The new organization should have at least one or two new types of activities in its calendar. Lecture events will always be a staple, but I think we need new activities aimed at evoking participation rather than passive attendance.
Below are the activities in mentioned in the proposal. This is not an exhaustive list, so feel free to suggest your own.
- Book Club
- Group Charitable Events
- Grub Crawl
- Pecha Kucha 20×20
- Public Speaking Practice
- Writers Circle
- Writers in the Pub
Please post a comment listing your three favorites in order of preference. And a absolutely suggest your own! I’ll collate the results and post them.
These kinds of decisions can’t be made in a vacuum. Your voice in the matter really counts.
After STC-Montreal 
Here are my top three:
1. Book Club: I read many technical books, but as the lone writer in my current mandate I don’t have anyone to discuss them with. A book club would be great!
2. Pecha Kucha: This is also a neat idea, and we could extend it to include technical topics. I think that many of us are quite knowledgeable about a number of topics, yet we might not feel that they deserve a full-blown lecture. This would provide the perfect setting to share this kind of information.
3. Group Charitable Events: I love the idea of finding a way to mix writing and charity work! Maybe we could try to find something similar to Translators Without Borders or get involved in an open source book sprint.
Personally, I prefer the social events – so my favourites are the Grub Crawl and Writers in the Pub.
Pardon my double-commenting. I originally attached this comment to https://afterstcmontreal.wordpress.com/whats-stc-montreal/, but fear that one may not be noticed.
I will be in Montreal on business early next week. I would be grateful for the opportunity to speak with technical communicators in Montreal about the STC (including issues that led to your decision), and your plans for a separate local organization.
Unless somebody suggests otherwise, I’ll plan to be at the Au Bistro Gourmet at 6:30 p.m. Monday (Feb 13).
I’m looking for a conversation; nothing more. I do hope I can chat with some of you there.
-Alan Houser
Vice President, Society for Technical Communication
arh -at- groupwellesley.com
I like all of those ideas so it’s hard to narrow it down to just three. But if I *had* to:
Grub Crawl
Pecha Kucha 20×20
Writers Circle
It would also be nice to have some sort of group bug drive or troubleshooting feastival where every body contributes with problems and solutions (writing/editing related, tool related, etc.
The first two are easy: Grub Crawl and Writers in the Pub. As for number three, I’m hemming and hawing between the Book Club, Pecha Kucha 20×20, and Group Charitable Events.
1) Grub Crawl: As long as it’s not priced like a Dishcrawl.
2) 20×20: I went to one of these at SAT, and a similar format at the NRC, and was just totally blown away.
As for a third suggestion, all I can come up with might be a crossover event with another group such as Mitpro. I like to go to the seminars organized by various software companies, maybe a small table at one of them would give the new group some exposure.
Sorry about the belated reply. Some thoughts on the programming suggestions:
Book Club (perhaps–2 meetings a year)
Group Charitable Events (maybe 1 time per year)
Grub Crawl (probably 1 time per year–sounds like an alternative to our holiday parties)
Pecha Kucha 20×20 (1 time per year)
Public Speaking Practice (no)
Writers Circle (not sure what this is)
Writers in the Pub (sounds like an alternative to the opening wine and cheese reception)
Plus some that aren’t on the list:
— 1 joint meeting with other professional associations whose interests overlap with STC’s, such as the local chapters of UPA, IABC, CSTD, and similar organizations.
BTW–I offer to organize the joint meeting.
— 1 workshop per year–as we have been doing.
— 1 technology update per year–perhaps worked into another format listed above.