stcsacramento.org

Here’s a fun opportunity that I want to pass on to our chapter: East Bay Chapter is doing an ice cream social!

Chuck

Hello, STC Sacramento Members:

Please don’t forget to renew your STC membership before the end of February. You should have received snail mail about how to rejoin, or you can visit the stc.org website and do it all online.

If you have any concerns about the cost of a full membership, consider becoming a Friend of STC Sacramento for only $35 per year. You’ll get the same benefits that local members receive (online training, employment group, email group, newsletter, free meeting attendance), but you won’t be an official member of STC or receive the journals or SIG emails.

Believe it or not, it’s also time to think about new STC Sacramento officers. In about a month I’ll be assembling a ballot for the election. I believe just about all the positions are currently open to volunteers. It looks good on your resume, and the duties at present are relatively light.

Here are the elected positions on the board:

President: Open to anyone who has served in a board position previously. You know the duties.

Vice President, Programs: Contacts and schedules speakers for monthly meetings. We have leads on past and potential speakers, so you won’t have to do the job without help.

Vice President, Publicity: Handles advertising and other communications to members and non-members

Treasurer: Keeps the books in QuickBooks. Typically, there are only a few transactions per month, and QuickBooks is not difficult to learn. We have a laptop, software, and current chart of accounts to pass along to you.

Secretary: Publishes agendas and meeting minutes for local board meetings.

Many of the non-elected board positions are filled, but we are always looking for interested volunteers. If you have an interest and want to serve, we can find a place for you.

To become a candidate for elected or unelected office, contact me, Chuck Petch at 530-272-5232 or cpetch@cebridge.net.

I just received the following from UCLA regarding their certificate program for tech writers and wanted to get it out to the members. Contact UCLA for more information.

Chuck

Dear STC Chapters:

UCLA Extension would like to remind Chapters about the $50 discount available to STC members enrolling in online courses in the Technical Communication Program, a 9-course certificate. Please make this information available to your members via listserv or newsletter.  Winter courses begin in January 2007:

Strategic Communications Planning

Technical Writing

Creating Readable Documents

Fees without the discount are $525 per course.  The $50 discount is also applicable to all online business and management courses in accounting, personal financial planning, real estate, human resources management, finance, and taxation.  This offer cannot be combined with other discounts.   Just identify yourself as an STC member when enrolling online, by fax, or phone.

For more information, please contact Helen Williams at hwilliam@uclaextension.edu or call 310-825-7729 (PST). Visit www.uclaextension.edu.

Hi folks,

We recently discovered that you must get your STC membership dues in by the end of this year if you want to vote for international officers for 2007. This is a change from previous years when you could still vote if you got your dues in by 2/28. By now you should have received your membership renewal form by postal mail, or you can renew online using a credit card at stc.org.

Also don’t forget that if you prefer not to participate as an international member, you can still participate in the Sacramento chapter as a non-member Friend of STC Sacramento for $35 per year. For this small donation you do not become a member, but you can participate in local events and services, such as online training, at member rates.

That reminds me to mention once again that we do have a FREE online training program for members and Friends. To look at the course offerings, visit vtc.com. To sign up for training, contact me at cpetch@cebridge.net.

I hope you’re all busily planning your happy holidays, and I hope they ARE truly happy.

Chuck

From STC International HQ to me to you (without comment) ~Chuck

Dear STC leaders,

The cost of additional virtual community (SIG) memberships is increasing to $10 per year. This change helps increase the pool of available funds. Thus, the funding amount for which virtual communities can apply will increase. The STC Board of Directors made this change to help virtual communities reach their full potential for providing services to their members.

You will soon see this change reflected in membership application and renewal forms going out to you and your STC community. Virtual community and geographic community (chapter) memberships will now be given equal weight on application and renewal forms.

Please contact me regarding any questions about this change.

Sincerely,

Mary Kabza
Director of Membership and Marketing

Hi Folks,

Last week’s chapter meeting was a humdinger! Strom Snyder of InfoPros always draws a good crowd, and that meeting was no exception. The format of his presentation was question and answer, and Barry Schoenborn (VP Programs) had an excellent list of questions to get things started. The audience was not shy, though, and many asked followup questions.

Strom’s answers were forthright and knowledgeable, based on his firsthand experience as a technical writing recruiter. I’m sure we’ll have a followup article about his presentation in the next newsletter, so I won’t give away all of his answers now, but I can’t help rejoicing about one item of news: Strom sees Sacramento area employment for technical communicators as relatively full and likely to remain strong well into the future. He also sees salaries as good and improving.

If one thing characterizes our meetings recently, it’s the good company. I have not been to a meeting in recent months where I failed to have a fine time chatting with everybody there. If you haven’t been to a meeting for a while, drop in on November 15th. If you don’t get a friendly greeting and enjoy some good conversation, I’ll eat my gavel!

Chuck

Hi!

Welcome to the blog! I know our fearless leader, Chuck Petch, will have words of wisdom to share with us soon so check back regularly.

Jim Collins
Webmaster