By Sally Henschel | Student Liaison, STC Academic SIG
The Academic SIG student poster competition offers students an opportunity to present their work at the largest technical communication conference in the country, “virtually,” at no cost. Given the current emphasis in academia on both undergraduate and graduate research, we encourage faculty preparing their upcoming syllabi to encourage students to enter the STC Academic SIG Student Poster Competition in early 2013.
For the 2012 Summit, the Academic SIG made a few changes to the annual student competition: 1) selected students could elect to present in person at the Summit or virtually through AdobeConnect; 2) judging criteria for the competition were aligned with the criteria used for the STC International Summit Awards and made available to students prior to the competition; 3) both undergraduate and graduate students, as individuals or as teams, could enter; and 4) all research was submitted, and those selected presented, as a poster saved as a PDF.
These changes to the annual competition were well received. Students were not required to be members of STC to enter, there was no cost to enter the competition, selected students did not have to print their posters for display, and students were not required to travel to the Summit to participate.
If selected students were members of STC and wanted to attend the Summit, STC Deputy Executive Director, Lloyd Tucker, offered them the opportunity to volunteer at the Summit to cover their Summit fees (no small gift).
The two winning entries for this year’s competition provided the Academic SIG an opportunity to work with the various categories of students we want to encourage to participate in future competitions. First place was awarded to Adaline Haseltine and Samantha Gale, undergraduate students in the professional writing concentration at Appalachian State University. Adaline and Samantha presented “Social Media Marketing for Technical Communication Professionals,” a study that examined the use of social media networks as a marketing strategy to create a relationship with customers. Their research poster was created for an undergraduate seminar in professional writing. Adaline and Samantha are student members of STC and accepted the opportunity to volunteer at the Summit to cover their registration fees. They attended the Summit, had the opportunity to meet professionals in the field, presented their poster onsite (projected on a screen), and took questions from the audience.
Second place was awarded to Heather L. Kfoury, a graduate student in the master of science in professional writing and technical communication program at the University of Houston–Downtown. Heather presented “Have a Very Merry Recession: A Rhetorical and Ethical Analysis of a Corporate Holiday Card during the Recession,” a rhetorical and ethical analysis of a corporate holiday card created by a Houston technical company. Her research poster was created for a graduate course in visual design. Heather presented her research and poster from Houston through AdobeConnect. She responded to questions from the audience and, following the presentation, Heather shared contact information with a member of the audience who wanted to talk to her about job openings at her company in the Houston area.
The STC Student Poster Competition provides students with a wonderful opportunity to submit their research and, hopefully, to present at a national conference without being concerned about cost. As faculty prepare their syllabi for the coming academic year, we ask that they keep this competition in mind: have students create and save their research posters as PDFs, and remind them in 2013 to submit their work. The Academic SIG will send out a CFP for the poster competition in August 2012 and a reminder in January 2013. If faculty or students have any questions about the competition, please contact Sally Henschel, student liaison for the Academic SIG, at sally.henschel@mwsu.edu.
