By Jane Wilson
Thank you for allowing me to serve the STC as President. It is an absolute honor, and I am looking forward to an exciting year.
As you know, the theme of our Summit is “Communicating the Future,” and, in our 65th year, it’s fun to think about the past, but we also need to think about the future of STC.
At the opening ceremony, Liz Pohland, our CEO, asked us all to think about the brand of STC—how do we communicate what we do, individually and as a Society—to the rest of the world.
How can we do a better job of that? Because we need to. We need to make sure we provide value to our membership—and, just as importantly, communicate and demonstrate that value to both current and potential members.
I have heard some concern about the future of the Society, and we do face some challenges. Membership is always a concern, as are finances. But we are also doing a lot of things right.
We are always looking at member value and how we can improve it while also keeping an eye on the bottom line.
Our certification program is thriving, and we are making strides to align our educational offerings with the program. We also want to provide more advanced and technical topics to keep our members to the forefront of the discipline.
We provide a strong community that supports and nurtures technical communicators. Our fellow members are our network, our support, our personal job bank, and sometimes our own personal help line. (Hey Bernard, how do I ….?)
We are looking for ways to define the economic impact of technical communication, and we are reaching out to similar organizations to improve communication and collaboration.
This past year, the STC Board of Directors refined the Vision Statement for our Society. It reads:
The Society for Technical Communication strives to be the international authority in content design and delivery, advancing the professional development of our members and articulating the value of technical communication within industry and academia.
I am looking forward to us all working together to meet that vision, to strengthen the society and raise its profile, and to prepare our members to succeed in the workforce.
I am so proud to have the opportunity to lead this organization, with its strong 65 year history and its hopeful future. I thank you again for this opportunity.
