Photos of the mashup can be found on our Flickr page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stcpgh.

The event was co-sponsored by TechPOWR with additional sponsorship by: Best Buy, NuRelm, and Group Wellesley.

This event is open and FREE to everyone in, or interested in, the Pittsburgh Technology community. There are many interesting technology groups in Pittsburgh who meet on a regular basis, and they are all invited to attend. This is a great opportunity to find out more information about them in an innovative social setting, AlphaLab, in the South Side.

The keynote speaker is will be Ian Rosenberger, Social and Emerging Media Director of Strategic Images.

The event will include:

* FREE appetizers and soft drinks
* Valuable door prizes
* Networking opportunity for technology professionals and students
* Informal space and time for technology not-for-profit groups to talk to people interested in your mission
* Presentations on social networking for business

Thank you to our sponsors!

Join Nicky and Alan for an evening of food, drink, networking, and conversation, as we celebrate our chapter and look forward to another great year.

This event is sponsored by Group Wellesley, Inc. and ComponentOne. There is no charge for this event.

Date: Thursday, September 9, 2010

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Location:
Penn Brewery
800 Vinial Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
412-237-9402

www.pennbrew.com

Questions?

Contact Alan Houser, arh@groupwellesley.com or Nicky Bleiel, nickyb@componentone.com.

RSVP: http://stcmixerpitt.eventbrite.com

Photo of Nicky Bleiel - STC Candidate for Director

Author: Alan Houser

All members and friends of the STC Pittsburgh chapter can be proud! Pittsburgh chapter member Nicky Bleiel was re-elected to the Society for Technical Communication Board of Directors as a director-at-large. Nicky’s second term officially began on May 3, 2010 at the annual STC business meeting, held during the STC Summit in Dallas, Texas.

Among five candidates for three open board seats, Nicky had the highest vote total. She ran for re-election with nearly 3 years experience on the STC Board of Directors, and endorsements from many prominent members of the Society.

Nicky’s re-election is a historic event for the STC. Under previous Society by-laws, directors could serve only for a single three-year term; they could not run for re-election for consecutive terms. Under the by-law revision of 2009, the director-at-large term was shortened from three years to two, and directors were permitted to serve two consecutive terms. Nicky is the first director to run and win re-election under the revised Society by-laws.

Nicky sought re-election to the STC Board of Directors out of her commitment to the Society and the profession. She says, “I think being a technical communicator is a fantastic career that requires a wide variety of skills and is never, ever boring. I ran for director to be a part of the effort to promote this profession.”

The Society by-laws state that “The Board of Directors shall manage and direct the business and affairs of the Society in accordance with the Articles of Incorporation of the Society.” The Board of Directors meets at least once per month, usually by telephone conference, and interacts daily by email. In addition to her general duties as a Society Board member, Nicky is Board Liaison for the Society’s recognition efforts, which includes oversight of individual and community-level awards and honors.

Nicky is the Lead Information Developer for ComponentOne Doc-To-Help and a Doc-To-Help trainer. She has 15 years of experience in technical communication; writing and designing information for software products in the documentation, media, industrial automation, simulation, and pharmaceutical industries. She has presented talks at the WritersUA, STC, tcworld, LavaCon, and DocTrain conferences on many topics, including embedded help, tools and technologies, user assistance design, single sourcing, wikis, Web 2.0, and convergence technical communication.

Nicky is a past president of the STC Pittsburgh chapter. She earned a BA in Journalism from the Pennsylvania State University, where she was a member of the University Scholars Program and the Kappa Tau Alpha Honor Society.

Nicky is bullish about the future of the Society. She says, “I think the future of the Society is strong. STC has so much to offer its members: Traditional opportunities include networking, education, mentorship, competitions, awards, and leadership. Non-traditional offerings include a virtual community on Facebook, the STC Notebook blog and Twitter. Both options make it possible for members to communicate, learn, be recognized, and find employment in many ways. And we are constantly working on new opportunities for STC members.”

Nicky’s continued leadership at the STC international level is a statement of her dedication to the profession and is another proud event in the long, strong history of the Pittsburgh chapter. Congratulations, Nicky!

At this year’s STC Technical Communication Summit in Dallas, Alan Houser had a dual role: not only was he the Conference Chair; he was also awarded the rank of STC Fellow. Fellow is the highest honor bestowed by the Society and is only awarded to Associate Fellows whose work has distinguished the Society and the profession of technical communication. STC Pittsburgh Chapter members who have previously earned the rank of Fellow include Janice Ramey and Karen Schriver.

His citation reads:

For his superb presentations and work in electronic publishing, and leadership in STC International conferences.

