August/September 2004

Volume 45, Number 1

On New Beginnings

by Ron Arner

I hate being late to the first class of the semester; somehow it just makes me feel more comfortable with my teacher, fellow students, and the subject matter. I hate being late to a movie even more because that usually means I'll miss the previews of coming attractions, which I feel are the greatest freebie there is. NO matter how hard I try, I can't shake the feeling that I'm late with the first issue of Volume 45 of Technicalities, because I know that this will be my last year as Managing Editor.

As some of you know, I have been (slowly) working on an M.S. in Technical Communications degree and am now taking my last required class. If all goes well, I'll take a one-hour capstone class next spring and graduate in May. Besides taking a well-deserved vacation next summer, I plan on concentrating on my career more and trying to find a better paying job that will help me liquidate my student loans quickly. I hope to move on to other volunteer opportunities with the Rocky Mountain Chapter, and relinquish the reins of Technicalities to some other well-deserving soul.

New beginnings

The STC and our Rocky Mountain Chapter are on the verge of a great new beginning. In a few short months the STC transformation will take place. We will be doing our best to keep you informed and up to date about all the latest developments of the transition in future issues of Technicalities. In the current issue, you'll find articles on the transition from STC's President Andrea Ames and Jackie Damrau, President of the Lone Star Chapter.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter has recently undergone its own new beginnings, with the annual transition of our officers and other changes. You can find a greeting from Marc Lee, the new STC RMC President, in this edition, as well as a list of new members and information on the competition hiatus in the Chapter News section.

One place you won't see many changes this year is in the format of Technicalities. Although some minor nips and tucks have been made to become more compliant with the STC newsletter competition, we've tried to remain faithful to the belief that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" One new column has been added called Solutions, Inc., which will contain a variety of helpful technological tips in varying formats. Another much-needed change (in my opinion) is the addition of an Assistant Editor. Kristy Astry has graciously agreed to step up her role of article editor and summarizer to lend me some much needed assistance.

Resistance to change

You may have noticed that nothing has been mentioned about Technicalities' showing in last year's newsletter competition. That's because for the first year in a long time, we didn't win an award. After some pride swallowing and reviewing of the newsletter competition rules, I came to the realization that our new online format was not in complete compliance with the competition, but found several areas where the competition is outdated and its judging arbitrary as well. For example, although many chapter newsletter are now online, there have been no qualifications added for usability, navigation, etc. The only adjustment that has been made for online newsletters is the increase of required topics in every issue for a perfect score from 10 to 12 out of 14 items such as book reviews, letters to the editor, and chapter meeting reviews. Although the competition calls for three judges to review each newsletter, we only had two review ours, and then their scores were averaged. We did not receive credit for having senior officer contact information in one of our reviewed issues, although our masthead always contains senior officer names, titles, and email addresses, in complete compliance with competition rules.

After careful consideration of the newsletter competition at a meeting with my dedicated staff and new STC RMC President Marc Lee, it was decided to try to do better in this year's competition, without getting caught up in the hype and hoopla associated with an Award of Distinguished or Best of Show. We will continue to bring you a fun, well-designed, and informative newsletter about your Rocky Mountain Chapter, and if by chance the award gods decide to favor us with recognition for our efforts this year, we certainly won't turn them down!