Spring 2000 p. 4

VASTA's Professional Index

By vasta.org web designer, Eric Armstrong

Originally developed by past-president BettyAnn Leeseburg-Lange, VASTA’s Professional Index has been part of the services available to members on vasta.org since 1997. The index serves as a way for VASTA to
promote its members on the web, for members to learn about other members, and to promote themselves for free. In essence, it gives every VASTA member a free web-presence.

The Professional Index can be found at <http://www.vasta.org/dir.html>. Recognizing the differing backgrounds and work venues of the trainers in our association, the Index uses a somewhat “open-ended” list of descriptors for the categories of information members can provide. These include home and work contact information including e-mail address; Current Affiliation; Training, Certificates, and Major Workshops; Selected Professional Affiliation (Work Experience); Area(s) of Expertise (in Ranked Order); and Professional Organizations. One of the most over-looked components of the index profile is your Statement of Philosophy. Many members choose to leave this area of their page blank, but it serves as an excellent way to share your point-of-view on our world of voice and speech. Of course, the only required information for an index submission is your name, which means that, if you are uncomfortable with including your home contact information on the web, you can leave this area blank.

Inclusion in the Professional Index is not automatic; you must send in an application, which Lisa Wilson mails to you with your membership renewal each year. You fill in the details and mail it to Eric Armstrong, who enters the data option, which is faster than the snail mail version, is to use the online form at <http://www.vasta.org/dir/form.html>. This web form will send your information to Eric Armstrong as an email. He then formats it for the web, and posts as soon as he can (as some members can attest, this sometimes takes a few weeks). When your information changes, you can use the update form on our site at <http://www.vasta.org/updateform.html> to adjust your profile. It is important that you remember to put your name on your update, as only the information you type in gets sent to Eric, and without your name, he won’t know which profile to update.

Jack Horton, who does business as Presenter’s Studio in Louisville, KY, uses his index entry to clearly detail his
approach to his students. By placing his web address (www.vasta.org/dir/hortonj.html) in his promotional
material in the vasta.org Professional Index, he can provide far more
information to his potential clients. He writes:

A lady called me just last week. She wanted to schedule an initial lesson. I said she could get more background information on me by looking at the VASTA website. She said she had already done that groundwork and liked the bit in the bio about my paying attention to mind, body and spirit. I was taken aback by the fact that she had already checked the web. I use the VASTA address in my newspaper ad. Also, I think I may have given the web address to someone she knew. The bottom line is: I now have a new informed and enthusiastic student with thehelp of the VASTA Professional Index! This marketing potential is one of the reasons I have continued my membership over the years. It is an ongoing and perhaps unique perk that VASTA provides. I wish more of us would take advantage of it. With time and experience, I am sure members will find even more ways to use the index.

If you would like to be included in the index, fill out the form included in this issue of the Newsletter [page 14], and mail it to: Eric Armstrong, Theatre Program, Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60605, USA. You can also submit your application at <http://www.vasta.org/dir/form.html>. And you can contact Eric if you have
questions at: <erarmstrong@earthlink.net>.

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