STC Southern Nevada Chapter

2011-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Greeting fellow STCers!

In our last meeting, on September 28th, here's what we talked about...

Upcoming meeting dates:
* October 26th
* November 23rd
* December - no meeting. Instead, we will have our holiday party.

Update on service activities:
Kate sent an email to the room coordinator at Glazier's and he agreed to send us a list of the non-profit organizations that reserve the room. After Kate receives that list, she will send the groups an email offering our services. What a great way to give back!

Kate presented on Writing for Translation - send an email to the address on our "Contact Us" page if you want a copy of the ppt

Thanks for a great meeting everyone! See you next month!

Your co-president,
Kate Tinklenberg

2011-07-25T15:54:00.001-07:00

Hello STCers,

Here's what happened at our last STC meeting on 7/20/2011...

Attendees: Kate, Janet, Lonna, Eugene

Reflection on Pantry Pals: We really enjoyed our time delivering food to seniors and hanging out at the cafe afterward. We want to do more!
- Our next service activity will be Three Square's Sock Hop Bingo on Wednesday, August 24. We hope you all can make it and bring your family and friends too.
- We also want to give our skills and talents to other non-profit organizations. To this end, we are contacting the other non-profit groups that meet in our meeting space to offer our services. Some services/skills that we know we can offer are: mail merge; editing/proofreading/grammar checking; website content editing, organization, and usability; brochures; instructions and procedures; manual and guides. We will evaluate all requests and assign each request to volunteers to manage and deliver the project. We will be cautious to make sure we only take on projects we can deliver with our limited resources. If anyone is interested in getting involved in this service activity, just send Janet or Kate an email.
Revisited survey results:
- Skype!!! Now that our location challenges have been resolved and we have Skype working again, we have confirmed that we have responded to the number 1 suggestion from the survey, which was to provide a telecommunication option to all of our members. We hope to "see" more of you at future meetings now that you can Skype in from home. Skype makes getting involved with STC easy. You don't have to worry about traffic or commute time. You can call in when you want, listen or not listen to whatever you want, etc. And you still get all the benefits of networking and knowledge-sharing with other professionals in the community that do what you do.
- Free food!!! Our new location provides us with free snacks and refreshments at all meetings. Yum!
- About half of our chapter members replied to the survey. Janet is going call the rest of the chapter members and try to get their input too. Stay tuned for results...
Ideas/visions for our chapter:
In our last pseudo-meeting (at the cafe after Pantry Pals), we threw around a lot of great ideas and visions about how we want to improve our chapter and make it more valuable to everyone. In this meeting, we started a running list of these ideas/visions that we will revisit at each meeting. We also started to prioritize these ideas/visions. We commiserated over the fact that we have such good ideas and such little resources to actually see them come to fruition. To this end, we decided that for next year, we will choose one idea/vision that we will execute and see to completion.
STC summit summary:
Janet was able to attend some of the STC Summit this year. She is usually pretty giving with her access to Summit at a Click, so if you're interested in the replays of any sessions, send her an email.
Presentation (Kate): Writing for translation
We ran out of time. Moved to the next meeting.

We hope to see you at our next meeting on Wednesday, August 17th, from 6:30-8:30 at Glazier's Food Marketplace on Warm Springs.

Your chapter co-president,
Kate Tinklenberg

2011-04-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hello SoNev STCers!

We had an eventful and fun meeting on Wednesday. Here's what happened....

Meeting held Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 at Starbucks:

Attendees: Kate, Janet, Eugene, Jen, John L., Lonna

Agenda:

Location:
John Shipman threw his back out a few days ago and is OK, but heavily medicated and limited in movement. Understandably so, he forgot to let us know that he would not be able to attend our meeting and thus we would not be able to meet at our regular location. And so we improvised and held the meeting at Starbucks down the street. We wish John a speedy recovery and hope to see him at our regular location next month. However, we are looking into alternatives, just in case.
Announcements:
* Janet McCreary and I have agreed to share the responsibilities of the President and Vice President and instead be Co-Presidents of our STC chapter.
* Coming soon: MySTC Network on the www.stc.org website. This will be a social networking site, similar to Linked-In and Facebook, for STC members (and guests).
Summer outing:
After looking at several options, the group decided to pick a Saturday sometime in June and get together for a meal and a service activity. We will be volunteering for an activity provided by www.volunteercentersn.org (affiliated with the United Way).

ACTION: Take a look at the June volunteer calendar (remember, we're looking at a Saturday) and start thinking about the activities in which you would most like to participate. See the June calendar on www.volunteercentersn.org to learn about the activities available to us in June.
Survey results:
We decided to move this item to next month because Starbucks wasn't very conducive to showing slides and they wouldn't let us Skype with our remote members.
The SoNev STC chapter website (http://www.stc-nevada.org):
As most of you know, our website is horribly out of date. Several members over time have commented on the need to update our site, but up until now, we haven't had someone willing or able to dedicate the time necessary for this task. Now, John Limon has agreed to take on the task of updating our website. He has some great ideas and a vision for revamping our site. Thank you, John!

