The document lists the benefits of membership for various SIGs (Special Interest Groups) within the Society for Technical Communication. Key benefits include access to newsletters, discussion lists, webinars and discounts on conferences. SIGs allow members to network with peers, learn best practices, and get involved in leadership opportunities. Examples provided show benefits like free training workshops, mentoring, scholarships and presenting research. SIGs give members a community of practitioners within their specialized technical communication fields.

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SIG Benefits List
Academic SIG
 Website that hosts newsletter
 Opportunities to:
o Be a leader in the field of technical communication
o Maintain a bridge between those who practice and those who teach technical
communication
o Research and collaborate through a new partnership program
o Present at the annual conference
Quotations:
“People who understand what you do, and who try to help you do it.” -Cindy Pao
“The greatest benefit of the Academic SIG membership is the possibility of networking
with academics who are also interested in the practitioner's world.” -Nancy Coppola,
New Jersey Institute of Technology
AccessAbility SIG
 Twitter: http://twitter.com/stcaccess
 Blog: http://www.stc-access.org/
 LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1852045
 Email discussion list: http://mailman.stc.org/mailman/listinfo/stc-accessibility
Environmental Safety and Health SIG
 Newsletter
 Ability to ask questions of people in the same field as you are
Europe SIG
We’re the SIG with a regional focus – Europe!
Bien sûr internationalisation and localisation are hot topics for us as well as news and
events about European technical communication.
The blog on our Web site covers such topics as legal issues related to documentation and
localisation. We’ve active on Twitter with news and info on technical communication in
Europe as well as European-based job notifications.
 Web site http://www.stc-europe.org/
 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stceusig
 Member discussion list

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Let's discuss European technical communication. Join our team to share your knowledge
and international experience with our members.
Vive l’Europe !
Instructional DesignandLearning (IDL) SIG
 Our NEW virtual training evaluation workshop, FREE to IDL SIG members
 Informative & educational IDL Webinars at discounted SIG member rates
 Our award-winning newsletter, full of great news & techniques
 SIG Scholarships for college courses and STC annual conference attendance
 Great online & social media resources, including our SIG Website, Twitter presence,
LinkedIn page, and discussion activity
International Technical Communication(ITC) SIG/Community
 Gain access and comradery within a community of experts in international technical
communication, translation, and localization issues.
 Join our members-only email discussion list to tap and contribute to member expertise.
 Present papers, panels, or progression topics related to international technical
communication at the STC Summit yearly.
 View our online newsletter, Global Talk, at http://itcglobaltalk.org, which announces
conferences, news, events, and articles of interest to ITC members.
 Become part of the editorial board or contributor set for ITC's Global Talk. Review a
book, write a case study, craft a short article of interest to our audience.
 Join the leadership of ITC! As a global group, the more perspectives we have, the
stronger we are.
Lone Writer SIG
The Lone Writer SIG provides professional education and support to writers who are the
sole technical writer for their organization. But, you don't have to be the only tech writer in
your organization; if you work in a small documentation department, you're still welcome to
join us.
 Listservers:
o stclwrsig-l@mailman.stc.org – Very active and helpful. Post a question and you’ll
get several responses in just a few hours! Recent Topics on the Listserver:
 Embedding help in a Web application
 Tools questions: Adobe Acrobat, Excel, FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Word
 Several job postings
 Grammar issues
 Wording issues
o Off-topic list: loners_OT@yahoogroups.com

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 Web site: www.stc-lonewriter.org
 Twitter: www.twitter.com/LoneWriterSIG
 STC Technical Summit Activities:
o Members frequently present in a Lone Writers SIG Progression at the annual
STC Technical Summit (nee Annual Conference)
o Informal dinner of attendees during the Technical Summit
Marketing CommunicationSIG
 Access to other marketing communications professionals, many who own their own
firms, for advice and mentoring
 The STC Marcomm Website, as a valuable resource for materials.
http://www.stc-marcom.org
 The Community ListServe is an opportunity to discuss issues and research solutions to
challenges you may be experience.. http://mailman.stc.org/mailman/listinfo/stcmktsig-l
 LinkedIn Group for the Marketing Communications SIG, which provides additional
discussion opportunities and a developing job board.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1838049
 As a resurgent virtual community there are numerous opportunities for volunteering and
being involved.
Policies andProcedures (P&P) SIG
 Access to published material, including our newsletter and other articles, book reviews,
case studies, and research, etc.
 Access to online SIG resources, including our SIG Website, archived of P&P articles and
other resources
 Access to P&P SIG Sponsored webinars at a reduced rate for our members
 Opportunities to join a dialog that is unique to our area of practice, to publish articles and
research, to share your work experience, to vet your questions, and read responses
from your peers on our discussion list
 Opportunities to present on your experiences to your peers at the STC Annual
Conference, and access to occasional discounts or stipends
 Opportunities to volunteer and contribute to the P&P SIG and to our growing body of
knowledge
 Opportunities to develop and grow your leadership and management skill within the SIG
and in Policies and Procedures Communication
Quality and Process Improvement (QPI) SIG
 Exposure to 400 other professionals from all over the world who have joined the SIG,
and in professions as diverse as education, banking, technical editing and writing,
software development, and healthcare, all of whom are interested in quality

