An Incentive Program for the 2009-2010 Season

At the July 12 AC meeting, we talked about setting up an incentive program to meet one of our objectives: increase attendance at monthly program meetings.

The Orlando chapter has set up a "point" system as an incentive program. Here's a snapshot of how theirs works:




My proposal is this:

* each member that attends every monthly meeting, AND brings a friend to every one of the meetings, earns enough "credits" to receive an iPod shuffle (2nd generation). (I recommend an iPod because it is actually something of material value, and it goes along with our "Podcast" program. Also, at $45, it may even be within our budget. Plus, by next spring, which is when we would order the prizes, the price may drop further. Plus, it's "one-size-fits-all.") They can bring the same friend or a different friend. Can these "friends" be current members? I would say, no. In fact, to broaden the scope of STC, which is another one of our objectives, we may want to put qualifiers on this non-member friend, such as, "has not attended an STC meeting //ever|within the past year|within the past 5 years."

That's it. No exceptions for illness, deadlines, etc.

Well, we might want to accommodate one exception. Let's say that someone misses a meeting early in the year; they're already disqualified from the incentive program. But they can "make up" for missing a meeting by recruiting a non-member friend to join STC. So, if they miss two meetings, but recruit two non-members to join STC, they still qualify for the iPod.

Now, this "non-member friend" may balk at paying a high price to attend meetings; so we have to think carefully about this. Perhaps we should have a "half price for non-member friends" type of arrangement.

Why this proposal?

It's simple to keep track of, and it should increase attendance at meetings. It's also a fairly high bar; after all, how many members are going to make it to EVERY meeting, PLUS bring a friend to each one? But we have to aim for that sweet spot; it has to be within reach, or it fails as an incentive.

Once we come to agreement and nail down all the details of this incentive program, I will showcase the incentive program at the September chapter meeting.

Program Planning for the 2009-2010 Season

The following is a first draft of the programing for the 2009-2010 season.

• September 2009 - (TWO events) One will be a "Kick-off" of the season, on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 24. The format of this meeting will be less formal, perhaps in a room at a bar (I'm thinking Lucky Lab will work - they have 3 locations, even one in the Hawthorne district, which is a cool neighborhood. Plus, it seems reasonably-priced.) As the 1st vice president, I would like to introduce the meeting and give a quick overview of the programming for the entire year (so, yes, we'll have to have at least a tentative schedule for the entire year). Then, after the overview, I'd like to have a format like the one Karen O'Keefe described, the "speed dating" format, with topic-themed tables and round-robins. The purpose of this event is to socialize, "break the ice" for the year, welcome back veterans and welcome newbies, and get people talking to one another. I would like this event to have appetizers and buy-your-own beverages.
  
  The second event is already arranged; the morning of Sept. 17, JoAnn Hackos will give a talk at the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver. A continental breakfast will be served.
  
  
• October 2009 - "Show Me the Money: How JetBlue REALLY Implemented a Successful Content Management System" (LIVE EVENT/Webex) For this one, I'd like to recruit Scott Abel, the Content Wrangler, to deliver a webinar that showcases how JetBlue actually implemented a content management system. It is tool-specific, using tools from two different vendors. I've already attended one of his webinars that showcases this solution, and it's cool because he actually gives demos of the tools. I am in talks with Scott now. UPDATE, Aug. 12: I am very close to confirming this with Scott Abel. I should have him confirmed by next week.
  
  
• November 2009 - "Podcasting and You: Yes, You Can Do it!" (LIVE EVENT/Webex) We discussed this briefly at our July 12 Admin Council meeting. Perhaps we can recruit a techie PSU student to give us a demo and show us best practices of podcasting. This talk should be presented within the framework of audio (that is, podcasts) as a communication delivery mechanism. We should be able to get students to do this "for free," I'd think.
  
