STC-Phila. Metro Chapter

Society for Technical Communication

So You Say Translating Specialized Technical Documents is Easy! Maybe Not As Easy As You Thought.

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Ever have a technical document come across your desk, or workflow process, that was a little more specialized, at second glance, than you thought? It happens more often than you think. In our second webinar of 2021-2022, Translating Technical Documentation, October 20, 2021 at 7:00pm, learn more about the challenges of translating these types of documents.

Technical documents cover a wide range of subject matter areas. Some are not just advanced but also very specialized due to the uniqueness of the expertise required. Thus, translating them requires extra care. This webinar will discuss 1) the challenges that are inherent in translating these types of documents and 2) the care that should be taken by all stakeholders to achieve the required publishable quality.

Register NOW to save a seat at this webinar that speaks to every technical writer, documentation specialist, and translator.

Our Presenters

Evan Schapiro is the Director of Translation Services at CETRA and holds over a decade of language industry experience. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the Universidad de Sevilla, his specialties include written translation, language technology, process development and customer service.

Anukware Selase Adzima is the Global Business Development Manager at CETRA. Previously, he opened and managed a subsidiary of CETRA in Ghana. He is a graduate of the University of Ghana at Legon and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.

September 2021 Webinar: From Meh to Memorable! Create IMPACT in Your Virtual Presentations

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Our 2021-2022 season is set to start in September with this webinar!

Join us on Thursday, September 23, 2021 7:00 PM ET for the virtual presentation of “From Meh to Memorable! Create IMPACT in Your Virtual Presentations“.

Register for the event now, as the registration closes on September 15th!

Presenting in the virtual world is our new normal. How do you transform a meh presentation into a memorable experience?

The art of delivering clear, concise, and compelling presentations is a skill that only develops with practice. Discover innovative techniques to increase interaction with your virtual audience by incorporating the DemoIMPACT methodology into your next online presentation.

This session blends business understanding with technical capabilities to sharpen your virtual presentation skills. Learn proven methods to increase engagement with your online audience. Improve your ability to effectively communicate during webinars, client meetings and speaking engagements.

Key takeaways:

  • Gain practical insights for engaging with a remote audience to create a lasting impact
  • Enhance your personal strengths as a technical presenter
  • Develop a more confident mindset as a virtual speaker

Beth Anne Ashley is a seasoned Pre-Sales Engineer and Software Trainer, performing business and technical presentations for IT Management, Executives and End Users for over 20 years. Many call her talented storyteller whose charismatic personality and witty demeanor keep audiences engaged. She is truly passionate about applying innovative techniques to traditional presentation methods.

As founder of DemoNOW Consulting, she empowers technical presenters to transform ordinary presentations into engaging customer experiences. Through hands-on educational training webinars and workshops, she helps organizations align business understanding with technical capabilities to improve their virtual presentation skills. Her key areas of focus include: product messaging, solution consulting, and customer relationship building.

★ Her mission is to help you present your best self!

Register for the event

A Chapter Update—a Big One

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Hello STC-PMC members,

We haven’t had a big update on things going on in the chapter for a while, so that needs rectifying. Because we had absolutely no candidates for president and only one candidate for treasurer, we could not hold our elections for a new council. We had held the nomination period open for at least six weeks, and with the only qualifications being that you had to be both a member of the STC and a member of the PMC, it was incredibly disappointing that no one who was eligible stepped up. Jen Meservey fulfilled her role as president for the past year but declined to run again nor continue as she will be pursuing her PhD this coming year.

Because I could see where this was going fast, I contacted the STC Community Affairs Committee (CAC) Chair for guidance. The options were to start steps to close the chapter or figure out something else. It didn’t seem fair that with at least 40 members currently and a very healthy treasury that we should throw in the towel too quickly. If we closed the chapter, not only would we leave 40 people interested in belonging to our chapter in a lurch, but we’d also be losing our treasury money. When a chapter closes, the treasury reverts to STC, and we cannot get it back if we restarted the chapter later.  With this in mind, the CAC Chair and I joined forces to find other solutions.

The solution—for now—is that we’re starting over in some respects. The CAC Chair asked me to return as “acting President” and have our current treasurer, Steve Adler, remain as “acting treasurer”. As two veteran STC-PMC past presidents, she knew we could be relied on to keep things alive and safe. In my role as acting President and with the CAC Chair’s approval, I’ve formed a small provisional committee that will keep things together until we can grow our current membership and volunteer base so new people can come in and confidently take up the council mantle and continue to move us forward.

