Following is a comprehensive chronological history of our community: the STC Orlando Chapter, the STC Orlando Central Florida Chapter, and now the STC Florida Chapter. The chronology is organized by chapter year from 1976-1977 through 2019-2020. Obviously, the 2019-2020 story is not yet complete. Further details on chapter years 1996-1997 through 2019-2020 may be found in the 23-year archives of the chapter newsletter, Memo to Membersand its predecessor Tech Trends, thanks to a herculean effort by long-time chapter webmaster Jon Kessler. In addition to the information in this chronology and the newsletter archives, a detailed narrative summary of the chapter’s accomplishments from 1997 to 2005 is also available.
Acknowledgments
STC Fellow Mike Murray, Chapter Historian: Mike launched the chapter history project in 2017 and compiled an extensive database that served as the springboard to compiling this chronology and the chapter history.
STC Fellows W.C. Wiese, Karen Lane, and Dan Voss:W.C. supplied at least half the information for chapter years 2000-2001 through 2019-2020 by mining his extensive personal records. Karen compiled a topical index of 40 past documents with relevance to current and future chapter operations and also did all the final editing and formatting for the chronology. Dan visited Society Headquarters in Fairfax, VA, to sift through paper records and reconstruct the early history of the chapter.
Bethany Aguad, former chapter president, now a director on the Society’s Board: Bethany provided invaluable assistance in posting the chapter history and its numerous ancillary documents online to support a December 2019 launch.
Liz Pohland, STC chief executive officer; Elaine Gilliam, meeting manager and community relations; Erin Gallalee, membership services manager; and Kobla Fiagbedzi, IT manager: Liz and her staff graciously opened STC’s online and paper archives to us. Without their support, the STC Florida Chapter history would have been much less comprehensive.
STC Florida Administrative Council (AdCo) and former presidents: Members of the expanded AdCo and three former chapter presidents played a key role by each reviewing the newsletters and their personal records for 2-3 chapter years to fully populate the chronology. AdCo members also had other key roles such as newsletter coverage of the chapter history launch (Emily Wells); an in-depth summary of the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 chapter years (Nick Ducharme); and a review of our history in the Community Achievement Awards (CAA) competition (Crystal Brezina). The assisting former chapter presidents were Kelli Pharo, Gail Lippincott, and Dick Hughes. Another key player was STC Fellow Dan Jones, who provided vital information on the chapter’s early years.