By Anneliese Kellner

Although STC Carolina has many members willing to volunteer time to help organize a local conference, no one volunteered to give as many hours as it takes to chair it, a recent Chapter survey revealed. Eighty-one Carolina Chapter STC members participated in the survey. Based on survey feedback, the STC Carolina Chapter Administrative Council decided against hosting a conference until one or two qualified members stepped forward to chair it.

In the coming year, the leadership board will scout prospective conference chairs. If you're interested, please send e-mail to our President, Meredith Blackwelder.

We gathered valuable feedback on the conference interests of our Chapter members:

• 88% of respondents noted that they would be interested in attending a conference held in the Triangle area if one were available.
• 61% of respondents reported that they would be willing to pay $51-100 to attend the conference.
• 31% reported that they would be willing to pay less than $50.
• 6% reported that they would pay $101-150.
• 57% respondents reported that they would not be willing to volunteer to help organize or run the conference.
• 30% said they would be willing to volunteer 1-5 hours towards making a conference a success.
• 6 of 76 said they'd volunteer 6-10 hours.
• 3 of 76 said they'd volunteer more than 10 hours.
• 0 of 76 said they'd be willing to co-chair the conference.

Even though the majority of people who answered the survey were interested in attending a conference, very few said they'd volunteer more than six hours to help run it. Holding a conference is a huge undertaking and before we commit to sponsoring such an event, we need the resources to make it happen.

Anneliese Kellner is Secretary of STC Carolina. She can be reached at akatina at intrex dot net.