International benefits in joining the STC

[yehoshua paul <ysp10182 -at- gmail -dot- com>]

A discussion was started today in the Israeli e-mailing list on the
benefits of belonging to the STC. The following was posted by one of the
members:

*STC "international" offered to send us a few fliers supporting their*

*organization, but little else - they wouldn't even ship free magazines as a
*

*onetime giveaway. In short, Israel was a great place on the map from which*

*to collect money but little was given back. Many of us wanted to break off*

*and form our own, take care of our own. *
*
*

*My initial reason for not rejoining the organization was fury that STC was*

*charging Israelis according to an absurd tiered system of charges whereby
we*

*(Israel) paid full US prices while every other country in the Middle East,*

*Africa, South Africa, Asia (except Japan and Australia), most of Eastern*

*Europe and a fair amount of Western Europe as well, paid about half. When*

*questioned, their answer had nothing to do with increased services to the*

*Israeli population but (I finally learned) because according to the World*

*Bank, Israel was more likely to repay world loans. I never did get to*

*understand the connection between STC services and the World Bank and*

*happily, they did away with the tiered system (with no refund or apology
for*

*the damage) a bit later.*

*
*

*What you've posted is indeed an excellent price but I wonder if you could*

*expound on what benefits STC offers Israeli members. For most, the national
*

*US conference is beyond reach; and without an active local chapter, there
is*

*little interaction between Israeli tech writers and others (above that
which*

*already takes place via other lists).*

*
*

*I'm not trying to knock STC - I'm trying to understand why their reducing*

*their price deserves our support. If you can detail increased services - to
*

*Israel - what will they do for Israelis? Yes, there are magazines -but will
*

*STC resources start coming here to speak? Will they support the local*

*technical writing community?*

*
*

*Perhaps, given the tremendous drop in **membership I have heard about *
*(which might have turned around, who knows?), **STC has indeed reformed *
*and focuses more outwards than inwards. I would be **happy to hear it.*

*
*

*Before offering Israelis a lower price - I'd really like to know what*

*greater offering they offer. Whether the price is $65 or $165 or $265 - it*

*isn't all about money.*

*
*

*Please do not take this as a personal attack in any way. It*

*isn't even really an attack on the STC - mostly, it is a wish that STC*

*either recognize itself as a national (US only) organization - or take the*

*necessary steps to make itself the global organization it claims to want to
*

*be. There are many of us around the world who are waiting for those steps
to*

*be taken - but, until they are, I really don't understand why we should*

*support them.*


I would like to ask the non-American members of the group about the
benefits the STC offers you in your country. Does STC membership help you
when you are job hunting? Are there any STC sponsored events in your home
countries, and how much does the STC contribute towards funding these
events.
I remember thinking around two years ago that it might be worth joining the
organization, but after some research I came to the conclusion that there
was very little practical benefit in signing up. STC has practically no
presence in Israel, and during the three years I have been a technical
writer has not organized a single event, or done anything noticeable for
the technical writing community in Israel.
So what do the other global members of this group think? Is there any
benefit to joining the STC if you don't live in North America?

Yehoshua Paul
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including Mobile and EPUB.

Read all about them: http://bit.ly/doc-to-help-10-outputs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications?  Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions?  Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives