Shortly after I had written and staged last week’s newsletter I received the news that the Society for Technical Communication (STC) was ceasing operations after 72 years. While we all knew that our professional organization was, like many others, experiencing difficulties, the announcement of its sudden shuttering came as a shock.
My relationship with the STC goes back a long way. When I first started out in the technical writing profession after graduating college in the UK I was an active member of the British based Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC) so when I moved across the pond in 1996 it was only natural that I would join the US equivalent.
I will admit that my relationship over the following decades has been an on-off-on one, and there were periods when I let my membership lapse, but I always seemed to come back to it. In fact I had just renewed my membership for 2025.
Over the years I was involved in several local chapters, spoke at many of the annual conferences (always a highlight of my year), and wrote about a dozen articles for the society’s INTERCOM magazine. I was honored one year when the issue on Content Strategy I guest edited won the Issue of the Year award.
I didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the society’s focus and think more could have been done to expand the membership - but that’s all a moot point now.
But above all what the STC has meant to me is friendship. The people I met through the society were initially very welcoming to a new transatlantic transplant. Over the following three decades I learned from, discussed ideas with, and listened to so many people who had so much to teach our profession as communicators.
And then there is the long list of friendships I have made because of meeting like-minded fascinating people through STC connections.
I had originally headlined this week's newsletter as Farewell to STC - but instead I will simply say Thanks STC.
You will be missed.
Alan
A Note of Appreciation
Thanks to all the folks who took up new subscriptions recently or read the newsletter since its launch. We really appreciate the support.
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Talking About Storytelling
Recent Events
Just a reminder you can find my recent conversation with Larry Swanson on the Content Strategy Insights podcast about the power of storytelling at https://ellessmedia.com/csi/alan-porter/
Or you can catch the video version below.
If you missed it you can still access my webinar on Customer Focused Storytelling that was hosted by The Content Wrangler
Upcoming Events
On March 15th I’m scheduled to speak at the Boston DITA User Group meeting.
I’m looking forward to presenting “Is DITA Just a Story” at the ConVex conference in San Jose in April, 2025. -
And in June I’ll be making a return to the CX Behind The Scenes podcast to discuss the AI Hype Cycle.
Weekly Thought
An important part of the customer journey is considering how your customers’ activities map to those of your organization as you attract, inform, teach, and convert customers and then follow up with logistical operations, on-boarding, and ongoing support.
Customer Focused Storytelling Workshops
We are now taking bookings for our popular Customer Focused Storytelling Workshops for Q2/2025, and we wanted to make sure that as a newsletter reader you got an early opportunity to lock-in a date.
“Weaving storytelling into the mix makes the content more compelling, accessible, and effective!”
Learn how to deliver content-driven experiences that your customers relate to on our two-day Customer Outcome Focused Storytelling workshop.
In this workshop, we will:
Examine content from the customer’s perspective.
Plan how to adapt content delivery to meet the needs of a rapidly changing marketplace
Examine why every business transaction is a story
Outline the 10 Rules of Storytelling as applied to Customer Experience
Apply proven storytelling techniques to your content.
Identify potential opportunities for incorporating storytelling techniques
into the production of your customer-facing content assets.Facilitate an interactive feedback session on your existing customer-facing content.
If you would like more details, or you like to discuss reserving a date for yourself and your team to benefit from a Customer Focused Storytelling Workshop, just email us at ajp@4jsgroup.com to reserve your date.
In The Bookstore
If you enjoy the contents of this newsletter and would like more, we have three books always available from XML Press.
You can also check out The Content Pool website or follow us on FaceBook you can also find Alan on most of the social media platforms @alanjporter.
Please feel free to share the newsletter and pass it around to any friends or colleagues you think might find it of value.
Till next time - have fun paddling in The Content Pool.
Alan J. Porter
The Content Pool™ is a division of the 4Js Group LLC