2-00 (June 2000) by Ron Blicq INTECOM

The International Council for Technical Communication

By Ron Blicq, President

Within the Technical Communication community, INTECOM is reasonably well-known. But outside our community, we are probably one of the world’s best-kept secrets!

So I welcome the opportunity to introduce INTECOM to you, and particularly thank the publishers of TC-Forum for providing the space for readers to learn about the many societies that are part of INTECOM. This is to be the first of a series of articles, in which each society will introduce itself and describe its make-up and its aims to TC-FORUM readers.

INTECOM was formed in 1972, in Sweden, and since then has grown to have 16 member societies: in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Each society nominates one delegate to be its representative on the INTECOM Board, consequently every society has an equal voice among the 16 societies.

A five-member Executive Board is elected for a two-year term and currently comprises the

• President (myself, representing the IEEE Professional Communication Society, but resident in Canada),
• Vice President (Julie Fisher of the Australian Society for Technical Communication),
• Secretary General (Tove Østberg, of NFTI in Norway),
• Public Relations Officer (Johan Nässtrom, of FTI in Sweden), and
• Immediate Past President (Brigitte Beuttenmüller, of tekom in Germany).

What does INTECOM do? It provides a platform for the different societies to meet and learn about each other and the similarities and differences that exist among the 16 societies (TC-Forum also provides an excellent medium for doing this); it helps individual technical communicators, in countries where a technical society does not yet exist, to form their own society; it conducts research, on a worldwide basis, on topics of interest to all societies, and it holds a conference every five years, for technical communicators from around the world to meet and exchange ideas.

INTECOM conferences are called "Forums". The first was held in 1975 in Sweden. The most recent (Forum 95) was held in Dortmund, Germany. And this year Forum 2000 will be held in London, England (from 12-14 June), shortly after this issue of TC-Forum is to be published.

I am eagerly looking forward to meeting many technical communicators from around the world in London, and in future months to welcoming further technical communication societies into INTECOM. I’m also looking forward to reading about the many INTECOM societies in future issues of TC-FORUM.  

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