Our November meeting offers a change of pace! Come to the Western Campus of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), where Professor Stan Kohn will discuss Adobe Photoshop. He will also give us a tour of the new Visual Communications Center of Excellence, which he helped develop.
The Consultants and Independent Contractors Special Interest Group (CIC-SIG) will meet immediately before the main meeting.
Mr. Kohn chairs Tri-C’s digital imaging program. He began his career in 1969 teaching photography, graphic arts, and computer science to high school students. He also consults and has taught locally at Lakeland Community College and The Cleveland Institute of Art.
Mr. Kohn has developed courses on electronic still photography, digital video, and virtual reality imaging. His main love is sharing the art and technology of images with his students, industry, and business.
NOTE: There will be no dinner at this meeting. Cookies, coffee, and soft drinks will be provided. Registration is still required.
12/7/2005: Webinar: Mastering Metadata: Making the Most of Your Content Management System. No local host site yet.*
12/8/2005: Monthly Meeting: Holiday Social Party and Food Drive at Hoggys Barn & Grill, 5975 Canal Road, Valley View. Members are encouraged to bring three cans of food or a $5 donation for the Cleveland Food Bank.
* Note that the chapter is not sponsoring these seminars. If you would like to host a seminar, please
e-mail us.
Reminder: If you RSVP but do not show up for a meeting, it costs the chapter money — we have to pay up-front for meals. Please remember to let the Programs Committee (programs@neostc.org) know in advance if you have registered but cannot make it to a meeting.
Non-NEO STC events
11/17/2005: The Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Usability Professionals' Association (http://www.neoupa.org/) presents a panel discussion on using graphics effectively to enhance and not detract from page designs.
12/ 6 to 12/7/2005: Columbus, OH. DITA: Getting Started will be offered by ComTech as part of the JoAnn Hackos Workshop Series.
The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an information architecture that presents a powerful solution for the information developers. For more information about DITA and the workshop, see http://www.comtech-serv.com/workshops/dita.shtml
Members attending the October meeting had the opportunity to see our new NEO STC brochure, hot off the presses!
Our thanks to Master Printing for working with us on the colorful brochure. The tri-fold is the culmination of the hard work of Jessica Hendricks, Trisha Spayer, and Joel Lantz.
Our brochure is an excellent marketing tool that highlights the purpose of STC and the many benefits of membership. Employment Committee chairperson Sarah Burke has packaged the brochure with a special form letter in hopes of convincing area employers to post their job openings directly on our site. The PR Committee has teamed with the Employment Committee for this important project and is sending the form letters through e-mail to employers who have previously posted job openings on our Web site. The goal is to make employers aware that we are a pipeline to talented professionals. In turn, our members will benefit by getting the "hottest" list of openings.
To paraphrase a popular advertising slogan, "What's in your portfolio?," October's meeting focused on this powerful yet often misunderstood tool in your job-seeking toolkit.
A portfolio is one of your most important communication tools. Strategically presented after your 30-second sound bite, it provides you with your best opportunity to take control of an interview. Your portfolio gives the interviewer a priceless prospective of you that mere words cannot express. It creates a vivid image of your experience in his or her mind and demonstrates your:
ability
organizational skills
potential to succeed in the position that he or she needs to fill
A well-designed portfolio is a progression of your technical communication experience, targeted to a specific job opening. It includes samples of your past projects, awards, and complimentary letters, logically arranged into an effective showpiece. For ease of use, it may also include a table of contents and tabs. Regardless of format, you want to make it easy for the reader to navigate through your portfolio.
Sarah Burke, NEO STC Employment Committee chairperson, skillfully moderated a diverse panel of technical communication managers from northeastern Ohio, including the following panelists:
Stephanie Mohar (technical training/design)
Scott Arnold (technical publishing)
Kris Henige (manufacturing/IT)
Jill McCauslin (consulting/contracting)
Stephanie believes that anyone who comes to an interview without a portfolio is making an impression — the wrong one! The absence of a portfolio suggests that you are disorganized and lack initiative. Never rely on the HR recruiter to tell you to bring a portfolio.
