Today we have the first installment of a new feature, a monthly “Prez Dispenser” from STC President Cindy Currie. In today’s installment she writes of her “STC story” and where she’s been in her career and within the Society. Future blogs will touch on a variety of issues and topics, and provide a more informal link between members and the STC President.
While I’m STC President now, I was a member first, and even becoming a member took some time.
I got an interesting and quite accidental start as a technical writer, and was one even before I knew what one was. This was right after college, during a period that I thought at the time would be working for a year or so before going to graduate school. I had my sights set on Brown University and I was going to get a PhD in archaeology. That didn’t happen.
In 1981, I was working in an engineering department as the assistant to the department director, so I did pretty much everything, including lots of writing, which is something that I’ve always loved to do!
I was pretty good at writing so I was always the person everyone went to when any writing needed to be done. Nearly all of the mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineers came to me when they were tasked with developing and writing new engineering standards for industrial boiler systems and the instrumentation that controlled them. So there I was creating templates for engineering standards, coaching engineers in good writing and formatting, when and how to use supporting graphics, and editing their work.
This was my introduction to technical writing, and 28 years later, I’m still here! I’ve worn a lot of official hats in that time—technical writer, technical course developer, information designer, instructional designer, process consultant, education manager, performance consultant, program or project manager, business transition manager, and my latest, Business Strategy and Planning Manager, which is a lot of strategic program management.
I first learned of STC back 1984 when someone in my office handed me the brochure for the STC’s conference that year. My manager said the company could not support my conference attendance and I couldn’t afford to pay my own way that year. I kept the brochure, though, and vowed that I would get to attend at some point.
STC came up again a few years later as several of my colleagues were preparing submissions for the local STC competitions, and as I had authored one of the manuals in the doc set they were preparing to enter, I was entering too! This was exciting! We won a Merit award that year!
The next year I decided to sign up to be a tech pubs competition judge. It was 1989 and I was a judge for the Software Manuals category I continued to participate as a judge in this competition every year through 2000.
A year later many of my coworkers were busy making plans to attend the STC conference. And they were all going to the conference as presenters. More excitement! That made up my mind: in 1991 I was going to the STC conference as a presenter! That’s when I finally joined STC, seven years after first learning of it. I have been an active member ever since.
I found that the competitions and the conferences brought out the volunteer spirit, energy, and passion in me. I was awarded a Distinguished Chapter Service Award in 2000 by the Northern New England chapter for service as it’s liaison to the InterChange Conference. In 2002, I became an STC Associate Fellow for my work to promote and enhance STC’s competitions and conferences on local, regional, and Society levels. In 2005, I became an STC Fellow for driving the professional of technical communication forward in business, with significant bottom-line impact for my clients.
In 2005 I joined the Board of Directors and a few years later, I was encouraged to run for Second Vice President. I must admit, that was a much harder decision to make than the one to run for Director.
So here I am today, the STC President. It’s been a long journey … one that began years before I became an official member. A journey of many, extremely valuable experiences, great people, camaraderie, joy, senses of accomplishment, and belonging. And, I even met my husband through STC, although this is not a member benefit everyone will receive.
There is tremendous value in STC, at least for me. I know the spirit of STC is alive and well because I see it every day in my board colleagues, in the office staff, and in community leaders and Society-level volunteers as they grapple with the changes that are upon us and wonder at how best to engage members and move forward in relevant and productive ways.
That’s my STC story. What’s yours?