The 2018 STC Summit took place May 20-23 at at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida. Rochester chapter members attending included Ben Woelk, Johanne Lavallée, Kelly Schrank, Chuck Campbell, Bobbi Werner, Roxy Greninger, and Marilyn Woelk. They represented the Rochester Chapter at Leadership Day, when the Rochester Chapter received the Platinum Community and Pacesetter awards. Paul Remington of Rochester also attended the Summit.
Ben Woelk and Marilyn Woelk were presenters. Marilyn Woelk served as program manager for the Summit. Bobbi Werner served as Writing and Communication track manager. Frequent Spectrum participant David Caruso of the Philadelphia Metro Chapter served as conference manager. Kelly Schrank was recognized as a new Associate Fellow. Ben Woelk was installed as Vice President of STC.
Rochester chapter members and others have identified several sessions as being of particular interest. These include sessions by Bernard Aschwanden, Nicky Bleiel, Lacey Corbin and Michael Ward, Crystal Elerson, Sara Feldman, Liz Fraley, Jennifer Goode, Tina Kiser, Lisa Meloncon, Aiessa Moyna, Sarah O’Keefe, Mike Parkinson, Bruce Poropat, Melanie Seibert, Kirk St. Amant, Dawn Stevens, and Val Swisher. Several people have commented on the value of the Improv workshop held by Jack Molisani and Ben Woelk.
The STC San Diego chapter has several Summit videos on its YouTube channel, including one showing Ben Woelk and Sara Feldman talking about the Rochester and San Diego Pacesetter Awards. STC Southeastern Michigan has published a blog post on each day of the Summit by Kelly Smith. She attended three of Ben’s presentations and summarizes her experience.
Larry Kunz blogged about keynote speaker Carla Johnson. Ben Woelk has posted his slides on The Introvert in the Workplace.
The Policies and Procedures SIG sent a Summit report to all members by email, and will send a follow up report on SIG activities at the Summit as well. Co-manager Ann Marie Queeney mentioned that Bernard’s session on applying project management principles to technical communication projects showed the importance of having both sets of skills. Ann Marie also reported that the Improv workshop was fun and provided many useful tips–for example, if you want to engage someone in conversation, stay away from yes or no questions. Ann Marie comments, “As the role plays demonstrated, it is harder than you might think!”
The Technical Editing SIG has posted “Report on TE SIG activities at the Summit” by Amanda Altamirano and a report on a presentation by Li-At Rathbun, a co-manager of the Technical Editing SIG.
The Academic SIG provided a list of members winning honors this year including:
- Fellows: Sally Henschel (Midwestern State University), Craig Baehr (Texas Tech University), MaryKay Grueneberg, and Steven F. Jong
- Associate Fellows: Scott R. Abel, Kelly Schrank, and Ray Gallon
- Honorary STC Fellow: Annetta L. Cheek
- President’s Award: Andrea Ames
