Each of the candidates for the upcoming STC election were invited to submit a blog post to STC’s Notebook in support of their candidacy. Below is the post submitted by Paul Mueller, candidate for Vice President. Click on his name to take you to his election page, or visit the main STC election page for information about all candidates.
I would like to serve the Society as Vice President and I am asking for your vote in the 2014 Society for Technical Communication (STC) election. Voting begins March 10 and ends March 21 at 5:00 PM EDT (GMT-4). Your vote is important in selecting the leaders who will help shape the future direction of our professional organization.
I am running for STC Vice President in 2014 because we are at a critical point. We need to work closely with our executive director, the STC staff, and our volunteers to ensure that STC meets the needs of our members and the profession. We need to bring the technical communication community together and deliver services that help our members provide high-quality technical content.
STC should be the organization known for helping everyone design, develop, and deliver quality content. Companies dedicate money for tools and resources to help their employees work more effectively. For example, many companies pay for valuable reference libraries and code samples to help programmers develop better code. STC provides valuable resources for technical communicators, including many types of educational offerings, and we can do more to develop and promote these resources.
Content is exploding and STC needs to serve a diverse community with many areas of interest. Serving all these interest areas effectively is a huge challenge involving time, money, and energy. Different groups across many company departments are now developing and delivering content. These groups of content providers may not think of STC as their professional home, but we should be, and we can be. STC needs to reach out to many new groups of people across all company departments.
Our chapters and SIGs provide many opportunities to network, share ideas, and keep our careers growing. While visiting chapters and participating in various SIGs, I am inspired by these active communities and members to learn more and be the best technical communicator I can be. These communities help us connect with each other and advance technical communication together.
I am grateful for all that STC has provided to help me throughout my career, and now I would like to lend my leadership and business experience to help STC continue to serve our industry and shape future leaders. As new generations enter the technical communication field, and existing generations find new ways to meet changing demands, we need the Society to grow and develop with these changing needs. My STC experience will help me understand the way we have done things in the past as we identify new ways to support our communities, members, and industry for the future. I believe I can help strengthen the Society, promote the profession, and deliver valuable services in a cost-effective manner. I also believe I can bring a diverse group of people together and help build consensus to move forward.
I have enjoyed serving STC in many roles. I have served as a Director on the STC Board, as the Chair of several Task Forces, and in many Summit leadership positions, including the Summit Conference Chair for 2012 and 2013. If you would like more information about me and what I hope to contribute to the leadership of STC, please visit my election website at www.stc-paulmueller.com, and my section of the STC election website at www.stc.org/election/item/paul-mueller-3?category_id=67. Thank you for being an important part of our professional community and I look forward to seeing many of you in Phoenix at the 2014 Summit.