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Observations from the STC Summit
by Marcia Wood, STC RMC Senior Member
Can you imagine a northern Midwest city with a Starbucks on every
downtown corner? Yeah, that could be anyplace, don’tcha know. OK, try
this one. Can you imagine a northern Midwest city with enclosed skywalks
that create an aerial maze through 20 city blocks? Now we’re getting
closer. Can you imagine that city with Starbucks on every corner and
aerial skywalks, plus a Macy’s, The Gap, a British brewpub and a jazz
nightclub, all within sky-walking distance of a state-of-the-art
convention center? Now you’re describing downtown Minneapolis.
I met a lot of people at the 54th annual STC Summit Conference, like
Anita from Alabama, B.J. from Pennsylvania, Christian from Portland,
Oregon, and Gem from Texas. These are my remembrances, mostly people and their faces—sincere, vibrant faces connected to people who were all
coming together for the pleasure of learning more about their craft.
One common theme I noticed is that writers are universally disrespected.
Why? Perhaps it is because speakers of English think they can be writers
of English. This is so-o-o not true! Information must be arranged
logically, yet must not appear constrained. The writing must flow from A
to B to C, and it takes a practiced eye and hand to place the data in
that order, without running off to explain X, Y and Z, before finishing
with W. This is the expertise of the writer, who knows how to go with
the flow.
Another observation I had was the lack of marketing communications
topics in the workshops and progressions. Yet, c’mon, there are more
than a thousand members nationwide in this SIG. That seems to be enough members to make up a progression, right? (A progression is a series of 30-minute discussions, accomplished by participants standing up and switching tables, similar to a Chinese fire drill.) Marketing
communicators must have something to contribute. How I would love to
hear how Marcomm writers tout the brand and avoid the regulators’
censure. It’s a very fine line between establishing the promise and
going beyond what’s considered reasonable. I mean, what do you consider
reasonable? It’s all relative. We MarComm writers dance between the
raindrops, attempting to get to print—without getting wet.
When I was at the conference, I split my time between the Consulting and
Independent Contracting (Lone Writer) SIG and the Technical Editor SIG
progressions, with a healthy dose of the Development and Delivery (DD)
sessions. I received a wealth of knowledge from the likes of Barbara
Giammona, Karen Schriver, Thea Teich and Karen O’Toole, Dan Jones and
Gail Lippincott. You can view their presentations by going to the STC
Web site and clicking on Session Materials
(http://www.stc.org/54thConf/sessions/sessionMaterials01.asp).
The best part (for me) was the closing speaker, Ze Frank. The young man
who had greatness thrust upon him in 2001 brought wit and insight into
his speech. What is it about Ze (pronounced Zay) that gives him the
ability to put his finger on the pulse of the Web? Is it his connection
to NYU and the class in creativity he teaches? Or, is it the many hours
he spends at his computer connected to the Internet? How did he ever
think of “Earth Sandwich,” and why did his readers/viewers place
thousands of slices of bread on the ground all over the world? This is a
young man with a heart of gold looking toward the future and worldwide
awareness. He is the poster child for “Think globally.” Ze has an
archetypal quality to his story-telling when he speaks about his
“acceleration anxiety” caused by global communication. We now get our
information in nanoseconds, where in the last millennium, at least, we
had a chance to catch our breath, for gosh sakes. Ze Frank exhibits a
humble quality when he does his “show.” I mean, who do you know that
would actually puke Scrabble cubes onto the playing board and make fun
of himself for doing it? If you like satire, go to his website,
www.zefrank.com, but beware, he has rude
tendencies. I’m not sure, but perhaps his rudeness is merely a draw to
get young people to view his site. He is a man of many emotions,
exhibiting a friendly—almost innocent—demeanor when he writes on his
home page, “Many have come, but I like you the best.” Or, is that just
more satire on humanity’s quest for unconditional love and universal
acceptance?
I believe that Ze Frank supplied the missing MarComm presence at the STC
conference. He demonstrated the potential for all of us to make stuff up
out of our own imaginations. I have been told that my ideas are the only
currency I have. For that reason, I say, “Ze, you’re a goldmine.”
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