Volunteer Opportunities

STC New England encourages—and needs—you to contribute to the success of the chapter by volunteering for one of our open roles. Elected volunteers direct the activities of the chapter; appointed volunteers strengthen our chapter by helping us offer events and services to members. Experienced volunteers are preferred, but mentors are available for roles to teach the required skills. Unless stated otherwise, positions can be filled remotely and executed virtually.

Volunteer positions can be scoped to your time and interest. Time commitments are estimates only. Helping with even a small task frees other volunteers to do more, and you will find by completing small tasks that larger tasks are within your grasp.

Volunteering gives you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction and expands your career network. You can put existing skills to good use, or learn new skills and acquire valuable experience. Volunteering is an excellent way to gain experience in tasks that don’t always fall to a technical writer, in a safe and supportive environment, that you can then use to advance your career. Interested in becoming a team lead or moving into management at work? Hiring managers see volunteering as an indicator of dedication to the profession, so volunteering enhances your résumé.

Contact president@stcnewengland.org to volunteer or if you have questions. Positions marked with an asterisk indicate the most urgent needs.

Note: This is the complete list of volunteer positions for STC New England. Some positions are already filled, so contact us for availability.

Administrative Council

The Administrative Council directs Chapter activities to meet STC’s objectives. The Council has the power to manage the Chapter’s property, to determine its fiscal policies, and to direct its affairs to meet these objectives. Important: Council positions can only be filled by current STC members.

Immediate Past President

  • Description: The Immediate Past President serves on the strategic planning committee, advises the Council as required, and performs other duties that the President may assign.
  • Skills: Google Docs.
  • Time Commitment: 3–5 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: STC Community Handbook, Chapter bylaws, written policies and procedures; mentoring.

President

  • Description: The President supervises the affairs of the Chapter, calls and presides over Council meetings, appoints heads of committees subject to Council approval, communicates with appropriate STC officials, and represents the Chapter to STC. The President automatically assumes the role of Immediate Past President in the next Council year. Must be local to transfer signatures on bank accounts.
  • Skills: Planning, creating, and reading a budget; Google Docs, Eventbrite, PayPal, online banking, GoToMeeting.
  • Time Commitment: 10–15 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: STC Community Handbook, Chapter bylaws, written policies and procedures; mentoring.

Vice President *

  • Description: The Vice President assumes the duties of the President in the absence or incapacity of the President. The Vice President may manage the program committee (see below) or, with Council approval, manage another major committee. The Vice President automatically assumes the role of President in the next Council year.
  • Skills: Planning events; Google Docs, Eventbrite, PayPal, GoToMeeting.
  • Time Commitment: 5–10 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: STC Community Handbook, Chapter bylaws, written policies and procedures; mentoring.

Treasurer

  • Description: The Treasurer prepares the Chapter budget for Council approval, signs and submits financial documents as required, maintains financial records for the use of the Council, and files official Chapter financial documents. Must be local to transfer signatures on bank accounts.
  • Skills: Creating and reading a budget; Google Docs, PayPal, online banking
  • Time Commitment: 4–6 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: STC Community Handbook, Chapter bylaws, written policies and procedures, recorded webinars from STC Treasurer; mentoring.

Secretary

  • Description: The Secretary records minutes and action items of all Council meetings and distributes them afterwards. The Secretary conducts official correspondence, signs Chapter documents as required, and maintains records for the use of the Council. The Secretary may be the CAA coordinator (see below).
  • Skills: Google Docs.
  • Time Commitment: 4–6 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: STC Community Handbook, Chapter bylaws, written policies and procedures; mentoring.

Member at Large (multiple positions available)

  • Description: Council Members at Large attend all council meetings and perform other duties that the President or the Council may assign. Each Council Member at Large leads one or more committees and reports committee status at Council meetings.
  • Skills: Google Docs.
  • Time Commitment: 3–5 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: STC Community Handbook, Chapter bylaws, written policies and procedures; mentoring.

Committee Leads

Committee leads coordinate or, more commonly, directly execute major activities of the Chapter. Committee leads don’t need to be STC members.

Programs Coordinator *

  • Description: The Programs Coordinator plans, administers, and promotes monthly programs or specially scheduled workshops. Coordinates with speakers, venues, the Social Media Manager, and Webinar Hosts to make the events happen, and reports on the program to the Council. Includes free admittance to your meetings. This is primarily an administrative task, but the Program Coordinator can also host an event.
  • Skills: Event planning, ability to contact and work with speakers and venue managers; Eventbrite, GoToMeeting.
  • Time Commitment: 5–15 hours/event. Your commitment can be as small as one meeting.
  • Resources Available: Written descriptions and checklists, a large list of potential speakers, and some venues already lined up; mentoring.

Social Media Manager *

  • Description: The Social Media Manager maintains the Chapter’s social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (adding other platforms as appropriate); publicizes Chapter events and activities; creates and executes marketing campaigns for major events, such as programs, workshops, competitions, and InterChange; and reports activity periodically to the Council.
  • Skills: Planning; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn groups, etc.
  • Time Commitment: 4–6 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Mentoring.

