Are you interested in improving your resume, gaining skills, and helping grow FTC? Maybe a leadership position at FTC is right for you! If you are interested in learning more about leadership in FTC, fill out our short member survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdpbxwIDbI40glLhxsCgYtSvxY_OwPRvGeIsKBoYf6-zKGAMA/viewform
https://www.customink.com/g/wgc0-00cj-wx9h
FTC T-shirts are now available! Order by April 1st to be part of our group order. Show your *Technical* communication skills.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ftc-ucf-attend-the-stc-summit-in-may
Hello! My name is John Clement, and I’m the current president of the Future Technical Communicators club at the University of Central Florida. Our club’s goal is to help our members prepare for and get careers after graduation in the field of technical communication. Individuals in this field work as writers, editors, web and graphic designers, and more. One of our club’s most ambitious and exciting ventures is to gather a group of students to attend the STC Technical Communication Summit. This conference is hosted by the Society for Technical Communication (STC), the largest technical communication organization in the world. The STC Summit brings together like-minded individuals from around the globe to grow in their knowledge of the technical communication field. This year’s conference takes place from Sunday, May 15 to Wednesday, May 18 in Rosemont, Illinois. For the past two years, our group has had hopes of attending this trip but experienced roadblocks; the coronavirus pandemic shifted the conference to a virtual capacity and also interfered with our ability to get funding from our university. However, this year it will be in person again, and the outlook for funding the trip is brighter. Thus, we are spearheading this initiative once again. Over the past few months, the FTC leadership team has been working hard to gather a committed group of students to attend the conference. Each student plans to volunteer at the Summit to offset the registration cost, but additional help will still be needed. We recently submitted a funding request to our university to go toward the trip. Fortunately, our funding request was approved, and we received $2,000 of funding for it. This is a significant milestone and further allows this trip be a possibility. However, it only puts our group two-thirds of the way to total funding; between four days of hotel costs and seven round-trip tickets, the total cost of the trip comes to approximately $3,000. Accordingly, we have set up this fundraiser to help offset the remaining charges. Our hope and goal are to get enough funding to allow all our student attendees to go on the trip for free. This will ensure that we do not experience any financial roadblocks and can add a significant experience to our educational and professional journeys. Past members of our club who have attended the Summit found it to be a life-changing experience that connected them to a fantastic community and prepared them for successful careers in technical communication. We hope to make that same experience a reality for our students this year as we pursue full funding for the trip. Please consider donating to our fundraiser and spreading the word. We appreciate any and all contributions. You can learn more about our club by visiting our website, reading this brief article on our club history, and following our social media and more.
Thank you, John Clement
President, Future Technical Communicators club at UCF
| Hi everyone, Welcome to FTC’s March 2022 newsletter! We hope you had a great spring break. As we enter the second half of the semester, we wish you all the best with your classes, and for those graduating, we send our encouragement to you as you reach the finish line. So far already, this semester has been one of the most active that FTC has had yet. We are grateful for all the attendance at our weekly meetings and the guest speakers who have joined and lent us their time. Our other club initiatives have also gone well. Last month, FTC student volunteers had a fun and successful time at Otronicon, introducing tech comm to a younger audience. Beyond that, we held a tabling event on campus, hosted a t-shirt contest, and continued our mentoring program. It’s an exciting time to be part of FTC. Currently, our club’s most ambitious initiative is reaching for the Summit. Seven of our members signed up to be attendees and have successfully received funding from the Student Government. However, our group still needs more support to reach our goal of having all our costs covered. As such, we have set up a fundraiser. Please consider contributing to and sharing it to help make this trip a reality. We’re ready to reveal a few other announcements, too, including: (1) FTC t-shirts, now available for order, (2) leadership training for interested members happening in May, and (3) a reunion banquet at the end of the semester to celebrate our 20 year anniversary! Take a look at each one. We hope you are able to participate in and enjoy them all, and we have aimed to make each of our programs inclusive, whether you are a remote or local student. Each week for the rest of the semester, we will continue to host general body meetings. These include guest speaker meetings and a couple of socials, including the previously mentioned reunion. Want a birds-eye view of everything we’re offering? Look no further than our brand new table of contents below. All the best, John Clement President, Future Technical Communicators |
Welcome back from Spring Break! The third installment of FTC’s Speaker Series is this Friday, March 18 at 6:00 pm. John Paz will lead a discussion about how to get your first job in technical writing. He will be joined by a few of his mentees to answer all your tech writing questions.
You may remember John from our earlier Speaker Series installments when he shared about trends in tech comm and how to write a resume.
Meeting details:
Friday, March 18, 6:00 pm
Visit https://linktr.ee/ucf.ftc for Zoom details.
Twitter: @SrContentDesign
Instagram: @tiocafecito
This Thursday at 6:00 pm, we’ll be having a joint game night with Sigma Tau Delta UCF! There will be Jackbox Party Pack games and more to play together on Zoom. Come hang out with fellow writers!
Check out Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society:
Zoom link can be found at: https://linktr.ee/ucf.ftc
Join us this Friday, February 25, from 6:30-8:30pm for the annual STC/FTC meeting. In honor of FTC’s 20th anniversary, the topic for this joint meeting is “Where Are They Now?” To join, be sure to RSVP through STC in order to receive the Zoom link.
