Dues for 2010 — Connecticut Membership

As many of you may know, the STC parent organization is struggling with debt for 2009. As a result, they have collected all the chapter reserve funds, so chapters have no rainy-day funds any more. Additionally, the STC now requires a precise budget, so they will only approve funds based on a proposed schedule of events AND the number of members a chapter has.

Furthermore, dues have increased. The new basic membership of $215 does not include membership in a chapter. To join a chapter, you need to opt in at an additional cost of $25. This $25 goes to the general STC fund that is used, in part, to fund all STC chapter programs.

As you know, our programs have included significant discounts on New Horizons training programs, top-notch sessions and guest speakers at meetings like our annual kickoff, and presentations by tool vendors, amongst other things.

We–volunteer Connecticut Chapter board members–understand how tight things are all around, but because approval of funding for chapter activities is going to be based on the number of members a chapter has, we need you to please renew your Connecticut Chapter membership this year and each year going forward.

Thank you in anticipation of your renewal of your Connecticut Chapter membership!

Sightings in the Wild

Have you seen your product in the field?

Have you found a pop reference to technical communicators other than Tina on Dilbert?

Well?

Spring Cleaning For Your Bookshelf

So you say you’ve got a bunch of writing- and communications-related books that you no longer need. You’d like for them to go to someone who could put them to use, but don’t want to deal with the work that goes into selling used books on Amazon.com Marketplace or Half.com.

Our counterparts at IABC Connecticut might have an alternative for you to consider. The Population Media Center (PMC) is sponsoring the first ever media and communication resource center in Ethiopia. The center is open to professional communicators in Ethiopia, serving the business community in Addis Ababa .

The PMC is accepting donations of communications resources – including books, manuals, CDs, and DVDs – for use by Ethiopian professionals who utilize the center’s services.  You can mail your donated books, CDs, and DVDs to:  

Population Media Center
145 Pine Haven Shores Road, Suite 2011
P. O. Box 547
Shelburne , Vermont 05482

The PMC will handle the rest.

Give your books and resources a second life by giving a new community of communicators a boost!

February Meeting: Using SharePoint In A Tech Pubs Department

Join us on Wednesday, February 20 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. to hear first-hand from Mary Sheahan how Honeywell has incorporated SharePoint into its operations.

Mary tells us…

In 2005, Honeywell Tech Pubs in Northford, Connecticut, started using Microsoft SharePoint to maintain a reference library of user documents and data sheets. In Honeywell speak, we’re using a SharePoint “teamroom” — what the rest of the world calls a WSS site. Our writers have since begun releasing PDFs directly to this teamroom. We are using the site for electronic document review and approval, and for signing out part numbers for our data sheets. Recently, we added a library of product labels for use by Purchasing & Manufacturing departments. We have a department-only section with internal “help topics” and are experimenting with a collaborative online SOP in a department-only section.

This site has almost eliminated requests for specific documents, the exception being that Tech Support sometimes needs obsolete product materials and we post items scanned from our cabinets. Webmasters use it to check that they have the most recent copy of their PDFs. Users can sign up for automated alerts to learn when a document changes. Purchasing no longer requests replacement files when changing vendors. Our off-site writers swear by it…although sometimes we all swear at it. We have found a lot of uses for the tool, and we’ve created workarounds for some of SharePoint’s limitations. We’re also looking ahead to Honeywell’s rollout of the next (current) SharePoint edition later in the year.

Our teamrooms are used by writers and reviewers in 4 U.S. states, translators in 3 countries, and readers on 5 continents.

There is a possibility of a factory tour. If you are interested, call Mary directly at 203-484-6350 before February 8.

NOTE: Due to after-hours building security, RSVPs are needed for this event. 

DIRECTIONS
Honeywell is located at 12 Clintonville Road (Route 22) in Northford, CT 06472.  

I-91 from Hartford

1. Take I-91 South to Exit 12, Washington Ave. Exit in North Haven.
2. Take a left onto Route 5 and follow it about a mile to the intersection of Route 5 and Route 22 (Church & funeral home on the left).
3. Take a left onto Route 22 East (Clintonville Road).
4. Travel through two more traffic lights and over a set of railroad tracks. At this point, the area is mostly residential.
5. Honeywell is about a mile further on the left-hand side of Clintonville Road, near the Northford Ice Pavillion.

