volunteering – TechCommGeekMom

Yesterday was a gray, blustery Saturday, where it would’ve been easier to stay in bed, drink some hot tea, and curl up with a good book. Instead, I was actually happy to go out in the horrible weather, because I was meeting up with a fellow STC member who lives about an hour’s drive away from me here in New Jersey. Over the years, we’ve become good friends, and we always have a good time together when we do get together. I ventured out to meet up with her for lunch, and we talked for almost 4 hours (and could’ve talked longer).

Why should you care about that? Well, one of the things that the STC friend and I talked about was that STC has a unique culture that if you choose to get involved and embed yourself into the Society, you not only reap the benefits of learning professional skills, and networking with others, but there’s a real sense of support in STC. My friend mentioned that she’s been involved in other professional communities, and very often, it’s more about one-upmanship amongst the members, volunteers, and leaders. While you can make connections, it’s every person for themselves. My friend commented that one of the reasons she’s been in the STC for so long (and she and I started with STC within a year or two of each other, coincidentally), was that the sentiment of “every person for themselves” really wasn’t present in this community. The general vibe truly was one of consistent support for each other and for the Society.

I have to agree with her! Since I truly started getting more and more involved with the Society, I’ve had nothing but support as I’ve ventured along. The members are genuinely friendly overall, and the passion they have for technical communication is palpable. Almost everyone I’ve met is a tech comm geek. Conversations are passionate about content strategy, proper grammar, UX writing, technical writing, and nowadays, conversations about AI. When I entered this profession, I figured it was going to be people who were rather dry because of the type of work we do. I’ve found that the opposite is true, and my friend commented the same. We noted that technical writers are not boring or strictly the grammar police (okay, we ARE the grammar police), but rather we are a lively group with creative tendencies. When you look at the outside hobbies of most of the people we know, there are artists of all mediums (we do have the Tech Comm Knitting Cabal, after all), musicians, actors, food and libation connoisseurs, people who participate in historical societies, and other fascinating hobbies. Don’t let the concept of most technical writers being introverts fool you! (I mean, many are, but not around other technical communicators.) All those interests aside, these are generally not mean-spirited people.

Why is this important? Speaking only for myself, I can say that in all these years that I’ve been involved with STC, I’ve been allowed to take calculated risks and test the waters when I want to try out my project management and leadership skills. As a contractor, one never really gets the opportunity to show or grow in those skills because you aren’t somewhere for very long or you’re in a position–or rather not in a position–to be able to learn how to take the reins of a project because you are a temporary worker. As an STC volunteer, I’ve had so many opportunities to gain experience as a community leader when it couldn’t happen professionally due to my being a contractor. At the same time, one of the things I’ve learned at STC is that a) you can’t exactly terminate a volunteer (it’s very difficult), but b) it’s also a safe place to make mistakes for the same reason. You can try again, and you have the support of your fellow community members who want you to succeed.

My friend noted the same thing for herself. She’s held various community positions, and at one point, we ever worked together on a committee. While we have our home state/location in common, we come from very different backgrounds and experiences, and we both were able to see how we could bring our collective strengths to the table. I think she was the first chairperson I met of any kind who clearly understood and always tried to put forth that she understood that our volunteering wasn’t our job, and that we did have lives outside of STC and she respected that. That was a great example for me to follow, especially since I always wanted people to understand that I was giving all I could within my bandwidth. That said, she and I also agreed that you get out of STC what you put in, and that as a volunteer, if you make the commitment to do something, you really need to do you best to stick with it and not sign up for something just to have your name on the committee roster.

The one thing that we also noted–which isn’t always possible–is that member try to make the trip to the STC Summit if they can–at least once. We’re a global organization, so it’s nice to be able to put actual humans with names and photos and videos of people we’ve met online over time. You also meet a lot of new people in the process, too. This not only builds up your professional network, but so many of the people I’ve met have become my friends.

Due to the nature of my job and my responsibilities at home, I really don’t get out much, despite what people things of me as an extrovert. But I was thinking of all the people who I’m hoping to get together with this year outside of Summit, and they are all STC people. These are all people who have my back, and I have theirs. And that’s saying something on my part, because I don’t throw my support to people lightly. You have to earn that right and trust from me. These are people that I’ve learned to respect and learn from, as well as have a good giggle with sometimes. Even yesterday with this friend, we talked about STC things, technical communication things, and things simply going on with our lives, like trivia contests and travel.

STC, through all the ups and downs that have gone on in recent years, is my “home”. It’s been there to support what I do, and connected me with others who are as passionate about tech comm as I am. I don’t feel alone. I feel empowered. When I didn’t have a job, my STC community was there for me to help me move forward. My friend and I talked about “company culture” and how many companies will talk the talk but don’t always walk the walk–that it’s more lip service or propaganda than actual “family”. I mean, it’s your employer, not your actual family. STC feels different in that it IS family in a sense. It’s a positive “company culture” that is real, and as a Board Director now, I work with others who are as passionate as I am to keep that culture and community going as the world and the world of tech comm transforms. It’s a constant.

So, have I been assimilated? Yes. Resistance is futile for me.

Have you experienced either the good–or not so good with an association that you are affiliated with? Include your comments below.

