Greetings leaders! This year, there are multiple parts to the leadership program. It starts on Sunday morning, 20 May, followed by an optional afternoon of collaboration, and then concludes on Wednesday afternoon, 23 May with a planning workshop. To maintain your collaborative momentum, you can participate in the Connections program that brings together CAC outreach teams for leadership coaching and support. Scroll down for detailed agendas.
Leadership Program = Leadership Day renamed
We can’t call it Leadership Day anymore, because it’s now a program that spans the full Summit!
The Leadership Program is open to any STC members who are currently community leaders or who are thinking about volunteering as one in the future; newcomers and innovators are welcome! Progressions on Sunday, 20 May, and workshops on Wednesday, 23 May, are designed to equip leaders with the information they need to run a successful STC community. This is a great way for current leaders to talk to others about what’s working and what isn’t in their communities, and for potential leaders to learn from the veterans so they can feel more comfortable stepping up and sharing their ideas. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel, but we always welcome ideas for design improvements.
The cost for the Leadership Program is $20. You can sign up for Leadership Day (it’s still called that on the Summit registration form) when you register for the Summit, but the registration fee entitles you to the entire program. If you’ve already registered for the conference but would like to participate in the Leadership Program as well, please contact STC to process your payment.
Leaders helping leaders build vibrant and flourishing communities
This year, the Community Affairs Committee (CAC) launched an outreach program for STC leaders that provides proactive support for running your community and strengthening your student constituency. For more information, visit the CAC web page and STC’s Notebook series: A Community Affair.
In keeping with the outreach program initiatives, the Leadership Program at the Summit 2012 focuses on Best Practices and Leadership Collaboration. Last year, there were a wide variety of progressions and mini-workshops to choose from and they were fantastic. This year, our focus is on providing guidance to enable you to run your community like a business and collaborate with other leaders on realistic and exciting plans for your 2012-2013 year. Our goal is to send you home with action items, accountable action owners, and deadlines; all this to maintain that intoxicating momentum and team dynamism that the STC Summit generates every year.
NOTE: Summit organizers have listened to your feedback! In years gone by, you’ve had to choose between preconference workshops or Leadership Day. This year we restructured the Leadership Program to give you more options. Do you want to problem solve and collaborate with fellow leaders in moderated discussions or do you want to attend a preconference workshop? This year you can do both. Choose your own adventure!
Leadership Program at a glance
- Sunday 8:00 AM-12:30 PM – Recognitions and Best Practices
Celebrating the successes and lessons learned from 2011-2012: Hosted by Hillary Hart, Outgoing STC President - Sunday 1:30-4:00 PM – Leadership Collaboration: Moderated Discussions (Optional)
Moderated discussions about current challenges and collaborate for solutions for sharing - Connections Program – Outreach
Did you know that each community has a dedicated Outreach Team member assigned to them? Throughout the conference, Outreach team members will be available to meet with you, singly or in groups. We’ll provide a matrix of Outreach Team members and assigned communities on Sunday, 20 May. (You can also drop a note to cac@stc.org to get in contact with your rep before Summit.) - CAC at STC Central Booth – Your Leadership Meeting Place
CAC members will be available at the STC Central booth among the vendors. Come visit us to share ideas, ask questions, and contribute to the STC leadership engine. - Wednesday 2:30-5:00 PM – Developing your Community Strategy & Plan
Planning your local STC Community and SIG program for 2012-2013 and collaborating for a stronger strategic foundation: Hosted by Alan Houser, Incoming STC President
Sunday, 20 May Part 1:
Recognitions and Best Practices
Agenda
| 8:00 AM | Coffee, Tea, and Networking |
| 8:15 AM | Welcome and Introduction from Hillary Hart |
| 8:30 AM | Recognitions: Community Achievement Awards |
| 9:00 AM | Community Affairs Committee (CAC) Report |
| 9:30 AM | BREAK |
| 9:50 AM | Best Practices – Lessons Learned: Hosted by Hillary Hart |
| 10:45 AM | Progressions – Round 1 |
| 11:40 AM | Progressions – Round 2 |
| 12:25 PM | Best Practices Wrap-up |
Progressions
NOTE: The progressions below will be repeated in Rounds 1 and 2. We’ll also provide you with a printed Leadership Program that will include proceedings and will make a PDF available after the conference.
