{14th STC India Annual Conference} Alan Houser's Speech During the Inaguration of Preconference Workshop

[Swaminathan Moorthy]

Hello to my colleagues in India. I am Alan Houser, President of the Society for Technical Communication. It is a professional privilege and personal honor to be addressing you today.

This 14th STC India Annual Conference represents the best that the Society and the STC India chapter offer to this wonderful profession of technical communication. Here you will learn about time-proven approaches and best practices. You will learn about tools that increase our productivity, and emerging technologies that are increasingly relevant. Perhaps most importantly, you will learn from each other, about successes and failures, so that we can repeat our successes and avoid mistakes that others have already made. We gather to meet new colleagues in the field, renew previous connections, and make new friendships.

Each of you are participating in the conference to improve yourselves as professionals, and in turn improve the profession. Each of you should acknowledge yourselves for that.

I had the privilege of meeting many of the current and recent STC India Admin Council members and leaders in February of this year. People like Michele Cherian, Naveen D'Cruz, Swaminathan Moorthy and others. Nearly every year, the STC India chapter wins an STC international award for Communities, and last year was no exception. The STC India Chapter won Community of Excellence. I wish to personally acknowledge 2011 chapter president Rajdeep Gupta, his admin council, and all volunteers who made this possible. I understand that the STC India chapter is planning many wonderful new educational and networking events, through 2013, and beyond.

The Society for Technical Communication is an International Society, and we are working to support the profession around the globe even better. For the current renewal season, STC has substantially decreased membership dues in India. The STC is partnering with Tekom and other organizations to develop global standards for the profession. STC is reaching out to countries like China, where the profession is emerging and growing rapidly. Technical communicators, whether in North America, India, China, or elsewhere, all benefit from shared knowledge, best practices, and learning from each other. I do hope that many of you will choose to join the STC for the 2013 calendar year.

I regret that I could not be present in person, to meet you individually and learn from all of you. I do hope to visit a future STC India event. I would be thrilled if any of you could attend the STC Summit, May 5-8 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This is our 60th Summit, marking 60 years of supporting the profession. Each of us can be a part of STC for the next 60 years.

I promised to keep my remarks brief, because you have a busy three days ahead of you. In closing, I am thrilled to inaugurate the 14th STC India Annual Conference! A special thanks to the organizers and sponsors. And a huge acknowledgement to you, the attendees. May the next three days be professionally enriching and personally fulfilling.

Thank you.