STC's Notebook shines a spotlight on another of our great communities, this time the Eastern Iowa Chapter. Many thanks to Charles R. Crawley, Public Relations Chair, and Linda Miller, President, for taking the time to answer the questions. If you'd like to put your community in the spotlight, email Your Friendly Neighborhood Blogger today!
What's the official name of your chapter?
Eastern Iowa, http://www.stc-easterniowa.org/
How many members does it have?
20
Who are the leaders?
- President: Linda Miller
- Vice President: Marsha Jennerjohn
- Secretary: Jim Brinkema
- Treasurer: Lee Wakefield
- Membership Manager: Rebecca Beardsley
- Publicity: Charles Crawly
- Webmaster: Jeff Ginn
Can you give me a rundown of a generic chapter meeting?
We hold our meetings at a restaurant in Cedar Rapids. Thirty minutes of socializing precedes dinner, followed by our meeting. We usually have an “icebreaker” question to get to know each other. For example, last night it was, “What did you want to be when you were growing up?” We then have a speaker who goes for 30-45 minutes, with 15-20 minutes for questions. We average 10 -15 people per meeting, with about 10 members and 5 guests.
What types of technical communicators are prevalent in your chapter?
We have technical writers, a corporate trainer, some editors, and several proposal writers.
What kinds of speakers have you had at your meetings?
We often have speakers from the University of Iowa, since it is close by, as well as business leaders from our community and speakers from other STC chapters or national (via webinars). Topics for our meetings this year include:
- Digital Choices: Mobile Computing and Storage/Archiving options (Best Buy)
- Forum: Meeting the next generation of technical writers – forging a link to education (presentation by four of our members about their work and careers to local college writing students)
- Collaboration/Dissemination of Content to a Distributed Team: Which tools to use? (David Chung, Rockwell Collins)
- Cool Tools for Tech Writers (lunchtime webinar with Jeff Haas of STC Atlanta)
- Documentation Going Mobile (lunchtime webinar with national speaker Neil Perlin)
- Cyber-security for Personal Use and Business Application
- Half-day Training Seminar: Working with Adobe Acrobat Pro (presented by two of our members)
- Pivot Point: How to get good information from interviews with SMEs… and then transform it into good content! (Laura Behrens, Red Pen Communications)
Do you do any outreach in the local techcomm community? If so, what types of things do you do?
We have been involved in spelling bees that raised money for a local literacy organization. Last night we invited students from local colleges and universities to learn about technical communication. Next April, we are hosting a half-day training session on Adobe Acrobat, presented by two of our members. All of our meetings are open to the public and we encourage general attendance.
Do you have a “sister” chapter that you work with often? Tell us about that.
We have met in the past with the Quad Cities Chapter (now defunct) as well as the Central Iowa Chapter.
And I understand that you have a milestone this year? Can you tell us about that?
We have been a chapter for 20 years, going back to 1990.
I know 25th is Silver and 50th is Gold. If you had to name the 20th anniversary something that’s particularly relevant to your chapter, what would it be?
Dedication: a couple of our current council members have been members since the chapter formed. In addition, twice within the last three years we won an award for renewing the most members for a chapter of our size. We are a small but active group that is committed to sharing our work experiences and growing in our profession. And, did we say, we enjoy each other and have fun, too?
Tell us a bit about some of your members. Who’s the smartest? Best singer? Most likely to be STC president one day?
Our membership is very eclectic: we have a couple of former ministers and teachers, a veteran newspaper reporter, a retired engineer, a cycling instructor, a writer with engineering and MBA degrees, a baseball enthusiast and chronicler, and a tuba player. Most work from the office, some work for themselves, and one of us telecommutes and drives three hours roundtrip to attend our monthly meetings. As for illustrious, one of our members presented at the STC Summit this year!
Say Warner Brothers made a movie about your chapter. What would it be called and who would star in it?
It would be called “The Field of Reams”, where “If you write it, it will be edited.” It would star Woody Allen with Lucille Ball as his editor.
Finally, brag a little bit—about anything you'd like!
We don’t have many members, but the ones we do have are the best. They are willing to serve in any position and they take a great interest in the technical profession. They are intellectuals.