  
• December 2009 - "Give Yourself a Present: Retool and Rebrand Yourself" (LIVE EVENT ONLY) Another one we briefly discussed at the July 12 meeting. I think this one has great potential as a "panel discussion" in which various leaders discuss how they've rebranded themselves. Included within this discussion could be best practices on being a "virtual" communicator (that is, you don't have to commute to an office Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm, to be a successful technical communicator in this day and age of globalization). The backdrop of this talk will be how to make yourself more marketable in this tough economic climate. As a panel discussion, we'd need volunteers to be on the panel. I'd be glad to be one panelist; I'm thinking we need at least 5 or 6.
  
  
• January 2010 - "Social Media and Web 2.0: What the Twitter is this Facebook thing all about? And are you LinkedIn?" (LIVE EVENT/Webex) I would like to recruit Charlene Li, author of Groundswell, or Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, to deliver this talk. If I can't recruit either of them, I've got a "Web 2.0" talk in my back pocket that I delivered to my peers here at Mentor that I could give. I'm not sure, but rather confident, that both Charlene and Clay will expect compensation.
  UPDATE, July 22: I've spoken with Charlene's "agent," and Charlene costs (I hope you're sitting down) $10,000 for a 2-hour webinar!! (I nearly collapsed.) The same agent also represents Clay Shirky; he also is $10,000. I told him this is way beyond our budget; he offered me two "lesser-named" authors for $5,000. Oops, still way beyond our budget. So for this subject, it's on to plan B.
  
  
• February 2010 - "DITA SCHMITA - What can it actually do for me?" (LIVE EVENT/Webex) For this talk, I'd like to bring in Amber Swopes, a local industry consultant, to "humanize" DITA and talk about what it really means to us as technical communicators. Amber used to work at JUST Systems and is well-versed in DITA and its applications. OR, my colleague Lisa Swallow is developing a talk on "The Emotional Side of Tech Writing," which I think will be very interesting.
  
  
• March 2010 - "The Technical Communications Suite from Adobe" (LIVE EVENT/Webex) For this talk, I'd like to have a webinar given by RJ Jacquez, the product marketing manager of Adobe's technical comm suite. Specifically, I'm going to ask for specific scenarios of communicators actually using all these tools in concert.
  
  
• April 2010 - "Technical Communications Tools from MadCap Software" (Live EVENT/Webex) Another vendor-specific webinar for the product marketing manager to give his or her schtick. As the 1st VP, I will really be grilling these vendors after their presentations; it's important that we, as a chapter, not schill for any particular vendor. We shall remain neutral.
  
  
• May 2010 - Competition Banquet - I volunteer as a judge for next year's competition.
• June 2010 - Volunteer/Officer Banquet

Other ideas for programming events:

• Skip one or more of the above programs in favor of just a "meet at the bar and network" event (as the Toronto chapter did rather successfully). These "networking only" events would have some structure, though; some sort of ice-breaker/facilitation framework is a good idea.
  
• Bring in a speaker (Ann someone?) who's involved with the "One Laptop per Child" initiative (I think Karen O'Keefe mentioned this at the July 12 meeting)
  
• Webinar delivered by Ann Rockley, noted industry guru, on implementing a CMS in a small to medium-sized company (thank you, Janet, for this suggestion). UPDATE, Aug. 12. I have emailed Ann Rockley's group twice, but have had no response. If we want Ann or one of her cohorts, I'll have to get much more aggressive.
  
• A "Welcome to STC/Tech Comm 101" half-day or full-day Saturday workshop (I think Maralee mentioned this one). I'd be glad to teach part of this workshop.
  
• A "senior breakfast" - I'm still parsing through the survey data on this one. I have to confess, though, that I'm very reluctant to have any kind of event that segregates the chapter (in which anyone is excluded). I'm thinking maybe this "breakfast" event could be a platform for mentors and mentorees.
• "Door prizes" - yes, I think every event should have door prizes. Everyone who comes should get a mug, t-shirt, or some such thing.
• "Points" - Karen talked about this; set up a point system to recruit people to these events (they get a point for coming, a point for bringing a friend; not sure how else they would earn points). Then, at the end of the programming year, the member with the most points gets something (don't know what).
• For each event that is "Webex," I would like to record it and post the recording on the STCWVC web site.