Fifty Years with Bill: The Houston Parties

We bring you the second post from our newest guest blogger, Bill Leavitt. This year marks his 50th year as an STC member, so we asked Bill to provide some stories from his 50 years as a technical communicator. He’ll be blogging regularly under the title “Fifty Years with Bill” with thoughts, reminiscings, advice, and more.

STC went through many major changes in its personality during the late 1960s and 1970s. For instance, after World War II, most technical writers were engineers or technical people who learned to be technical writers because it became necessary as a result of the technology explosion that got its start with the war.

In 1964, when I joined STWP (predecessor organization to STC), the typical member was a 50+-year-old man. By the mid-1970s, the membership changed from about 75% men to about 60% women; that is, to half as many men and twice as many women. Average age dropped to the 30s or early 40s. These changes in the demographics of technical writers had a great effect on atmosphere at the annual conference, which went from formal, serious educational seminars to more casual and exciting events, with lots of evening socializing.

The most memorable example of the social changes was the “Houston Party,” an annual event which took place from the early 1960s through the mid-1980s. While I have no explanation why it was the Houston Chapter that hosted these parties, my guess would be that since Houston was the center of space technology, it might have been a more exciting place.

Anyway, the format was as follows: A member of the Houston Chapter booked a large guest room or small suite in the conference hotel. Invited guests would stand or sit on the floor. When someone wanted to tell a joke, he or she would get into a line. When your turn came, you would take off your shoes, stand on the bed, and tell away. The value of your joke would be determined by the amount of laughter and applause of the audience, and often the bawdiness of the joke.

There were adult beverages to be had and most people partook of them. The parties usually lasted much of the night, and the numbers of people varied from crowded to wall-to-wall. The parties were usually crazy and wild, and everyone wanted to be invited. Unfortunately, the invitation list was limited to the maximum capacity of the room.

As the new demographics changed and the younger members got older and more mature, the parties became more conservative and, eventually, less exciting. Finally, around 1984-86, the parties petered out completely.

There are only a few current STC members who have experienced these parties, and who could give you more details about some of the antics therein, but I’m not sure they would want to be identified. I believe I attended every one of the parties except in 1982, when I was unable to attend the annual conference.

Bill Leavitt has written a variety of books on construction and architecture, history, and retirement planning.  His latest book is entitled Retirement: Life’s Greatest Adventure.  The book contains guidance for how people thinking about retiring can best prepare for retirement and also suggestions for those who have retired but may not have discovered all the joys of retirement.