June 2008 Newsletter

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A Humorous Look at the 2008 Conference

Join us on June 10, 2008, to enjoy perspectives of this year's conference from an experienced conference goer and a newbie. Tom Barnett has attended conferences every year for "quite a few" years during his tenure with STC. Karen Zorn has never attended one and is looking forward to the conference and reporting back to the membership her impressions and views. Both are attending this year's Technical Communication Summit and will return with differing perspectives of the conference proceedings and associated activities. Following Tom and Karen's presentation, there will be opportunity to discuss their perspectives and yours, should you also attend the conference, and we'll host our annual Awards for the Chapter. Mark your calendar and plan on joining us for the June 10 STC-Phoenix chapter meeting at the Phoenix Airport Hilton.

About the presenters

Tom Barnett: Tom is a long-time chapter member, STC Fellow, and our primary repository of chapter trivia, history and bylaws. Tom attends the conference every year and will put his personal spin on the proceedings. Karen Zorn: Our incoming President is a Senior STC member and active member of the Phoenix Chapter since she landed in the Valley of the Sun in 2001. Karen is the owner of ZornTech LLC, a documentation and training company.

Dinner

Meat: Chicken Parmesan with egg noodles and vegetable Vegetarian: Vegetable Stir Fry: a medly of sautéed vegetables served over rice All entrees include a tossed green salad, warm rolls and butter, coffee (regular and decaf), tea, and chef’s selection of dessert.

Location

Airport Hilton, 2435 South 47th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 85034-6410

Registration Information

Cost: $25 for Members, $30 for Non-members, $15 for students, $10 for program only (includes beverage and dessert) Time: Networking and Registration 5:30, Dinner 6:00 p.m. The program starts at 7 p.m. Deadline: Thursday, June 5, 2008 Register Online To register online using PayPal, please click here. Register by E-mail To register by e-mail, please click here.

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June 2008 Election Results

You are receiving this message because you are a member of STC Phoenix Chapter or were a member of record as of December 31, 2007. If you wish to no longer receive email messages, please use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this message.

The Nominations Committee is pleased to announce results of the recent elections for 2008-2009 Administrative Council.

Karen Zorn - President

Karen Pasley - Secretary

Norm Haskett - Membership Manager

Maggie Haenel - Programs Manager

Thanks to each of these special folks for their past and future leadership of our community! Official "turnover" activities will take place in June.

Thanks also to everyone who voted in the election.

If you have questions, please contact Dana Osborne at danaosborne@cox.net.

September 2008 PAO Call for Judges

The Phoenix Chapter is again sponsoring the Southwest Regional PAO Competitions. We are now in the process of recruiting judges.

If you volunteered to judge for last year’s competition, I am hoping you are willing to judge again this year. If you didn’t, I hope you will offer to do so this year. The judging schedule is very similar to last year’s:

Sat., October 18: Judging Kickoff (entries distributed to judging teams)

Sat., Nov. 8: Consensus Judging (meet in teams to decide on awards)

Between these two dates you have three weeks to evaluate entries and complete the STC evaluation forms.

Please let me know at pao@stc-phoenix.com if you are available for judging this year and if so, please identify which category (Art, Publications, Online) you feel qualified to judge.

Also, please talk to your colleagues about judging for the competitions. The basic requirement is to have several years’ experience producing or managing the kinds of communication products you will be judging. Judges do not have to be STC members.

Judging information, Call for Entries and other competition information is posted on the Phoenix chapter website at http://www.stc-phoenix.com/2008-pao.

Roberta Davidson
Judging Manager, 2008-2009 PAO Competition
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Oct 2008 Rough Draft

In this issue...Featured articles

Newsletter Changes Shape

Celebrate!

Ask Not What Your Chapter Can Do for You

Project Documents Spell Success

Flip the Switch?

Prospective Member Incentive Program

Columns

From the Virtual Desktop

Ms. Grammar

Tooling Around

On the chapter Web site...October Meeting and Workshop

Publications, Art, and Online Competition

About the New Web Site

Phoenix Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication

September/October 2008

Newsletter Changes Shape

E-mail and Web site combine to provide chapter news

This year, the newsletter will be brought to you in this form - an HTML-based e-mail newsletter (e-newsletter) linked to articles on our Web site. For those of you who prefer, a plain text version is also provided. Article previews are provided in the e-mail, or you can click directly to the complete article provided links. Learn more on the Rough Draft home page.

We hope that you enjoy the articles and the ease of skimming the content and linking to the articles of interest. Of course, we hope that you read them all!

Celebrate! Tech. Comm. Week 2008

by Tom Barnett, Technical Communication Week Manager

Forty-five years ago, the founding members of the Phoenix Chapter brought forth our STC community into the world. Our chapter celebrates its 45th birthday on October 18, and the week leading up to that day is also a very special week. The governor of Arizona , Janet Napalitano, has honored us once again and proclaimed the week of October 12 through 18 as Arizona Technical Communication Week. It is important to recognize and celebrate the significant contributions made by technical communicators and information designers to the understanding and usability of technology. Read the article.

Ask Not What Your Chapter Can Do for You...

by Karen L. Zorn, STC Phoenix Chapter President

Did you know that except for a handful of positions at the Society’s Arlington , VA office, all positions within STC are filled by volunteers? Yep, Marc Clifford, the current president, is a volunteer, as are all the other board members. Our chapter is the same – no committee manager/administrative council (CMAC) member is paid for the hours (and they can be many and long) that he or she puts into chapter management. Read the article.

Project Documents Spell Success

by David Dick, Washington , D.C. Chapter

Short deadlines force project teams to quickly design, test, and release the product with little or no design documentation. If these documents are written, they generally are not well-written and are not comprehensive. The fact of the matter is that most project teams do not have enough staff to design the product, let alone write and manage documentation. This situation creates an ideal opportunity for technical writers to assist the project team in more ways than writing a user guide. Read the article.

Thinkin' Green - Should you flip that switch?

by Gloria McConnell, Managing Editor

Do you turn off your computer when it is not in use? According to the Tufts University Climate Initiative, one computer left on 24 hours a day will cost you $115 - 160 in electricity costs a year and dump 1,500 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. A tree absorbs between 3-15 pounds of CO2 each year. That means that 100-500 trees would be needed to offset the yearly emissions of one computer left on all the time! Time to rethink? Read the article.

Virtual Desktop - Welcome to a new chapter year!

by Karen L. Zorn, STC Phoenix Chapter President

It is amazing how short the time between the first week of June and the first week of September really is, at least in perception. While our programs were suspended for the summer, the Committee Managers/Administrative Council (CMAC) has been busy plotting and planning the 2008-2009 program year. And do we have some plans for you! Read the article.

Prospective Member Incentive Program

by Norm Haskett

With the return of the Phoenix Chapter's monthly program meetings this Fall, we are bringing back our Prospective Member Incentive program for members who bring first-time guests. Read the article.