November
2006 Newsletter from the Chapter President
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In This Issue
Articles
Announcements
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If you have been following the STC news, you know that there has been
a lot of talk of change and looking for ways to bring more value to
members. As part of this effort, all STC chapters were asked to submit
a “re-charting” document that outlines their chapter’s
needs and how they plan on meeting those needs.
Several volunteers (Ester Halac, Leah Guren, Meir Fishburn, and others)
contributed their time and knowledge to help us submit our re-chartering
document to STC headquarters.
We just received the following communication from one of STC’s
Directors, Sherry Michaels:
“It gives me great pleasure to let you know that the Israel
Chapter’s application for re-charter was formally approved by
the STC Board of Directors yesterday in our business meeting. Congratulations!
It was very clear that you all gave a lot of thought and attention
to your member’s and potential member’s needs.”
Special thanks to all who helped with this document. Members are invited
to read the re-chartering document on our website. (Don’t forget
to login!)
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I view my attendance at the STC Board Meeting in London as one of the
most important things our chapter has ever participated in. The knowledge
that I gained and will pass on to others, along with the many discussions
with members of the STC Board made me realize that the active participation
of our chapter at this level is far more important than I had imagined.
Perhaps the biggest take away for our chapter was the realization that
not only is the STC Board listening to our members, but its members
have a great respect for the Israeli Chapter and would like to learn
from our experiences, to add to their knowledge as they work to transform
STC into a 21st Century, worldwide professional organization that focuses
on the needs of all of its members.
Several times throughout the board meeting, various international issues
were discussed. I voiced comments from our chapter’s perspective
that were acknowledged and encouraged. In some instances, this input
influenced the board’s decisions.
I saw that STC is working hard on behalf of all members. If any of
you questioned the value of belonging to STC, I can, with a clear conscience,
assure you that membership is not only worthwhile now, but that you
will be seeing exciting changes for the better in the future.
Here are just a few of the issues raised, and how they will impact
you.
Approximately $10 of every member’s dues will be going toward
upgrading the STC website and IT infrastructure. The goal is to have
enabling technology that better meets your needs. This will include
a better designed website, better records, and new services that everyone
can access, irrespective of their geographic location. That means you!
During a discussion on how to encourage struggling chapters, members
of the board asked if people in our chapter would be willing to give
advice to other chapters relating to running a chapter, running conferences,
and/or looking for sponsors. I said I was sure that people would be
happy to encourage others, wherever they are. This translates into STC
Israel influencing chapters, members, and our profession worldwide.
STC is considering changes to the articles of incorporation, to separate
processes from procedures. They have asked us to advise how this will
impact our legal status. Why? Our problems are representative of other
issues faced by non-North American chapters. Because our chapter is
so vocal in expressing its needs, STC knows they can count on us to
give valuable information that can be extrapolated for helping other
chapters and anticipating otherwise unexpected issues.
Finally, our chapter has been offered an extraordinary opportunity to
contribute to STC policy. We have been asked to help them to draw up
a Diversity statement.
During one of the discussions, STC’s new executive director, Susan
Burton, asked me to convey her thanks to our chapter, saying “many
of Israel’s issues helped put a spotlight on areas for change.”
I hope that you are excited to know that our chapter is well respected,
and that we make a difference within STC!
Debbie Shapiro
President, STC Israel
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The forums are great for initiating an ongoing discussion on debatable
topics. Just go into one of the forums and write your question or comment
and then see what happens.
All people have to do is click “Reply” and their answer to
you is stored with the original question. As the topic grows, you can
scroll through the entire topic and quickly follow the entire discussion
without opening any additional messages.
The forums do require a change of thinking: no more push mail. But
it’s awfully nice to not have a mailbox full of mail that you don’t
have time for. Simply bookmark the forums in your browser, and you can
jump there whenever you have time and see if anyone has something new
to say.
We are just getting started, but the information that can be easily
available at a single click will be quite a bit as more people use the
forums. Take a look for example, at the STC forum.
Debbie Shapiro
President, STC Israel
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When one looks at overall voting statistics, it is clear that elections
bring an ambivalent response at best. Yet chapter elections are your
opportunity to decide if you want to be more active in the chapter,
and if you accept the current leadership. This year the elections are
more important than ever. Why?
Recently, I looked at our website and forums and realized that everywhere
you look, my thumbprint is on our chapter, from the website, to these
letters, to the forums. In many ways, this gives the false appearance
that I am the center of STC. This should not be. In some ways, I’ve
been so involved for so long because I just plain like the work. I like
meeting you, I enjoy helping others, and my bottom motivation is to
do something that helps all of us improve and do better.
