Spring 2005

Volume 45, Number 4

On the Relevance of Geography

by Marc Lee, STCRMC President

Is geography relevant in today's cyber world? Has the advent of space-spanning technologies, virtual teams, and outsourcing made the concept of physical proximity irrelevant? These are some of the issues now facing us as a Society—even as we, the RMC chapter, continue to wrestle with the issues of geography in our own backyard. Should we have one central location for all meetings or continue to move meeting places around, for the convenience of members in different parts of the metro area?

At a Society level, the leadership has attempted to reduce 'geographical determinism' (my term) by: 1) allowing people to become members of the society without belonging to a local chapter, 2) campaigning for direct election of the board, rather than having members vote for a regional member.

Part of this makes sense, particularly for people in areas outside large metropolitan markets like Denver-Boulder, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Jose. If you live in Cheyenne, does it make sense to automatically be assigned to a chapter whose meetings are always somewhere around the Denver metro area? Probably not.

My personal view, however, is that for the vast majority of RMC members, having your membership in the Society structured through a local chapter and a region makes perfect sense.

One of the reasons I joined the RMC chapter all those years ago (about 15) was to physically be in the presence of people with whom I shared professional experiences and professional woes. It was a chance to experience a communication on a personal level, get a facial expression or two from them, and see the body language. That meant something.

This physical connection was, and is, the essence of STC to me. It may not be to others, but I think we can take this cyber paradigm too far. There's something to be said for sitting next to someone as he or she discusses the problem of getting timely reviews of a manual, \ SME input, or management buy-in. Since most of our professional life these days is so electronic and virtual, maybe just one role of the Society—and the chapter—is to be a bit contrarian: let's lift a glass to plain old geography.

Back to Local Issues

On a less philosophical plane, we have some important local issues to deal with:

1. By Laws
   A chapter by-laws update is currently available for your review and approval at: www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=37865838833 I urge you to go there, review the material (there's a link to the recommended new text), and vote for these important housekeeping details in the affirmative.
2. Elected Officials
   We are still hoping to find volunteers to run for chapter office in May. Specifically, the office of Treasurer still has no candidate. Our nominating committee of Cathy Barnes and Eileen Thornir has worked hard to fill this need, but are still looking. What does a chapter treasurer do? Mainly it's keeping the chapter books (Quick Books), filing the annual report, and maintaining the chapter bank accounts. It's an important job and one with a lot of responsibility. Fortunately, our finances are in good shape and the new treasurer will have a lot of experienced help from the council to rely on. If you have a feel for finances and are interested, contact me, Cathy, or Eileen.
3. Upcoming Seminars
   Also in May we are looking forward to the visit of Jane Smith. Jane, from Arizona, will be speaking to the chapter on 'Performance Technology—Beyond Documentation and Training.' She will also present two one-day seminars May 20 and 21 on instructional design and e-learning. Those who, like me, have attended Jane's seminars are enthusiastic supporters. She shows in easy-to-understand activities how to transform your existing technical content (say, in a manual) into meaningful training—not an obvious transformation until you learn how to do it. Watch for one-day seminar prices and details, coming soon.

Let me have your comments on the above and on any other chapter matters.