Your portfolio should accurately represent your work. Always be truthful about the skills you possess and your involvement with each item in your portfolio. Practice your presentation before you arrive at the interview. Remember, it is your chance to tell your story.
Scott feels that your portfolio introduces you to the interviewer. It quickly communicates who you are and demonstrates the passion that you have for your work. He suggests that you research your target position thoroughly and include several different samples that demonstrate your qualifications for that position.
If you have just graduated, the interviewer is not going to expect you to have a robust portfolio. This is your opportunity to impress him/her with your creativity and initiative. Create your own samples targeted to the specific position requirements.
Scott believes that the most important aspect of a portfolio is its organization and how its contents relate to the position requirements. However, if you still feel that your portfolio is inadequate, you can always ask them to give you a writing/editing test.
Kris's message was short and to the point. Look for someone who needs your services and develop your portfolio to fill that need. Your portfolio is your best sales tool. Use it to sell yourself and steer the interview. If you are concerned that your portfolio lacks the necessary samples, show some initiative and create samples targeted to that need. One suggestion is to look for a need in your office and document it.
In addition to writing samples, your portfolio should include other types of documents. Project management skills are in high demand and short supply in the workplace today. Include spreadsheets that illustrate your ability to manage projects. Create samples that demonstrate how you save money and effect change.
Jill expects you to take control of the first portion of the interview and be comfortable explaining how your past experience qualifies you to fill her open position. Here a well-designed portfolio becomes your best friend. Like a teleprompter, it provides you with the necessary material to effectively state your case.
For each specific sample in your portfolio, be sure to identify the specific applications/graphics packages that you have used/documented. If you have designed your portfolio correctly, these items will be similar to the tools and experience desired by the interviewer. It may also be helpful to give the interviewer a bit of context for your samples, such as the duration of the effort, the audience, the budget, and its greatest challenges and outcomes.
Always bring a hard copy of your portfolio to an interview. If you have your portfolio online, don't assume that the interviewer has looked at it. Most interviewers just don't have the time. Because you cannot be sure of what software the interviewer has available, never bring your portfolio to the interview on a CD. If the interviewer cannot view your portfolio, you have just lost the moment to showcase your skills and most likely any hope for getting that job.
Your portfolio is your most effective tool for showcasing your knowledge, passion and experience. In less than 20 minutes, your portfolio gives the interviewer a clear picture of who you are and what you can do for his/her company. A well-designed portfolio is no afterthought. It is a continual work in progress that you must review and update regularly.
I offer a hearty round of applause to Sarah Burke and the entire portfolio panel for their information and insightful suggestions. It brought many issues to light and prompted me to add another project to my task list — develop my portfolio. Well done!
NEO STC is working on developing mentor-protégé match-ups in the near future. Please let me know if you are interested in joining either as a mentor or a university-level student protégé. Following are some guidelines adapted from stc.org that we plan to incorporate in the NEO STC effort.
What is Mentoring?
Mentoring is a way for more experienced technical communicators to share their experiences with new or less experienced protégés.
A mentor acts as a trusted counselor, or guide, who assists the mentored protégé in setting and achieving goals for developing career direction and skills. By participating in a mentor-protégé relationship, mentors develop valuable skills that can further their personal and professional development.
The relationship between mentor and protégé requires honesty, openness, commitment, and effort by both individuals.
In a mentoring relationship, mentor and protégé:
Identify objectives, goals, and developmental needs
Define and establish a plan to accomplish protégé goals
Meet regularly in person or via phone or e-mail to review and evaluate progress
A successful mentoring relationship benefits those involved through increased confidence and a sense of direction. The relationship provides a risk-free learning environment in which to offer career guidance.
Mentoring relationships can develop between individuals within an organization, between individuals in two different organizations, or between students and STC professionals.
