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Interview with STC President Linda Oestreich: Directions the STC Is Heading
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Duration: 35 min.
In this podcast, STC President Linda Oestreich talks about the direction that the Society for Technical Communication is heading. She explains the strategic objectives of the STC and the ways the Board is trying to meet those objectives in a financially conscious way. She provides updates on other initiatives they’ve pursued, such as certification programs, increased recognition, and membership trends. Linda also talks about the awesome responsibility it is to be president of an organization of nearly 15,000 members worldwide.
Topics in this podcast include the following:
- The most pressing issue the Board of Directors has attempted to tackle this past year
- The reason the STC has to be financially conscious
- What STC members find truly valuable about the STC
- Updates about the ongoing interactions with the Bureau of Labor about changing the title and definition of “technical writer”
- Reasons for upward membership trends and company-value discounts
- Movements toward certification programs
- Attempts to provide recognition for members between senior member and associate fellow
- Problems interpreting what people mean by networking and publications
- The upcoming roadmap for the STC
- How much time the STC president spends in her position
- Advice she would give to the incoming president
- Why people should attend the upcoming STC Summit
Additional Resources
- STC
- Linda Oestreich’s bio
- To access News and Notes, Tieline, Intercom, or Tech Comm Journal, go to stc.org, log in, and view the options on the Publications menu.
- Upcoming STC Summit in Philadelphia
- Contact Linda at linda.oestreich@hp.com
- The blogroll and podroll links I mentioned.
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Tags: Linda Oestreich, networking, publications, STC, STC Summit
February 6th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Most of the podcast’s topics are STC-related, and not STC-supposed-customers -related. Why would any non-STC-member technical writer bother to listen to it?…
February 6th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Good point. Perhaps by listening, you’ll find out if the STC can provide any benefits or value to you that you were otherwise missing out on (for example, publications, networking, salary surveys, conferences, certification, recognition, leadership).
On another note, what topic would you like to learn about in a podcast?
February 6th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
February 6th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
[...] post by tom@idratherbewriting.com (Tom Johnson) A.at_adv_here_7881, A.at_pow_by_7881 {font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; [...]
February 6th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
February 7th, 2008 at 8:43 am
I think you are doing a great job with your blog and podcasts. I have added it to my RSS reader.
Don’t be afraid to be more enthusiastic and less measured in your speech.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:19 am
February 17th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
February 19th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[...] has changed so greatly over the years. I listened to Linda Oestriech’s podcast about the Direction the STC is Heading at Tech Writer Voices and one great quote from her was, “We’re not the technical writer from the 70s.” [...]
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
April 18th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Is there a transcript? I’d really like to hear this but 35 minutes is a long time to invest. I could skim a written version in 5 minutes.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Sorry, there’s no transcript. However, do you drive a car anywhere, or ever go to the gym? Put it on your MP3 player and listen to it that way. I’m sure you’ll find it much more enjoyable, rather than when you’re stationery at the computer.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:34 pm