At our next meeting....

We will decide as a group on the service activity that we will participate in and the day. We will also identify someone to take on the task of organizing the event - sign us up, coordinate any travel arrangements, send out announcements, etc.
We will discuss the member outreach survey results.
And much more... !

Thanks for such a fun-filled meeting!
Kate Tinklenberg

2011-04-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

Reminder!

There's still time to respond to the member outreach survey.

Please take a few minutes and respond. Based on your responses, we are going to make changes to help everyone get what they want out of their STC chapter.

Thanks so much for your participation and support!

Your chapter president,
Kate Tinklenberg

2011-04-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

Reminder!

The April chapter meeting will not be held next Wednesday, April 6th. Instead, the April chapter meeting will be held the following Wednesday, April 13th.

We hope to see you there!

2011-03-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

Greetings from your new Chapter President!

We decided to use the blog to communicate our chapter meeting minutes, so here it goes....

Chapter meeting held March 2nd, 2011:

Attendees: Kate, Jen, Eugene, John S., Lonna, Janice, Janet

Agenda:

Meeting location:
For now, it was decided that chapter meetings will be held at 4100 W. Flamingo Road, Suite 2200. It is centrally located, provides wired Internet access, and is free. :-)
Vice President election:
Please welcome Janet McCreary as our new Vice President! And a big Thank You to Eugene for all of his hard work over the past couple years, especially with coordinating and managing our presentations.
Member outreach:
We talked about how to grow the attendance at our meetings. We want to make sure that you get what you want out of being part of a chapter. So, Janet, or another member, will be contacting you over the next couple months to learn more about you and understand what we could do differently to make these meetings more meaningful to you.
Presentations:
Potential presentations in the works include Writing for Translation (Kate), Writing for and with Microsoft (guest speaker), Updates to our chapter Web site (Lelia), Writing for unmanned aircraft (Janice), and a Demo of Snagit (Lonna). If anyone else has an idea for a presentation, please contact myself or Janet.

Several members want to expand the topics of our presentations to include new and cutting edge technologies, and SMEs on products and services of interest to our community. Some ideas brought up were the cloud, software as a service, and how to use YouTube for instructions. Janet and I will try to incorporate these types of presentations as the year goes on. If anyone has any ideas or knows any SMEs on these topics or any other topics, please contact us.
Summer outing:
There was a general consensus to change the activity and location of the summer outing this year. Many ideas were brought up, including Mt. Charleston, Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, Spring Mountain Ranch, Ethel M's Cactus Gardens, a potluck picnic, or a service activity. If we decide to do something outdoors, it was suggested that we move the date to an earlier month to avoid the heat. Janet and I will narrow down the list to 2 or 3 activities and put it to a vote at a future meeting.

Thanks to everyone for the great discussion and ideas! We'll see you at the next meeting on April 6th.

Your President,
Kate Tinklenberg

STC Elections/ Candidates Info

2010-01-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

The following are campaign materials for the STC Elections coming up in March. These materials have been sent to our chapter by the candidates. They are posted per request from the candidates and posting them here implies no endorsement by the SN Chapter.

The following two candidates are running for STC Director-at-Large:

___________________________________________________

I’m Tricia Spayer, candidate for STC Director-at-Large. I would appreciate your vote in the 2010 STC elections.

Why vote for me?

· I’ve been an active member in the Northeast Ohio chapter of STC (NEO STC) for almost ten years, six of which I served on the Executive Committee. I’ve gained experience as an adept leader in the positions of President, Vice President, Immediate Past President, Secretary, and Membership Chair. I’m currently serving as the Bylaws Committee Chair. During my year as President, we achieved the Chapter of Excellence award and received an Award of Distinction for PR from STC International. Through this leadership experience, I’ve learned to motivate others through respect, trustworthiness, and tenacity.

· I served as a member of the Planning Committee for the 2007 STC Regional Conference in Cleveland, OH, which was a highly acclaimed, profitable, and professionally-run conference.

· I received the President’s Achievement Award from NEO STC in 2009 for my leadership and contributions to the chapter’s Pacesetter and Chapter of Distinction awards.

· At the Society level, I’ve presented at the 2009 STC International conference, reviewed program proposals for the International conference, and have volunteered for the LCR.

· For my professional work, I achieved Best of Show and an Award of Excellence for an STC Online competition, along with an Award of Merit for an STC Technical Publications competition.

· When I promise to do a job, I do it.

· I am very detail-oriented, and weigh all facts before making an important decision.

· I bring my creativity and enthusiasm to projects.

· I give credit where credit is due. That is, most jobs or activities are the work of committees – I make a point to thank the contributors. Volunteers need to be recognized, rewarded, and thanked.

· It’s time to use my experience to benefit the whole Society.

