SIGs Offer Unbeatable ROI
by John Humpert
sig@stc-swo.org

Through my experience last year as liaison for a combined Technical Editing and Single Sourcing SIGs, I sense that SIGs may still be a bit of a mystery to some. What is a SIG? Where did SIGs come from? Where are they going? Who are they for? Why bother with them? What ROI (return on investment) can I get? In short, a strong program of local SIGs can yield many great things, but to build that program, a majority of members must each leverage a small investment of knowledge and personality.

Lucky for me, wit and charm are optional!

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are a special feature of STC membership. They have existed for years at the Society level and have come into being only recently at the local level. For more SIG history, see the STC web site. The keywords are “transformation” and “communities of practice.”

What is different between local and Society-level SIGs? Obviously, a local SIG enables chapter members to advance a mutual interest regularly without traveling really far from home. While Society-level SIGs gather physically just one time per year as participants come together literally from all parts of the globe, local SIGs gather two to four times a year at minimum, always in or around Southwest Ohio. Most local SIG events are fairly simple. Expect a small gathering in a library community room, a classroom, a corner of a coffee shop, or a business conference room. See event announcements for time and location information, which includes a map link and tips about parking, food and drink, and how to reach the group in case you need last-minute help.

Presently, our local SIG roster almost exactly mirrors that of the Society. A notable exception is our Creative Writing SIG – led by verbivore extraordinaire Harold Fox. Given whatever feedback we collect over time, we will add SIGs or make changes.

All 19 of our local SIGs are open to all chapter members -- whether novice or guru on the subject. As a member of the SWO-STC chapter, you may visit or join any local SIG. This is separate from SIG memberships you may maintain at the Society level. Each guest you bring to a local SIG event may visit the SIG one time per year with no obligation.

For each SIG, a liaison coordinates chapter/SIG communications. Liaisons find places and times for their SIGs to gather and announce the events to interested members. Since SIGs work best when everyone participates, liaisons are not totally responsible for filling the program. Each attendee shares in that, bringing perhaps news or a comment or a question to spark discussion. As we develop continuity, gatherings will offer increasingly richer substance. The chapter’s SIG coordinator selects members to serve as liaisons and offers support as they carry out those tasks. Since I am the coordinator this year, I am working on an event for October focused on local SIGs. I also hope to spotlight selected local SIGs at each chapter meeting. Watch the chapter web site for details.

Please show your tangible support for SIGs again this year. Please know who the liaisons are for SIGs that interest you. Communicate with them. Add their addresses to your email address book. Watch for and add to your calendar the dates and times that work for you. Visit a SIG outside your area of specialty -- particularly if it meets in “your neck of the woods.” And whether two or ten members show up, we should measure the success of a gathering in terms of the quality of the interactions and how much people enjoyed it -- not simply how many attended. Before the event, decide what you can share and either send the liaison a note in advance or just show up with the thing “in your back pocket.” Given that we are professional communicators, we have what it takes to make each gathering worthwhile. If we happen to fall short here or there, so what? Plan for something better next time!

What’s in it for you? As I review our list of 19 SIGs, I am struck by the many possibilities. You too? As local SIGs increase in vitality, leaders in business, government, and schools will take note. Meanwhile, through sharing and networking and getting to know new friends better, SIGs can benefit you now, directly, professionally -- and probably personally, too.