Our February 2019 chapter meeting is a joint one with PANMA on Thursday the 28th @ 6 pm.

Is content still King/Queen? Are you looking to get a fast track introduction into the world of content strategy? Join us as PANMA teams up with STC to host a discussion on the significance of content strategy within the new digital landscape.

“What is content strategy and why do we care?”
Content strategy is planning, creating, publishing, and maintaining content for all platforms. We care because we want to use this content to achieve business goals. To do that, we need to ensure that our content is meaningful, well-structured, findable, usable, and sustainable.

Speaker Bios: 

Danielle Villegas

Danielle M. Villegas is a technical communicator who is currently a freelance digital content strategist at Merck and is an instructor of technical communications at the NJIT. She owns a tech comm freelancing business, Dair Communications. Her background and experience are grounded in content strategy, web content management, UX/UI strategy, social media, project management, e-learning, and client services.

Debbi Dunn Solomon

Debbi Dunn Solomon is an accomplished communications strategist who specializes in conveying complex topics and disruptive ideas to targeted audiences including consumers, advocates and policymakers. She currently spends most of her working hours as a digital content strategist/senior copywriter for Merck Pharmaceuticals. You can see her portfolio on LinkedIn and posted at https://debbidunnsolomon.contently.com/. Debbi earned a BA from Brandeis University and an MS from Boston University College of Communication.

Food and drinks will be served at 6:00 PM, compliments of Wharton, PANMA’s sponsor.

This is a FREE event, but you must use the Register button below to RSVP on Eventbrite here to be added on the guest list to access the building. 

 Any questions about the event, contact vp@stcpmc.org. 

Time and Place Thursday, February 28th, 6:00-8:00 PM Jon M. Huntsman Hall 3730 Walnut Street Room 260 Philadelphia, PA 19104

Fabrice Lacroix, CEO of Fluid Topics, is hosting a free webinar for STC members on Thursday, February 21st at 2 pm.

“We will introduce you to new global privacy rules and explore how they will impact your operations, how your content delivery platform will be affected and the R&D you will need to manage your users’ data. This is a reformulation of your relationship with your customers’ data, and we will tell you what your next steps should be.”

Interested? Sign up here.

You have the tech comm skills and experience. It’s time to prove it to employers. Many of your peers successfully became Certified Professional Technical Communicators (CPTC) in 2018. By becoming certified, they have validated their skills and made themselves more marketable to potential employers. With a CPTC certification behind your name, you’re showing your employer and peers that you are serious about technical communication. As a Certified Professional Technical Communicator, you actively demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of best practices in the field and solidify yourself as a top-notch professional. When you join STC for 2019 today, you will save $250 on the certification exam, and you’ll gain deep discounts on STC webinars and online courses that will help you maintain your tech comm knowledge.

Don’t wait! Join today and let STC help you take the next steps in your career!    Questions? Contact membership@stc.org or call +1 (703) 522-4114

Lynne Williams, the Executive Director of the Great Careers Group, hosted a workshop titled How to Avoid the Online Application Black Hole on January 23rd. Speaking to a packed room of eager listeners ranging from Millennials like myself to Boomers, Lynne gave us the lowdown on how to save our resumes from said black hole — also known as the applicant tracking system.

Over the course of an hour and a half that blew by, Lynne outlined different ways to think about how one crafts a resume and why, and how, exactly, the applicant tracking system parses a resume. It certainly helped shine a light on the failings of my own resume – by including borders and section breaks as well as my information in a header, I could be dooming my resume into the bowels of the void, never to be seen again.

The discussion was lively, with different people chiming in their different viewpoints for including or not including something, as well of the benefits of generalizing vs. specializing your resume. Length and specificity were also topics up for discussion.

Lynne also extended her reach into LinkedIn, saying it was just as important as a resume for prospective employers. A strong LinkedIn can influence a strong resume when both work in sync.

I, myself, was so impressed with the workshop that I decided to work with Lynne’s side business, Around the Clock Executive Helper, to help me personally with my resume and LinkedIn one-on-one. More than just fixing my resume up for me, she steps into a mentor role that can give me guidance in general about my job search. I’ve had an initial meeting with her and I’m very optimistic about the results!

STC is now accepting applications from students who would like to volunteer at the STC Summit in Denver, Colorado at the Hyatt Regency from May 5-8. The deadline for application is April 1st.

Go here for more information and the registration form. Please note that students must be STC members to take advantage of this opportunity. Student membership is on sale right now for only $65! You can join using this membership form.

Normally, student registration at the Summit costs $200 but student volunteers attend for free!

Volunteering at the Summit is a tremendous opportunity for students. Students will help at the registration booth and assist the Education Manager in session rooms by counting attendees and helping the speaker as needed. They use a group texting app called GroupMe to make communication easy. The tasks while in the session rooms generally do not detract from the student’s learning experience in that session.

Students can benefit from all of the incredible programming and activities on offer. The full schedule is available here. You can view it in a PDF grid or as a list. There are 80+ sessions and 12 workshops, plus:
· Opening Keynote by Peter Morville, information architecture expert and co-author of the O’Reilly “Polar Bear” books
· Honors Event speaker Gabby Pascuzzi from Survivor (!!!!!)
· Closing General Session speakers Karen Schriver, Saul Carliner, and Ginny Redish
· Certified Professional Technical Communicator (CPTC) Exam Prep Training (this is a pre-conference session with an extra cost)
· An Expo Hall where you can meet with vendors and visit the Tech Comm Library
· Fun social events Monday and Tuesday evening, and Wednesday afternoon after the Closing General Session

Please know that they will need to arrange for their own lodging and food (though a free continental breakfast will be available to all each day) and that they should be at the conference center in the Hyatt Regency by approximately 7:30 a.m. each day. Individual schedules will vary, however, and management will work with each person to determine their availability and schedule.