Good Omens
By Timothy Esposito | STC President
Published in Intercom magazine | November/December 2023
In books and films, the depiction of the afterlife tends to fall into certain stereotypes. If you end up in a good place, it is light and airy and open. If you’re in a bad place, it is dark, crowded, and filled with smoke. But what do the denizens of each location actually do with their infinite time? A recurring theme for good/bad/neutral places seems to be … paperwork? Processing all those souls in our entertainment afterlives requires a sophisticated level of bureaucracy and record-keeping. In the bad place, it is often shown as a nightmare bureaucracy in a horrible office space, worse than the DMV. In the good place, everything works easily and paperlessly (and they probably have Macs). No doubt things go more smoothly in the good place because the forms are all well-designed, the CMS is well structured, and most importantly, the good place has all the technical communicators to help them out.
This month, Intercom focuses on project planning, a project that was planned well in advance. Likewise, the Board of Directors is in the midst of several long-term projects, many bureaucratic in nature, designed to help improve STC and its membership experience. We’ve been:
- Reviewing and revising policies and procedures for good governance throughout the organization.
- Improving STC membership and member value, including new membership models and dues structures.
- Reviewing our accounting system, as it is in new hands and being carefully revised to better suit our organization.
- Acquiring and rolling out new and vastly improved Member Database. To shift to a new system that offers what STC would best benefit its members takes some time, however, and the plans to roll out a new membership database system are at least a year out at this point.
- The STC Summit process has already started with a new team and we’re aiming to bring you the stellar event you expect once again next year.
- Updating the STC websites for an improved user experience. This is one project I’ve personally been working on for years, and we’re really starting to get some traction with it!
While all that work may sound like a bureaucratic nightmare from the bad place, it is all good news for you! The membership renewal and maintenance process will improve. Registering for events will improve. Certification tracking will improve. Community management and oversight will be easier for volunteers. Our website can be updated to more cleanly integrate with the membership management aspect. It all takes time, project planning, hard work, dedicated staff and member volunteers, and an alignment of the stars. If you can assist either personally or by helping to fulfill a heavenly prophecy, or if you have any questions or feedback, let us know by sending a choir of angels to board@stc.org.
Timothy Esposito (tmesposit.stc@gmail.com) is the 2023-24 president of STC. His ongoing column will keep you updated on STC’s direction, and be filled with fun cultural references such as Good Omens and The Good Place.
The President's Column, written by STC's board president, is published in Intercom, STC's magazine for members. Email stc@stc.org to connect with STC.