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. Alan has been involved in the planning of the last four STC Technical Communication Summits serving as the Program Manager in 2009, Conference Chair in 2010, and Conference Manager in 2011.  He has also served as the STC liaison to the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and at the 2010 STC Summit he was awarded the rank of STC Fellow.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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 prespectives 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!

Nicky Bleiel — STC Candidate for Director

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.

As we go into 2010, we’re much better off than we were in 2009, as a Society and a chapter. STC is taking a new approach to its financial organization and reporting that’s more sustainable and suitable to new economic realities, seeking new ways to increase its membership, and is working with the Department of Labor to redefine the definition of technical communication.

Closer to home, we are taking a new approach to our meetings that will mean fewer meetings, but more relevant and useful meetings. We’re also continuing things that worked for us in the past, such as the Annual Employment Roundtable. Our recent STC Pittsburgh Technology Group Mashup, a new event for us, was so extremely successful that attendees enthusiastically requested another.

In 2009, we’ve seen great happiness as our president, Bryce Walat, got married, and our Employment Liaison, Robin Davidson, also got married. We also saw great sadness, as Bob Ramey and Beverly Spagnolo passed away.

We’ve overcome many challenges, but we still have much work to do. Attendance at our meetings has dropped off and speakers and venues are harder to find than in the past. We’re also looking for a new crop of leaders that will take STC Pittsburgh into the future.

On the WorkQuest front, while we’re fortunate that the need is far from what it could be for WorkQuest, Janis Ramey, WorkQuest’s founder, is looking for folks to take over the reins.

No matter what 2010 has in store, I am confident that we’ll continue our successes and meet our challenges successfullly.

On behalf of STC Pittsburgh, we wish you all the best for a prosperous and productive 2010!

Bryce Walat, President STC Pittsburgh