The deadline for communities to apply for the Pacesetter Award is Tuesday, 25 March. The Pacesetter Award recognizes the successful implementation of a single beneficial innovation that may be implemented by other STC communities, as opposed to the overall evaluation that takes place for the Community Achievement Award. We’re highlighting a few of the communities that received the Pacesetter Award last year with a Q&A with community leaders. (See previous posts about the Chicago Chapter, Carolina Chapter and the New York Metro Chapter.)
The Rocky Mountain Chapter received their Pacesetter Award “for creating additional meeting opportunities for a widespread membership, including webinars, training sessions, workshops, a museum tour, and networking events, while facilitating the professional development of STC Rocky Mountain.” Joel Meier talked with us about the chapter earned the award and what it meant to the community. See the STC website for more information about the Pacesetter Award, and then apply for your community today!
Can you expand a bit more on what your Pacesetter Award for?
To increase member participation in 2012 and to meet the needs of a broader group of chapter members, the STC RMC supplemented its six regular chapter meetings with 15 off-schedule programs. These included a website workday, webinars, free trainings, networking meetings, resume workshops, a behind-the-scenes tour of a local museum, Google hangouts, mentoring meetings, and a holiday potluck party.
Also to increase meeting participation, we provide both a north and south location for applicable meetings, such as the resume workshops and networking meetings.
What gave you the idea?
Because the the STC RMC’s membership covers a large geographical area along the Rocky Mountain Front Range, we knew we had to increase the number of programs and their locations.
Also, we watched the other chapters that had social gatherings, such as bowling nights, and we thought was a really good idea to get together and not necessarily have to talk tech comm—that gave us the idea for the museum tour.
What kind of work and/or planning was involved?
Not too much, really. For example, many of us belong to museums, so each member took it upon themselves to contact an organization for a possible tour. We have a tour of the airport scheduled in the near future to learn the science behind placement of signage at the airport.
How can other STC communities apply this idea to their community?
Easily. I think every member has contacts outside of STC that they could use to help organize off-schedule meetings for their chapter.
Why do you think a community should apply for a Pacesetter Award?
Applying for the Pacesetter Award can be a real boost in self esteem for the chapter as a whole, as well as for those involved. Also, I think it can provide an injection of energy and enthusiasm for years to come. I think it has inspired those involved in the chapter to look for other innovations that would qualify for the Pacesetter Award.