Paraphrased by Mark Bronny (mbronny@rogers.com)

Meeting Date: Tuesday November 14th, 2006

Todd Race, the Program Manager, finds guest speakers to come and present at chapter meetings and conferences. He introduced the meeting and gave an overview of the topics.

From Bernard Aschwanden, Vice-President and Competition Manager:

One of the Toronto STC chapter's main priorities is to increase membership and to increase member turn-out to monthly meetings. There are approximately 400 members registered with the Toronto STC chapter, and only 5% attend meetings. The board of executives is open to suggestions on how to bring this latter figure to 20% or more if possible.

Overall, the chapter is in good financial shape at this time.

The Toronto Chapter is looking to update its website, and will be holding a design contest open to members and affiliates. The grand prize for the winning submission is $500, with lesser cash prizes for 2nd and 3rd places respectively. You can contact Bernard or visit www.stctoronto.org for further details.

New and old members alike are encouraged to network with and interview their peers at STC meetings and elsewhere in order to gain valuable information about their careers/jobs and related elements. There are a lot of opportunities for members in this respect -- they simply have to "go after them". Afterall, interviewing skills are essential to the work of all technical writers, and this would be a good chance to exercise those skills.

The reality is that technical writers often have additional work outside of their usual duties "dumped" onto them by their employers. This situation can be helped through a discussion with your Toronto STC chapter peers who have successfully dealt with this issue in the past and who are in a position to provide information on the best strategies to avoid this problem in the future.

Technical writers are encouraged to develop "business cases" for their employers. Business cases are proposals to employers that are designed to justify specific actions and/or costs on the part of the technical writer employee and outline the benefits of the proposed action to the company using realistic figures ("dollars and cents"). For example, the costs and benefits involved for the company in the event that the technical writer employee pursues additional training, participates in STC conferences, purchases educational material, etc.

From Sheldon D'Cunha, Volunteer Manager:

The Toronto STC chapter executive committee would like to thank the many volunteers who have generously offered their time to contribute to the organization. Volunteering is a great way to get to know your peers at the STC and to develop viable networks. Many volunteering opportunities are available, including but not limited to offering assistance in the preparation of monthly meetings and writing articles for the chapter's newsletter.

From Jennifer Paton-Smith, Education Manager:

The recent workshop with Saul Carliner was a great success; however, preparing such educational workshops is a lot of work, therefore any future voluntary assistance would be very much appreciated.

From Mona Albano, Employment Manager:

Mona is currently working on a contract that she found using the Toronto STC Chapter's job bank.

Chapter members are encouraged to discuss employment opportunities with each other as such an exercise may unearth a lot of potentially useful information; for example: by identifying good (and bad) managers to work for, which software is useful and recommended to learn, and ultimately pointing out where current job opportunities may exist.

From Ralph Robinson, Senior Member:

An excellent example of the importance of volunteering is Liz Pollack's efforts with the Standards Council of Canada. As a result of her hard work and dedication as a volunteer, Ralph recommended her to the board of directors and she was subsequently offered a seat on the council.