President’s Message for August 2013

“New Beginnings” is an appropriate title for my first president’s message posted on our new website—two beginnings among many for the chapter.

Since June 1, we’ve welcomed a new executive, reorganized our volunteer structure, began sponsoring the local Meetup™ group for technical writers, planned a promising program year that begins in a few short weeks, and created a new strategic plan. All achieved by the vision and hard work of a dedicated team of volunteers.

We’re a diverse bunch of varying age and experience, but all are dedicated and enthusiastic in their respective roles. And, with the volunteer reorganization, many of those roles have changed or will change.

To simplify chapter management, all volunteer functions are now grouped into five committees: communications, education, fundraising, membership, and outreach. Each member of the executive board oversees one of these committees.

• Communications—Autumn Jonssen, vice president
• Education—Jacob De Camillis, secretary
• Fundraising—Aaron Fultz, president
• Membership—Moise Potie, director
• Outreach—Mark Matsuno, treasurer

Heather Sommerville and Pam Drucker, long-term members of the STC and our chapter, are serving as chapter advisers, a new role introduced this year. As with every immediate past president, Mellissa Ruryk is fulfilling an advisory role to the executive board. In fact, she was the one who suggested the chapter sponsor the technical writers Meetup group.

While the chapter will officially play only a passive role in managing the group, this is a strong strategic move for us. The chapter’s Consultants and Independent Contractors (CIC) special interest group will move into the new West Coast Technical Writers Meetup. This group provides an opportunity for our members to network with technical communication professionals outside the chapter and exposes non-members to the STC and our chapter, not unlike our monthly professional development events.

Speaking of those, we have a terrific Professional Development Series lined up this year. Topics include networking, starting a business, Information Mapping®, instructional design, interactive user assistance, translation and localization, and non-traditional career paths and industries. Be sure to register for these events, including:

• Touch, Voice, and Gestures: How to Craft Your User Assistance to Accommodate a Variety of Interaction Types with Joe Welinske (Sep. 17)
• Content as Conversation with Purposes and Personas with Ginny Redish (Oct. 8)
• Networking for Introverts: A Panel Discussion and Networking Event (Nov. 19)

Creating a strong professional development program is one component of our strategic plan for the chapter. This new website is another one. We are also carefully assessing the needs of our members and the students and non-member professionals within our community. In the coming months, we will begin focusing on member relations and education outreach followed by employer outreach and fundraising. Our goal is to become a compelling place to join, serve, and support.

I like to call these “the three compellings.” Not only because it’s fun to make fellow technical writers gasp by turning an adjective into a noun, but it’s an easy way to communicate the chapter’s vision for this year—yet another new beginning.

On a personal level, there is a fourth compelling I invite each of us to undertake. This year, strive for professional excellence. It’s true, we are a diverse bunch. But let our common thread be that each of us plays at the top of our game. If we do that, the chapter will most certainly be a compelling place to join, serve, and support.

Aaron Fultz
Burnaby, British Columbia

Aaron