Re: Deadline extended for proposals for STC Annual Conference
One of the questions the STC Transformation process is trying to address is, how _should_ this be managed? (Given that STC is in a budget crisis, and isn't going to be able to start paying for IP it's always had free in the past.)
If you were running things, how would you restructure the system?
The current tendency seems to be to try to generate revenue wherever possible, but it may be possible to argue they should do something else, if we can make a reasonable case.
Any suggestions?
Well, yes, but I will admit up front that they are not based on facts, but on speculation fueled by how organizations (including governments--especially governments) have "managed" over the past few years, organizations that have been regularly singing the same "budget crisis" song.
Organizations grew dramtically when things were flush. Many did not put away for the inevitable rainy day, and are now paying the price for their shortsightedness. Companies laid off, or confronted many workers with pay cuts or layoff choices. Organizations didn't.
I'd love to see soem cost-per-member figures over the past 5 or 10 years. has STC membership declined over the past 2 or 3 years, and if so, has the overall budget declined correspondingly? I know dues have risen dramatically, so where is all the money going? Is it trying to maintain a budget level that is no longer justified by the membership size?
One of the mantras of non-profits, who always have to have some people on payroll, is that they have to pay high salaries to "attract quality people." That's a bogus argument; plenty of people are willing to do good work for non-profits not because they are getting paid better than they could in the private sector, but because they are passionate about the cause.
If you believe in what you do, you find ways to survive without scr*wing over your membership.
Heck, this list has done it.
Many of you might be away of a little web site called craigslist. It grew by leaps and bounds in the late 80s, and it made its money one way: by charging for job listings. As the dot-bomb began, the job listing dried up. There were many discussions among craigslist staff and users about how to survice, including the possibility of generating revenue in other ways, from people selling items, from people placing personal ads, etc., models that other web sites had tried. Ultimately, though, the cragislist staff decided to bite the bullet and stay the course, keeping as lean as possible and keeping the site's revenue structure unchanged. They not only survived, but continue to prosper. They have more users than ever and continue to speread (a little more slowly now) to other cities. And they still get their revenue from one place: help wanted ads--and all without raising the cost. More important to them than becoming the biggest, or the richest, they believed in their mission and held true to it. I know it cost some of their staffers in lots of time, and I'm sure that their salaries were lean for a time, but they had a vision and stayed true to it.
And now there's the STC (capital "T") Transformation. A nice big four syllable word that means...what?
Well, here's a novel suggestion: find out what you users need? Then give it to them?
Me, I've been an STC member since before I graduated. I value the information I get for my money and am grateful to the academia that is willin to research and publish so I can become better at what I do. I'm also grateful to the non-academics who also share their knowledge. And to the people who volunteer on a local level to provide the necessary networking. I've never (intentionally) thrown away a journal or Intercom issue (yeah, I'm a packrat). Someday I hope to actually get to an STC conference, and will hope it is more than what I've heard.
You can have meetings, focus groups, task forces, whatever, but unless you are helping your users meet their goals, you're wasting your time and money.
--
--
Chuck Martin
User Assistance & Experience Engineer
twriter "at" sonic "dot" net www.writeforyou.com
"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
The day may come when the courage of Men fail, when we forsake our
friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day!
This day, we fight!"
- Aragorn
"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you."
- Gandalf
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl
WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
References:
Re: Deadline extended for proposals for STC Annual Conference: From: TechComm Dood
Previous by Author:
Re: Transfer of Copyright (Was STC Conference Deadline...)
Next by Author:
Re: Contacting people who create manuals for gaming software.
Previous by Thread:
Re: Deadline extended for proposals for STC Annual Conference
Next by Thread:
Re: Deadline extended for proposals for STC Annual Conference
Search our Technical Writing Archives & Magazine
Visit TechWhirl's Other Sites
Sponsored Ads