RE: HUMOR: STC Conference Time!

["Jean Richardson" <jean -at- bjrcom -dot- com>]

Good morning, Andrew.

I was interested to see the contribution you made to the list this last
Saturday and felt it appropriate to respond, since I am the the "STC person"
who attended the first meetings of the study group you hosted and did the
survey of tech pubs managers.  I was surprised by the results of my survey
and they did figure in to my decision to eventually discontinue
participating in the group.  However, it was probably less than half of my
reasoning.  I'm sure you would prefer to hear the rest offline.

I'd also like to say that I am unaware of "STC folks" passing messages to
nonmembers in any effort to dismantle the study group.  Frankly, one of
those participants you might rightly have identified as an "STC person"
stopped participating because she was simply bored and unchallenged.  She
had already attained the level of skill required to take the test in the
course of her work.

I do agree with you that STC has its limitations.  I have become frustrated,
at times, with the focus on tools to the exclusion of more valuable
technical and human communication skills.  Your frustration is frequently
obvious on this list and in other forums.  Oddly enough, though I have been
active in a number of roles over the last twelve years in our local chapter
here in Portland, I am not familiar with your contributions in that time
period.  Your facility with words would make you, if nothing else, an
interesting raconteur/moderator for a panel discussion on any of a number of
topics.

This coming weekend the current Willamette Valley Chapter leadership is
meeting to begin revising its strategic plan.  This is an excellent time for
you to contact our chapter president and offer your skills and vision.
While it may be too late to actually get in on this first meeting, I'm
certain it is not too late to present a constructive and concise vision
statement.

You have a lot of energy, Andrew, and though your agency is comparatively
smaller than some local agencies, I believe it has a reputation for having a
firm grasp on a certain niche.  I'd frankly like to see your voice heard in
a constructive manner, though I will say from experience that shrill tones
can fall on deaf ears.

I am also involved as a member of the STC National Strategic Planning and
Vision committee.  In that role, I'd be pleased to hear more from you,
though I remain perplexed about the efficacy you see in castigating an
organization in which you have so little part.  You are welcome to
participate, and I am sure you would inspire and well as experience growth.

-- Jean

> > Subject: Re: HUMOR: STC Conference Time!
> From: Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>
> Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 22:50:27 -0800 (PST)
> X-Message-Number: 7
> BB>> "In short, what I would like to see is presentations that would get
> writers
> BB>> more interested in the technical side of the profession. I'm
convinced it
> BB>> can be done - but I don't know of many efforts to do it.
>  >
> EG> "How much effort have YOU put into making this happen?"
>



> On the second meeting, one of these STC people announced to the group that
she
> thought this type of technical training was "useless" and that she had
spoken
> with "a number of technical publications managers" who told her that such
> technical training would not encourage them to hire a candidate. Then,
over
> the
> next few weeks the STC folks went to work on the attendees. They would
email
> attendees and tell them that this was a waste of time and that they
shouldn't
> go. Attendance plummeted and eventually, we just did the study group among
> ourselves.
>
> It was another STC moment that affirmed what I always believed to be true.
STC
> outright discourages writers from obtaining technical training. STC and it
> wants to make sure writers remain non-technical, so they will continue to
see
> value in the parade on one-off issues they champion.
>
> Andrew Plato



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