President's Platform

By Sherry Michaels, STC Phoenix Chapter President

About 10 or 15 years ago, I made an important transition from being someone who was "the talent" to someone who sought, appreciated, and grew to love the talent residing in other people. As an indirect result, I became an entrepreneur and as an outgrowth of that aspect, I became very involved in STC.

Recognition, enabling, and sheer love of talent are at the root of my volunteer efforts and my efforts in business. The talent amassed in our membership, whether the members are writers, instructional designers, graphic artists, usability specialists, user assistance specialists, or whatever, is something that amazes and gratifies me. I love talented people. I respect he intellect, the capability, and the idiosyncrasies. It remains important to me to develop my own talent, but I find that enabling other people to do what they do best is where I do my best.

That view works well for being a member of STC. As a professional organization, we have several ways to recognize and publicize talent, and we are working on developing more. In this column, I'd like to recognize two people who are very talented in their work, and in the contribution they have made to STC.

Karen Zorn is one of the most talented people I have ever known. I met her nearly 15 years ago when she was a technical writer working for a company in the suburbs of Chicago. She's funny, she's bright, and if she has developed an interest in any subject, she will amass a prodigious amount of research on that topic in her brain. She has a lot of talent, but it is for her tremendous contributions to the STC Phoenix Chapter Community that the administrative council voted to award Karen the Distinguished Chapter Service Award (DCSA) for 2005.

As co-manager of the Southwest Regional Publications, Art, and Online (PAO) Competitions, Karen worked hard and effectively on a job that involves many hours, finding garage space for all the entries, patience with the U.S. Postal Service, and more patience with name spellings, address entries, and submission credits. In the first year of her service in this capacity, we on the administrative council referred to her jokingly as the "Shipping Queen," for her frequent trips getting submissions out to judges, and getting them forwarded to the STC International Competition.

Further, Karen has for two years running developed and taught the FrameMaker series of hands-on workshops that have raised funds for the Community and provided valued service to the members. Thanks to the effort and donation of her time, our members enjoy top quality training for below-market prices.

Karen is a co-manager with Dana Osborne for the Region 5 Conference scheduled for the fall of 2005. If the Southwest PAO is complex, the Region 5 Conference is more so. Karen's enthusiasm and love of STC drives her through endless hours of work. The DCSA is the Phoenix Chapter Community's way of expressing our deep appreciation.

Talented and hard-working in other and equally innovative ways, Jane Smith also receives a DCSA this year. Colleagues and friends over the years, Jane and Karen have worked together on numerous projects. One of my theories in life and business is that truly talented people know other equally talented people. It certainly is true in the case of this year's recipients. Jane is a very talented instructional designer and certified Human Performance Technologist. She has taught school, me, STC members, and E-learning developers in Vietnam, just to name a few of her general contributions.

Jane's contributions to the Chapter have been dinner meeting presentations, E-learning workshops that raised funds for us at affordable prices for members, and participation in PAO as judge and manager of judges. She worked closely with Michelle Parcell to put in place an innovative judge training program to use for all the judges participating in the competitions, including those from Kachina Chapter or Southern Arizona. We aimed to improve judge consistency within judge teams and in best-of-show judging. We think the training focus and program helped us to reduce complaints of judge inconsistency to zero this year.

Seeking more ways to contribute to STC, Jane has judged at the international level, spoken at the Annual Conference for the past three years, and conducted E-learning workshops at the Annual Conference for the last two years. Jane has written articles on E-learning for Intercom. Last year, she undertook management of the STCIDL special interest group and has led the transformation of the virtual community from one that was somewhat dormant, to one that is active, useful, and the third largest community in STC. All these efforts for STC and STC members reflect well on the chapter and add value to Phoenix members. For her generous contributions to STC and to our own community, we express our gratitude by awarding Jane Smith the DCSA.

The STC International Board approved the DCSAs for Karen and Jane at their January meeting in Houston. Congratulations to them!

Talent is a big deal. Supporting, nurturing, and augmenting talent is what an organization like STC should be all about. I'm pleased to say that the STC Transformation information that I see rolling out seems to be rolling along this same path. If it continues in this vein, I can see being involved with assisting the Transformation for several years. There is nothing I like better than supporting, nurturing, and augmenting talent.

One way to support, nurture, and augment your talent is to get involved as a volunteer. Karen and Jane have made huge contributions. I know that they will tell you they have learned a huge amount. They've grown professionally, they've made friends, and they have had fun along the way.

Not everyone needs to put in the time and effort that it takes to earn a DCSA. the Phoenix Chapter Community currently has about 25 hard-working volunteers, some of whom do a lot and others who do a little. Many are DCSA winners from past years who continue to contribute because they enjoy the growth. Others give an hour a month to do the tasks that improve value to our membership in countless ways. A little time pays off in big and little ways in this organization. I urge you to consider sharing your time and talent. The personal growth and recognition are impressive.

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