by Kelly Schrank
What a wild ride 2020 has been…I hope all of our members and readers are well and staying safe at home.
We are all disappointed that Spectrum had to be postponed until September 19-21, as we all worked really hard to get it ready for the attendees, speakers, and sponsors. But we are looking forward to hosting everyone in the fall, in person and virtually, or virtually, as appropriate when the time comes.
We have also set the date for Spectrum 2021 at RIT: April 17, 18, and 19.
Happy National Volunteer Month! Thank you to our dedicated council, who keeps Spectrum and the chapter running as efficiently as they can given all of the other responsibilities we have in our lives. We are getting ready for elections for 2020-2021, and we are recruiting more volunteers. Many of our steadfast volunteers are continuing in in their positions to provide much needed continuity or to finish up big projects, but there are positions to be filled, and we need your help!
We are recruiting a Spectrum co-chair, and though being co-chair for Spectrum is a big responsibility, we often send the new co-chair to Summit to network with potential speakers and sponsors, to evaluate trends in technical communication, and to scout out potential keynote speakers. This is still an option with Summit as a virtual event. If you attended Spectrum and enjoyed it, and you want to get more involved, contact the Nominating Committee, Bobbi Werner, at ipp@stc-rochester.org.
We also are recruiting volunteers for programs and PR, which are also high-profile positions. In the Programs Manager position, you can shape the monthly programs and get out in the world a bit (or provide educational and fun virtual events). This actually be split into co-manager positions, and we have had a whole committee in the past Please volunteer if you’d like to grow that position and show your leadership skills. We have Council members who have held this position and can help with locations, pricing, EventBrite management, and speaker ideas.
PR is another position that would be better as a committee, as we need general PR for the chapter, PR for programs, and PR for Spectrum. If you have not delved into social media and email marketing, or if you are looking to develop samples for your portfolio, this is a great opportunity to try out or finesse your content creation skills. The chapter sends out emails via MailChimp and tries to stay active on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. We are also open to trying other platforms if we have enough people involved. If any of these positions interest you, contact the Nominating Committee, Bobbi Werner, at ipp@stc-rochester.org.
Please get involved in the chapter and bring your friends; more volunteers will keep our reputation as a robust and award-winning chapter. And speaking of award-winning, we have won a Platinum Community Achievement Award again for the chapter! And we have won the Pacesetter Award again! Thank you again to all of the council members for doing all of the things that make us an award-winning chapter, and thank you to Ann Wiley for tracking all of our activities, so we could submit the award applications and win.
