How does STC RMC measure up?

by Martha Sippel

Many of you made New Year's resolutions, including me. It is reported that this tradition began in Babylonian times. Making resolutions entails setting new goals by reflecting on your past and future life, health, career, work responsibilities, social obligations, and volunteer efforts. For me, the end of the year is a time to reflect on how lucky we are and how we can make things better for others and ourselves.

Setting goals

In 2001, I recognized that to attain goals, they must be measurable. I was much more adept at keeping resolutions I wrote down and kept where I could see them each day. Looking at 2002, I realize that goals must also be somewhat realistic. I exercised more, read more, and volunteered more of my time, so I achieved three of my general goals. The point is to set goals and try to attain them!

One of my 2002 goals was to initiate some positive changes in the STC RMC during my presidency. I am proud to say that with the help of many dedicated volunteers in 2002, STC RMC implemented several new efforts. We have many more ongoing and upcoming projects; I am highlighting a few new ones here to solicit your feedback.

If you happen to see any of the people mentioned below, please let them know that you appreciate their efforts. We are always looking for suggestions on how we can make STC RMC better. Remember that any volunteer organization is only as good as its volunteers. That means you!

New efforts: Communications

STC RMC's goals include better communication with our members. Last year we implemented some new communication efforts to meet this goal. Let me know at president@stcrmc.org how you think we are doing.

Technicalities is online

Starting with the October issue, we are publishing our newsletter online. You can browse, print, or download Technicalities from the STC RMC Web site. There is a PDF version for those of us who still like to read the newsletter in print. However, the Web-based format makes it easier for us to provide updated material and for you to read the newsletter online. Our newsletter committee works hard to provide you with a timely, practical publication and they will continue to work to improve the newsletter. Let them know what you think at news@stcrmc.org.

We have discussed moving the newsletter online for years. As anyone who has performed or managed layout tasks knows, it is a time-intensive process to edit articles to column length, manipulate specific ad sizes and placements, and find filler articles to create a specific number of pages for each issue. It will be a shorter process to create online Technicalities issues. In addition, STC RMC will save money on printing and mailing costs while conserving paper.

Ron Arner has accepted our offer to become the new managing editor of Technicalities. If you see Ron or other newsletter team members (see the masthead) at a meeting, thank them for their efforts.

Please feel free to send anyone on the committee, including me, your comments or suggestions. Email news@stcrmc.org to provide comments, suggestions, or articles. We hope to start planning themes for this year's issues so you can contemplate the topics in advance and, we hope, provide us with more articles!

Publicity

STC RMC's new Publicity Committee is off and running. They created a draft of our "Why Hire a Technical Communicator" brochure and are working on a media kit. In the absence of our printed newsletter, the committee recently began sending meeting reminders for our monthly meetings. They also submit our meetings to the local newspapers and other sources to increase our visibility in the business and local communities.

Carla Mead, our Publicity Committee manager, will continue to work hard with the committee to update our chapter brochures. Carla's committee not only strives to publicize all of our events and announcements, but also is committed to creating a publicity process. Another committee goal is to increase local awareness of STC RMC and showcase some of our chapter efforts. Please contact Carla at cmead@thewritepolish.com if you have any ideas for the Publicity Committee.

Ongoing efforts: Communications

A few years ago, Larry Prado started the tradition of sending monthly eblasts to our members. I received a few positive comments about this form of communication. Let me know if you think this a good communication mechanism.

Web site

Through the STC RMC Web site, the Web team publishes meeting information, job postings, information from STC international, local and national course offerings, contact information, and much more. Check it out at http://www.stcrmc.org/.

Future efforts: Strategic planning

As with profitable corporations, a strategic plan is essential to provide continued guidance to the chapter. STC RMC would benefit from both short-term and long-term strategic planning. While we held a strategic planning session in August, I believe that we need to do more to ensure continuity and continued success for our chapter. Transitions between administrations become much more difficult without strategic goals.

To that end, I hope to institute a more formal strategic planning session for the STC RMC administrative council over the next two years. If you know of anyone who would be willing to provide such expertise, we welcome any suggestions. We look forward to facilitating transitions and minimizing interruptions of ongoing efforts.

How many members volunteer?

Many volunteer organizations have seen their ranks decline as the economy affects nonprofits as well as profitable corporations. Did you know that only about 10 to 20 percent of STC RMC's members volunteer? The number of people who are active volunteers throughout the year is even less. Please take stock of what STC offers you and give back in any way you can.

I think I can safely speak for the council and say that we all enjoy meeting and working with new people as well as the tried and true, so please come to a meeting and introduce yourself. If you have time to volunteer, we'd be delighted to have you. If you have ideas for improvement, please contact me at president@stcrmc.org.

Do you have ideas to share?

I am truly interested in what the other 80 percent of our members think-and so, as always, I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great 2003!