Open Message of Thanks from Your STC Director

By James V. Romano, Director-Sponsor, STC Region-6

As we saw at the Sixth Annual STC-India Conference in Chennai last December, technical communication, not unlike Shiva, has many faces and takes many forms. We are writers, information designers, web developers, editors, programmers, graphic artists, content managers, illustrators, translators, usability specialists, project managers, and practitioners in many other areas.

Yet, we are also not unlike the beautiful Panch Pandava Rathas found in Mamallapuram (also in Tamil Nadu), the “Five Chariots” that each have a different shape and look but that are actually carved from a single piece of rock. As professional technical communicators, we are all “cut from the same rock”: we are made of a common element and a common objective, chariots

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

• Roughing it out with Reviewers

• Humor in Tech-Writing

• Organizing your Email

• Pitfalls in Online Writing

• Creating FrameMaker Templates

of a common material, all carrying content to serve our common end-users.

Shortly after the highly-successful conference, this lesson of the common element that connects us all was taken to a much deeper and tragic level: I am referring of course to the dramatic natural disaster of the tsunami. As soon as the news spread around the world, a collective, global realization crystallized and people from every corner of the world identified with the victims and realized that we are all “of a common element”—indeed, as part of the global family, we all lost family members over there.

The highlight of my trip to Chennai was meeting individual members and making new friends. Who would have thought that in a single day we would be discussing global business trends, eating delicious food in elegant surroundings, networking, exchanging business cards, and finally, dancing together to both East and West pop tunes being spun by a Punjabi DJ. Indeed, nobody can say that STC-India doesn’t know how to throw a party!

The great generosity that STC-India members extended also included offering opinions and ideas on how to make STC better. I took a number of messages back to the STC Board of Directors. Chief among these ideas included:

Make STC dues more affordable
Increase education opportunities for career beginners
Schedule the Webinar timings such that they coincide with local time zones
Help us “sell” STC to our management by creating corporate value packages and sponsorships
Provide formal certifications to help our employers see the value of what we do

I shall convey these messages to the STC Board and plan to follow it up with specific plans and actions.

Most importantly, I would like to say “thanks” to my many new friends and colleagues, and invite you to stay in touch and contact me with ideas, suggestions, and even problems as we navigate our way through this dynamic and changing profession. As practitioners of technical communication, we must always remember to put communication first.

James V. Romano is a senior member of STC and President and CEO of Prisma International. He is currently the Director-Sponsor of STC Region-6, which includes the India chapter.

STC India | Home | Contact Us