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"Michele Davis" wrote...
> i spoke at stc last year for two seminars. i paid the $350 for the conf. and
the
> exorbitant rates for staying at disney. ,y logic was that i would get writing
> opportunities from the seminars. lol! not one lead called me. i won't do it
> again.
What really cheesed me about STC was how I felt suckered into speaking.
About three months before the conference, a member emailed me and said: "hey,
speak for us." I felt honored and dutiful submitted an idea to them. They
liked it. So I spent a lot of time and energy producing the material. I wanted
to look professional and accomplished - like a speaker should. About a month
before the conference, the conference literature comes out and there I am on
the schedule, all is great.
Then, about 5 days before the conference, I get a call telling me I haven't
paid my conference registration fees. I had already socked away $100.00 for a
room and untold hours developing the material. I told the woman I was a
speaker, she said "oh, well, you get a $10 discount then." Like that was some
great gift. (The fee was still $135.) Okay, this isn't a lot of money, but it
was the principle of the matter.
I said I would not pay. She said, okay, well we'll just have to let everybody
at the conference know you couldn't make it. Now I look like a jerk. I spent
all this time and energy producing material to be humiliated me in public.
That is just wrong.
I paid. I went. I spoke. I got ZERO leads from the conference. I too will
never do it again. I don't mind paying for a hotel room or travel. But at a
MINIMUM I should not have to PAY to get into the conference.
Which is why these conferences are so bad. The only people who speak are the
party faithful who are willing to pay for the privilege of speaking their
minds. Its a racket. Just like those infomercials where they act like a news
story. It isn't news. It isn't objective. The participants PAID for the right
to speak. In other words, pretty much ANYBODY can speak at these STC
conferences which means there isn't any real transfer of expertise. There is no
recognition that the speaker is an accomplished ANYTHING.
There were three seminars on independent contracting when I was there. They
had one speaker who had been a contractor for TWO years. That HARDLY qualifies
as accomplished. Why not just have ONE seminar from a truly accomplished and
experienced independent consultant.
Furthermore, a lot of the seminars are just sales pitches for respective
agencies. At least three or four agencies gave meaningless seminars on how they
are better equipped to place technical writers. How on earth does that have
ANYTHING to do with technical communication?
Personally, I think STC conferences are nothing more than social gatherings and
mutual admiration societies. Most of the people there just want recognition for
their small achievements. There is little transfer of knowledge and a lot of
misleading salesmanship. New writers attending these conferences are learning
the wrong things and would do better to take a course in computer programming
at the local community college.
Andrew Plato
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