President's Blog
When I first started to go to conferences, it never really crossed my mind about the organizations that sponsored them. But then, by the time I was moving closer to tenure, I began to wonder how you got involved in organizations. Particularly in technical and professional communication, it seems that a lot of the organizational work is completely hidden and newcomers have trouble figuring out how to enter. Sometimes, it’s even perceived that organizations are a closed group, that is, if you don’t know the right people then you can’t enter.
As many of you know, I’m not shy so figuring out how to volunteer my time was not hard, but I also know, that I’m kind of unique in this regard. One of theof goals of the President’s Blog is to make the work of the organization more transparent. By that I mean, I want everyone—those who have been active for awhile, those who are kind of new, and those who may want to join—to understand how the organization works and ways they can get involved. In all organizations run by the labor of volunteers, there are always things to do, and always opportunities to bring your own ideas into the conversation.
Future posts will discuss ways you can become involved, the work of the executive committee, the purpose of the Saturday business meeting, the cool factor of the Saturday excursion, some posts that mine the archives to provide a historical perspective of the field, and whatever else may come to mind. If you have a question that you’ve wanted an answer to, just send it along (email here). I’ll make sure it gets answered in a future blog or in a one-on-one conversation.
I’m excited to be leading the organization at that this particular time, and I look forward to the work that we’ll do together.