LSC Notes and Committee Reports

In this section, you'll find the following committee reports by scrolling down:

• From Our Bylaws…
• LSC Competitions
• Mentor Program Committee
• Scholarship Committee
• Web Committee
• Member Recognition
• Volunteer Committee

From Our Bylaws...
by Mike Hiatt , Parliamentarian

Management of the Society for Technical Communications, Lone Star Community is given to the Administrative Council, which is commonly referred to as the “council” in community documents. Its members are the only voting members of the community and includes the president, first vice president, second vice president, secretary, treasurer, parliamentarian, and immediate past president.

The Administrative Council usually meets with as many committee managers (public relations, scholarships, job bank, etc.) as possible at their monthly meetings to keep the chapter running smoothly. Input from all committee managers is vital for the council to make informed decisions about the community. The group comprised of the council and the committee managers is often referred to as the “admin council.”

LSC Competitions are on the Mooove!
by Kathryn Poe, Competitions Manager

The competition entries have arrived at last! Competition Managers Louellen Coker (Technical Publications), Diane Mazzarella (Online), and I (Technical Art) want to thank you all for your enthusiasm. Maybe it was the cow. He is very popular of late.

Judging has started! No Bull!

Cow design used with permission of the STC Phoenix Chapter

We received 27 Tech Pubs, 18 Online, and 3 Tech Art entries. Your hard work is being distributed to our judges as I type, so the best is yet to come. Remember that the Awards Banquet is Thursday, January 10; so stay tuned!

Mentor Program
by Ann Balaban, Associate Fellow and Manager, Mentoring Committee

Do You Need a Mentor?

Early in their careers, technical communicators in corporate environments often find that technical writing is perhaps the easiest and quickest of the many tasks they perform.

Probably the most difficult, time-consuming chore they face is locating the information needed to perform the writing task. First, the writer needs to find the person with the required knowledge and then find the right way to interact successfully with this individual while navigating within corporate cultures and politics.

How do new technical communicators find the best mentors to help them solve these problems? One way is to take advantage of the Mentoring program from the STC Lone Star community. As a new technical communicator or as a student in technical communication, you have valuable resources available to you through STC.

Research literature shows that mentors provide vocational and psychosocial support to protégés. One researcher found a link between these functions and the career mobility of protégés. Research also shows that technical communicators have relatively high job satisfaction, but that their corporate mobility and career development is relatively low. Mentors can help technical communicators become aware of additional avenues for career advancement because they often know what is required for other positions and how to prepare for assuming them.

Having a mentor can improve your skills in organizational communication and management, as well as increase your overall productivity and job satisfaction.

Resources:

1. Henrietta N. Shirk and Howard T. Smith, “Developing Effective Mentorships for Technical Communicators,” STC 1994 Annual Conference Proceedings.
2. Gordon, Thomas, Leadership Effectiveness Training, Wyden, New York, 1974.

Why Mentoring Matters

STC is always looking for new leaders. One way to locate and retain our next generation of leaders is by mentoring.

Mentoring can help STC develop new leaders while enhancing your career development and improving your technical knowledge. Besides all these great benefits, it really improves your self-esteem! The mentor’s growth occurs right along with the protégé’s.

The purpose for mentoring is to encourage growth of a less experienced person in their profession and within STC. Your experiences learning about and working with others qualifies you to be a mentor. If you had a mentor when you were starting out, imagine what a difference it would have made—if only I knew then what I know now! This is your chance to share your experiences, your enthusiasm for your work, and your interests with someone just starting out in technical communication.

In a mentoring relationship, the mentor and protégé:

• Identify objectives, goals, and development needs
• Define and establish a plan to accomplish goals
• Meet regularly in person, by phone, or through e-mail to review and evaluate progress

Mentoring is all-inclusive—no one is excluded who wants to participate. You do not have to be a student to be a protégé. Whether you are new to technical communication—just starting out or making a career change—or you have been a technical communicator for awhile and need guidance to jump-start your career, you can be a part of the mentoring program. Success is based on what you want to do. A mentor can suggest methods for advancement, recommend books and other resources, and offer résumé assistance and career guidance. As a protégé, you have requirements to fulfill, too. You should ask questions, listen and be open to suggestions, and keep the lines of communication open.

The STC Lone Star community is continually looking for mentors and people who need mentors. This is a wonderful program that benefits all involved.

