The Death of Associations — Declining STC Statistics Prompt Innovation, Realigning of Value
May 24th, 2007 | Posted in blog 17 Comments »
The most pressing idea I took away from STC Leadership day is that associations are on a downward spiral and must innovate in new ways to provide value members want. From 2000 to 2007, membership in the Society for Technical Communication (STC) dropped from 20,000 to 14,000 members. This is not unique to the STC, but is a trend for all associations that don’t offer an industry standard certification as their main value. Average retention of new members is around 75%.
Susan Burton encouraged chapter leaders to do what’s right for their chapters. We shouldn’t worry about trying to meet requirements of community achievement awards if those requirements don’t meet the needs or serve the interests of our members.
Participation Statistics: 10%
Tonight I called the First Coast chapter to finalize a matter, and I learned their chapter pretty much disintegrated. The former president told me they just couldn’t get participation. Only three people were doing anything; the rest weren’t coming to the meetings. Of the 150 members in our Suncoast chapter, average meeting attendance is around 20. For the Atlanta chapter in Georgia, which has 400+ members, average meeting attendance is about 45.
A Survey on STC Value
I recently polled our chapter members to ask what they perceived to be the greatest value/benefit of the STC. They said the main value is in jobs, magazines/journals, professional development, and networking. Click the graphic below to view the survey results.
Gathering Physically vs. Virtually
We have to focus on what member’s find valuable about an organization. I wish I had more insight here. I know we have to do what’s right today, regardless of what worked in the past. It is less and less convenient to gather physically; on the other hand, members aren’t gathering virtually with any more enthusiasm. Look at how they ranked podcasts: near last. Other options, like the tech pubs competition, didn’t even make the survey results. And my chat session had four attendees.
Too Work-Related?
Maybe the STC is too work-related. This is something Scott and Aaron from DMN Communications mentioned to me in Vancouver. Technical writing is a job that most people do only for pay. After work, they want to relax, enjoy life, escape the drudgery of click-this, select-that, and so on. Technical communication is not a passion; it’s a paycheck. Hence the nonattendance and lack of participation in after-hours STC functions.
Do you have any tips for me? How can we put the life back into the STC? In our chapter? Is it a hopeless cause?
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Tom,
One question that the STC (and other similar organizations) need to answer is “what does membership and participation in the STC do for me?” Sure, there are some networking opportunities, the chapter job banks can be useful, and Intercom has some good articles (although I find Technical Communication to be unreadable) but what else is there?
I decided not to renew my membership in the STC several years ago, mainly because I wasn’t getting anything out of it. I went to a few meetings of (what was) my chapter, but was driven away by the sheer pedantry that I encountered at those meetings.
Of course, I’m not really a joiner by nature — something that I discussed a few years ago (http://swnesbitt.blogspot.com/2004/01/why-i-dont-join.html).
Scott
Scott,
Thanks for your comment. I read your post. Interesting experiences. I am definitely not a fan of mission statements either — and they do epitomize much of the nonwork and endless exchanges that committees end up focusing on.
What would the STC need to do to lure you back in? I’m looking for specific value suggestions. Most people aren’t altruistic enough to join for the purpose of helping others. They want to help themselves.
If you even have one major deliverable or service that would be super appealing, in your opinion, I’d really like to hear it.
Tom,
I’m not sure that the STC (or any other organization) could do anything to lure me back into the fold. I’ve found that anything that I can learn or share I can do better on my own (or in conjunction with Aaron or other colleagues) than I could by being an active member of the STC.
Of course, this could be as much a feature of my personality as it is whatever may be wrong with the STC. A matter of dinosaurs vs. gazelles, if you will.
Sorry I can’t offer you any other suggestions.
Scott
You make a good point about being an independent self-learner. Perhaps the best way the STC can support this trend is by providing the tools for self-learning. For example, to learn about a topic, the STC should have abundant learning materials available.
And there is a camaraderie/networking/community aspect that stands apart from self-learning. Perhaps that is the greatest value.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Would the STC (or an individual chapter) be able to collect or point to enough material/resources to satisfy someone? And would they have the budget to collect and maintain all of that? I figure that’s what Google and local colleges/universities are for
I guess one way to handle this is for the STC to negotiate deep discounts for classroom or online courses — 25% to 33%.
