Message from our new branch President

On Saturday July 3oth, we held our Annual General Meeting in Melbourne at RMIT to confirm the outcome of the elections, deliver reports and plan the year ahead. We had a terrific day with members either attending in person or phoning or skyping in.

I would like to thank the committee members who have agreed to stay on for another year including our past president Marcia Bascombe, our membership organiser Steve Salter, and treasurer Robin Hutchinson.

We have four new members including Bea Amaya, a Texan who is currently residing in Papua New Guinea, who will be taking on the position of blog and webmaster; Mark Ward our new secretary; and two new general members Sonja McShane and Robert Levy.

As you may be aware, last year we struggled at most committee meetings to achieve a quorum but with fresh interest from the membership we should not have that same problem going forward. So thank you to all committee members for returning or joining in spite of heavy family, work and other commitments.

At the AGM, after customary reports for each area, we proceeded to discuss the year ahead. This year we will run the branch technical communication competition. We will update the web page shortly to reflect the information for this year. We look forward to your participation by contributing your work to be judged or to helping with the judging. Stay tuned for more information.

One of the reasons that I continue to remain a member of the STC, and in particular the committee, is to have discussions with others who are interested in technical communication. I enjoy hearing about their work, how they arrived where they are, and where they are going. We will look to showcase some of the interesting people within and outside of the STC who are involved in technical communication.

For example, at this past meeting we had an opportunity to meet Bea our new webmaster. Bea is an amazing example to the community, producing technical documentation in Papua New Guinea and working on a PhD in Technical Communication from Texas Tech University in west Texas, mostly online. I would like to find an opportunity to have Bea talk online and answer questions from the STC members.

We are also looking to have periodic casual get-togethers over coffee or dinner in your state. This way members can meet up face-to-face.

The committee will be looking into technical communication certification or even accreditation options. We have watched other groups such as the Society of Editors do this over the years and it is not a quick process but we will start to take baby steps and see what is involved.

We also will look within and outside at other chapters and other societies to understand what they offer to their membership to ensure the committee’s relevance.

More ideas flowed which we will communicate and work on as the year goes on.

After the AGM we followed tradition and moved to the local pub for a final farewell before members dispersed back to their part of the country or world.