Alan was STC Pittsburgh Chapter President in 2003, and the STC Pittsburgh Regional Conference “Writers Without Borders” was held in 2004, during his tenure as Past President of the chapter.

He is President of Group Wellesley, Inc., a company that provides authoring, content management, and workflow services to technology-oriented businesses. Alan has 20 years of experience in technical writing and publishing, and is a distinguished consultant and trainer in the fields of XML, XML technologies, publishing workflows, and authoring and publishing tools. His interests include developing solutions to support information management and information for reuse, and developing enterprise-wide processes for authoring, maintaining, and publishing technical documentation.

Contributing to technical standards for our profession is important to Alan, and he is a member of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee and has served as the STC liaison to the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium).

In addition to being a popular presenter at technical communications conferences, Alan has been involved in the planning of the last four STC Technical Communication Summits. He was Program Manager in 2009 and this year served as Conference Chair in Dallas. The Conference Chair is responsible for the programming of the entire conference, and is the highest ranking volunteer position of the STC Summit.

Alan earned an MA in professional writing and a BA in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He lives in the city of Pittsburgh with his wife Mary, and his sons, Sam and James.

I’d like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to our officers for the 2010-2011 event year:

Jose Amayo, President
Robin Davidson, Vice President
Ben Hardesty, Secretary
Nancy Carpenter, Treasurer

These individuals bring the perspectives of seasoned veterans and new blood that make for strong leadership and innovative ideas. I feel confident that our new slate of officers will successfully meet the challenges we face as a community and a society and take STC Pittsburgh to the next level. These folks have been taking on increased responsibility and leadership capability in the past year, and thus are poised to make a smooth transition into their new roles.

I’d also like to thank all those who contributed in the past year, including our speakers, vendors, and others too numerous to name who have helped us.

As Immediate Past President for the 2010-2011 event year, my role in STC Pittsburgh is to mentor the new officers and offer a helping hand whenever and wherever needed. Although you won’t see me “front and center” as much, I’ll still be around.

Right now, I’m feeling a hodgepodge of emotions: I feel excited to see new faces taking charge, sad to see familiar faces leave and sad to know that I won’t be seeing other familiar faces as often, relieved that I made it through another event year, and even regretful that plans that the board and I had made didn’t make it to fruition.

As the current event year ends and a new one begins, visit STC Pittsburgh’s Web site, stcpgh.org, and our blog to keep informed of our latest events and news.

Once again, thanks for your support and all the best in the new event year!

The format was changed this year from a roundtable where multiple simultaneous discussions were held, to a whole-room discussion, where presenters led a discussion with all attendees. The new format allowed for everyone to participate in the discussion with a greater number of viewpoints.

Laurel Patterson of Patterson Presentations (www.pattersonpresentations.com) gave a compelling presentation on the effectiveness of integrating nature into your daily life, and explained how it can truly result in leading a more peaceful life. Marty Stahl, Marketing Director and Business Coach of Volunteers of America’s Working Order program led a discussion about the many professional resources available to business owners and contractors. Tim Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Business Time (http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/) explained the many uses of the PBT for employed and unemployed professionals and business-owners. Each section of the paper has a different purpose, many of which are directly useful for attendees of the roundtable. During the presentations, Chuck Lanigan, of WorkQuest Pittsburgh, took the time to review many résumés and help employment-seekers develop a better understanding of what employers are seeking.

Thank you to everyone for participating, and to Duquesne University, Dr. Janie Fritz, and Paul Lucas for hosting the event.

Laurel Patterson is owner of Patterson Presentations, a business that focuses on helping people feel good and feel good about themselves. She takes great pleasure in providing a variety of clients with writing, editing, speaking and training services. She is a member of PAPEN, WorkQuest, and Toastmasters, and former Newsletter Editor and Board member of Pennwriters. Laurel has Associate degrees in Word Processing and Humanities and a CTM from Toastmasters. When she takes a breather from Patterson Presentations, it’s quite likely you will find her caring for her cats or birds, roller skating or hiking, gardening or reading. She can be reached through her web site at www.pattersonpresentations.com. With a lifetime of experience, Laurel shares valuable information to help others, as we all work to make a difference.

Chuck Lanigan, resume reviewer

Chuck Lanigan has a wealth of experience both conducting and attending workshops on writing a resume (aka the art of creative euphemism). Chuck says, “Even with all the social networking and other online options, the resume is a complementary tool. At least a formality and hopefully a means to get in the door and be noticed as a match for the position based on skills and experience. I think a lot of people just need another pair of eyes to help them think about how to structure and present their particular skills and experience — which is what I briefly hope to do for folks.”

Tim Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Business Times

As a Marketing Executive for the Pittsburgh Business Times, I have the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs, small and medium sized business, firms and partnerships to promote effective readership and subscriptions to the publication.

