The STC election is now under way. If you requested a paper ballot when you paid or renewed your membership, you should have it now. If not, to vote online, you need to know your STC membership number and password; then, go to this URL:
https://eballot3.votenet.com/stc/login.cfm
The polls close on April 12th. Please be sure to vote!
When I worked at Digital Equipment Corporation in the early 1990s, I already had 15 years of experience as a technical writer, and I’d been an STC member for 10 years. I’d attended and presented at a few Annual Conferences, but I wasn’t a particularly active member.
At Digital I became lead writer for a large network-management software program, and wrote the technical introduction for the product set. It was innovative and well received, and I considered it my best work to date. (It was, but that’s beside the point.) This was a time when Digital submitted about a third of all the entries to the Boston Chapter’s publications competition (and won about a third of the awards), and I submitted my manual with high hopes of an Award of Distinction.
To my dismay, my masterpiece won no award all. The judges recognized and appreciated its innovative features and structure, but considered it, as one judge wrote, “poor as a user’s guide.” What? There was no category for introductions, and they’d judged it against different criteria.
I contacted the Competitions Committee chair, who was Carol Landers. She listened sympathetically to my complaints and said, “It sounds like we could use some help redefining the categories. Would you like to come to one of our meetings?” I came to the meeting loaded for bear. Instead, I found myself sharing pizza with a working group talking about how to improve the competition next year. When I began to raise my issues, Carol asked, “Would you like to help us with our guidelines?” Would I? Of course!
Soon I was part of the group that reformed the categories, made more objective judging guidelines, and standardized training for our judges. I really got into it, and after we overhauled the system I even taught our publications judges for the next few years. Carol became chapter president in 1997, and meanwhile my increased activity and visibility led to other opportunities, and, well, here I am today.
Carol Landers had a gift for recruiting and motivating volunteers. She was enthusiastic, she was organized, and she made everyone feel important and appreciated. Sadly, Carol passed away at the age of 42, soon after her term as president. But many of the people she recruited have stayed to contribute to the Boston chapter to this day–myself included.
The chapter established a fund and in 2000 endowed an award called the Carol A. Landers Spirit of Volunteerism Award, later renamed the Landers/Carbrey Spirit of Volunteerism Award. This memorial award recognizes volunteerism and community service–two of Carol’s passions.
Looking back, I wish I’d met Carol sooner, because I feel I’ve gotten much more as a volunteer than I’ve given.