I-91 from New Haven

1. Take I-91 North to Exit 11. 
2. At the exit ramp, take a right onto Route 22 (Clintonville Road).
3. Stay in the right-hand lane and continue straight through the first light onto Clintonville Road.
4. Travel through two more traffic lights and over a set of railroad tracks. At this point, the area is mostly residential.
5. Honeywell is about a mile further on the left-hand side of Clintonville Road, near the Northford Ice Pavillion.

The Merritt-Wilbur Cross Parkway (SR-15) from Fairfield County

1. Take SR-15 Northbound.
2. Take Exit 63 to the traffic light at the end of the ramp and go right onto Route 22.
3. Stay in the right-hand lane and continue straight through two traffic lights onto Clintonville Road.
4. Travel through two more traffic lights and over a set of railroad tracks. At this point, the area is mostly residential.
5. Honeywell is about a mile further on the left-hand side of Clintonville Road, near the Northford Ice Pavillion.

The Merrit-Wilbur Cross Parkway (SR-15) from Meriden

1. Take SR-15 Southbound.
2. Take Exit 63 to the traffic light at the end of the ramp and go left.
3. At the very next traffic light, go left onto Route 22.
4. Stay in the right-hand lane and continue straight through two traffic lights onto Clintonville Road.
5. Travel through two more traffic lights and over a set of railroad tracks. At this point, the area is mostly residential.
6. Honeywell is about a mile further on the left-hand side of Clintonville Road, near the Northford Ice Pavillion.

Reminder — Flash Training This Month

Just a quick final reminder about the all-day Flash – Level I class on January 12 at the New Horizons facility in Bloomfield. The course fee is $50 for STC members (no…that’s not a typo), and $120 for non-members. You’ll receive all the same learning materials you’d get if you took New Horizons’ regular class at its commercial rates — plus you get the right to retake the course for free whenever it is offered.

Class starts at 9 a.m., with one hour for lunch and a short break mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

Having taken the CSS class that Rob Bernobich arranged for us a year ago, and some Dreamweaver courses that my employer sent me to several years ago, I can tell you that the New Horizons instructors pack a lot into their courses and provide ample in-class exercises to practice what they teach.

If you’ve been wanting to learn, or get a better handle on, Flash, this is the learning opportunity you don’t want to pass up!

Contact Rob at robert@stc-ct.org with questions or to sign up.

Director for Region One VOTE — Why are you supporting your candidate?

Regardless of who you want, please VOTE!

• Comment on this blog topic in SUPPORT of your favorite candidate (no negatives, please! supporters of all candidates are welcome and encouraged to post!).
• Comment on this blog topic to ask HOW TO VOTE.
• Comment on this blog topic for anything related to the VOTE for Region One Director.
• Yes, Connecticut is Region One.

Here’s the info. from the Chapter Website:

The Region 1 (that includes Connecticut) STC Director position is open and we get to vote.

Click here to see letters from the candidates.

Even more interesting, our very own Connecticut DONNA FORD is nominated. Look for more information here in the next day or two, including biographical info. from and about the candidates, but for now here’s the info.:

The special election will be open for voting from July 20th through August 3rd at noon ET. To vote in this election, you must live in Region 1 and be an active member of STC as of July 1st, 2007. Student members are not eligible to vote in Society elections.

Region One includes chapters in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.

The slate of candidates for Region 1 Director includes:

Donna Ford
Connecticut chapter
Information Design & Architecture SIG
donna@evolve.net

John Garison
Boston, Northern New England, and Vermont chapters
Consulting & Independent Contracting, Emerging Technologies, Usability & User Experience SIGs
john@garisons.com

Rob Hanna
Toronto and Southwestern Ontario chapters
Single Sourcing SIG
rob.hanna@ascan.ca

(Am still awaiting more info from the STC on how the voting happens.)

Click here for more information about the candidates including links to their biographies.