From the President

December 2015

2015 has been a challenging, busy, and exciting year: challenging and busy – because there is so much to do; exciting – because the work is worthwhile. Technical communication plays an important role in the New Zealand economy, and I get a huge sense of satisfaction out of promoting this career and this role to the very many people who need help with documentation, or need a job.

Heading into the twilight of 2015 I thought I’d reflect on the progress we’ve made as an organisation and as a profession this year.

Support and professional development

This year the team has organised many successful branch events, webinars and workshops, and provided access to Southern Communicator journal for members. Thanks to all those who lent a hand to organise these events, or put their hand up to present their work to others. We’ve also run a number of surveys to gain feedback from members on how we can improve what we do in these sessions.

Networking for members

Membership has been growing steadily and reasonably rapidly in the last year (over 30% growth since September 2014). In the latter part of the year we started working on a member directory which will allow you (members only, not the general public) to browse your colleagues online. We are hoping to introduce this in early 2016.

Recognition of technical communication in NZ

As part of this year's drive to gain wider recognition of our role, we rebranded to TechCommNZ and updated our profile to more accurately reflect our members.

We’ve also been communicating with the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment in an attempt to have technical communication officially recognised as an ICT occupation. In addition, we’ve been seeking the Ministry's support to help us promote a profession which plays such a vital role bringing products and services to market in NZ and abroad.

We’ve stayed in touch with related industry groups, such as the Institute of IT Professionals (IITP). We continue to promote their ICT Connect programme of outreach to secondary school students via direct involvement (presentation to schools) and sponsorship.

The business partner programme has ramped up over the last year, and we are now supported by some serious players in the market. More significantly, we are encouraging our members to support our sponsors, such as Adobe, whose contribution to TechCommNZ assists us to continue to provide services to our members.

Relationships with tertiary training providers

CPIT's decision to wind down the Graduate Diploma in Information Design (GDID) in June this year was a blow, but I have since been working hard behind the scenes with staff from CPIT and also from the industry training organisation, Competenz, to lobby for its replacement. We need a qualification that is flexible enough to provide bite-sized professional development for practitioners as well as comprehensive training for novices. We are very open to communicating with other potential providers and will continue to advocate for our industry as a specialty with a big future.

Thank you!

Many people have made amazing contributions to TechCommNZ in the last year. There are three whom I wish to single out:

Steve Moss: thank you for all the work you’ve put into workshops and webinars this year. I know that these are not trivial to organise.

Claire Nicholson: your input to so many aspects of this organisation has been the most singularly transformative influence of anyone's. You have a passion and understanding for where we need to be as an organisation, and you guide me with patience and wisdom. Thank you.

Roy McKone: It sometimes feels to me as if you're always on duty. Thank you for doing the thinking behind the nuts and bolts of money in and money out, and a functioning website, without ever seeming to mind.

What’s next?

We have much in store for you in 2016 and we look forward to catching up with you at a local branch event.

Until next year, we all wish you a relaxing Christmas break,