STC Houston Meeting Champions

What the Meeting Champions Manager Does

The Meeting Champions manager has the following responsibilities:

· submit a budget to the Administrative Council, and obtain council approval

· recruit a Meeting Champion for each chapter program meeting (not including the competitions banquet, Administrative Council meetings, or STK sessions), normally held September, October, November, January, March, April, and May

· with each Meeting Champion, discuss ideas about how to promote a chapter meeting.

· serve as an advisor to (and as liaison with the Programs committee) each Meeting Champion as each one promotes a chapter meeting

· obtain attendance totals from the Registration committee after each chapter meeting

· use chapter meeting attendance totals to evaluate efforts of the Meeting Champion

· submit a year-end report to the Administrative Council on the work of Meeting Champions during the program year (summarizing the results achieved)

What a Meeting Champion Does

A Meeting Champion is an STC member who promotes attendance at one STC Houston program meeting. Champions usually promote a meeting whose planned program topic is of interest to them, but some choose a meeting on the basis of a month that is convenient.

1. Focus and Target

As a Meeting Champion, you will contact appropriate target groups of potential attendees:

· personal connections:

— friends and co-workers

— former co-workers and former STC members

— people you have been encouraging to join

· technical communicators from various organizations:

— a large corporation with many members and potential members

— specialized technical fields such as aerospace, medical, oil and gas

· STC-related groups:

— past STC presidents

— former STC members

— STC Fellows and Associate Fellows

— members who are active at the Society level

— Texas A&M Student Chapter members

· Metropolitan Houston areas:

— FM 1960 area residents

— Clear Lake/NASA area residents

— Inner Loop residents

· Satellite members:

— Louisiana members

— Bryan/College Station members

· special groups:

— managers

— teachers and students

— mentors

2. Promote and Persuade

As a Meeting Champion, you will choose methods that will be most fun for you and will best promote your meeting:

· send personal notes on STC note cards, postcards, or on anything you want (picture postcards, balloons, signs, etc.)

· telephone individuals and explain how they would especially benefit from attending

· if you target special groups, such as teachers and students, medical writers, or inner loop residents, notify the editor of Dateline Houston so this meeting can be publicized as “their night” (More than one group can be targeted per meeting; for example, one meeting could be "Bosses Night" and "Past Chapter Presidents Night.")

· work with the Publicity committee manager on your publicity ideas—the farther in advance, the better (Do not contact the media directly without first coordinating this contact through the Publicity committee manager.)

· work with the Programs committee to arrange any special activity the night of the meeting

· post fliers or posters at work or where your targeted groups congregate