NJIT's MSPTC program in the house at STCPMC14! L to R: Dr. Bernadette Longo, director of the MSPTC program; Jamil Wilkins, current MSPTC student; Danielle M. Villegas, MSPTC alum and STCPMC presenter. — NJIT’s MSPTC program in the house at #STCPMC14! L to R: Dr. Bernadette Longo, director of the MSPTC program; Jamil Wilkins, current MSPTC student; Danielle M. Villegas, MSPTC alum and STCPMC presenter.

In a nutshell, the 2014 STC-PMC Mid-Atlantic Technical Conference was better than last year, in my opinion! A slightly different format, a different day, more networking, and excellent speakers made for a fantastic event.

Okay, now for more details.

First, having been a member of the conference’s planning committee this year, I know that a lot of work went into making this event a success. Kudos to my fellow volunteers! Special care was taken to choose the best proposals submitted, and it definitely was reflected in the best of the best! There were so many great subjects to choose from that even among the presenters, some were saying to each other, “I want to go to your presentation, but I’m presenting at the same time!” I think some of the attendees also had hard choices to make, since sometimes they couldn’t decide between topics during a given session!

Nicky Bleiel, who is currently the President of the STC, gave the keynote address for the conference. She talked about flexible content with responsive design. The main message of her talk was that with responsive design, technical communicators can create and deliver a single responsive output that will work on thousands of devices, including new devices, old devices, and even ones that don’t exist yet. She showed us a few examples, such as Microsoft and Lycos websites in which the content remains the same, even though the output in different browsers changed to work with the size of a particular browser size. Many companies started making separate mobile sites, but the content was not the same as the full site. Responsive web design is Google’s preferred configuration when ranking sites. Mobile users want content parity, meaning they want everything that desktop owners have, thus they want one Web. Fluid layouts, fluid images, media queries in the coding, and stacking or collapsing grids are the key to creating responsive design.

During the first breakout session, I gave my own presentation, “Blogging Out Loud: The Basics of Blogging,” so I didn’t get a chance to see anyone else’s presentation during that time, obviously. I did have a lot of people in my room, which pleased me, and we had a great discussion during the question-and-answer time. It was a great group, and smart questions were asked.

After a lunch break filled with awards, volunteer recognition, food, and networking, I chose to attend Todd DeLuca‘s talk about volunteering your way up the career ladder. Todd kept the presentation fairly open, sharing some of his own insights about volunteering from his personal experiences and how they were able to apply to his professional life. The group attending participated by sharing ideas and experiences themselves about volunteering, bringing about a great conversation. Todd’s main idea was that it doesn’t matter how big or small the contribution, or if the volunteer opportunity is inside or outside of work. The experience fulfills you when helping others, but also fulfills you by allowing you to gain skills and experience that helps yourself. I think one idea he presented resonated with me, which was that volunteering is an offer to help, but it’s also a promise that evolves, as it’s a commitment that is followed through and builds trust. I also liked his point that volunteering is a safe environment to grow because usually there is less risk and some mistakes are expected, so the environment is often more nurturing than work. That’s a great environment to learn! Todd has been volunteering for things inside and outside of his job for years, related to tech comm as well as unrelated, and felt that he’s reaped benefits that apply to where he is professionally. I know that Todd will be speaking at the 2014 Spectrum conference for the STC Rochester chapter in a few weeks, and he’ll also be speaking at the STC Summit on this topic, so I encourage you to attend to get more details and ideas!

The last presentation I saw for the day was by Neil Perlin. Neil and I have known each other through both e-learning and tech comm social media circles for a while now, but hadn’t met before. It was a real treat to meet and chat with him, but to also hear him speak, as I know he’s rather popular on the e-learning and tech comm circuits. Neil’s talk was about emerging technologies, which is a subject he’s excited about and presents frequently. Neil covered a wide range of topics that are currently in use now and look to be expanding in the future. These topics included more mobile content that needs content strategy to steer it, more use of analytics to understand what our users need and use, using social media extensively, augmented reality, wearables, the use of the “cloud” and cloud-based tools. He also stated that there is a need for standards in order to future-proof our materials to avoid problems as technologies come and go, since it’s so hard to predict what will everyone use. He advised us to stay current by going to conferences and staying on top of general business issues and trends. Business issues can kill a technology, so staying current on your company business is a show of tech comm’s support of corporate strategy. His last bit of advice was to review your tools regularly for environmental change, accept the rise of content and social media, don’t denigrate tools in favor of writing, and embrace and help shape change!

After the conference, WebWorks and Publishing Smarter hosted a nice post-conference get-together at the Iron Abbey, a pub-restaurant down the street from the conference venue. It was a great treat of libations, appetizers, and networking further with tech comm peers.

Overall, it was a great experience. I liked the format this year because it felt more relaxed with fewer breakout sessions. Presenters weren’t rushed as they often are at events like these, and more time was allowed for networking with everyone. Perhaps it’s because I’d had a different experience last year as a total newbie that it was so different to me, but I don’t think so. The topics of the conference, the agenda, and the camaraderie of those hosting at the “City of Brotherly Love” came together into a pleasant Saturday of learning. As a smaller, regional conference I think the more intimate setting helped it be a more personalized experience for all, thus it was a big success.

(To any of the fellow speakers I reviewed here–if you’d like to add or correct anything that I summarized here, please feel free to do so in the comments area below!)

If you are in the Philadelphia area next year around mid-March, I highly recommend coming to next year’s STC-PMC Mid-Atlantic Conference. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.