- Communications Liftoff: Rocketing Your Community to the Stars (Ben Woelk)
- Do You Want That Tweeted, Posted, or E-Mailed? The 2011 Social Media Survey—Washington DC Baltimore Chapter (Viqui Dill)
- STC Student Mentoring Programs: Investing in the Future (Dan Voss, Bethany Bowles)
- Moving Your Community’s Communications to the Cloud (Andrew Brooke)
- Build a Virtual Community Infrastructure and Deliver Community-Targeted Webinars (Mollye Barrett)
- Chapter Mergers: Pros, Pitfalls, and Process (Richard Lippincott, Carolyn Kelley Klinger, Taryn Light)
- Running a Community: Minimum Legal and Financial Requirements (Greg Larsen, Aiessa Moyna)
- Supporting, Honoring, and Sustaining Your Volunteers (Lori Meyer)
Sunday, 20 May Part 2:
Leadership Collaboration (Optional, but you don’t want to miss it!)
Agenda
| 1:30 PM | Opening |
| 1:35 PM | Introduction to Connections program (Ben Woelk) |
| 1:45 PM | Outreach group meetings |
| 2:30 PM | BREAK |
| 2:45 PM | Collaboration sessions |
| 3:45 PM | Closing and next steps |
Collaboration Sessions
This afternoon of leadership collaboration requires your input! If you would like to moderate a specific topic, please submit your Topic Title, Problem Statement, and Desired Outcome to Anna Parker-Richards.
With moderated discussions, an appointed scribe, and a structured approach, the goal is to define your challenges and capture your solutions in blog entries to be posted during the conference. Stay tuned for more details on where to find those blog entries!
What is the Connections Program?
The Connections Program provides community leaders an opportunity to meet one-on-one or as a group with their assigned Outreach Team representatives. Your Outreach Team rep will be able to answer any questions you might have, suggest best practices and other resources, and make the “connections” you need to succeed.
What happened to the Chicago trip?
We originally wanted to travel into Chicago for an informal and fun environment and chat about challenges and come up with ideas and solutions for sharing, all while enjoying a local field trip. Unfortunately, there’s not enough time for us to go into Chicago and come back in time for other Summit events. However, the desired outcome is still the same.
Wednesday, 23 May; Part 3:
Workshop: Developing your Community Strategy & Plan
When it comes to long term and short term planning for your SIG and local community offerings, there are many variables to consider, and frankly, it can be overwhelming… but it doesn’t have to be. This workshop provides an EASY button and a new mantra: “Less is more.” It’s better to do a few things well than it is to do many things poorly.
New planning tools
In this workshop, we present a strategy and planning framework, guidelines, and an initial worksheet (EASY button) that will help you plan your coming year so that you can hand it off to your council members when you get home. The worksheet is designed to help facilitate seamless delegation to initiative-taking leaders. Nobody likes being a bottleneck! By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a realistic community strategy and a list of initiatives with owners.
Did you know that MySTC has a variety of Leadership Resources? We suggest you start with the Chapter Leaders Getting Started guide and the STC Leadership Calendar. By the end of the workshop, you will know what the resources offer and how and when to use them, and not be overwhelmed by the amount of information available. And if you just want to talk to a person for support, you’ll have that contact information too. (Sometimes if you talk to the right people, you don’t have to read all the documentation!)
Coaching and Collaboration
A big benefit of attending this workshop is that you will be collaborating with other SIGs and communities for a realistic and possibly integrated (with other communities) program for the coming year. You can certainly take the worksheet and do it on your own, but in an Outreach Team Community Leaders’ group, you will get the support and answers you need in real-time—a golden opportunity.
Let’s not forget how rewarding it is to collaborate with like-minded, witty, technical communicators! (This is my favourite part of being an STC member!)
Logistics reality check
We understand that some of you will be required to leave early to catch flights and because of this, the Wednesday workshop is structured modularly. Alan Houser will officially open the workshop, followed by an introduction to the Outreach Team Community Leaders’ groups and distribution of workshop materials. Next up will be brief overviews on how to use the CAA guidelines, Annual Plan & Budget, and Student Involvement as foundational guidelines for your community strategies. Then it’s group work time, followed by a panel discussion and closing.
Agenda
| 2:30 PM | Welcome and Introduction from Alan Houser |
| 2:45 PM | Introduction to Outreach Team Community Leaders’ Groups (Ben Woelk) |
| 2:50 PM | Workshop Materials Distribution and Overview |
| 3:00 PM | BREAK |
| 3:15 PM | CAA Guidelines and Community Strategy (MaryKay Grueneberg) |
| 3:30 PM | Student Involvement and Community Strategy (Dan Voss and Bethany Bowles) |
| 3:45 PM | Annual Plan/Budget and Community Planning (Aiessa Moyna & Greg Larsen) |
| 4:00 PM | BREAK |
| 4:15 PM | Collaborative planning session in Outreach groups |
| 4:45 PM | Panel Discussion |
| 5:00 PM | Closing |
Questions? If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Anna Parker-Richards, Leadership Program Chair, Summit 2012.
