Recent Posts

I am a member of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and they offer free-to-their-members independent learning in a wide variety of
computing- and business-related topics. They just switched providers last week, but so far the courses look worthwhile. They provide Continuing Education Unit values and some of the offerings are, for instance, Microsoft or Sun certification coursework.

Read more about the program here:
http://pd.acm.org/cp_home.cfm

The courses are programmed courses, not online classes where you interact with an instructor and other students. You work on the assignments at your own pace and test at intervals.

ACM also offers a library of online professional and reference books to its members (http://pd.acm.org/books/books.cfm) and a host of other privileges and services, including SIGDOC, the special interest group on design of communication, and SIGCHI, for computer-human interaction.

http://www.acm.org/about

If you work with/among computers or software, ACM may be a worthwhile augmentation to your STC membership.

I am going to the conference! Will anyone be attending the Marcom SIG lunch? If so, see you there 

-Kristin

If you're doing any blogging or thing you would like to, you may be interested in this 31 day program that starts on April 6. http://www.problogger.net/31-days-to-build-a-better-blog-sign-up-with-your-friend/

I will be there. Looking forward to seeing/meeting others in the group.

Hi all,

I know many of the other SIGs are planning events and at a minimum arranging to see each other at Conference.

I am still up in the air as to whether or not I am going, as I am sure others are as well, but perhaps we could organize on the community board and figure out who is going to National and whether or not we can all get together for a bit socially.

Thanks,

PH

Can anyone offer a recommendation on a good place to find online courses in Writing for Pubic Relations and Knowledge Management?   Specificially a university-sponsored  course, non-credit continuing education/ professional development  program or  an academic offering.  If you have had good or bad experiences with an online course in these areas, please advise as well.

Thanks,

Hi all,

Based on feedback from the conversations last week the STC marketing Communication SIG now has a blog. The other pages are still there, as well as a link to our LinkedIn page. I took the liberty of kicking out the first post on the blog and I sent an email to all of those who indicated a willingness to contribute to the blog. Anyone else who wants to participate is welcome. Simply visit the site and register and you will be approved as a writer/editor and can start writing.

Hope this finds everyone well,

Paul Holland
STC MarCom Webperson

Hi all STC Marketing Communications Professionals!
 
I would like to extend a welcome to several new members of our Marcom SIG. We have had several join the SIG since the new year started. One person I would particularly like to welcome is Kristin Kirkham of Dallas, TX. She is enthusiastic and a really valuable contributing member of the DFW community. She has indicated a willingness to help in our SIG, which is really appreciated.
 
As those of you who have been with the SIG for any length of time know, we have been a very quiet group. ‘Quiet’ is not a trait typically associated with Marcom folks!
 
Last year we created a new website, re-launched a community forum, and Becca Taylor took over as our ListServ manager (thank you!); after which things got very quiet again. Now, as we head into the National STC Summit, I would like to revisit our SIG and see what we can do to liven things up - especially as we consider what the SIG needs to be to be successful and relevant to its members and to the larger STC community.
 
I have cleaned up the forum board and will post this email so we can discuss this there, or we can use the ListServ.
 
My suggestion is this: Let's start a Marcom blog! With the size of our group, getting timely posts should be no problem. It would allow us to communicate because everyone could comment on other’s writing and topics.
 
Benefits:
- Blog would replace the time-consuming newsletter that has been dormant for some time
- It would enable us to become the “Knowledge SIG” for marketing communications
- And, if we built a good track record of poulating the blog with relevent Information, other SIGS, the STC at large, and perhaps ultimately other marketing organizations would look to us as subject matter experts in our field
 
From a time investment, there are enough of us that no one person would be overwhelmed. We would still have the forum to use for internal-to-the-SIG communications, and we can add pages to the blog for other content such as signing up for the ListServ, a list of reference material, or a directory of members who have their own businesses.
 
We could also set up a peer review component, which is something I have hoped we could initiate.
 
If you would be interested in this project, please reply to this email or on the forum.
 
If you have other ideas on how we can spark our SIG, please let me and the other SIG members know.
 
Hope y'all are having a great week,
 
Paul Holland
Marcom SIG WebPerson

Thank you, SMF.
Carol

I work for an oilfield services company - in the marketing department. One of my biggest challenges is to encourage the preparation of technical material(case studies, field results, instrument performance, etc.) by product line managers for use in marketing collateral.

NONE of the product line managers come from a marketing background - all are former field service engineers who (through their loyal service and years of experience) now work in a marketing/engineering role. Their knowledge of the products and services is awesome, but they usually concentrate their time on product launches and dealing with manufacturing/testing issues. Most of them HATE to write or are very apprehensive about it.

Prompting these people to prepare technical material for marketing collateral is difficult. Asking them to author text for flyers, advertisements, short articles for trade journals or technical papers usually results in little response. Some of them help on occasion, but usually not. Yes, they are very busy with their other responsibilities, but they are virtually the only source of accurate technical information.

I am asking for techniques I could use to encourage them to participate in producing technical material for marketing collateral.

Thanks.