As technical communicators, the work you do may be very closely related to — or integral to — your organization’s ability to market and sell its products or message. The Marketing and Communications team would like your feedback to determine what initiatives you would like to draw upon to advance your career.

To gather these thoughts we are asking STC members to complete a short survey.

www.stc-marcom.org/survey.htm

Those who complete this short survey will be entered in a drawing to win one of three Visa gift cards, ($25.00, $15.00, or $10.00). In order to be eligible for the drawing please take the survey by July 16, 2010.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Thanks!

The Marketing Communications SIG Team

Louellen Coker
Deana Collins Morgan
Ruthmeri Gleason
Wendy Gordon
Paul Holland
Alex S Kelly
Cheryl Landes
Rebecca Taylor

Tweet This Post

Bob is also in the STC discussion group and notices John’s intelligent posts. His company is hiring a technical writer, and he thinks John might have the qualifications for the job. He visits John’s LinkedIn profile and, impressed with his qualifications, sends him a tweet with a link, encouraging him to apply for the job. John researches the company and finds that the hiring manager is a friend-of-a-friend on Facebook.

John sends in his resume and asks his colleague to put in a good word for him to the hiring manager, Mary. She reviews John’s resume, checks his thorough Facebook profile and LinkedIn pages, and (following a link) reads John’s tweets. All become background information telling Mary that John would be perfect for the job.

Sound far-fetched? Not anymore; not in today’s social-media world. But only if you put in the effort. Join Rich Maggiani for an STC webinar, “Promoting Your Career through Social Media,” on Wednesday 23 June from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT (GMT-4), to see how you can make social media work for you. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook all can be valuable social media tools to promote yourself and connect to an audience of prospects and employers. Let Rich Maggiani show you how.

Wednesday, 23 June
1:00-2:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)
Promoting Your Career through Social Media
Presented by Rich Maggiani
Members $79; Nonmembers $149; Student Member $29

Rich Maggiani, a communication consultant, is the president and founder of Solari Communication, a full-service corporate communication agency; an STC Fellow; and a director on STC’s Board. Rich views the world as metaphor. Through the solitude of mountaineering excursions, he gains the clarity that metaphors bring to an otherwise noisy world. Rich applies these insights to attain the simple, clear communication necessary to enlighten and bring people together toward a common goal. Read his related blog, Toward Humanity.

Tweet This Post

PR pros need to write more like gasp copywriters! | Article | Homepage articles.

Tweet This Post

The Freelancer’s Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need.

Tweet This Post

Tweet This Post

And with that simple decision, I embarked on an incredible journey that has enhanced both my personal and professional life far beyond any heights that I could have imagined. To that, I am indebted to STC and its members.

Renewing my membership. I gain so much as an STC member, learning and applying an abundance of skills over these past fifteen years. My career has been enhanced, and my clients have benefited. Membership has opened new venues for me, some that I couldn’t possibly have envisioned. I simply cannot imagine being a professional technical communicator and not belonging to the one organization that supports and promotes that profession – STC.

This is a simple decision for me. I simply rejoin.

The cost of membership. There has been much debate about the dues for membership including belonging to a chapter and a special interest group (SIG). Is STC really worth the price of admission?

I look at this issue two ways. STC dues are about $5.00 a week, the same as a venti espresso drink. Isn’t membership in your chosen professional organization worth that? Not being a member also has its costs: lost benefits, lost access, lost opportunities, lost revenue. And those losses represent a far greater cost than dues.

Giving and receiving. I have given a lot to STC, volunteering for one position or another for every year I’ve been a member. While that might seem a lot, I have received in return far more. Let me enumerate.

Members. STC members are nothing if not passionate. This tells me a lot about the people who join, get involved, practice their profession, and commiserate with other members. STC members are the real deal. They—we—know our profession benefits others. There isn’t puffery or pound-ing chests. Just pure competence, integrity, genuineness. Case in point: my three newest clients were all garnered through my association with STC and its members. Billings this year alone will exceed many tens of thousands of dollars, with more next year.

My continued membership keeps me in touch with other members, many of whom are my friends. I continually meet other members. I almost always come away from encounters with members with a profound appreciation for that person.

My local chapter. Don’t ever let it be said that a few dozen people cannot impact the world. They can, and we did. At Giving and receiving. I have given a lot to STC, volunteering for one position or another for every year I’ve been a member. While that might seem a lot, I have received in return far more. Let me enumerate. Members. STC members are nothing if not passionate. This tells me a lot about the people who join, get involved, practice their profession, and commiserate with other members. STC members are the real deal. They—we—know our profession benefits others. There isn’t puffery or pounding chests. Just pure competence, integrity, genuineness.

Case in point: my three new- est clients were all garnered through my association with STC and its members. Bill- ings this year alone will exceed many tens of thousands of dollars, with more next year. My continued membership keeps me in touch with other members, many of whom are my friends. I continually meet other members. I almost always come away from encounters with members with a profound appreciation for that person.

My local chapter. Don’t ever let it be said that a few dozen people cannot impact the world. They can, and we did. At our meetings, we learn from each other. Our local chapter raised the bar for our profession. Employers and prospects look for and prefer STC credentials. Over the years, my company has received a number of contracts because of our STC membership, totaling well over one million dollars ($1,000,000+) in billable services.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Early on, I joined the Consultants and Independent Contractors (CIC) SIG. Later, I also joined the Marketing and Instructional Design SIGs. All three are ready platforms for ideas, assistance, perspective, and simple camaraderie. Through the listservs sustained by STC, I have met and discussed much with members from all over the world. Always a helping hand, from people I respect and trust.

