Posted on behalf of Jonathan Baker, candidate for STC Director. If you have any questions, please contact Jonathan at jbaker2525@earthlink.net. You are also welcome to post comments here, using the Comments button at the bottom of the article.

What do you want from STC?

I know from STC surveys and my past experience on the STC Board that most
members value STC for networking (including the conferences),
publications, chapters, and SIGs. These same things have great value for
me. But as a professional, I want STC to provide training/education that
prepares us to grow in our jobs, certification that helps us progress
professionally, job leads that foster career growth, and industry
leadership that promotes a higher level of respect for the field of
technical communication.

The professional/job-oriented values are actually more important to me
personally than the other more social aspects. Don’t get me wrong, for
more than 10 years I’ve worked in the trenches just like most other
volunteers and I have made many friends within STC. However, the problem
is, I, like many other members, want more than STC has been able to
provide. Does that mean I give up on STC and move on? Not necessarily.

Generally, I believe STC needs to reinvent itself. From the inside, this
happens by fundamental changes in how STC does business. This means
bringing both STCís financial practices and governance, among other
things, into the 21st century.

Why should this matter to you? Because organizationally STC is still stuck
in the very comfortable past circa 1959, which means STC can’t possibly
deliver what you and I need a half a century later. Reinvention is the
single greatest challenge for STC. I believe that STC can successfully
reinvent itself, but only if the membership, including and especially the
leadership, can let go of the past.

I am in the process of writing several articles on STC’s finances and
governance. These articles will be available on the web shortly.

Read my articles. Get passionate. Vote.

As always please feel free to contact me at jbaker2525@earthlink.net.

Jonathan W. Baker
Candidate for Director