Notes from 53rd International STC Conference
Las Vegas, Nevada, May 7-10, 2006

Do-it-Yourself Programs on a Shoestring:
New Turnkey Power Tools for Your Community Toolkit
(Leadership Day Presentation)

Gail Lippincott
Bonnie Spivey
Jen Selix
Dan Voss

Lippincott is an Associate Fellow and Orlando Chapter president. Spivey is Orlando Chapter public relations manager and former president of the Future Technical Communicators (FTC) club. Selix is a student at the University of Central Florida, and former FTC president. Voss is an STC Fellow and former Orlando Chapter Education Committee manager.

Session Description: The presenters described several successful programs developed by the Orlando Chapter, including the mentoring program pairing students from the University of Central Florida (UCF) with professionals in the chapter, the high school technical writing program, the Melissa Pellegrin Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Jaffe Awards professional recognition program, the Active Members incentive program, and two fund-raisers (Operation Rising Stars, involving corporate and personal sponsorships; and the AccessAbility SIG's Operation Butterfly, involving lapel pin sales, which was coordinated out of Orlando). In so doing, they also explained how the dynamic partnership between student STC members from UCF (most of them also members of the Future Technical Communicators, or FTC, Club) and the Orlando Chapter was a key factor in the success of these programs, as well as a source of new talent to assume leadership positions within the chapter. Handouts included a CD with e-archives of a wide range of turnkey tools used to administer the successful programs described in the presentation.

• The full presentation, "Do-it-Yourself Programs on a Shoestring: New Turnkey Power Tools for Your Community Toolkit" is available online. The little light bulbs signal that a turnkey tool is available on the CD.
• CDs may be acquired by contacting Gail Lippincott, immediate past president of the Orlando Chapter.

• The article from the conference Proceedings, "Don't Reinvent Any Wheels – Check Out This Turnkey Toolkit for Chapter and SIG Leaders", summarizes the Orlando Chapter's programs that are described in the presentation.
• Here are some useful links to online resources:
   
• Orlando Chapter web site (home page)
• Orlando Chapter Education Committee subsite
• Orlando Chapter mentoring program
• Orlando Chapter high school tech writing competition
• Melissa Pellegrin Memorial Scholarship program
• Future Technical Communicators (FTC) web site