But learning is one thing; getting members and keeping them is another. The experiences I had with my (former) chapter really turned me off of the STC. Is this a problem with the entire organization — a bunch of pedantic people who view tech writing as almost a holy duty rather than a job — or with individual chapters? Food for that, wouldn’t you say?
Scott, you raise another issue when you ask if the entire STC consists of pedantic people who view tech writing as a holy duty rather than a job.
Many STC members are trying to present technical communication as being something on a higher level than secretarial work. So this is a trend that might make it seem like the STC treats tech writing as a holy duty rather than a job. Basically, the Bureau of Labor has “technical writer” pegged as someone who writes procedural manuals and may assist with layout. The avg. salary for such a job is 31K.
However, the STC’s salary survey’s showed the avg. salary for tech writers to be 41K — a discrepancy of 10K or so. One of the initiatives is to change the perception of technical writing to be more accurate according to what we really do. Our job includes elements of information architecture, usability, project management, marketing, quality control, customer satisfaction.
In other words, I do a lot more than just type instructions. The desire to change that impression may lead others to view the STC as treating writing as a holy duty.
The STC also makes a strong emphasis on the practical. Each issue of Intercom is heavily focused on being practical and providing take-away tips people can apply to their jobs.
I have enjoyed this exchange with you because it helps me rethink our approach to value in our chapter. My conclusion is that what’s ultimately valuable about an association is having an association with others. In surveys, members say they want to know more about other members. They value networking and interaction, and also see the STC as a brain trust of other local technical communicators they can interact with. It’s a case of the medium (interaction) being greater than the message (learning).
The STC fills the gap of something like meetup.com for local technical communicators.
As you rightly pointed out declining involvment is a problem with all associations related to “work” – we don’t want to meet to talk about work. There must be an opportunity here for associations to meet each other.
For example, I belong to a group of chemists and recently went to a meeting hosted by a lawyer to discuss contracts. No discussion of science but a very relevant and interesting disucssion from which I took many ideas that I can apply to my own work/life.
While the magazine/website can inform members about “work” issues and activities, the networking activity can extend horizons and link people beyond the boundaries of the association.
Grant
Nothing really new here; these are essentially the same statistics and concerns that were discussed in STC for two years before the “Transformation” was initiated in 2003. All the associations that I know of lost about 1/3 of their membership following the dot.com bust. The drop was due in part from people leaving the industry, part from companies no longer paying for membership–which caused members quite naturally to evaluate the perceived value of membership come renewal time. Conferences that were cash-cows carrying their associations became money pits.
The same associations are making their way back, as evidenced by attention to good business practices, increasing conference attendance, and a membership that’s paying far more attention to what’s going on in their organization.
The same goes for member involvement. It’s my observation, confirmed by some of Susan’s statements, that only about 10-20% of members attend meetings or conferences, and only 1-2% actually participate in running things. It’s been that way for years. The big difference that I see now is that current members have made a conscious choice to spend their own money to be members instead of being supported by their employers. Which I take to be a Good Thing: members are motivated to make the organization work for them, and the ones who stay are more aware and involved.
I could go on, but this is supposed to be a comment. Suffice to say that I suggest “the death of associations” to be a premature title.
Fred, you’re probably right about my title being premature. I like your comment, “current members have made a conscious choice to spend their own money to be members instead of being supported by their employers.” I still find the attrition mind-boggling, though. The way the statistics were presented, it was a steady drop, not just a huge drop in 2003. Maybe 2003 started the decline.
Just curious, but do you belong to the STC?
I think that the proliferation of online groups, communities, listservs, blogs, and other interaction mediums are making traditional associations (that require physical gathering) more and more of a hassle. Heck, it’s hard to say that since I’m president of my local chapter. I have made a lot of friendships that I value highly. That wouldn’t have been possible online. But still, when only 13 out of 150 members show up, it makes me rethink the meeting in the first place.
Tom,
I work with this issue all the time. If you only have 13 out of 150 members showing up for a meeting, there can be a variety of reasons why:
1. Meeting is a “repeat” – just like all the other ones – I know what’s going to happen before I even arrive.
2. Meeting is boring – big issue for many chapters, but not fav topic to discuss
3. Meeting is unfriendly to the less than regular folks
4. Meeting is depressing
5. Meeting is not well planned
6. Poor notice for meeing
7. Can get program content easily elsewhere – nothing different
8. It’s not fun to show up
9. No one cares if I show up
We could easily brainstorm several more items for this list.
