President's Corner

by Ron Arner

If you don’t think that change is inevitable, just try to stop time. From the ticking of a watch to the start of a new year, change is all around us. Sometimes we appreciate the change, sometimes we don’t. Regardless of what we think of it, we’re always faced with the decision to either grow by overcoming obstacles, or to succumb to what change dictates.

Changes in technical communication have been frequent over the last few years. Sometimes people lose jobs as the result of these changes, and sometimes people gain them. Unfortunately, such events are often out of our control. A reduction in our newsletter staff due to such changes will result in fewer issues this year; as a result, we will not participate in the annual newsletter competition.

Rather than dwell on the negative aspects of this situation, I’m reminded of a quote from The Sound of Music, which goes something like, “When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” Maybe it’s time to move to a new format for the newsletter, one that doesn’t require hours of work from the newsletter team every other month. We could easily adopt a less formal structure (like a blog) for the newsletter as part of our new Web design, where any member could contribute whenever he or she wanted. Such a format would only require one moderator, rather than one or two editors, an HTML coder, and several article editors. This would be a great way to free up some volunteer bandwidth for other important projects.

Speaking of volunteer bandwidth, several other changes are in store for our chapter next year. Programs, membership, and hospitality are all looking for someone to take over their duties for the 2008–2009 chapter year. Chapter elections are just around the corner as well. Please consider lending your time and efforts to help us adapt to these changes and keep our chapter alive. We can’t keep relying on the same volunteers year after year and expect our chapter to continue to thrive. Without your help, more reductions in services may be just a watch tick away.