I’ve also put in place what I call, “The Clean Slate Protocol”. If you’ve ever seen Iron Man 3, you know that after the final battle of the movie, Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) decides to start over, and he blows up every Iron Man suit he’s built to date to start over—a clean slate. That’s what we’re doing here. We’re starting over. While we have a small membership in place, being that we are in a large tech region, we should have a LOT more members than we have, despite any pandemic or economic issues going on, especially now that things are starting to improve in the industry, economy, and people are getting back to work. This provisional committee that I’ve formed is spending the summer focused on putting together strategies to pull in more members as well as get all members more involved. We’re going to approach this as if we are starting new and build from there.

We have a good foundation. We’ve continued to win awards, produce prominent leadership from this chapter that have moved up high in the STC, and we continue to make connections locally that not only bolster our professional network, but—as our recent Year-End Picnic proved—many friendships as well. This provisional committee is made of STC-PMC veterans who I’ve chosen that share that same drive to put things right and go to great lengths to do it—including trying some very different approaches not done before with this chapter. We can be so much more and do so much better. We need to bring in a fresh council to move us forward. This committee is going to be focused on bringing our membership forward in this respect.

Stay tuned for updates on programming that we’re going to pull together for you. This will include both educational and social opportunities. All is not lost, and the 2021-2022 program year might be off to a quiet start, but we don’t plan to end the program year that way.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at pastpresident@stcpmc.org.

The chapter appreciates your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you at our chapter events this upcoming year!

 

Until our next update,

Danielle M Villegas
Acting President, STC-PMC

End-of-Year Picnic is Outside and In-person!

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Join us for our first outdoor gathering of 2021 as we reacquaint ourselves with colleagues and friends at our end-of-the-year picnic.

It should be a glorious day to gather in person and celebrate our remarkable accomplishments this year. We set remarkable milestones and presented informative, and well received programs. It’s time to celebrate these accomplishments and finally have fun.

Sat., June 26, 2021 from 12:00pm – 3:00pm

Alverthorpe Park, Mini Golf Pavilion, 483 Forrest Avenue, Jenkintown, PA 19046

A few event information:

  • This event is FREE to all attendees and their families.
  • Please register the total number of people in your party so we know how many will attend.
  • Drinks will be provided, but guests are asked to provide their own food and snacks to keep physical contact minimal.
  • Please wear masks if you are not fully vaccinated or can’t stay socially distanced.
  • Please bring a blanket or lawn chair if you wish to sit on the lawn, but the pavilion provides several picnic tables.
  • Please tell Park Rangers, when you arrive, you are attending an event at the Mini Golf Pavilion.

 

 

Okay, no more diplomacy!

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This chapter doesn’t seem to understand that with no one at the helm to at least represent the chapter, we have no chapter. We’ve had our nominations open for 3 weeks, and so far, we only have one viable candidate for treasurer, and no candidates for president. We’ve run out of interventions and “Plan Bs”. Mergers with other chapters can no longer be considered. This is a last gasp for breath.

This is a travesty considering that just three years ago, we were the STC community of the year. Even this year, we won a Pacesetter Award for our streamlining efforts and won a Gold level Community Achievement Award, and had a recipient of the highest award the STC gives—the Distinguished Community Service Award (DCSA) given to one of our chapter and council members. The current STC Secretary is a longtime PMC member, and we have PMC member on the STC board as well. We’ve had several PMC members rise through the ranks to the STC board, and one member was even the VP and president a few years ago. PMC means leadership—so why can’t we bring in just one more?

The president role as it stands now is a significantly reduced role. You have several veterans who are ready to step off the board who will train and support you. Even the treasurer candidate is a strong veteran of our council who has been in a leadership position in the past.

Haven’t you always wanted to try to put your organization and leadership skills to the test? This is a safe environment where you can grow, learn, and make mistakes, knowing that people will catch you. Having the President of an STC chapter on your resume helps open doors, both professionally and within the society. Participating in STC CAC also helps you bolster your leadership skills. Even if you don’t want to be a manager at work, this is an opportunity to bolster your own self-confidence while serving others who share your same passion for your field.

BOTTOM LINE – all we are asking is for at least one person who is not just an STC member but is also a PMC member to step up to project manage a few events for the 2021-2022 year. You don’t even have to have as many events as before. Help to make the executive decisions for the chapter with your council’s backing, and hold things together. That’s it. We’ll train you, and give you the tools you need.

With an impassioned plea, step up today. Our nominations form is still open, and we’ll keep it open until 5/29. If we don’t have anyone stepping up by then, then we’ll have to start proceedings to start closing the chapter down.  This is not the desired outcome. Step up now!

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