What future enhancements would I like to see in the Society?

The basic description of STC states that “STC is an individual membership organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication.” The key word I see is “individual.” I would love to see a program like I have observed in Toastmasters, where people complete a defined number of projects to achieve a certain level of recognition. They complete that level, and move on to more advanced projects to attain the next level, then the next. Toastmasters has a Communication track, as well as a Leadership track, so people can focus on different skills. Achievement is at an individual level, so the faster people work, the faster they reach their goals. Toastmasters has mentors and experienced leaders, just as we already have in STC – it would be great to use these resources to expand our knowledge. I feel that STC members would benefit by learning specific skills and receiving accreditation for these skills.

The work that has already been done to capture the STC Body of Knowledge is a fantastic resource. I hope that project continues to grow and that STC can soon provide certification.

I would like to see STC expand its membership base by advertising and sponsoring through educational institutions, engineering societies, and related professional organizations.

Most of us are aware that STC has been through a difficult period. I am not afraid of challenges. I’ve been a part of huge projects, such as the 2007 STC Regional Conference in Cleveland, and my company’s implementation of a content management software package, with excellent results. I know that change does not happen overnight. It takes determination and dedication to see a project through. I am ready for this challenge.

To see my experience and list of achievements, visit http://triciaspayer.com.

Please vote for me in the STC 2010 elections. Thank you!

___________________________________________________

Nicky Bleiel — STC Candidate for Director

I am currently serving on the Society for Technical Communication Board of Directors and am running for another two-year term as a Director-At-Large.

My past two years on the Board have been interesting, challenging, and important. Interesting because I have learned a great deal, challenging because of the hurdles we faced, and important because the Society is at a critical juncture.

"Change" has been a hallmark of the last year, and STC has been no different. We have made many changes to the way we have always done things. We made difficult decisions and took difficult actions, all with the intent to strengthen the Society. We made no decisions without careful deliberation and research. So far, those choices have had the intended effect. But there is still work to be done.

I would like to continue to serve as a Director so that I can see a number of initiatives through and continue the momentum. Specifically, I want to continue work on creating additional revenue sources for the Society (such as Summit@aClick, new educational opportunities, Amazon and Café Press merchandise sales), helping members in need (for example, Job Seeker Bootcamp and Member Recovery Packages), adding more member value (for example, STC's Notebook blog, the new Member Logo program), and further enhancing the Recognitions program.

In addition to my Board experience, my STC experience includes five years as a chapter leader (including President of the Pittsburgh Chapter), a competitions judge, a conference and webinar speaker, and a regional conference planner. I have 15 years of experience as a technical communicator in the software industry. I am heavily involved in the profession, and am a frequent speaker at many conferences, including STC, WritersUA, tcworld, LavaCon, and DocTrain. I have written articles for Intercom, tcworld, TechCom Manager, and more. My areas of expertise include embedded help, tools and technologies, user assistance design, single sourcing, wikis, Web 2.0, and convergence technical communication.

To learn more about me, please see my website: http://www.nickybleiel.com/. It includes my biography; a list of recommendations from members; a list of my presentations, articles, and podcasts; and a rundown of my service to STC over the years.

Here are just a few of the recommendations I’ve received from members:

I wholeheartedly endorse Nicky for a second term as member of the STC Board of Directors. In addition to being an effective technical communicator, Nicky understands the challenges that the profession and the Society need to address. STC membership will benefit greatly from her contributions."
Sarah O'Keefe
President, Scriptorium Publishing Services
STC Associate Fellow

"Over the past three years, I have witnessed Nicky's strength and excellence on the STC Board of Directors. She cares about STC, knows when to make the hard decisions, and always looks at problems from as many perspectives as possible to find the "truth" of the matter. I'm convinced that the STC BoD is stronger and more successful because of Nicky's presence."
Linda Oestreich
Manager, SSM Documentation, Hewlett-Packard
STC Fellow and Past President

Please vote for me when you receive your ballot. Polls open March 9. (Reminder: you must renew your membership by Feb. 28^th to be eligible to vote.)

Thank you.

Use an Open Mind with OpenOffice.org

2009-03-05T06:22:00.000-08:00

I was forced into the situation by circumstance. I don't know when I would have gotten around to it otherwise. It was a nightmare in real-time. The family PC had stopped working and a second-string replacement PC was put into service. However, the family PC had Microsoft Office and the replacement PC has OpenOffice.org.

WHAT!
I have things to do, projects to finish, deadlines looming!
I don't have time to learn a new application.

Using an open mind, a fresh outlook, and having no other choice, the most pressing project was finished before the deadline. Overall, it was a pleasant and satisfying experience.

I'm interested in your comments about OpenOffice.org. Please share.

Welcome to the STC Southern Nevada Chapter Blog!

2008-12-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

This blog will be used to post references to positions in Technical Communications as well as a forum for discussing issues related the field of Technical Communications.