STC Rochester Chapter

The Rochester Chapter of STC has won a Pacesetter Award for 2011.  This is our second year in a row receiving this recognition. Our award this year was based on our annual Spectrum conference and the processes we’ve put in place to ensure an outstanding conference.

Our citation reads:

For the strategic use and combined application of Web-based tools and social media strategies to create and document sustainable, repeatable, and cohesive processes to promote, manage, and evaluate a regional conference.

About the Pacesetter Awards Program

STC’s Community Pacesetter Award recognizes the successful implementation of innovative community operations. STC offers the Pacesetter Award because the Society values the improvement of community operation, and especially when beneficial innovation can be shared with other communities so that they can enjoy similar benefits.

Unlike STC’s other Community Achievement awards, which recognize communities for consistent strength in many varied activities, the Pacesetter Award recognizes the successful implementation of a single beneficial innovation that may be implemented by other STC communities.

To help ensure the widespread value of Pacesetter Award-winning innovations, winning applications shall be included on the Leadership website accessible to STC Community leaders.

http://www.stc-techedit.org/Scholarship

We’ve opened up registration to this April 4th webinar to everyone. It’s free for Spectrum registrants, $15 for STC members, and $20 for non members. Sign up today at http://stcrochspectrum2012webinar.eventbrite.com/

Abstract

Technical communicators are highly skilled in translating the language of one group into something another group can understand. However, few think of themselves as knowledge specialists—people who can capture, preserve, and present the cognitive content of an organization as no one else can.  Few take business, management, or leadership courses that would provide a better understanding of the roles they can play in helping organizations achieve their goals. When it comes to writing a resume and cover letter, those who pride themselves in being great communicators often fall short when it comes to stating what they offer in terms that hiring managers and recruiters can appreciate.

These are just a few of the reasons we are offering this webinar. Come learn how to translate your skills, knowledge, and competencies into a value proposition that makes clear to an organization what you can offer that can help it achieve its business goals. Learn how to find and use available resources to speak to an organization using language it understands, how to find its pressure points and offer relief, and how to align yourself with its mission and values. Learn how to liberate yourself from a narrow definition of what you can do and expand your expertise into roles and capacities that enable you to step up to the plate and offer solutions when leadership doesn’t know who to ask, what to ask for, or how to ask for it.

Conference Chair Notes:

Bettie’s topic is the perfect introduction to Spectrum 2012’s conference theme Knowledge, Expertise, Leadership. Our conference format and presenters are dedicated to empowering techcomm professionals with the necessary skills to be change leaders in their companies and in their lives. Join us to learn business skills, technical skills, and soft skills that will help you create opportunities and enhance your career.

Consultant and writer Pam Sherman will discuss tools for leadership presence

She’s an actor, writer, columnist and outlaw.

Pam Sherman, also known as “The Suburban Outlaw,” will bring her irreverent and energetic take on leadership and success as keynote presenter for the annual Spectrum  2012 conference. The event, “Knowledge, Expertise, Leadership: Influence Change in Your Organization,” is hosted by the Rochester Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication, in partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology, and takes place April 22–24.

Sherman’s address opens the event at 6:30 p.m. April 22 in RIT’s Golisano Hall auditorium. A reception follows immediately afterward. Workshops take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 23 in Louise M. Slaughter Hall. Information about registration and fees for member, non-member and student participants is available on Eventbrite.

The event is open to managers, information architects, instructional designers, technical writers and editors, technical marketing communicators, Web designers, graphic artists and students. Spectrum 2012 offers a variety of educational sessions in four tracks: management methodologies, workplace skills, professional development and tools and technologies. There will be a separate vendor track for product demonstrations and education. Attendees can also visit exhibits by leading technical communication industry vendors and enjoy a luncheon to honor winners of the Chapter Technical Publications Competition Awards.

Sherman leads programs around the world for Fortune 500 companies, law firms and advertising agencies about improving leadership, business development, customer service and communications. In addition, she provides individual and team coaching to executives and other business leaders on storytelling and presentation skills.

She is however, best known as The Suburban Outlaw, and her column can be read weekly in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and monthly in Gannett’s Rochester Magazine where she also contributes feature articles.

For additional questions about the conference or to register, contact spectrum@stc-rochester.org

Related articles

• Register Today for Spectrum 2012, April 22-24, 2012 (stc-rochester.org)
• Spectrum 2012 Opportunities for Support (stc-rochester.org)