Four Important Personalities at your Next Professional Society Meeting

When (not if) you visit the local chapter of your professional society, you will likely get more than you expected.  Whether you visited the Society for Technical Communication for a presentation on single-sourcing techniques or the American Medical Writers Association for tips on presenting medical information, you will likely encounter four types at the meeting. 

1. The Critic rarely finds anything or anyone that measures up to the lofty standards formulated by this person.  Although there is value in identifying things that are wrong in a situation, becoming identified with this person by other society members might not help your networking.  So (if you tend not to see the faults where they occur) go ahead and touch base with this person, but don't spend the whole meeting absorbing toxic words.  If you tend toward the critical, spend more time with the rest of the crowd.  In the end, hopefully you will have a good balance of perspectives.
2. The Newbie can bring a new perspective and new energy to old practice; however, if you are new to the profession or new to the profesional society, you do not start with a lack of either.  So the fellow newbies that you find at society meetings should be sought out and recruited as fellow laborers.  Make yourselves accountable to one another in order to stave off the critics.  Make yourself conversational on other newbies' tech comm hot topics.  Encourage eachother to attend meetings. 
3. The Networker keeps current on key technologies and demonstrates that knowledge in conversation and in articles.  This person also keeps in touch with the key people that might want to hire technical writers and the writers who might recommend a colleague.  Therefore, these people are worth following and emulating.
4. The Volunteer keeps the society going.  Therefore, without this class of people, there is no society, no advancement of the field, no opportunities for the critics or newbies, and no network.  By learning the things that make up the volunteer and his or her work, you will be well on your way to building a technical communication career that will make a difference.