Canadian Chapters Meeting #4

Five of the six Canadian STC chapter presidents met in April by teleconference, and we discussed the following ideas.

Electing a Canadian Director

The directors who won in the 2010 election each garnered from 306 to 457 votes. Considering this, we think we could elect a Canadian director with just over 300 votes. Bernard Aschwanden from the Toronto chapter intends to run for a director position next year. STC policy states that chapters cannot endorse a candidate, but we can certainly help to publicize the candidacy of a Canadian. We can’t expect a single Canadian director to change the entire STC organization, and every director has a duty to the entire organization, not just one country, but a Canadian director can advocate for issues affecting members outside of the USA, and facilitate communication between the Canadian chapters and the Board of Directors. The Canadian chapter presidents agreed to continue working together to facilitate this two-way communication.

Salary Survey

The national salary survey has been drafted, but we are debating who should participate in the survey. On one hand, the survey results are a significant benefit, and we would like to restrict it to STC members. On the other hand, if we include non-members, we will obtain a better statistical sample. However, concerns have been raised about the accuracy of the survey if we cannot be sure that the participants are technical communicators. One possibility is that we send the survey to employers and clients in addition to members. Discussions are ongoing, but we feel we can meet the intended schedule of an October distribution for December results.

Insurance Proposal

Canada West Coast chapter is spearheading the investigation into health insurance for independent contractors and consultants because many of the STC members work in this capacity. The CWC chapter has found several alternatives, and are developing a survey to find out which option their members prefer. The other Canadian chapters are welcome to re-use the survey and offer the same insurance coverage as a chapter-member benefit.

Proposed National Organization

A senior STC member and STC Fellow, Geoff Hart, has proposed the idea of creating a Canadian umbrella organization. This organization would collect STC dues and give a portion of them directly to the Canadian chapters (thus avoiding currency conversion fees), send the rest of the money to Head Office (so it’s only converted once), centralize the international affiliation agreement, and co-ordinate communication and joint efforts between the provinces. We had some concerns about the availability of volunteers to work in a national organization, and whether it would be cost-effective. A business plan is required; however Geoff is unable to commit his time to develop one. Is anyone else interested in pursuing this? If so, please contact your chapter president.

Usefulness of Canadian Chapter Meetings

The Canadian chapter presidents agreed that these conference call meetings have been helpful to all participants, and we intend to continue having them on an as-needed basis. We also took the opportunity to compare membership numbers. Most chapters have experienced a 50% drop in membership and are taking steps to attract more members and encourage people to renew. Both the Toronto and Alberta chapters are exceptions to the membership decline; Alberta even won the STC renewal race for chapters of 150 to 300 members! Congratulations, Alberta!

Several chapters introduced their incoming presidents who will participate in meetings after June 2010.

As always, if you have any concerns, questions or suggestions, please discuss them with your chapter president.