President's Letter

Dear Readers,

Spring is in the air – or it will be soon – given the vagaries of our Texas weather. Talking about weather, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow in February, which meant we were predicted to have six more weeks of winter. Well, Mr. Phil’s predictions couldn’t be farther from the truth with the Snowmageddon 2021. I hope you and your families are safe as we all emerge from the impacts of this unprecedented event. 

On a positive note, the chapter received some fantastic news that we would like to share with you. We are very excited to share that Mr. Bob Want, our former Chapter President and current Board Member, received the Distinguished Chapter Service Award (DCSA) from STC National. This award recognizes an individual’s exemplary effort, energy, and dedication to their community and its activities. This is the highest level of recognition that a member can receive for service to their community. Congratulations, Bob!

The chapter also managed to hold a successful February event with Jasmine Crentsil. Jasmine provided us with interesting strategies and tools to create self-awareness and amp up our personal branding. 

Our upcoming March event (see details below) will shed light on how the technical communication content creation and iteration process can bring business value across the organization. If you are a technical writer exploring avenues to determine how you can influence the business side of things, then this event is a must attend.

Happy Spring and we hope to see you at our March webinar.

Best,

Zohra Mutabanna

NTLSC President

VP's Corner

Recently I spent some time with my Dad to help him learn Zoom. As I watched him take scattered, hand-written notes, I smiled and said, "Dad, why don't you let me write some notes for you!" He smiled back.

   "What? You don't think these will help me?!" he replied, his eyes twinkling with sarcasm! Then he read a line aloud: "Go to top drop-down list of stuff!"  We both laughed hard! I proceeded to make a Word document that would work for him. I constructed it into topics like, How to Set Up a Zoom Meeting and How to Share Multiple Documents - Pay attention to the icons in the taskbar (new words for him)!  I added procedures and Helpful Tips to Remember.  When I finished, he said, "Wow, Faith!  I guess this is what you do for a living, huh?”

   "Yeah, Dad!"  I said. 

   "Well, if you need me to come teach your colleagues my note-taking methods, let me know!"  We both laughed! Overall, it felt good to use my tech writing skills to help my Dad conduct business from home.  Especially in these COVID times.  This wasn't the complicated software technology I was used to deconstructing, but knowing your audience is half the battle!

Happy March!

Faith 

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