President’s Message:
September Marks the Start of Something New

Some of us celebrate the coming of September because it means that our children return to school. Others celebrate the beginning of the new STC year. Still others, who don’t have air conditioning, celebrate the fact that the end of the humidity may be in sight. Still others celebrate life, so September is as good a reason as any to get excited about something new.

Since this newsletter is about the STC, I won’t bore you with the details about one of my children starting high school and my other one entering Grade 5. I also won’t tell you that we don’t have air conditioning, which is why I included a comment about the humidity. Instead, I will focus on what we have to celebrate as members of the STC.

The STC Year

September marks the beginning of the new STC year. For those of you who have volunteered to be on the council, this means that many of you have already attended a planning session in August to establish goals on two levels for the 2005-2006 year: goals that are specific to our portfolios and goals that are for the common good of our chapter. The start of the STC year marks the start of building on your existing skills and developing new ones.

If you are not on this year’s council, have no fear; you still have something to celebrate. You get to learn by making use of the various activities and opportunities that this chapter provides. You also have the opportunity to get to know other people who are in the same field. No matter whether you are just starting in the field, or you are a “seasoned” professional, everyone has something to give and get during the year.

Reasons to Try Something New

As your new chapter president, I am trying something new. I have never been the president of anything, but I thought it was time to give it a try. Choosing to be president has nothing to do with enjoying the feel of being able to boss people around, although my children might tell you otherwise. I took on the position for many reasons, and one of them is to expand my comfort zone. It’s fine doing only those activities that you feel comfortable doing, but it can be pretty boring and, with that boredom, you can start to lose the edge you need to stay passionate about what you do. The other thing is that if you don’t keep advancing your skills and your experiences then you can be left behind — both personally and professionally.

I also decided to try something new because I thought I had something to bring to the position. As someone who has been a technical communicator for over 20 years, I have had a variety of experiences that might prove useful to others who are just entering the field. I also enjoy finding new ways of doing things so that activities that have become routine can look fresh and new again. I am always open to suggestions, and I always welcome ideas and suggestions. Since we are taught to write in the active voice, as writers, we should be able to be active when it comes to recognizing good work and resolving any issues. Let people know when they have done something you like and, if you don’t like something, you can comment on it, but make sure you are proactive and help come up with a solution.

For example, if have been thinking about submitting some documentation to our annual competition, why not help to find a Competition Manager, so that you can ensure that the competition can actually take place and you can see if you win an award?

Knowing the Thrill of Being a Technical Communicator

Since some people have contacted me about becoming a technical communicator, I thought I would include this last section. For those who are not new to the profession, this list should make you smile. The items listed are in no particular order.

Although we are not rednecks, there are definite signs when you should be a technical communicator. For example, you might be a technical communicator if:

You just experienced a sudden thrill because you found a typo in the lead in to this sentence. If you find any other typos in this newsletter, remember Margie (the Quill editor) or I (copy editor) intentionally left them there to give you a new thrill and to keep your attention to detail sharp.
You find it annoying to write pages of documentation to fix a usability problem that could be resolved with a few code changes.
The thought of learning something new excites you, and the challenge of explaining it to someone else turns that excitement level up even more.
You can’t understand why others don’t see the problem with a process or a design. It’s clear to you that there is an easier way to group fields, lay out a screen, or name a field. Making your dream a developer’s reality can be priceless.
The thought of shortening some text to make it more clear and concise is more exciting than writing something long and convoluted, even though the longer text may “sound” more impressive.
You can smile to yourself hours later because you found a typo or grammatical error in some published writing. It can be in a newspaper, a book, or a magazine. The source is not important; finding it is the thrill. I know this was covered in the first item, but since it is so near to my heart, I thought I would mention it again.
Your skin crawls when you hear or read the word utilize, because you can’t believe that the utilization of the word is so rampant. You hope that your expertise in keeping things simple will some day eradicate the use of the word “utilize”. You may not save lives, but you will still make a difference.
You can explain complex things like the internal workings of a PBX (Public Branch eXchange in the telecommunications world), but you struggle to make people at your work understand that your skills go well beyond writing.
Your heart rate increases as you create a table or diagram to explain something complex. Being a technical communicator is knowing that how you say it is just as important as what you say.
You recognize that vowels are the key to everything: Analysis, Education – both yourself and others, Interface – both with the product and with subject matter experts), Optimism, and Usability. Y becomes a vowel when you say things like: “Why me?”, “Why are these software changes happening now?”, and “Why am I being asked to do this in such a short time?” The list goes on, but I don’t want to continue and risk losing the optimism.

I am more than optimistic about the new STC year, especially if you find the courage to try something new.

About Debbie Kerr (President)

In the 20 years that Debbie has been writing documentation, she has worked in a variety of industries: government, retail, software, and insurance. She is currently employed at The Economical Insurance Group in Kitchener writing design specifications. Debbie has been a member of the STC since 1994 and has held several council positions over the last three years.