It is hard to believe that nearly a year has gone by since I became the president of the UK chapter. Serving as president has given me the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of people. Please join me in saying “Thank you” to all board members and volunteers for their hard work and support during the last year.
A special mention and big thank you go to Liz Hale and
Briana Wherry who have decided to hang up their hats. Liz has been working
for the UK chapter in a number of different roles. In addition to working
as newsletter editor this year, Liz was also our immediate past-president.
Briana has been running the chapter job bank and worked as employment/education
for a number of years. Both have played a key part in developing a strong
and successful chapter. All board members have taken on their responsibilities
on top of work and family commitments, well done and thank you to you
all!
For those of you who would like to become more active participants in
the coming year, please don’t hesitate to email me to discover how
you can be part of our friendly team of volunteers. We need you to “make
things happen” in the UK chapter.
The last year has been busy for us; the chapter has seen renewed interest and a growth in membership. Although membership is down throughout the society, the UK chapter has fared better than most. Numbers are up and the chapter’s decision to boldly go and explore regions previously untouched by STC events has paid off. The last couple of months have seen the inauguration of a Northern and Southern LIG (that’s a local interest group to the uninitiated) and a successful one-day conference in March. If you weren’t there you missed a great conference at the Castlefield Hotel in Manchester. But fear not, help is at hand…
Coming up on Saturday, 11 June is the one-day technical authoring conference in London, a great way to learn about specific areas of technical communication and network with fellow professionals from all over the UK. Be sure to make plans to attend this meeting, which is being held at the British Library at St. Pancras. Read more about this event in this newsletter and watch the web site for further details and a final conference programme.
In the next few months, many more projects will be developed and your suggestions and ideas are always welcome. Please feel free to contact me to share information on any topic, to make a suggestion or comment. As always we want to hear what the chapter can do for you.
My term as president is nearly over. It was an excellent experience, working together in a team, keeping the chapter moving forward, meeting people and most of all having a thoroughly good time. Following STC tradition, I will not go away quietly. I’ll still be around next year, serving as immediate Past President and you will most probably see me at your next chapter meeting.
Thank you and see you at the British Library in June.
As
many members will be aware, over the last couple of years the STC has
The
event was held on a beautiful sunny day in Manchester, giving the lie
to its rainy reputation. Nick Rosenthal, one of the conference organisers,
welcomed us and handed us over to Tina Hoffmann, president of the UK chapter
of the STC, who said a few introductory words about the society, its various
chapters and the local interest groups now being set up. Some translator
readers may perhaps not know that STC is the Society for Technical Communication.
As the name suggests, its members are people such as technical writers,
graphic designers and so on whose work involves making technical information
understandable and available to those who need it. The conference attracted
not only technical authors and localisation providers but also translators,
whose work has a place in the localisation chain.
A
charity raffle held on the day raised £97 in aid of the Samaritans,
communicators whose work is vitally needed and known to save many lives.
It’s
the fear of every STC chapter president – that the Treasurer will
abscond with the chapter’s money. I’m sure that was on Tina’s
mind when I suddenly announced last October that I’d be leaving
for Trinidad, in the West Indies. 
The
official results of the STC Society level elections have been published,
and we are pleased to see that Paula Berger has been elected 2nd Vice-President.
It’s
quite likely that by the time you read this Newsletter the composition
of the next British government will have been decided by the electorate.
If you have been busy campaigning on behalf of your favourite political
party, or if you have just been looking for typos in the election manifestos,
you may think that now is a time to sit back and relax.