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STC Costs: the Cash You Save May Be Your Own
by Gloria McConnell, Sherry Michaels, and Kathy Graden, STC Phoenix Chapter
(Reprinted by permission from Rough Draft, the newsletter of the Phoenix Chapter of the STC.)
Even if you know all of the career benefits you can realize by being an STC member or attending STC conferences, you may still wonder whether the costs are reasonable and how they compare to the fees that other professional societies charge. Well, guess what? Other professional associations don't match the value that STC offers.
Recently we compared STC membership fees to membership fees charged by other professional associations that attract people in our profession. We also looked at registration fees for STC's Annual Conference versus fees for eight other technical communication or training development conferences. And we found that in both cases, STC offers the best deals.
Here's how STC's new range of membership fees fares when compared to fees for other organizations:
Association | Membership Fees |
| American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) | $255 ($180 for national membership and $75 for local chapter membership) |
| Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Communications (IEEE Communications) | $191, with a potential of about 30 special interest groups. Membership in each SIG costs an additional $10 to $40 per year. Publications, such as Women in Engineering, cost an additional $25 per year. |
| International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) | $145 |
| Association of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group for Documentation (ACM SIGDOC) | $134 plus separate charges for print materials. |
| Society for Technical Communication (STC) | $145 for full membership including publications; $72.50 for retired members; $125 for limited membership (publications only); $135 for E-membership; $50 for student membership |
Professional Conference Costs
So, you can afford to attend only one professional conference within the next year? Which one offers the best deal? Ultimately, you choose. But here's some information to help guide your decision.
Conference | Duration | Place Held | Registration Fee |
| Doctrain | 2 days | Tyngsboro, Ma | $399 |
| SSPA (Service and Support Professionals Association) | 4 days | San Diego, CA and New Orleans, La | $1,395 for members or $1,795 for non-members |
| CSTD Knowledge Exchange | 4 days | Toronto, Canada (in November) | $660 for members, early bird discount; $795 on site; as high as $1,040 for non-members |
| Techlearn | 4 days | New York City (in November) | $1,195 early bird; $1,395 after deadline |
| CLO (Chief Learning Officer) Symposium | 3 days | Tucson (in April) | $1,695; $1,995 after deadline |
| GlobeCom (IEEE special interest communications group) | 3 days | Dallas, TX (in November) | $655 for early bird members; $755 after deadline; $875 early bird non-members; $1,005 after deadline |
| IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking | 4 days |
Las Vegas, NV (in January) | $555 for early bird members; $655 after deadline; $720 early bird non-members; $830 after deadline |
| WritersUA Conference (formerly WinWriters) | 4 days | Las Vegas, NV (in March) | $995 for early bird members; $1,095 for registration by deadline; $1,195 for late registration; cheapest discount is $895 |
| STC Annual Conference | 4 days | Seattle, WA (in May) | $495 for early bird members; $570 on site; $650 for non-member early birds; $725 for non-members on site |
The fees listed in the preceding table cover only registration fees for the conferences; don't forget that you need to allocate additional funds for airfare, lodging, meals, etc. In many cases, your travel expenses may be two or even three times as much as the conference fee.
When compared to fees that other professional associations charge, STC's fees are comparable or less expensive. Think about that when deciding how to spend your professional association dollars this year!
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