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.
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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.
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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 Committee
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.
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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 regular member positions. 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.
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2023 Annual General Meeting
Our latest AGM was held on October 18, 2023. At this meeting we elected the following people to represent the ASTC:
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Grant Noble, President
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Jason Xiros, Vice President
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Treasurer and Secretary, Julia Ponder
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Regular committee members:
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Colin Sheppard​
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Sarah Stubbs
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Angela Tohl
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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.
Julia Ponder
Treasurer/Secretary
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
Regular 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.
Sarah Stubbs
Regular 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.
Angela Tohl
Regular Member
Angela creates technical page-turners to equip her audience with the knowledge they need to make important decisions. With a process engineering background in the mining, financial services and healthcare industries, Angela is skilled at making complex information accessible and compelling to all.