About Us
Introduction
The Australian Society for Technical Communication (ASTC) Incorporated is a not-for-profit national group of people who work with technical and business information in many ways. The aim of the ASTC is to promote and support technical communication in the Australasian region and to provide networking and learning opportunities for our members.
Members are key to our society as we are a volunteer organisation. Our members come from all different fields and industries and have a huge range of knowledge and experience. We help members by providing information, networking, support, job advertisements, and professional development opportunities.
Our history
From the late 80s, there were two separate ASTC societies, one each in New South Wales and Victoria. Both societies had members from other states and they shared the same aims and goals: to promote technical communication. In 2013, the members of both societies voted to form a national body.
In 2014, representatives from both societies joined forces to form the national ASTC committee. Working together, we created a group to sort out the details and join us under the one banner. We had to introduce a temporary name for the new society as we could not register a similar name to an existing society in Victoria. For several years the national society had the temporary name of the Technical Writers Industry Association (TWIA).
We’ve now registered the national ASTC committee in the state of Victoria. We work under the Model Rules of the Associations Incorporation Reform Act of 2012, as all associations must. The Act says that we need a Committee, so we have one, and it includes some compulsory and optional positions.
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ASTC Commitee
A group of dedicated technical communication professionals make up the ASTC Committee each year. Our committee members volunteer their time to plan and manage the ASTC's program and meet the regulatory responsibilities of the committee and their committee roles.
The committee is elected at the ASTC's Annual General Meeting. The committee can have up to ten members, with four compulsory office-bearer and six ordinary member positions.
Our committee members can live anywhere in Australia, including rural or city areas. Our committee meets online, so distance is not an issue for meetings, we just need to manage the time zones.
Grant Noble
President
Grant has over 30 years of Technical Writing experience across a diverse range of industries. He joined the ASTC in 2007, was a previous executive committee member, and has presented at multiple Annual Conferences. When not Technical Writing, Grant's favourite activities are cycling and beer brewing.
Jason Xiros
Vice President
After a lengthy career in telecommunications, Jason founded a project management consultancy to focus on large-scale contact-centre projects in Australia and overseas. The work encompasses all project stages including detailed documentation. Jason joined the ASTC in 2015.
Carl Sarelius
Treasurer
Carl has much experience as a technical writer in defence and private sectors. His involvement with the ASTC spans a decade, with previous stints as Treasurer and Web Master for the ASTC (Vic).
Michelle Hornstein
Secretary
Michelle's passion for software documentation led her to study the Technical Communication course at Swinburne University, run in conjunction with ASTC (Vic). She has since worked as a Technical Communicator, Instructional Designer, and Business Analyst across various industries.
Julia Ponder
Ordinary Member
Julia runs her own company that provides documentation, support, and training to businesses. She specialises in the application and operation of business software. As a member, Julia enjoys the learning and job opportunities the ASTC provides.
Colin Sheppard
Ordinary Member
Colin has been producing documentation for employers and clients in the IT sector, both in Australia and Asia, for many years. Most of his work is in healthcare, but also in membership organizations and civil engineering. Colin is passionate about assisting readers obtain extra benefits from unusual product features and services.
David Stephenson
Ordinary Member
David’s passion for technical communication started in high school. He joined the ASTC in 1991. David documents geophysics software, teaches procedure manual writing, and is a volunteer performing arts project organiser.
Sarah Stubbs
Ordinary Member
Sarah has spent all her working life translating technical content into clean and concise content. Her want to do things better has seen her attending technical writing conferences on both sides of the Tasman for many years.
Melissa Teo
Ordinary Member
Melissa has enjoyed working with words for most of her career and has recently found a love for user-focused technical communication and knowledge management. Melissa hopes she can grow engagement in the ASTC online community.