In addition to working directly with trade groups, chambers of commerce, partnerships and community organizations I also conduct SmartReader workshops which are designed to teach professionals to develop quality leads from the Business Times as well as other print publications.

The SmartReader seminar provide a formula and action plan to aid today’s professionals on a variety of levels, be it pulling sales leads, finding new business opportunities or tracking clients, prospects and competitors.

Description of SmartReader:

These presentations entitled, How to Make More Money Using the Pittsburgh Business Times are designed to teach professionals to develop quality leads from the Business Times as well as other print publications in less than a half-hour. We will show them how to get what they need from the paper before the issues pile up in their offices. The seminar provides a formula and action plan to aid today’s professionals on a variety of levels, be it pulling sales leads, finding new business opportunities or tracking clients, prospects and competitors. In today’s exceedingly competitive market, it is important to stay a step ahead of the competition. SmartReader Strategies provide a foundation that will help them quickly and effectively use the paper to achieve your sales goals.

Marty Stahl of Volunteers of America’s Working Order program

Marty Stahl, Marketing Director and Business Coach of Volunteers of America’s Working Order program will review the basics of starting a business. The Working Order program provides support for entrepreneurs to develop their own home based business through coaching, shared resources and community connections. Marty will share the vital ingredients of a successful business, including business plans, financial goals and networking tips while considering the question, What do you really need to be self-employed?

Brief Bio:

Marty Stahl has served as Working Order’s Marketing Director/Business Coach since 2006. Marty earned a B.A. degree in Education and Art from Bethany College in West Virginia and a Design Degree from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. She shares the common experience with clients who become entrepreneurs, having been the sole proprietor of a small business for ten years. Her marketing expertise provides the framework for helping new entrepreneurs develop their marketing and communications strategies as well as functions which are critical to starting and maintaining a small business. Marty is an experienced web-master and graphic designer who has developed media relationships to promote business opportunities for new business owners and to increase awareness in the Pittsburgh community regarding business development opportunities available in the Working Order program.

I am currently serving on the Society for Technical Communication Board of Directors and am running for another two-year term as a Director-At-Large.

My past two years on the Board have been interesting, challenging, and important. Interesting because I have learned a great deal, challenging because of the hurdles we faced, and important because the Society is at a critical juncture.

“Change” has been a hallmark of the last year, and STC has been no different. We have made many changes to the way we have always done things. We made difficult decisions and took difficult actions, all with the intent to strengthen the Society. We made no decisions without careful deliberation and research. So far, those choices have had the intended effect. But there is still work to be done.

I would like to continue to serve as a Director so that I can see a number of initiatives through and continue the momentum. Specifically, I want to continue work on creating additional revenue sources for the Society (such as Summit@aClick, new educational opportunities, Amazon and Café Press merchandise sales), helping members in need (for example, Job Seeker Bootcamp and Member Recovery Packages), adding more member value (for example, STC’s Notebook blog, the new Member Logo program), and further enhancing the Recognitions program.

In addition to my Board experience, my STC experience includes five years as a chapter leader (including President of the Pittsburgh Chapter), a competitions judge, a conference and webinar speaker, and a regional conference planner. I have 15 years of experience as a technical communicator in the software industry. I am heavily involved in the profession, and am a frequent speaker at many conferences, including STC, WritersUA, tcworld, LavaCon, and DocTrain. I have written articles for Intercom, tcworld, TechCom Manager, and more. My areas of expertise include embedded help, tools and technologies, user assistance design, single sourcing, wikis, Web 2.0, and convergence technical communication.

To learn more about me, please see my website: http://www.nickybleiel.com/. It includes my biography; a list of recommendations from members; a list of my presentations, articles, and podcasts; and a rundown of my service to STC over the years.

Here are just a few of the recommendations I’ve received from members:
I wholeheartedly endorse Nicky for a second term as member of the STC Board of Directors. In addition to being an effective technical communicator, Nicky understands the challenges that the profession and the Society need to address. STC membership will benefit greatly from her contributions.”
Sarah O’Keefe
President, Scriptorium Publishing Services
STC Associate Fellow

“Over the past three years, I have witnessed Nicky’s strength and excellence on the STC Board of Directors. She cares about STC, knows when to make the hard decisions, and always looks at problems from as many perspectives as possible to find the “truth” of the matter.  I’m convinced that the STC BoD is stronger and more successful because of Nicky’s presence.”
Linda Oestreich
Manager, SSM Documentation, Hewlett-Packard
STC Fellow and Past President

Please vote for me when you receive your ballot. Polls open March 9. (Reminder: you must renew your membership by Feb. 28th to be eligible to vote.)

Thank you.

Nicky Bleiel, STC Candidate for Director