Mentoring is not:
casual advice
necessarily for everyone
on-the-job training
a guarantee of a successful career
However, mentoring is inclusive — no one is excluded who wants to participate.
What principles does mentoring include?
Mentoring is an enabling process that facilitates career development and skills exchange
The mentor and protégé are mutually committed to a beneficial mentoring relationship
Mentoring is based on an absolute commitment to trust and confidentiality between participants
To get the most out of the relationship, mentors and protégés need to understand their roles in the mentor program.
A mentor serves as a role model, offering penalty-free advice and counsel and providing candid feedback to the protégé.
In a mentoring relationship within an organization, the mentor introduces the protégé to people in the organization; helps the protégé get oriented; and familiarizes the protégé with organizational processes and procedures.
In a mentoring relationship between organizations, the mentor listens and offers feedback; recommends developmental activities; suggests and provides resources; and communicates experiences and challenges.
In a mentoring relationship between an STC professional and a student, the mentor assists the student in professional networking; provides job shadowing opportunities; and serves as a counselor and a guide.
In all mentoring relationships, mentors can:
Suggest methods for advancing protégés’ growth and offer résumé assistance and long-term career guidance
Provide lists of relevant books and Web resources and introduce their protégés to some of the jargon of the trade
Point out STC Society-level and community-level benefits
Discuss training and educational opportunities
The success of a mentoring relationship is often based on what the protégé wants to achieve from it. The protégé should:
Ask questions
Listen
Share ongoing career planning and development
Be open to the mentor's suggestions
Keep the lines of communication open with his or her mentor
Protégé benefits
Protégés who participate in a mentoring relationship:
Develop networks
Receive valuable sounding boards
Receive career guidance
Increase their visibility
Learn to adapt to changing professional and organizational circumstances
Develop or enhance skills needed to move forward in their careers
Although a mentor can suggest growth opportunities and career guidance, the protégé is ultimately responsible for his or her own career development.
How should mentors prepare for the roles?
Mentors should be willing to commit a minimum of two hours a month to the relationship. A good starting point is determining what relevant books and Web resources might be of value to the protégé.
What time scale should mentors and protégés consider?
Because each individual learns and absorbs information at different rates, the length of time the mentoring relationship lasts depends on the individuals involved. Therefore, each mentor and protégé must determine how long the mentoring relationship should continue.
Some relationships last for years.
To start, consider the following time scale:
3-6 months for relationships within an organization
6-12 months for relationships between organizations
Our esteemed President, Bob Young, asked me to write an article about the new localized dues structure. By now, you've all heard about the "whats" of the new structure from Suzanna Laurent's broadcast e-mail to the membership. So, what I thought I'd cover here are some of the "whys" along with some projected results.
Why is STC adopting this new model?
Well, first of all, STC is a global society, not an American or even a North American-based society. As such, we have a responsibility to not only serve those outside of North America, but to also provide for membership growth in those areas. Currently, 94% of STC members reside in North America. Doesn't sound much like a global society, does it? Surveys of members and potential members outside of North America repeatedly have shown that the cost of dues is a major issue for them. Indian technical communicators, for example, earn only 1/10th as much as American technical communicators. That means that they pay the equivalent of $1,450 per year for membership. So, to answer our initial question, we are adopting this new model to make the dues more fair for those outside of North America and to provide for membership growth in those areas.
Wait a minute — you mean that North American technical commuincators are now going to be subsidizing offshore members?
Hold on! First of all, all STC membership is subsidized to a certain extent. You heard me right. It costs approximately 265 dollars to deliver the level of services we offer to each member. The annual conferences, telephone seminars, foundation grants, and other sources make up the 120 dollar per member difference. So — STC will be providing more of a subsidy to global members than to North American-based members, that's all. It is hoped that membership growth in those areas will more than offset the initial losses from implementing the new dues structure.
