What kind of changes you have seen in technical communicators’ expectations from the STC, specifically from the members?

I think that, as the profession has matured and technology has changed, members have evolved from needing basic writing/editing and information design expertise to needing information on everything from localization to business analysis, from information architecture and content strategy to UX and usability, and these information needs continue to grow and evolve. Members can't be experts in everything, so what they need from STC is a bit of curation and access to people who are experts in these areas. This is key to the education side of our mission.

In addition, members expect STC to take a leadership role in defining and advocating for our profession, to look outward and connect with sister organizations, academia, and industry to advance the theory and practice of technical communication globally.

I believe the biggest changes are around how members use STC to help facilitate the sharing and discussion of various ideas, approaches, and techniques. Along with this, the topics being researched and discussed continue to change.

STC provides various ways for members to connect, from MySTC and listservs to webinars and in-person events. As colleagues, we challenge each other to find better ways to solve problems, and then to share those ideas and solutions. I have recently presented topics at meetings and workshops in a half-dozen states and I have worked with several SIGs this past year. I am impressed to see how these communities share their knowledge and experience, which helps our industry as a whole become stronger. I have also seen the STC webinar offerings continue to expand to meet the growing demands. STC is now also offering online conferencing facilities for its communities to use. These communities, combined with the many educational offerings organized by STC, bring a vast amount of knowledge to the technical communication industry.

I have also been involved in the STC Summit for more than 5 years, including serving as the Conference Chair for the past 2 years. During that time, I have seen many changes in the types of education and training demanded by STC members. While content development and delivery topics are always popular, we see many more requests for education around content strategy and design, business analysis, and web design and development. The STC Summit provides a wide range of topics to meet these demands, and invites industry leaders in hot topic areas to provide advanced sessions.

The Summit also records many of its sessions and provides them through the Summit@aClick package. This flexible training gives technical communicators another way to get the information they need to be successful. STC also held a virtual conference this past year to explore another way of meeting the educational demands.