Newsletter

​October, 2019 Volume 61 Number 2

Next Meeting

Date and time: Fall Kickoff, Western Wingding October 22, 2019 5:30 to 8:30 PM
Program: Kickoff with Ben Woelk (as a masked man) speaking on the Imposter Syndrome, acoustic music performed by Jim Drew
Location: Route 96 BBQ party room, 200 Phoenix Mills Plaza, 6385 NY-96, Victor, NY 14564, 585-742-2026
Details: In the spirit of October and Halloween, all are invited to wear a Western hat or Western wear. We will have a fantastic BBQ, a cash bar, and fall games with prizes. Ben explains his presentation: Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong in a group of your peers? That you don’t belong in your job and aren’t the expert others think you are? Then you belong in this presentation! Join us as we discuss impostor syndrome—the feeling of self doubt despite your own successes. You’ll learn to identify impostor syndrome, why it afflicts experienced professionals, and strategies to combat it.
Register: Link to be announced

Planning for the rest of the year’s programs has started, and here is a preview.

November 20: Annual Meeting and Techcomm Showcase, Radisson Hotel Rochester Airport, 175 Jefferson Rd, Rochester.

December, date and location TBD: Holiday dinner and a speaker.

January, date and location TBD. A meetup, for a program focused on words and writing.

February, date and location TBD. A Valentine-themed event with a speaker.

March, Spectrum 2020, March 21 to 23 at RIT.

April and May, dates and locations TBD with speakers on topics of interest, suggestions welcome.

President’s Prose

by Kelly Schrank, President

New this year, the President’s Prose becomes a blog post! Kelly’s October update is posted.

Redact Room

by Ann L. Wiley, editor

The Council meets on October 1, and news will be added to this issue after the meeting and throughout the month. The 60th anniversary history of the chapter has been posted this month, with a link from the newsletter archive. The Rochester Chapter invites you to join STC and the chapter, and to volunteer. Experience the rewards of working with the chapter’s dedicated team. We always welcome more volunteers to help. And as always, feature articles and other contributions to the newsletter are welcome. Contact the editor.

Meeting Report

Date and time: September, 2019
Program: 2019-2020 Kickoff
Details: The September meeting was postponed to October.

Council Notes

The Council meets online on the first Tuesday of most months at 7:00 PM to review committee reports and identify action items and who will be responsible. The planning retreat was held on September 14 and a regular meeting was held on October 1. Reports are reflected in the Chapter Chronicle.

Date and time of the next Council meeting: November 20, at the Annual Meeting and TechComm Showcase
Contact: Chapter president Kelly Schrank

Chapter Chronicle

Membership

The Rochester chapter has 60 members as of October 1, with eight new members since January 1. The 2020 STC membership season is open. Join today and receive 15 months of membership for the price of 12 months. Be sure to renew by December 31. There is a special benefit for all Rochester Chapter members right now. The Rochester Chapter values your membership–every member matters.

The Northeast Ohio chapter has published a spotlight profile of Kelly Schrank.

Education

The 2019-20 Heritage Award college scholarship cycle has begun, with updating the contact list. For more news of interest to students, see Educational Opportunities and Society News.

Mentoring

Bobbi Werner has been updating mentoring documents to be shared with RIT students. Two students are seeking mentors, and several mentors are available to work with students. If you would like to be a mentor or to have a mentor, contact mentoring manager Bobbi Werner.

Employment

Employment manager Laurie Fiaretti  posted two jobs this month. Chapter members may request to receive chapter employment emails with notices of job opportunities. These opportunities include job openings received from employers and recruiters, and job openings that Laurie has found on job boards, using key words for a broad range of technical communication roles including technical writer, technical editor, documentation specialist, editor, and project manager. Laurie also posts job openings on the chapter website.

Website and social media

The site is updated and backed up, a new design for the site is being developed, and blog posts have increased, with more coming in October.

Competition

This year the Regional Competition includes the Washington DC-Metro Baltimore Chapter, as well as participants from last year: Atlanta, Houston, New England, New York, Philadelphia, and Rochester. Be sure to enter the 2020 competition when the call for entries comes out this fall, and consider volunteering as a judge too. The Rochester Chapter received its share of the proceeds for the 2018-2019 competition, which we can increase if we have more entries and more volunteers.

