Tips on voting: STC Board and Nominating Committee

By Bernard Aschwanden, Associate Fellow

Does this sound familiar?

My name is GenericPerson and I want to be your STC RoleHere.

ThankEveryone. PraisePeople. IdentifyLoveForSTC.

TalkAboutYourHistory. AskForTheVote.

ThankPeople. LinkToStuff

That's the formula we use (the one I used in the past) to ask for your vote. However, PLEASE go beyond the email, the blog posts, and the names. We have another great slate of candidates. Dig deeper and explore vision and the ability to implement.

Vision differentiates candidates.

An excellent candidate must have community experience, a desire to serve, and all the goodies on a checklist we all hold dear, but that candidate also must have a vision, and must be able to enact that vision.

Aside from the vision for the STC, there must also be the track record to implement it. In my few years as an elected member of your Board of Directors I've had many lofty goals (all of us do), but making them happen takes a lot of work, compromise, and willpower. Things don't "just happen" in an overnight fashion.

The Board is a strategic unit, and is obligated to debate and think about the longer term impact of any decision. This means you can't change things in your first year as much as you hoped you could. Believe me. ☺ It also means that you learn about the people and the personalities and work together to mutually understand how any part of a vision can be implemented.

So what is my vision? I think we need to do some core things to continue to grow (yup, we had GROWTH last year in our total membership!). We must rebrand from advancing the profession to actively supporting members, listen to input from vendors and speakers at Summit to find out what is happening surrounding our community, effectively partner with other organizations for growth, expand our definition of Technical Communication to include all corporate content and "own the words", and provide value to all members.

My vision is that STC rebrand, listen, partner, own the words, and provide value for your dollar. It's 2014. Let's step up.

So what is the big tip on voting? Vision. Find out what the candidates stand for, what the vision is, and if it aligns with yours. Don't vote based on just one factor, but consider how each part of your STC works together, then vote for the people who can execute the vision you share. I hope it is the same vision I have.

Of course, as a candidate I am obligated to remember the formula for at least a bit. Remember that as candidates we should:

ThankPeople. LinkToStuff

☺

So thank you. www.publishingsmarter.com/community/stc-community/stc-2014-election

Bernard Aschwanden can be reached at bernard at publishingsmarter dot com. Read about all the candidates in our STC 2014 Election Guide.