Two decades ago, FTC was established and many members have come and gone, accomplishing great things along the way. To celebrate FTC’s history, a panel of past FTC leaders will be sharing their experiences and answering questions about their career paths.
Panelists include:
You won’t want to miss this special joint annual STC-FTC meeting. Bring your technical communication questions and come ready to receive great technical communication advice.
Meeting details:
Friday, February 25
6:30-8:30 pm (6:30 pm networking; 7:00 pm presentation; 8:00 pm Q&A)
RSVP: https://stc-orlando.org/event/stc-ftc-joint-meeting-where-are-they-now-ft-past-ftc-leaders/
Meet the panelists!
https://memotomembers.stc-orlando.org/?p=4229
Bonnie Spivey is a 20-year veteran in the technical communications umbrella of professions. Currently, she is a Director of Global Marketing Operations and Project Management Office at Universal Parks and Resorts. In this capacity, she oversees projects related to the design, development, and implementation of usage of Universal Studio’s multibillion-dollar array of ‘digital media assets’. To you and me, this includes things like Harry Potter, the Minions,
Transformers, and even Coca Cola. Bonnie’s team comprises technical communicators in so many flavors, include business analysts, project managers, and product owners (just to name a
few).
Bonnie has her BA in Technical Communication from UCF (go Knights!!!). She has her MBA from Stetson University in DeLand. Among her professional accreditations are five US patents (including one for a Dining Management Experience at Disney, and a Unified Access Control system at Universal Studios). She was awarded the 2013 New Venture Consulting Award at Universal right after earning the Disney Inventor Award at Disney (her third one!).
Bonnie, who is the founder of the current iteration of the Future Technical Communicators (FTC) served as its first president. For the parent STC organization, Bonnie contributed through presentations, workshops, and mentoring (she was the co-founder (with Dan Voss!) of the STC-
FTC mentoring program). Bonnie is proud of her FTC/STC roots and looks forward to
connecting with each of you today!
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bonnie-spivey-mba-8646b03
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Jen Selix graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2005, with a B.A. in English, Technical Writing. She spent several years exploring the Orlando, FL tech comm scene, as an independent contractor, helping companies like NBC Universal, Bloomin’ Brands, Verizon, Express Scripts, and Walt Disney World to develop technical and instructional content. In 2010, Jen decided to dive deeper into the educational side of technical communication and enrolled in the Education Media Design and Technology accelerated M.S. program at Full Sail University. The additional accreditation proved to be a catalyst, allowing Jen to earn a highly coveted role at Amazon, as the global Training Manager for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Customer Support and later move on to managing corporate communications for AWS Professional Services. Today, on her 5 year Amazon anniversary, Jen is excited to share the story of how her engagement with FTC and STC have played a pivotal role in her career growth and development. She is excited to connect and offer career coaching for any FTC or STC members who would like to learn about career opportunities at Amazon/AWS.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenselix
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Hi, I’m Dana. I have a degree in Technical Communication from UCF and offer over 10 years of technical, web-based, and corporate communications experience. My strength is writing and editing online support content, especially within the field of Knowledge Management. Even though online support is my specialty, I also enjoy exploring other forms of media. I’ve collaborated on scripts for Telly-award-winning instructional (how-to videos) during my time at Bright House Networks. And I’m currently responsible for company-wide communications at Suncoast Credit Union. My goal is to provide exceptional content that’s tailored to unique audiences.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-georgopoulos-6992929/
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Rachael is currently enjoying life as a stay-at-home mom with her son, David, born October 2020. Prior to being a stay-at-home mom, she worked as a technical writer at Lockheed Martin, Carley Corporation, and Optum. At Lockheed, she worked on operator and maintainer manuals where she wrote the instructions and created supporting graphics using ArborText, HyperSTE, FrameMaker, Photoshop, and Illustrator. While at Optum, she focused on scripting and supporting documentation in their knowledge base for call agents to use while on the phone. She’s also worked with students in afterschool programs hosted at the library assisting with homework help and teaching them how to play and run their own Dungeons & Dragons games, while supporting the small non-profit by writing the monthly newsletter, maintaining the website, creating and preparing program materials, and managing the social media platforms.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-swertfeger-1aa97122/
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Brittney Cooke is a communications expert with over 10 years of experience, mostly in the Medicare Advantage industry. She is a UCF alumnus and former FTC Vice President. She is currently a Senior Marketing Project Manager at Anthem, Inc., where she oversees marketing campaigns and executes material development, ensuring accuracy and timely completion in accordance with government-mandated deadlines. She is passionate about making a difference in the lives of seniors throughout the country. Brittney is also a Certified Professional Résumé Writer (CPRW) and founded Enhanced Résumé and Writing Services in 2021. She holds a B.A. in English (Technical Communications) and is currently pursuing her Marketing MBA at Saint Leo University. In her free time, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband and kids, traveling, and eating good food!
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittneycooke/
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Mrs. Truong graduated from UCF in 2019 with a degree in Technical Communications. During her time at UCF, she was involved in the Future Technical Communicators club, first as Secretary, and then as President. She was also a member of the Society of Technical Communicators and was involved in the mentorship program. She credits both the FTC and STC with helping her land her first technical writing job. Mrs. Truong has been a technical writer working in the defense industry for more than two years. When she’s not working, Mrs. Truong enjoys working in her yard and going on long walks with her husband and their dog, Bjorn.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliatruong
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