This hardly seems fair. MY job is going offshore, and STC is just helping it along by giving away all our good stuff to our competitors.
Emotional issue, isn't it? The truth of the matter is that globalization is happening at a breakneck pace whether we like it or not. No matter what industry you are in, or what you do for a living, you will be touched by globalization. As with any change or adjustment period, there will be pain. Sometimes lots of it. For STC, or any professional society to ignore these trends would be akin to ignoring a force of nature like gravity. You can certainly do it, but it is at your peril when you try to go flying off that cliff without a parachute or a hang-glider. Second of all, as a global society, members in other countries have as much right and access to Society resources as anyone else. From the Society's perspective, they are not competitors, they are valued members.
So, what's in this new dues structure for me?
Lots, actually. As global membership rises, so will opportunities for STC members worldwide to interact, generate contacts, and learn from each other. Ten years from now, you might be managing a team of technical communicators in Beijing or have technical illustrators in Indonesia developing the graphics for your online publication. Unless you learn how to work and thrive in the new globalized world, you will only fall further behind. STC is providing YOU with a starting point to make this happen.
So, I'm sure there are a couple of reasons I'm leaving out here, but these are the major ones. As always, feel free to e-mail me at dir4@stc.org with any questions or concerns, and I'll do the best I can to answer them.
This is reprinted from Tieline, a newsletter for STC's managers. I thought members would like to know some of the things the Society does to help its members, and some of what goes on behind the scenes to make it happen.
By Cynthia J. Pao, Senior Member, Houston Community
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, STC has organized a committee to recommend and oversee efforts to aid victims of these disasters. Comprising members of several communities and the Society board of directors, the "hurricane committee" worked with Shaf Syed, STC's Web developer, to create a section on STC's Web site where victims can sign up for aid.
Using the online forms posted on the STC Web site, victims who are STC members can request resume assistance, clothing, job search assistance, and computer assistance, while non-members can request assistance to create or recreate their resumes. Another form allows STC members to sign up as volunteers and asks them to identify the types of aid they can offer.
The committee uses the information gathered via these forms to match victims with volunteers who reside in the same geographic locations or who can provide the requested services. In cases where no match can be made, the committee contacts the president of the STC chapter in the victim's area and asks for help.
The members of the committee are Joanna Castner, Diane L. Evans, Linda G. Gallagher, Katherine E. Graden, Katherine A. Hinchey, Linda S. King, Lisetta Lavy, Mark A. Lewis, Sherry J. Michaels, Linda L. Oestreich, Yvonne Wade Sanchez, and George Slaughter, in addition to myself, the committee manager.
A Personal Touch
In October, the committee reached out directly to STC members who live in the affected areas. Using a membership report provided by the STC office, the committee contacted as many members as possible in Louisiana, Mississippi, southern Alabama, and parts of Florida. We asked each person to let us know if they were affected by the hurricane, and if we could be of any assistance. We continue to follow up with these members.
Keeping in Touch
The committee will announce new or changed information by e-mailing community leaders. We ask that community leaders forward these communications to their members. We also request community leaders to tell us about their community's efforts to provide aid so that we can help direct victims to those services. You can send information to me at the e-mail address at the end of this article.
Volunteers Needed
STC is able to offer this assistance because of our members' generosity. The committee encourages all members who can provide goods or services to fill out the online form for volunteers. With the help of those who have much to offer, we hope to provide for those who have lost all.
Cindy Pao is in her second term as the president of the Houston community. She is an information developer at BMC Software, Inc., in Houston, Texas.
NEO STC has had many successful Software Saturdays in the past. In fact, I was in Pittsburgh recently for one of their STC events, and the group reminisced about our chapter's progressive approach to half- and full-day software training seminars.
I am pleased to announce that we will host another Software Saturday on January 21, 2006. That sounds like a long way off, but with the holidays, it will arrive quickly. So, mark your calendars now! Although all the details have not been finalized, the hands-on training is expected to be from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Cuyahoga Community College's Western Campus in Parma. Cost will be $40 for students, $50 for STC members, and $60 for non-members. Reservations will be required.
