By Marcia Shannon, Membership Manager
Another quarter, another change of season. I’ve always felt that Autumn is my personal new year/start fresh time. The shift in the landscape from green to brown feels like a natural time to take stock and make changes.
September is the opening month of STC membership renewal season. December 31, 2022 is the deadline to renew your membership. It’s a good time to check out how you use membership benefits. Consider increasing those benefits by becoming more involved through volunteering.
Have you told your colleagues about the benefits of joining STC? Joining now extends the twelve-month membership into this year. It’s a bargain well worth snagging.
Do you know or work with students in technical communication courses? Encourage them to look into the STC scholarship. Membership is not required to apply. That deadline is also December 31.
Why join STC?
It is a vital to keep up with trends in technical communications. STC members have constant opportunities for continuing education, to network with other tech commers, to access a platform to share your knowledge by presenting to local and national audience. You can meet and quiz folks about a large variety of business and educational institutions beyond your own.
Why join IDL?
If you are an instructional designer, all the benefits I just listed, along with the refinement of information from your field. If becoming an instructional designer is in your career plan, IDL educational and social activities give you the chance to connect with practitioners in the field. IDL members share their experiences and coach those new to the specialty. If you are not an instructional designer, your job may include creating training materials as part of your technical writing job. The IDL SIG is a resource for you, to learn from experienced instructional designers or ask for help with your project. After all, the goal of technical communication is to explain and enable. I have found that the specializations within tech comm often bleed into one another’s area of expertise. I find incorporating IDL processes into my procedure writing results in a document that does double duty by being a reference for experienced users and a training help for new hires.
But the best reason to join is…
We have a lot of fun. We learn, we teach, we share, we laugh. Because laughing alone is never as satisfying as laughing with a group, I recommend volunteering to help the SIG provide the best possible experience for all of our members. IDL has several long- and short-term volunteer tasks open right now. Your volunteer experiences aid in building your resume as a leader, an innovator, a team player, a mentor, a speaker, a trainer, as well as a technical communicator. I hope you will join our volunteer group. We need your unique voice and talent.