Are You Ready for the Future? September '96 Meeting

Speaker: Mary Wise, Region 2 Director-Sponsor Meeting notes by Craig Cardimon For more information, Mary recommends Charlie Breuninger's article "Becoming a Career-Resilient Employee" in the September 1996 News & Views.

Mary Wise, STC Region 2 Director-Sponsor, spoke on "Are you ready for the future? Trends in Technical Communication" at the September meeting. The Future is Now We've heard that information is the commodity--or is it? Information is abundant, overwhelming, and, if without structure, chaotic and useless. Knowledge is the true commodity. Businesses are buying information development expertise differently. This means outsourcing, and you can help avoid personally experiencing it by proving yourself so valuable that your boss will be desperate to keep you. You must contribute directly to the bottom line by saving money and having the numbers to back you up. You need new skill sets, not just tool skills. You should know how businesses work. You should also know what your bosses want to hear, and tell them in their own language. Speak the language of the CEO. The New Communicator The new communicator: Looks at the big picture. Find your place in the grand scheme of the company. Don't be someone who just hunts for mistakes in spelling and syntax. Look at the business plan and figure out where you come in. Is excited by change. Dives into chaos and comes out refreshed. Embraces new skills. What, Where, and How What, where, and how should you learn about all the exciting things going on around you? You should learn as much as you can about the Web, online subjects, and multimedia. Learn anywhere you can, including home, school, office, and through the STC. Learn any way you can squeeze it in, in formal classes, by playing around with new technologies, and by picking someone else's brain. Ask questions! Inspiration How do you hold a hundred tons of water in the air with no visible means of support? Answer: Build a cloud. For further information, Mary recommends Charlie Breuninger's article "Becoming a Career-Resilient Employee" in the September 1996 News & Views. Chapter News Beverly Bruns, Chapter President, started the meeting by saying this year's meetings will try to address "Our jobs, our perception of our jobs, and our perception of ourselves. Technical writers are no longer just technical writers." Mike Sharp, Vice President and soon-to-be-former Employment Manager, still needs volunteers for the employment listings. Four people have expressed desire to work on the listings, but none are as yet confirmed. The employment listings work can be broken into four parts, so that up to four people could share the job. The first part involves receiving the listings, via telephone, fax, and email during business hours. Some return phone calls are required. The second part involves editing the 3-15 listings per week into a brief, consistent format for email distribution. The third part involves sending the email, about 1 to 2 hours per week. The fourth part involves HTML-coding the listings for the website. Newsletter editor Alan Muirhead is also looking for an editor for the software reviews column. Call Mike or Alan if you would like to help with either the employment or newsletter jobs.

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