Alan Houser, a certified Adobe instructor and senior member of the STC Pittsburgh chapter, will provide the training on Adobe FrameMaker 7.2 and Quadralay's WebWorks ePublisher Pro. The latter software has been on the market for only a few months. Tri-C has graciously offered us the use of one of its computer labs, which is equipped with 40 state-of-the-art PCs. For those who have not used FrameMaker, this tool creates templates to write consistent, single-sourced documents. ePublisher Pro converts FrameMaker or MS Word templates and documents into customized online Help, Web-based applications, XML, PDFs, and other platforms, including mobile devices.
Whether you are a novice user or a veteran FrameMaker guru, Alan will share his knowledge and a few secrets to hone your skills. I use FrameMaker on a daily basis and found Alan's seminar in Pittsburgh to be both interesting and educational. There's always a new keystroke command or menu function to be learned. And, there's the opportunity to see firsthand the enhancements ePublisher Pro offers over the previous Webworks edition, such as the automatic mapping of styles rather than time-consuming customizations.
This is the time of year when we pause to give thanks. We are blessed with many tangibles and intangibles, including our friendships in NEO STC.
On behalf of the officers, we wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!
You should have received your dues renewal reminder. To renew
online, you can go to https://www.stc.org/duesrenewal/. Renewing
online is fast and easy — all you need are your membership number, password, and credit card. If you have forgotten your password, go
to http://www.stc.org and select "password reminder."
STC members can receive a 30% discount on books and tutorials from the O'Reilly User Group Program. The list of books is at http://www.oreilly.com.
Because this is a benefit for members only, please contact Bob Young at Ryoung1956@sbcglobal.net for the code before placing an order to receive the discount.
Brian Baddour heads up work on our neostc.org Web
site. He joined STC in 2001 and redesigned our NEO
STC Web site in 2002. In 2003, he became chairperson
of the Web committee and has been continuously
enhancing http://www.neostc.org since.
Also a member of international STC's former Transformation
Technology Team (now rolled into the Leadership Community Resource), Brian calls himself as much a
technical communicator as a communications technician.
He says he aims "to make it easier for technical
communicators to share information and ideas
online."
Holding a dual degree in computer science and math,
Brian is a graduate of BGSU, where he learned about
STC from Bonnie Fink, a winner of the Jay Gould award
for excellence in teaching.
Currently working at Quadax Quadax http://www.quadax.com, Brian has
done a variety of work that includes customer support,
technical writing, programming, information architecture,
design, and internal training. He also does
moonlighting and gratis work with Sound Sites &
Solutions at http://soundsites.home.att.net/.
Supporting many sites simultaneously as he does, Brian
notes that "techniques and skills learned from one
site can be applied to others. All the while, I'm
working in a variety of Web site environments, and so
learning all the different configurations intimately:
Apache vs. IIS, supporting a Web server vs.
subscribing to a Web host, ASP and VBScript vs.
PHP, Microsoft Access vs. MySQL, Dreamweaver vs.
Notepad, collaborative vs. funneled content
management, built applications vs. bought ones, static
sites vs. Web applications, etc."
When asked how many hits neostc.org gets, Brian answered, "Webmasters measure traffic in hits, page views, and
visits. A 'visit' is the number of different people
who view pages on a site during a session. 'Page
views' tally for each site visitor requesting each
page.
A 'hit' is any file requested: an HTML page, each
graphic on that page, a stylesheet, a
JavaScript, etc. Computing those numbers is
more art than science.
With that caveat, our site typically gets about 4,000
visits per month, to serve 10,000 pages comprising
27,000 hits. It doesn't vary by much, now that word
about the site has been out for a while.
Those traffic statistics fluctuate, as does our
community's organization. Just before and after our
community meetings, there's more traffic. On weekends,
there's less.
