STC Central Illinois Chapter e-Newsletter -- version 9.6.01.1

* THIS IS IMPORTANT -- PLEASE ANSWER
* How To Negotiate a Better Salary
* Member News
* Tips & Tricks
* STC Publication Competitions
* Check Out Our New Look

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THIS IS IMPORTANT -- PLEASE ANSWER
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Several brave souls met over the summer to plan a knowledge-packed, fun-filled STC year for the CIL chapter, but we ran into a problem: We don't know the best time to meet.

We have 50+ members spread over a wide area of Central Illinois. Last year we tried to alternate lunch and dinner meetings to accommodate our geographically dispersed membership. This year we're looking for confirmation from you.

Please take just a few seconds to answer Yes or No to the following questions. Send your answers to Nancee Moster at nmoster@metasolv.com.

Assume the following for all questions:

Would you attend:

1. A lunch meeting from approximately 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.?
2. A dinner meeting from approximately 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.?
3. A dinner meeting from approximately 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.?
4. A dinner meeting from approximately 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.?
5. A lunch or dinner meeting?
6. A meeting in Decatur or Bloomington-Normal?
7. A meeting in Springfield or Peoria?
8. A half-day seminar on a Saturday?

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HOW TO NEGOTIATE A BETTER SALARY
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The Central Illinois Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) invites you to attend this year's kickoff meeting.

Program: How to Negotiate a Better Salary
Speaker: Karen Steele
Date: Thursday, September 13, 2001
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Place: NCS Learn, 125 West Church Street, Suite 300, Champaign, Illinois, 61820
Cost: FREE!!!!!
Lunch: Will most definitely be served (which is why your RSVP is so important)
RSVP: By noon on Tuesday, September 11, to nmoster@metasolv.com or 217/762-9568

*** How to Negotiate a Better Salary ***

The gentle art of negotiation is both subtle and highly satisfying. When practiced regularly, it reaps great rewards -- none so obvious as an increased rate of pay. Karen will talk about negotiations in general, and salary negotiation in particular -- both from the perspective of an incoming employee and a current employee seeking a raise.

*** Who is Karen Steele? ***

Karen Steele has contributed to the technical communication profession for twenty years as a communicator, educator, and journalist. As a technical communicator, she has been a writer, editor, and manager. As an educator, Karen has taught in corporate environments and in academic settings. As a journalist, she has been a regular contributor to The Dallas Morning News.

Karen's career as a consultant has been varied, and has included work as a technical writer, information developer, courseware developer, lead writer, business systems analyst, project manager, and group project manager. Her clients include Informatics General Corporation, Computer Associates, IBM, NEC America, Suite Software, Levi-Strauss, Sealand, and Alcatel USA. Currently employed as a manager of documentation for MetaSolv Software, Inc., Karen supervises a staff of twenty and controls a $4.3M budget.

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MEMBER NEWS
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*** Kristina Deters ***

According to the STC Bylaws, the grade of senior member is conferred upon those who have held the grade of member in STC for five years. Please congratulate Kris Deters -- our chapter's newest senior member.

*** Steven Peter (and wife) ***

Straight from the horse's mouth: Susan got her PhD on Friday and has a post-doc at Rutgers (New Brunswick, New Jersey). Since it is a 10-month gig, and since we don't know where she will end up the year after that, we are keeping the house in Urbana, and I will continue to work for Wolfram. I will be back roughly once a month (hopefully to coincide with our meetings, though not in September).

And no, Peter -- we don't think you're a horse.

If you have any news you'd like to share with your colleagues, please contact Nancee Moster at nmoster@metasolv.com.

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STC COMPETITIONS
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If you've checked your snail mail recently, you probably noticed a blue postcard from the St. Louis chapter requesting your participation in their 2001 Publication Competitions. Categories include technical publications, online communication, and technical art.

We just wanted to make sure you know that you can participate in any STC publication competition anywhere. Check out all the competition possibilities at the Society web site: www.stc.org.

Although several Central Illinois chapter members have expressed interest in holding our own publication competition, we've so far lacked the manpower to pull this off. if you're interested in the possibility of holding our own competition next year, please contact Nancee Moster -- nmoster@metasolv.com.)

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TIPS & TRICKS
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*** PDF-to-HTML Conversion Tool ***
From Debra Schweiger

Out of desperation (from dealing with Webworks as the HTML conversion tool for Framemaker), we went on a search at work and found a new tool that converts PDF to HTML beautifully!!! What a breakthrough. All the bookmarks work, too. There's also no need for cleanup in Dreamweaver, etc. The tool is the BCL Magellan. It works right with Adobe Acrobat. The plug-in attaches to Adobe and the HTML conversion is only a few seconds. Saved us hours of work and I'm sane once again (or saner...is that a word?)!

For more information, check out www.bcl-computers.com/products/magellan.htm

*** Internet Job Search ***
From Debra Schweiger

I found the following links (in the order listed) very helpful during my recent job search. (I found my job on Hot Jobs.) These are the links that have Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding area covered. Other sites usually consider anything outside Chicago "downstate" or they lump everything together with very few listings.

www.hotjobs.com
www.iwon.com
www.monster.com
www.dice.com

Also, for those interested in contracting, the following are very good sites; however, many of the contracts seem to be out of the major cities and may require weekly onsite visits.

www.headhunter.com
www.guru.com

For the U of I, you'd have to go to their site directly. I don't think they advertise on the job links above.

If you have a tip or trick you'd like to share with your colleagues, please contact Nancee Moster at nmoster@metasolv.com.

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CHECK OUT OUR NEW LOOK
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When was the last time you checked out our chapter web site at www.prairienet.org/cil_stc? If it was more than a week ago, then you don't know what you're missing!

And the next time you see Elizabeth Russell-Minda, Marcia Krause, or Mary Harshbarger, please thank them for their hard work.