STLE’s ‘census’ needs your help!
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report April 2010
Keeping your membership information updated is simple but vitally important.
On a typical day, www.stle.org receives 367 visitors from every time zone on the planet—about 15 messages an hour.
Those of us living in the United States are being asked by the federal government to stand up and be counted in 2010 as part of the country’s decennial census. To encourage participation by some 120 million U.S. households, the government is emphasizing the simplicity of the reporting process and the social and economic impact of the aggregated data.
Filling out my family census form got me thinking about similarities between this process and STLE’s efforts to serve our population of members. We also provide a simple and instantaneous way for you to keep us current about your critical information. By doing so, you improve not only our operational efficiency but our effectiveness in meeting the changing needs of STLE members worldwide.
STLE individual and corporate members can use the Members Only section of our Web site (
www.stle.org) to update contact information whenever there’s a change in such information as company name, company affiliation, street address, phone number or e-mail address. Keeping this information current enables STLE to stay in touch and saves the organization time and money on everything from dues renewal mailings to the simple act of placing a phone call to a prospective speaker or committee member.
While we make every effort to keep records current through systems like bounced e-mails or returned surface mail, these systems are not 100% effective because, in many cases, while they tell us you aren’t where we thought you were, they don’t tell us where you’ve gone!
For some people, the implications of a bad mailing address can be devastating. One painful but real example is the certified individual who fails to receive recertification notices and inadvertently lets his designation lapse. Based on strict program rules, the only option once a certification lapses beyond the recertification period is to retake the three-hour, 150-question exam—not an option most people want to exercise!
The Members Only profile also gives you the ability to add demographic information such as birth date, education background and technical interests. Reports based on this type of data are what enable STLE to better understand our members and to enhance or develop member programs and services (including TLT content) that match the needs of a changing audience.
Web site tracking statistics tell us that many of you already are using the site in this and other ways. On a typical day,
www.stle.org gets 367 visitors or about 15 per hour based on a 24-hour-use cycle. It’s noteworthy that this is indeed a 24-hour operation, because visitors come from 52 different countries in every global time zone.
If you have not used the Members Only portion of the site, the process is simple. Click on the home page link and then follow this procedure: Your default login to the Members Only section is your STLE ID number, which is located on the membership card you received after joining. The password is the first two letters of your last name followed by your STLE ID number.
If you need more information on how to log in, please call us at (847) 825-5536 to request your membership ID number. Our headquarters staff is happy to update your membership information for you, if that is what you prefer.
One closing thought about privacy. STLE policy limits the sale or use of member information for mass marketing purposes. We also monitor the content and control the number of e-mail messages sent from headquarters, local sections and technical committees. While our efforts are sincere, they’re not perfect, so please let us know if you encounter situations that deserve our attention.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.