While most site visitors are from Ohio, others come
from many countries. Those visitors get sent to our
site by members' bookmarks/favorites, by links on
other STC Web sites, by Internet search engines, and
by e-mail links."
Living on the west side with his wife and two
daughters, Brian is active with St. Patrick church (http://www.stpatrickwp.org/)
and the band Flip Side (http://soundsites.home.att.net/flipside), which plays
classic and original contemporary folk at venues such
as the Eye Candy Gallery in Cleveland, Friendzy in
Ashland, Phoenix in Lakewood, and Arabica at University
Circle.
Did you know that turning off change tracking in Word 2002/2003 does not remove changes that have already been tracked? If you distribute a Word document that contains tracked changes, those revisions may be visible to others, even though you turned off change tracking before you saved the file. (Word 2003 has a default setting to display all revision marks and comments when a document is opened.)
To get rid of tracked changes and comments permanently, you must accept or reject the changes and delete the comments. Here's how:
Click Tools > Track Changes.
On the Reviewing toolbar, click Next to advance from one revision or comment to the next.
On the Reviewing toolbar, click Accept Change or Reject Change/Delete Comment for each revision or comment.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all the revisions in the document have been accepted or rejected and all the comments have been deleted.
Note: You can also click the arrow next to Accept Change or Reject Change/Delete Comment and select options to accept all changes, reject all changes, or delete all comments.
Integrated Marketing Technologies, Inc.
in Brunswick is seeking a Technical Writer/Quality Assurance Analyst to create content for its client’s Web sites and internal Web-based applications and to validate Web site functionality.
More information
Progressive is seeking a Documentation Specialist for its Highland Heights office to develop new or maintain existing documentation for Progressive's information systems (direct submittal). More information
Ernst & Young in Cleveland is looking for a Technical Writer II to prepare and edit KnowledgeWeb team documentation, including user documentation, training materials, usability documentation, process methodologies, and technical specifications. More
information
Web Design
Case Western Reserve University is seeking a Communications and Design Specialist II to perform marketing, communications, and Web site design for NetWellness, a non-profit health information resource that is in its 10th year of operation. More information
Management Recruiters International is seeking an E-Business/Internet Business Analyst to coordinate the Web site of an Akron-based client in the catalog/e-business industry. More information
Training/Instructional Design
University Hospitals of Cleveland is seeking a Senior Change Management Specialist – Communication for a healthcare technology implementation. The candidate in this position will lead team communication efforts and interact with other instructional designers/trainers on the project team, internal project team members, and end-user groups. More
information
Key Bank's Enterprise Design Center is seeking an Instructional Designer to develop and design employee development solutions that meet business and corporate goals (direct submittal). More information
Graphic Design
A.M. Design Group, Inc. in Avon Lake, a studio that provides design for corporate communication, marketing, advertising, and public relations, is looking for a creative, detail-oriented Graphic Designer who can work independently in a fast-paced environment. More information
United Way of Greater Cleveland is seeking a high-energy, creative Graphic Designer to join its marketing team and develop print, Web, and multi-media projects.
More information
Editing
Ernst & Young of Cleveland is seeking a Content Manager/Editor to package and manage the delivery of content, complete writing/editorial tasks, and oversee production staff and staff projects for an internal knowledge management publishing group.
More information
Progressive of Mayfield Village is looking for an Experience Editor III to write and edit copy for print and electronic policy communications.
Position is 60% copywriting/editing, 30% copywriting management and strategy, and 10% special projects and process improvement.
More information
Communications/Marketing
Edgepark Surgical in Twinsburg is looking for a Copywriter/Proofreader to develop sales and marketing material content and create brand and corporate standards to achieve consistent messaging across all media.
More information
Wellcorp of Solon is seeking a Marketing Writer and Production Coordinator to create informational and marketing materials across all media to reach key audiences, including human resource professionals, upper management, and spouses of employees.
More information