To kick-off the 2019-20 Competition season, the Regional Competition is hosting a Joint Virtual TechComm Roadshow event on October 15, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 pm. EDT. Members of participating chapters should have received an invitation with the link to register, required to get the web conferencing information for this FREE event.

Please contact Bobbi Werner with any questions. Bobbi is the Rochester Chapter representative and Awards Manager for the competition.

The STC website lists the Regional Competition and the three other collaborative competitions being held in 2019. Contact the individual competition managers with specific questions. Submissions are not limited to community members.

Spectrum 2020

The 61st annual chapter conference, Spectrum 2020, The Expanding Spectrum of Technical Communication, will be held March 21 to 23, 2020 at RIT. The keynote speaker is Kirk St. Amant. Visit the program page for more information. If you would like to volunteer, contact spectrum@stc-rochester.org.

Community Achievement Award and Pacesetter Award

Rochester Chapter applications for the 2020 Community Achievement Award and Pacesetter Award are being prepared, documenting the work of the chapter for 2019. This year, the chapter won the Platinum Community Achievement Award and a Pacesetter Award, and was named Community of the Year.

Educational Opportunities

Visit the STC website to see all of the Society’s current educational offerings. STC offers a webinar each Wednesday from 2:00 to 3:00 PM ET. Recorded webinars are available for purchase through STC by members and by non-members (at a higher price).

The Rochester Institute of Technology is offering a 12-hour training course for the STC Certified Professional Technical Communicator (CPTC) exam.
Dates and Times:
8:00-8:30 AM Registration
8:30 AM to 5:30 PM Saturday October 26, 2019
8:30 AM to 5:30 PM Sunday October 27, 2019

RIT is offering a $200.00 discount on registration to members of the Rochester Chapter of STC. You can register for the CPTC course on Eventbrite, where you will find course details. If you’re not a chapter member yet, join STC now and choose the Rochester Chapter as your community. New members who join now receive 16 months of membership for one year’s dues. Professional membership is $225 and New Professional membership is $180. Your CPTC course discount can pay for your membership.

Lisa Pietrangeli of 36 Software, a Spectrum 2019 sponsor, is presenting an STC webinar that is free to STC members, October 16 at 2:00 PM ET on Content Mayhem: A Case Study of Theory, Technology, and Continual Content Improvement (scroll down to the link to register).

Society News

STC is delighted to be offering a $500 scholarship to assist students who are pursuing an accredited undergraduate or graduate degree or graduate certificate program in some aspect of technical communication. The award is for the 2020-2021 academic year and will be awarded in February 2020. Applications will be accepted through November 30, 2019. Students do not have to be STC members to apply. The scholarship winner will receive a free year of STC membership. More information, including a link to the application instructions, is on the scholarship page of the STC website.

The student honorary societies Sigma Tau Chi (STX) and Alpha Sigma (AS) recognize student members of the Society who have distinguished themselves as students and have demonstrated promise of future contributions to the Society and the profession.

• Membership in STX is an honor given to students enrolled in a program in technical communication, who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above, are exemplary in participation in STC, and demonstrate a potential for significant contribution to the profession.
• Membership in AS is an honor given to students enrolled in a program in technical communication who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above, demonstrate active participation in STC, and have the potential to contribute to the profession.

Membership is awarded only once and honorees retain the membership as long as they are members in good standing of the Society.

For more information, guidelines, and application for this award, refer to the STX/AS page on the STC website.

The Call for Proposals for the 2020 STC Summit is open; the deadline for submitting proposals is September 15. Membership renewals open on September 1. Join or renew via the STC website.

Visit STC’s Notebook for the latest STC news.

Resource Reviews

Reviews of resources are published periodically.

Feature Articles

The chapter invites original articles for the blog on this website. The newsletter links to these features and they are archived with each issue. Contact the editor. 

Companies Represented in the Rochester Chapter

Alstom Signaling, Inc., Ann L. Wiley Consultants Inc., Azteca Systems, Inc., Bosch Security Systems. Inc., Excellus BCBS, Jorsek LLC, Lenel Systems Inc., Microflex 2001 LLC, Melissa D Hellman, writer and editor, Mikun Documentation Solutions Inc., Nokia, REDCOM Labratories, Inc., Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Buffalo State, SUNY Research Foundation, Technical Information Solutions, The Raymond Corporation, Ver-Mac Inc., Welch Allyn, Wingz Creative & Technical Group, Xerox