If you are serious about wanting to build your STC chapter back up, you need to take an honest look at these variables and see how you do.
There are several articles on my websites and blog that you may find helpful in building your attendance back up.
Saying associations are dying is an easy out. Creating the value members find irresistible is key to success.
Hope this helps! Cynthia D’Amour
Hi Cynthia,
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Our attendance is usually about 20 members out of the 150 total of the chapter. This is apparently a similar trend across all STC chapters, not just mine. I have brought in some excellent speakers, but these well-known names and even interesting topics don’t seem to appeal to people. (I did survey the members about the topics.)
The meeting where we only had 13 was really frustrating. Months earlier, I surveyed the chapter to determine the topic they wanted to hear about. They said Vista and Office 2007. So I secured a Microsoft demo guy to come out and show Vista and Office 2007. Of all those survey respondents (33) who said it was a topic they preferred, only 13 showed up.
It makes me think that perhaps having speakers at meetings isn’t what members want. Maybe I have been going about it all wrong. Or as you say, maybe the meetings aren’t fun enough.
Can you point me to the specific articles on your site that can help me rejuvenate the life and appeal of these meetings? I am partly convinced that the problem is threefold:
1. Learning about technical writing is like doing work in the off-hours, without pay.
2. The meeting location, although central, is never convenient and it is too far to drive with heavy traffic.
3. The prevalence of virtual communities and online interaction outweighs the need for a physical gathering.
Our chapter site is at Suncoast STC.
Hi Tom,
It sounds like your leadership team needs to become a bit more marketing savvy – which is a different mindset from technical writing.
The chapters and associations I’ve been working with have much higher than 10% show rate. Some even have the problem of a surplus of volunteers!
It’s doable.
I took a quick peek at your website and here are a few things that come to mind…
1. It was hard for me to find the meeting notices. The calendar did not have them nor did announcements. I did find one post that had a calendar for the year – but that took a lot of digging.
2. I noticed that only a third of your members are subscribed to your blog. Do you do some sort of snail mail promotion to support those who may not be subscribed? Several chapters have found success with simple postcards reminders.
A bigger concern, and I’m talking straight here, is there’s so much publicity about how few people attend – you’ve got a negative spin going for your chapter.
Why would anyone want to go to something that no one else goes to?
It’s sort of like that old saying that if you go to a party expecting to have a bad time, you will. Others, attending the same party and looking for a good time, have a blast.
I don’t buy the technical options eliminating the face to face exchanges. The research I’ve been seeing notes blogs, etc. as supplements that help build and continue relationships.
Since you asked, I’m going to recommend that you check out my blog for chapter leaders: http://cynthiadamour.com
There are lots of ideas for how to get members more involved – and you’ll also want to read the research results I just posted (linked at the top)
You may also want to check out my book How to Turn Generation Me Into Active Members of Your Association.
Hope this helps. It looks like you’ve got a lot of good things going for you – just need to add that marketing edge and frame them a little differently.
Cynthia
Cynthia,
Thanks for your analysis and tips. I really appreciate you taking the time to look at our chapter site and point out ways to improve it. I agree with your suggestions. I’ll also look into your book.
Tom
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Maybe it is just the freelancers that don’t want to come to the meetings? The employees of a company would want to… I’d imagine that there are a lot of them now.
Maybe having topics like de-localization would drum up more people.
Patricia
The little group I belong too go out for meal once every month.
Sure, it’s not the best setting to discuss paragraph formatting issues in Obstruction V9.3 or whatever, but it does give us an opportunity to network, discuss vaguely work related issues, and have a few laughs (we’re good at that).
The more formal STC meetings I used to attend were earnest and very dull, and I used to come out of them wishing I’d opted for an exciting career like double book-keeping or grave digging.
It’s hard to make a boring subject interesting, and really hard to make it interesting enough for people to want to sacrifice an evening to attend.
Perhaps the long-term solution is blogs like this and on-line forums, where people can contribute to topics that interest them, and browse or ask questions if they have a problem that others may be able to solve.