Resources:

1. About.com: www.about.com
2. The Mentoring Leadership & Resource Network: www.mentors.com
3. The Resources Agency Mentor Program
4. Catheryn Mason and Elizabeth Bailey, “Benefits and Pitfalls of Mentoring,” STC 2005 Annual Conference Proceedings.

Scholarship Committee
by Robert Carr Harris, Manager, Scholarship committee

The LSC October meeting was a successful one, and many came to support the community and hear Jack Molisani present. Mr. Molisani was a great contributor to the scholarship fund and purchased raffle tickets for all the Texas Tech students who were visiting.

October Meeting Raffle Recipients

The winners for the door prizes last month included:

• Kathyrn Goff , who won the Cow Basket prize prepared by LSC's own Kathryn Poe

• Kristin Kirkham , an LSC member who won a TechSmith schwag bag containing TechSmith software demos, TechSmith t-shirts, an STC planner, and various other goodies

• Susie Lynn Fox , LSC president, who won the Franklin Covey planner and starter kit set and a polo shirt and memo book from ADX

The Scholarship Committee wants to especially thank Franklin Covey, ADX, TechSmith, and Kathryn Poe for helping sponsor October's door prizes. Thank you to everyone for helping support the LSC Scholarship fund.

See you next month!

Member Recognition
by Mel Haughton, LSC immediate past president

Nominate a Bright LSC Star for the BALA!

Do you know an LSC member who displays enthusiasm, seeks difficult challenges, inspires others, and enhances the reputation of LSC? Then get ready to nominate this person for the Binion Amerson Leadership Award (BALA).

The BALA recognizes LSC members who provide great leadership and service to the LSC. Any member in good standing with the LSC may nominate another member.

Nominate someone today!

November 14 is the application deadline. We will announce the winner at the Awards Banquet on January 10.

Questions?

• Visit http://stc-dfw.org/pages/awards_Amerson.htm for more information.
• E-mail volunteers@stc-dfw.org .

Are you a Superstar?

Do you like making a difference and stepping up to help? Do you need a few more samples for your portfolio? Do you want to work on your networking skills? How about get your head around a new piece of software?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then dive in and start volunteering today. You’ll be on your way to becoming a Superstar!

You automatically receive points each time you participate in LSC activities. Points are based upon the activity and its point values and are listed in the table below.

LSC Activity	Points
Attend a monthly meeting	1
Attend a council meeting	1
Volunteer at an event	2
Contribute to a community service effort	1
Judge competitions	3
Contribute an article to newsletter	1
Bring a guest to meeting	1
Be a mentor	5
Present at an STC event (Local, regional, or international)	2
Speak to a student group about Technical Communication and STC	2
Convince a guest to join	5

Our Volunteer Wrangler will keep score from August 1, 2007 to June 1, 2008. Collect a total of 20 points to become an LSC Superstar. All Superstars will be recognized at the September 2008 meeting.

So, start volunteering today and become a Superstar and become part of the Superstar team. Winners receive a unique LSC Superstar shirt. The only way to get this shirt is to get involved and earn those points.

Send an e-mail to volunteers@stc-dfw.org to learn more about volunteer opportunities.

 

Volunteer Committee: Want to help a little?
by Mel Haughton, LSC Volunteer Wrangler

Have you thought about the difference you can make in someone’s life just by offering a bit of your time? How does it make you feel when you need help and someone actually comes through? Does it bring you happiness? Does it feel good to get something done as a team?

Where I come from we have a saying: “One hand helps the other.” If you give a bit of your time to help someone, one day someone will help you out as well. That’s how we like to work here at the LSC. We’re a big happy family, and we’re always looking for talented individuals to help us out!

We currently have the following opportunities that would take a limited amount of your time:

• Edit our Web site (a two- to three-hour job)
• Be a greeter or help at the Registration desk (a 30-minute job) during our monthly meeting
• Write, edit, and print programs for our monthly meetings (a two-hour job)
• Writie articles for our online newsletter, Technically Write. (The time commitment depends on how much you write!)

So it doesn’t take that much time! And if you think you can spare more time than this, think about organizing half-day workshops or serving as an assistant to a committee manager.

E-mail me at volunteers@stc-dfw.org if you want to make a difference in LSC.

What’s in it for you, you ask? Think about how you will increase your network! Think about the additions you can make to your résumé and your portfolio! Think about how many people will appreciate you for your efforts.

Send your e-mail to me right away, and let me know where you can help. I look forward to hearing from you!