I was told that being Chapter President wasn’t an easy thing to do, and that things might well get more difficult through the year. That dire prediction hasn’t come true for me, and one of the things that is actually becoming easier as the year goes on is writing this President’s message for the Newsletter. We have had such a lot going on in the Chapter recently, and have such a lot planned for the near future, that my problem isn’t one of finding what to write about, but of not forgetting to mention something important!
Our weekend in Coventry was a tremendous success. Thirty people attended Alan Houser’s seminar on XML and DITA on Saturday, and nineteen people took part in Alan’s hands-on XML workshop on Sunday. Our warmest thanks go to Alan who made a potentially dry, technical, and geeky subject accessible, informative, and enjoyable. Thanks also to our hosts, Jacqui Bleetman and Sandra Harrison of Coventry University, and to our commercial sponsors BlastRadius whose support enabled us to keep the cost to members so low. Although a number of Chapter Board members helped with the arrangements for the Coventry weekend, I’d like to express my special thanks to Nancy Halverson, our 1st Vice-President, who took the lead in organising this event.
In the new year, the Chapter will be playing host to the Awards Dinner for the Trans-European Technical Documentation Competition. The Awards Dinner will be held in London on Saturday 21st January 2006, and it will be a chance to meet STC members from other parts of Europe as well as from across Britain. Everyone is invited and details will be available soon. Watch out for notices of further LIG events and more conferences and seminars. We have plans for large-scale meetings in March and in June.
The people who make these events happen are the members of the Chapter Board and Administrative Council, and I want to express my thanks to them for all their efforts. They have helped make this Chapter really successful over recent months, and I am sure they will continue to do so. The Chapter Board is by no means a “closed shop”, and we welcome anyone who wants to come forward and help. A number of people approached me and other Board members at recent events about helping the Chapter in various ways. If you also would like to join our winning team, please feel free to contact me, or one of the Chapter Vice-Presidents. Our contact details are elsewhere in this Newsletter.
In the time-honoured tradition of December editions of our Newsletter, I want to wish everyone all the very best for the Festive Season, whichever festival you are celebrating, and look forward to seeing you all at a Chapter event in the very near future.
