You can still receive almost all benefits that a chapter provides without having to belong to the organization. There is a huge difference between joining STC, the org, and attending local chapter events.
BTW, when I was active in my local chapter, we had almost everything you've mentioned except for the second meeting of the month. And when I was VP of membership, I did contact those who were late to renew to remind them (and to find out why, if they weren't). I'd bet the reasons then (several years ago) and the reasons now are still much the same... not enough value for the money. While $175 isn't a lot of money, it IS a lot of money if you don't get anything for it.Or "perceive" you don't. Which is much the same thing. ...sue On 3/19/08, John Posada <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Suzette...first, I'm biased. I'm the president of the NYMetro STC chapter, > with about 360 members. > > My position has been that you should not have to decide. If you cannot, or > if you are on the fence, your chapter has failed you. > > I happen to have two volunteers who at this very moment are calling > through > the list of 2007 members who have not yet renewed. They are calling for > two > reasons; to remind them that they haven't and if it only takes a reminder, > the call ends. However, if they have made a decision not to, we want to > know > why. > > In addition, over the last few months, I've anticipated this delema and > have > specificaly upgraded a number of things we do at the chapter level to earn > the renewal. Something must be working, we're currently second in our > category on renewal rate. > > We've doubled the number of monthly chapter meetings (we do two meeting > programs per month). > We upgraqded our newsletter from four pages to 12-14 pages > We upgraded our speakers (Hackos, Gribbons, etc) > We've added email job lists. > We've started SIG meetings > We've brought vendor demos to our monthly meetings > We've added some workshops (this month we have one on API/SDK) > We've reached out to other associations in releated fields (UPA, BIAA, > etc) > (other stuff) > > I don't take membership for granted. I want renewal to be a nobrainer. > > >increased so dramatically, I need to look at it objectively. Other than > the > $25.00 is not dramatic > > On 3/19/08, Suzette Leeming <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > I get more out of this list (and a couple of others) than I've ever > gotten > > from STC. I like your point that I can always attend a meeting as a > > non-member. I'll keep that in mind. > > > That's your chapter's fault. > ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com