But one person, even a small group, cannot carry the burden alone—certainly
not for more than a short time. More members need to get involved, even
if each volunteer does a small part. As a volunteer organization, our
chapter is only as effective as its members make it. It is time for
new blood to step forth—people with new ideas; people to work with
the STC Board and to represent us; people who can help make our profession
better known; people who can help us face new challenges.
As someone with a stake in our profession, you need to be involved
in the upcoming elections. The chapter needs you to nominate members
for positions on the chapter’s Administrative Council, to run for
these positions, and to vote. Chapter elections are the lifeblood of
the chapter, and your participation in them will ensure that it continues
to flow.
The Nomination Committee will be sending out notifications shortly,
in their search for people to fill offices and volunteer positions.
I hope that many of you will consider moving ahead by becoming more
involved, and then, by making your vote count.
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As part of our effort to bring added value to our members and the
community, we are pleased to host an upcoming Webinar on “Training
that Sticks”.
Date: 6 December 2006
Place: HP Indigo, Rehovot.
Cost:
STC Israel Members: Free
ITA Members: 30 NIS
Non-Members: 50 NIS
Registration: Send an email to events@stc-israel.org.il
As a premium event, STC members are given registration priority.
Summary
You want to create great training, but many factors impact your ability
to deliver a superior learning experience for participants. Time constraints,
availability of resources, lack of information (or too much information),
an undisciplined environment, delayed decisions… Most often,
these factors are outside of your control.
Having a solid understanding of how adults learn, what makes them
remember and how to enable transfer learning to other situations gives
you an advantage as a training developer regardless of the factors
you cannot control.
This fun and interactive session will grab you from the beginning
and hold you ‘til the end as you learn to create effective and
engaging training. You will acquire the knowledge you need to begin
building superior training immediately and experience the results
of using such knowledge in your development process.
About the Presenter
Maggie Haenel is a consultant in project management, instructional
design and performance improvement. She has held a variety of development
and management positions in training and instructional design during
the past 11 years. She currently works on a number of projects ranging
from managing a team that is redesigning curriculum for a national
technical training school to drafting storyboards for logistics courses
for an international electronics distribution firm.
Recently employed by Michaels & Associates, Maggie began her
career as a public school teacher working with severely language impaired
learning disabled children. Her background in education combined with
her Master’s studies in instructional design and media provide
an invaluable knowledge base and skill set for clients in a broad
range of industries.
Maggie’s passion is working with those who design and deliver
training for adult populations, helping them to create high-impact
learning experiences for their audiences.
Maggie is in her third year of STC membership and serves her local
chapter as education manager.
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We are pleased to announce that the 2007 STC Israel Convention has
been set for 4 June at the Daniel Hotel in Herzliya. The theme of the
2007 convention, “The Proactive Technical Communicator: Multiple
Disciplines, Multiple Approaches” addresses the changing world
of technical communications where new concepts, skills, and technologies
must be learned to meet future challenges in our profession.
We are planning three concurrent tracks:
- Information
Design encompassing topics such as localization, usability, and
visual information
- New
Tools and Technologies such as DITA, CMS, LMS, .NET, XML
- Business
and Personal Skills such as business planning, change management
and job ethics
(Click one of the above links for more information on
each track)
Are you interested in presenting? For full details, visit the 2007
Convention pages on our site.
We want to thank Zev Frutkoff and his team for their hard work on the
call for proposals, Larry Rosenberg for his help in checking out the
possible venues.
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STC Israel Professional Survey Ends on November
30
On 1 November, we officially opened our Professional Survey of the
State of Technical Communication in Israel. To date, over 180 people
have responded! We would like to give a big thanks to Moshe Chertoff,
our webmaster, for his hard work till the wee hours of night to assure
the survey was up and running on time.
The survey remained open through to midnight of 30 November 2006.
Our goal? To present to our members and participants, and the entire
Israeli community of technical communicators, a solid picture of the
status of our profession here in Israel. This information will be valuable
for salary negotiations, influencing companies that they need us to
work for them, and in presenting to the international community the
status of our profession here in Israel.
Just a reminder, our survey is 100% anonymous, even if you choose to
submit your personal information. Personal data cannot be correlated
with the professional or salary information.
We are looking toward a 40th anniversary celebration in February, at
which the results will be first presented to members and participants
in the survey (who provided us with contact information). Once the full
results are analyzed, we will make them available to the entire community.
For now, here is some interesting data to date: Out of 186 respondents,
only 13 are freelancers; 47% of the participants to date were born in
the US, 51% of the participants use Hebrew as their primary language
for verbal communication, and 38% have had absolutely no training in
the field of technical communication!
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