Interview with STC President Linda Oestreich: Directions the STC Is Heading
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Duration: 35 min.
In this podcast, STC President Linda Oestreich talks about the direction that the Society for Technical Communication is heading. She explains the strategic objectives of the STC and the ways the Board is trying to meet those objectives in a financially conscious way. She provides updates on other initiatives they've pursued, such as certification programs, increased recognition, and membership trends. Linda also talks about the awesome responsibility it is to be president of an organization of nearly 15,000 members worldwide.
Topics in this podcast include the following:
- The most pressing issue the Board of Directors has attempted to tackle this past year
- The reason the STC has to be financially conscious
- What STC members find truly valuable about the STC
- Updates about the ongoing interactions with the Bureau of Labor about changing the title and definition of "technical writer"
- Reasons for upward membership trends and company-value discounts
- Movements toward certification programs
- Attempts to provide recognition for members between senior member and associate fellow
- Problems interpreting what people mean by networking and publications
- The upcoming roadmap for the STC
- How much time the STC president spends in her position
- Advice she would give to the incoming president
- Why people should attend the upcoming STC Summit
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Additional Resources
- STC
- Linda Oestreich's bio
- To access News and Notes, Tieline, Intercom, or Tech Comm Journal, go to stc.org, log in, and view the options on the Publications menu.
- Upcoming STC Summit in Philadelphia
- Contact Linda at [email protected]
- The blogroll and podroll links I mentioned.
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To contact me, send me an email at [email protected].
About Tom Johnson

I'm a technical writer / API doc specialist based in the Seattle area. In this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, visual communication, information architecture, writing techniques, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation if you're looking for more info about that. If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the field, be sure to subscribe to email updates. You can also learn more about me or contact me. Finally, note that the opinions I express on my blog are my own points of view, not that of my employer.