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 Access to the QPI ListServe at http://stcqsig-l@mailman.stc.org, where discussion topics
have included single-sourcing systems, style guides, .DOT templates for automated
formatting in Microsoft Word, SharePoint or eRoom portals vs. shared drives for project
teams, and overall improvements to processes within Documentation or Publication
Departments, and in other corporate, military, and educational settings
 Access to http://stcsig.org/quality, the QPI SIG website and archive set up by Ann Wiley,
founder of the SIG and currently the Membership Manager
 Opportunities to volunteer and to be a leader within the SIG and within the larger body,
Society for Technical Communication
 Opportunities to present at the STC Annual Technical Summit at the progression hosted
jointly with the P&P SIG on topics of interest to both SIGs, and to network with peers at
the annual business/networking lunch, also hosted jointly with P&P SIG at the annual
summit
Scientific CommunicationSIG
 SIG has been fairly quiet in recent years
 Major activities have been a regular Newsletter and connecting at Summit
 SIG Website currently:
o Hosts the Newsletter
o Resource Links
o Twitter Feed
o Notes from SIG Management
o Details about Sci Comm SIG
o Website open to nonmembers
 New management team has been formed with four members as opposed to two
 New team plans to make the SIG much more high-profile with:
o Job postings, recent breakthroughs, multiple domains, professional development,
resources and references, welcomes and profiles, mailing and discussion lists
o Webinars, collaboration with other SIGS/communities/organizations, social
media, book reviews, book club discussions, best of the web
o Progressions, gatherings, SIG information sessions at Summit, local conference
opportunities
Single Sourcing SIG
 Email listserv: http://mailman.stc.org/mailman/listinfo/stc-single-sourcing-l
 Social community: http://stcsinglesourcingsig.grouply.com/
 Twitter presence: http://twitter.com/stc1ssig

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Technical Editing SIG
Benefits Available to Members Only:
 Free seminars that are tailored to technical editors on a quarterly basis, such as "The
Global English Style Guide: Writing Clear, Translatable Documentation for a Global
Market" and "Moving to Word 2007"
 Recorded education sessions
 Networking through volunteer opportunities, such as authoring newsletter articles or
programming education for a 2,000-person audience
 Savings on continuing education in advanced editing topics, such as "Providing Effective
Editing Comments"
 Collaborative authoring space via a wiki, such as co-authoring a style guide
 Members-only listings in the Employment bank (only members can post jobs)
 Resources on the SIG web site:
o Chat in real time with like-minded professionals
o Participate in polls and surveys
 STC Conference activities:
o Opportunity to be a presenter at the progression on editing
o Opportunity to attend the SIG business meeting
Benefits Available to Everyone:
 Newsletter, Corrigo, on topics of interest to editors
 Email discussion list
 Resources on SIG web site:
o Resource directory and bookshelf
Note: Only members can submit new items to the resource directory.
o Twitter, including job notifications
o LinkedIn group
o Shelfari group
 Scholarship program
Quotations:
“Being a member of the Technical Editing SIG gives you a myriad of resources and
opportunities to grow professionally and to expand your presence in the marketplace.”
“...three cheers for the Tech Editing SIG — [their] scholarship offerings represent the
sort of high-impact service-to-the-profession activity that all SIGs can emulate. As STC's
2nd V-P, and as a teacher of Tech Comm, I am proud of the TE SIG.” - Hillary Hart,
Society for Technical Communication

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Usability and User eXperience (UUX) Community
 Take an opportunity to learn about usability testing practices, user-centered design
techniques, interface design, and other aspects of user experience design from
recognized experts in the field; with special emphasis on applying the techniques and
practices to communication products.
 Read the award-winning newsletter and write articles about your user experience work.
 Participate in an email group that discusses usability in the broader sense but with a
focus on usability, user experience, and technical communication.
 Take part in lively and personal UX book club discussions, often on books written by
UUX community members, and often with the author in attendance.
 Make use of the resource-rich website.
 Take the opportunity to join international volunteer groups redesigning the website or
learning user-centered design techniques by doing them for other UUX Community
projects.
 Learn about and use the latest in virtual collaboration tools, including advanced meeting
planning for global teams.