Several of us met today to discuss the Florida Technical Communications Competition (FTCC). Becky Siebentheler, James Johnson, Mark Hanigan, and I met at 8:30 a.m. at Panera’s in the Clearwater Mall area and talked about a host of ideas, issues, and strategies surrounding the FTCC competition.

Due to the scope of this competition, I decided to expand the FTCC presence on our site. I created a category specifically for FTCC discussions and made the FTCC a more prominent link from the home page (putting it under Main Categories). This will make it easier for people who can’t make the meetings regularly to participate.

For action items, see Becky’s minutes. I just have a few notes that I’ll add below:

Judging

Mark said judging can be extremely beneficial because it broadens your perspective and allows you to see expert documentation in a variety of fields. To be a judge, you first go through training (which takes anywhere from 30 min. to one day), and then devote another day to looking over the entries. There is judging handbook provided by the STC.

History

Becky expressed a need for someone to write a history. Our chapter has done the competition frequently in the past, but we don’t have a detailed record about the who, what, when, how, why of it all. It would be very helpful if someone could write this. It would provide direction to us.

Deadlines

There was some confusion about deadlines. International judging begins around March 2007, so if judges receive the entries by early January, they’ll have plenty of time. Competition participants must win locally before they can proceed to international competitions.

Publicizing the Competition

Mark felt that we need some postcards, hard copy, with catchy slogans. E-mails and newsletter articles can be ignored, but the postcard tends to have more permanence and force. If it costs $500 to mail out postcards, and doing so results in 15 more entries or so, they’ll have been worth it.

Cost of Awards

The cost of the awards was discussed. Winners receive nice-looking plaques, but apparently these plaques can cost up to $800 in sum, when winning teams are factored in.