Final Post as Chapter President

Hey everyone,

This will be my last post on this blog. After the conference, or maybe during the conference, Howard is going to take over. I'm leaving tomorrow to go to the conference in Philadelphia. I am really looking forward to it. Mike has arranged for our booth to be shipped and we will staff it. He has even volunteered his wife to staff it some of the time! Thank you, Mike, and to your wife. The chapter really appreciates it.

Speaking of Mike, on Monday, Mike will be installed as the Society 2nd Vice President. On Tuesday, I will be at the banquet with a number of our chapter members to cheer as Mike becomes an STC Fellow. This is really a time for celebration for our chapter.

On Sunday, Howard, Holly, Jen, I and others will be on hand for Leadership Day and to receive our chapter's award as a Chapter of Excellence! This is an honor and is a result of some very hard work by numerous chapter members.

I have put on my list to attend several of our members' sessions. I know Debbie Doyle presents on Tuesday at 1:30 PM. I'm looking forward to, "So, You Can Write. But Can You Think?" It does sound intriguing. I present with the Lone Writers' Progression on Wednesday. If there are any of you presenting, let me know. I would like to attend as many member presentations as I can this year.

Looking through the schedule of presentations, I have highlighted at least 3 in each time frame. I don't know how I can choose. The list I have doesn't have presenters listed, so maybe that will be a way I can trim my list. There are many presenters I love to hear.

Anyway, as my last official duty as your chapter president, I would like to thank everyone involved in the chapter. This has been a wonderful, if sometimes difficult, year for me. I owe it to all of you.

Thanks for everything,
Al

Dates for STC Summit 2009 in Atlanta

I found out that the STC Summit in Atlanta in 2009 will be May 3 through 6, 2009. I think it is great that we are having the Summit in Atlanta. And it seems that it will be a recurring thing. As I understand it, the Summit will be on a rotating basis between several cities, which will include Atlanta. So every few years, Technical Communicators will be traveling back here to Atlanta!

Here is a link you should check out: http://stronglanguage.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/tell-about-the-south/. This link is from Steve Marshall. This link is about Atlanta and there is some interesting information in there. I will have to get some of these books.

Congratulations to Howard Speck, our new chapter president. Beginning in June, Howard will be posting to this blog, since he will take over as president June 1st.

It has been a long, wonderful, interesting year as chapter president. My last duty as chapter president will be attending the STC Summit in Philadelphia. (Although, technically, I will no longer be chapter president as of Leadership Day, June1.)

I will try to post more over the next few days.

STC Atlanta Chapter Banquet

Wow! Has it really been that long since I last posted? I am really falling down on the job.

Anyway, this is important, so listen up: Tuesday, April 22, at 6:30 PM, we are having our annual awards banquet at Maggiano's Italian Restaurant in the Perimeter area. You need to be there.

This banquet is where we honor the winners of our competitions and our volunteers. It is one of the last times I get to preside as your chapter president.

The food, in case you have never been to Maggiano's is excellent! (Much better than in year's past!) Even if you don't know anyone who is a competition winner, you need to be here! It is an excellent networking opportunity. There are many people present for this event that never show up at regular chapter meetings.

If you need more information and/or want to register for this event, go to: http://www.stcatlanta.org/banquet.htm.

If you have any questions about the event that this web link doesn't answer, please feel free to email me. If you can only go to one event this year, this is the event you need to go to. And you don't have to be a member to attend!

See you all there ...

Great Meeting

If you missed the meeting on January 15th, you missed a good one. Mark Wallace presented on "How to Run a Successful DITA Pilot User Assistance Project." We had very good attendance and it was an excellent presentation. Mark made his presentation based upon a successful pilot project at IBM ISS where he works. Thanks, Mark for that informative presentation.

Now, I would like to ask all of you a few questions. And this is especially for our STC Atlanta members but, even if you aren't members, I would like you to answer. Although I may be "preaching to the choir."

Do you view blogs? Do you use RSS to do so? Do you have a blog? How many RSS feeds do you subscribe to?

We are considering a blog format for our STC Chapter newsletter. We have had problems recruiting and keeping a newsletter editor. So this is an alternative. And it would also allow multiple inputs from different members and you can comment immediately on the articles. I think it will allow a more interactive format. And we will have an RSS subscription link so you will immediately know when a new entry has been made.

What do you think about this format?

Until next time ...