final event for the fall is an informal holiday event. Please join us at Guu Garden on December 3^rd to celebrate a great year. For more information and to register (we have a reservation for a specific number), please check out the event notification.

Our first big event of 2015 will be a full day conference on January 31^st. This event will have two streams of topics, one for students or new technical writers and one for more seasoned professionals. We are currently confirming topics of interest as well as speakers. If you have any topics you would like to see, please feel free to send us a message. Check the website in early January for more details.

We typically take a break during December so our response times and new content may be slower.

I hope you have had a great fall and I wish you and your families the best during the holidays. Stay safe and I hope to see you in the new year!

Autumn Jonssen