I am sad to tell you that the Society for Technical Communication is declaring bankruptcy. Our local society continues to have funding, but we can’t continue to exist and must close down and give our money back to the national organization.

LinkedIn Workshop in Planning will be Picked Up by LinLaurie.com
I have been working with Mary Beth on a LinkedIn workshop, which will now be offered via www.linlaurie.com since STC didn’t pay any money for its development. Give me a few days to add it to my site and put it on Eventbrite. You can check back here or ensure you are signed up in the current STC mailing list and will keep up-to-date. I also plan to offer a day-long AI conference and other workshops focused on AI. I spent the last year in school learning about AI, where my passion lies.

Sign Up to Receive Newsletters from Lin Laurie for Workshops and More
If you want to be notified when it is scheduled, you can continue to sign up here for the STC newsletter, and in the next day or so, I will change the link so you can register directly for my mailing list. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/hfVONb, and I will update this ASAP.

One Last Newsletter
I am also preparing one last newsletter to go out to all of you with a list of other resources. That should be coming out this weekend.

A Last Hurrah

I wanted a goodbye get-together, but we can’t spend chapter money on it. If I get enough feedback that you would like to do that and pay out of pocket, I’d happily organize that. LMK at lin @ linlaurie . com

Did You Know?

  • Did you know that STC’s Puget Sound Chapter has existed since 1955?
  • We even have dead members on our membership roles who loved our STC Chapter so much that they wanted to continue paying dues in the afterlife. That’s a commitment!
  • The oldest living and participating member is 88! We do have other older members, but other than reading the newsletter, they don’t participate.
My Personal History with STC

I participated in some capacity in STC since 1993, when Joe Welinske told me about it. I’ve spent hours holding online help-judging events in my office off Greenwood Avenue in Seattle, where I also gave numerous RoboHelp classes for 8 years.

I’ve done a lot of outreach to businesses to tell them about STC to bring back corporate sponsors. When I moved to San Diego, as my parents were dealing with elderly issues, STC was the first community I joined. They welcomed me with open arms, and the job opportunities were right behind them.
I am saddened by the end of STC. There should have been management changes when the membership numbers started sliding around 2007, so we wouldn’t end up here, but this is where we are.

For More Information
Do Not Pay Your Dues!

If you should find a page that allows you to pay for your 2025 membership, please do not do that! If you have already paid for your membership, you can request a refund from your bank, or you can get it back through the bankruptcy court. IMHO, they should have shut down any ability for the site to accept payment, so the bank would be the quickest way to get your money back, but this is my opinion, and I am not an attorney.

Stay tuned for more information.

Sadly,

Lin Laurie