Intercom and Technical Communication. Recently, I was instructing a client on how to create meaningful slides (incorporating graphics and text) for their presentations. They balked. “What’s wrong with bullet lists?” They wanted to know. I pointed to six articles from Technical Communication to support my position with valid research, as well as a number of articles from Intercom. That is the value of STC’s publications.

Friends. So, why aren’t you playing music anymore? – This question, from a close STC friend, spurred another one of those life-changing moments. I didn’t have a good answer. So I bought a new drum kit and began playing again. That led to the genesis of The Open Jam, which led to the formation of The Rough Drafts, and a number of gigs at STC annual conferences. This is just one anecdote in a procession of joyous encounters with my many STC friends.

Annual conferences. For a professional technical communicator, there is no other venue for collaboration, commiseration, education, repartee, consideration, reflection, growth, interaction, wonderment, and just plain excitement than STC’s annual conferences.

Professionalism. In 2008, I became an STC Fellow. I had been striving for that goal since first becoming a member.

While I am quite proud of my accomplishment, it’s more than just an award. What is most important is the professional that I have become because of that quest, how I am able to apply my expertise, how I have been remunerated, and the contacts I have made along the way.

Over the years, STC has provided the framework for my professional growth. My current level of expertise and professionalism is due in large part to the value of being an STC member. – Rich Maggiani

Tweet This Post

I found that my writing was much more fluent and I was more productive when, within the guidelines of good writing, I focused on what the editor wanted. Keep sentences active, don’t back into a sentence, keep the construction logical, draw effective word pictures, and the best advice of all, give the reader a break. Don’t make it a struggle to understand and get the point and if you don’t have a point, stop writing and go get one. Let the editor worry about the article’s reception.

This advice had two immediate benefits. Audience evaluation became much easier and it allowed me to focus on the individual who had the most direct impact on my employment, my editor.

Tweet This Post

Recent project, this person’s self-described best work, is a poster with umpteen different fonts, every box has a gradient, with a different color, no borders between text boxes. No style guide rules for grammer or design were followed. So, I tried to offer some suggestions. It was not received well, so I assembled a number of reference sites and sent them over. The strategy was that this would take the “personal” out of the dialogue.

It was like gas on the fire. I started a war, even though I did not actually throw my Chicago Manual of Style. The question is, how bad do we let something that is representing our company get before we speak up. I probably butted in where I did not belong since I am the web developer but holy-cow, we are charging for this stuff.

Tweet This Post

I’m not going to repost his link here, but this is what you’ll find:

• Eleven links to Designing & Coding blogs
• Three links to Productivity blogs
• Ten links to Writing & Freelancing blogs
• Eleven links to Social Media blogs
• Twelve links to Search Engine Optimization blogs
• Eight links to Marketing blogs
• Two links to Affiliate Marketing blogs
• Ten links to Entrepreneur blogs
• Five links to Domain Name blogs
• Eight links to WordPress blogs
• One link to Copyright blogs
• Nineteen links to Blogging blogs

Kevin compiled a great list and I’ve been delighted to explore the ones that I don’t already subscribe to.

What I found missing, however, were some of the great blogs of my fellow Mar-Commers and STCers. So, I’m asking you, dear Subscribers to help build a list of the top blogs by and for our group.

Yes, that’s right, I’m calling on you lurkers out there to step up and help us build a kick-a** list that will be a resource for both you and your colleagues. In your response please share the following:

• Blog title
• Blog url
• Blog Author
• STC member or non-member
• One sentence description of the blog’s focus

READY! SET! GO!!!!!

Tweet This Post

Have you ever wanted an effective way to determine what information to include in your courses? This Webinar will teach you how to identify tasks, steps, processes, objectives, and assessments for a specific job using a visual method that quickly derives results.

Highly Respected and Expert Presenter
Jane MacKenzie-Smith, is a Certified Performance Technologist from the International Society for Performance Improvement who has developed training for classroom, multimedia, and e-learning for most of her life.

As owner of JEM Communications, LLC, she provides course design and workshops on instructional design and e-Learning. She is the Past Manager of the Instructional Design & Learning (IDL) Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), a newly elected STC Fellow, and a popular presenter at STC events.

Your Investment
$20 IDL SIG member of the STC
$30 STC Member – Join the IDL SIG to break even on this Webinar, and save money on future Webinars.
$70 Non member – Consider joining the STC today. You can enjoy the valuable benefits of being an STC member, and receive great member pricing for this Webinar and others.

Sign Up Now! Register for the time of day that fits your schedule. Please be sure to sign up for the correct time (day or evening) because we cannot switch you to the other Webinar time.
Also, be sure to select “Show in My Time Zone” when registering.

• Day Webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/227142842
  1:30 – 2:30 PM (Eastern Time); 12:30 – 1:30 PM (Central Time);
  11:30 – 12:30 PM (Mountain Time); 10:30 – 11:30 AM (Pacific Time)
• Evening Webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/718996682
  8:00 – 9:00 PM (Eastern Time); 7:00 – 8:00 PM (Central Time);
  6:00 – 7:00 PM (Mountain Time); 5:00 – 6:00 PM (Pacific Time)

  After registering, you will be directed automatically to a payment selection page. After paying, you will receive a confirmation e-mail within 2 to 3 days.

  Session Materials and More
  Several days before the Webinar you will receive an e-mail with login details and instructions for viewing session materials. After the Webinar, you will receive information for viewing the recorded Webinar.

  System Requirements
  Audio can be through either your computer (VoIP with a fast Internet connection, microphone, and speakers), or a long-distance telephone connection. For more system requirements, see FAQs, Attending a Webinar at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/en_US/island/webinar/support.tmpl.

  Questions about This Webinar?
  
  Contact either:
  Jane MacKenzie-Smith
  Linda Stinger

Tweet This Post