STC membership for European TWs

["Maaike Groenewege" <mgroenewege -at- hvds -dot- nl>]

Jane Carnall asked:

> Continuing this thread in a more useful direction - and not because
> it's a prereq for employment - does anyone have any opinions about the
> value of STC membership for a European technical writer?
> 

I think it depends in which country you're working. In the UK or 
Germany, with well established societies like ISTC and Tekom, the 
additional value of an STC membership lies mainly in receiving their 
publications and the ever increasing level of cooperation between 
European chapters (have a look at www.stc-europe.org to get an 
impression of what we're doing).

I think that my membership of the Dutch STC chapter has some 
benefits:
- When I want to organize an event, it's quite easy to attract US 
speakers, because, believe it or not, STC is well known in TC 
circles :-)
- I usually find something of my interest in the STC publications. If I 
don't like an article, I don't read it. Easy.
- I find STC a great way to get in touch with other European writers. 
Although I haven't had time to travel much last year, I definitely 
intend to visit some of the meetings held by other chapters 
(especially France and Transalpine are very active, and the Nordic 
chapter is emerging rapidly).
- In a country where technical writing is still developing as a 
profession, STC membership shows my employers that I do take 
my work seriously. Usually, they can't believe their ears when I tell 
them that there is a society dedicated exclusively to technical 
communication.
-STC-NL is helping STIC (the original Dutch TC society) to get out 
of its hibernation.

There are some drawbacks too:
- STC, as an American legal entity, cannot represent a European 
country at INTECOM, the international council for technical 
communication, so you can't have your say their decisions.
- The overseas postage pay is ridiculously high.
- As an STC member, your chances of bumping into Andrew Plato 
one day are extremely low.

Maaike Groenewege
Technical writer (and vice-president of STC-NL)

Hendrikx van der Spek
Bureau voor bedrijfscommunicatie
Netherlands

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