Membership Manager *

  • Description: The Membership Manager promotes membership in the Chapter, welcomes new members, answers routine member questions, maintains a membership database, and reports membership data periodically to the Council.
  • Skills: Generate membership reports from STC database; MailChimp.
  • Time Commitment: 3–5 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Written descriptions; mentoring.

Student Outreach Coordinator *

  • Description: The Student Outreach Coordinator establishes and maintains contacts with academic undergraduate and graduate programs in New England offering certificates, degrees, or graduate degrees in technical communication; communicates information about STC and the New England Chapter to program liaisons; promotes and facilitates meetings between Chapter members and students; and reports periodically to the Council. This is a key function of the Society. This is primarily an administrative task, but the Student Outreach Coordinator can also directly meet with students in a group setting or individually.
  • Skills: Ability to contact and work with academic program directors; event planning.
  • Time Commitment: 2–5 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Mentoring.

Website Manager

  • Description: The Website Manager maintains the STC New England website, which is hosted by the Society; formats and posts pages as needed; monitors the website for issues; manages volunteer accounts; and reports status periodically to the Council.
  • Skills: WordPress.
  • Time Commitment: 2–5 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Society website manager. Mentoring.

Mentoring Coordinator *

  • Description: The Mentoring Coordinator manages the Chapter mentoring program (separate from the Society mentoring program); receives contacts from prospective mentors and mentees; matches mentors and mentees; resolves any issues that may arise; and reports periodically to the Council. This is an autonomous activity. This is primarily an administrative task, but the Mentoring Coordinator can also be a mentor.
  • Skills: Ability to contact and work with mentors.
  • Time Commitment: 2–5 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Mentoring.

Competitions Coordinator

  • Description: The Competitions Coordinator plans, administers, and promotes annual technical communication competitions; or liaises with any regional competition as the Chapter’s representative; and reports periodically to the Council. The competition is an autonomous activity. This is primarily an administrative task, but the Competitions Coordinator can also be a competitions judge.
  • Skills: Experience as a judge in a past competition.
  • Time Commitment: 3–6 hours/month until the competition.
  • Resources Available: Mentoring.

Job Bank Coordinator

  • Description: The Job Bank Coordinator solicits, receives, and posts job postings on the STC New England LinkedIn group, and reports job bank activity periodically to the Council. This is primarily an administrative task.
  • Skills: LinkedIn groups.
  • Time Commitment: 2–3 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Mentoring.

Website Editor

  • Description: The Website Editor solicits, develops, coordinates, and edits articles for the STC New England website; writes event announcements in coordination with other volunteers; and reports periodically to the Council. The website is an autonomous activity.
  • Skills: WordPress, editing.
  • Time Commitment: 2–5 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Mentoring.

Community of Achievement Award (CAA) Coordinator

  • Description: The CAA Coordinator completes the application for the CAA, subject to the decision of the Council to apply, by collecting evidence of Chapter activities. This is an administrative task.
  • Skills: Google Docs.
  • Time Commitment: 2–5 hours/month until the CAA application is submitted in January.
  • Resources Available: Past CAA applications to serve as a template; mentoring.

Event Host (multiple positions available)

  • Description: The Event Host works with presenters before events and hosts on-site or virtual events during the year and monitors them for attendee questions and quality issues. Includes free registration to each meeting. For virtual events, the Event Host can work remotely.
  • Skills: GoToMeeting.
  • Time Commitment: 3 hours/meeting. Your commitment can be as small as one meeting.
  • Resources Available: Written descriptions and checklists; mentoring.

InterChange Committee

InterChange is the STC New England regional conference. The InterChange Committee plans and organizes the conference. Committee members don’t need to be STC members.

Conference Manager

  • Description: InterChange is planned and directed autonomously from the Chapter after Council approval of the overall plan. The InterChange Committee Manager plans the conference and coordinates with members of the InterChange Committee to make the events happen, and reports status periodically to the Council. Includes reduced-rate registration to InterChange.
  • Skills: Event planning, creating and reading a budget, contacting and working with speakers and venue managers; Google Docs, GoToMeeting, Eventbrite, PayPal.
  • Time Commitment: 10–15 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Written descriptions and checklists, other committee members; mentoring.

Committee Member (multiple positions available)

  • Description: The InterChange Committee coordinates with speakers, venues, sponsors, social media, and hosts to make the event happen. Committee member commitment is task-specific (for example, working with speakers, contacting sponsors, marketing and publicizing the conference, maintaining information on web pages, creating the program, coordinating with the venue, ticketing, working on site, or hosting a room). Includes reduced-rate registration to InterChange.
  • Skills: Event planning, ability to contact and work with speakers and venue managers; GoToMeeting.
  • Time Commitment: 5–10 hours/month.
  • Resources Available: Written descriptions and checklists, other committee members.

Join or Renew Membership

The key values of STC membership are access to best-in-class technical communication education and training programs, career development and professional networking opportunities, and exclusive member benefits.

Join or renew today
Already an STC member? 
Join our community!