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In October, the Society of Telecommunications Consultants (www.stcconsultants.org) will celebrate its 30th birthday, at its annual fall conference in San Francisco. The fact that any organization can last that long is remarkable, even more so in our industry where the pace of change makes it incredibly hard to remain relevant. Almost all of the user groups that were around when STC started-ICA, TCA, SETA, and CMA-have disappeared.
STC started with just 10 members, all of whom were essentially one-person consulting businesses, and STC has remained an organization of individual members rather than companies. Three of the 10 founders, yours truly included, remain active as STC members and consultants.
Today, STC has about 150 members, from 23 states, Canada and Western Europe. There also is a 50-person "Vendor Advisory Council," as both the consultants and suppliers have long recognized how important it is for each group to be a source of information for the other. STC meetings provide a platform for suppliers to introduce and discuss products, and the consultants get effective contacts that they can use to...