Closing Thoughts on a Year Done Well
June 13, 2011 
4 Comments
This post is a reflection on the accomplishments of STC Rochester and my experiences this past year when I had the privilege of serving as Chapter President.
Challenges
I took office as chapter president with a mixture of excitement and trepidation in June 2010. The Society was recovering from a really tough year financially and we had just seen our chapter membership plunge from 112 to 68 members. Until I attended Summit in May 2010, I wasn’t even sure the chapter or the society itself would survive. Whatever was going to happen, I wanted to make sure that the Rochester Chapter would do the best it could to serve its members.
Unsure of what to expect for 2010-2011, we decided we would need to change radically to regain relevance. We worked with a university graduate marketing class to create a marketing communications plan that identified our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We decided as a council that regardless of what happened at the society level that we would do our best to bring value to our local members and community. We couldn’t control things for the organization as a whole. We could make a difference where we were.
Our biggest issue was trying to determine our value proposition. What could we offer our membership (and community) that would draw them to STC Rochester? We committed to more effective communications, primarily through a redesigned website and social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter). We’re retooling our program offerings and have broadened the scope of Spectrum to a regional conference. (We had attendees and presenters from at least ten states and Ontario.) We participated in a webinar with speakers from STC chapters in Carolina and Southeast Michigan. (Expect to see more web-accessible programming this year.)
Success Stories
This year, we’re one of the success stories of the Society. We managed to maintain a zero budget (in other words, we didn’t spend any more than we took in) and have seen about a 15% increase in membership since last June. (We also had close to an 80% renewal rate.) We increased our regional Spectrum conference attendance from 75 to 120. We’ve tried to stay engaged with our former members. Our membership is becoming geographically diverse.
We’ve been recognized by the Society as a Community of Excellence and received a Pacesetter Award for our work with the marketing class. STC Rochester is easily in the top 5 or 6 chapters in the Society in the service we provide.
We’re not a big chapter (76 members). However, our council is passionate about creating value and pursuing excellence.
Next Steps
Are we there yet? No, but we’re well on the way. We have a dynamic council taking office tonight (June 13, 2011). They’re committed to providing value to you, our members. Let them know what you want to see this year!
At the society level, we’ve seen big changes this year, including MySTC and the certification initiative. I don’t have official numbers, but my understanding is that we are seeing higher-than-expected gains in new members (250+ per month.) Because of that gain, I believe the membership base is changing rapidly and bringing it with it a new commitment to new ways of doing things. (For some perspectives on what we’re seeing at the Society level, visit Robert Armstrong’s Tech Uncommon blog or my Infosec Communicator blog.)
In Closing
It has been a blessing to serve STC Rochester as its president this past year. I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside a truly committed council. I’ve also been able to make lasting friendships with other community leaders across STC.
Consider stepping up into leadership. You can make a difference and you may be surprised by how much impact the experience will have on you.
Ben WoelkPresident
STC Rochester
Related articles
- Determining our Value Proposition (benwoelk.wordpress.com)
- Congratulations to the STC Rochester Chapter Award Winners (stc-rochester.org)
- STC Rochester Wins Pacesetter Award (stc-rochester.org)
- Unpacking My Takeaways from #STC11 (benwoelk.wordpress.com)
- STC Rochester at Summit (stc-rochester.org)
Join STC
Ben — Congratulations to you and the other Rochester chapter leaders. This truly is a success story.
I think the key is that you weren’t afraid to make big changes. I’d like to know more about how you arrived at a value proposition, what you determined it to be, and how you got the word out. This issue is a big challenge for all STC communities, and of course for STC as a whole. Your experience could serve as a model for other STC leaders.
Larry–I wish I could say that we’ve figured out the value proposition. The marketing concepts class helped us figure out what we were good at, what needed improvement, and where opportunities might be when comparing ourselves to other organizations.
I was able to articulate my value proposition (link above).
We made heavy use of social networking, especially LinkedIn and Twitter. We used our website to talk about what we were doing. We used LinkedIn to reach into different peer groups to share our initiatives. We used Twitter extensively, especially in promoting our Spectrum conference. I and others reached out personally to many people to engage them.
Frankly, a lot of the success may be from just communicating what we were doing to a much wider audience in a systematic way.
We have a ways to go yet. This year’s council will build on last year’s successes. Between the marcom plan and the CAA requirements, we had a pretty good blueprint of what we needed to do.
I’m sharing our experience in the Leadership Webinar on 6/23. There’s also a copy of the marketing plan (and some discussions) in the Communications Liftoff group in MySTC.
Ben
Ben
Thank you, Ben. I think the Council arrived at just the right mix of services for a chapter fortunate enough to have the volunteers to do the work of a yearly conference. Ours is the longest running chapter conference in STC. We also had the publications competition this year–the longest running in STC and older than the Society’s competition. Immediately upon joining in 1983 I realized the Rochester Chapter of STC is a most extraordinary voluntary organization. That is true now more than ever.
Thank you, Ann!
I think the opportunity to work on the conference is part of our value proposition. It gives us a shared purpose and sense of accomplishment that provides meaning for the council and the Spectrum committee.
I think it’s telling that we’re able to find so many people willing to step up into leadership (with a little arm twisting) when so many chapters have trouble filling even four council positions. We have 10 able members willing to serve on the council and dedicate their energies to the chapter.
I can’t be more proud of last year’s council. They caught the vision and did outstanding work as they rallied to move the chapter forward. It’s easy to soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by other eagles!
Ben