What I learned from my pattern recognition talk at STC12

My session on pattern recognition for technical communicators was a very rewarding experience which taught me a lot. I thank Paul Mueller, Conference Manager, and Alyssa Fox, Program Committee Chair, for inviting me to speak, even though this was my first summit. Their friendly, indefatigable support set the tone for a high-energy, well-run conference. If you [...]

Leah Guren’s Tales of Terror: Avoiding Project Disasters at STC12

Leah Guren presented a spunky, fast-paced session of project train wrecks that offered many lessons to managers and writers in tech comm projects. She presented disasters in five categories: Communication, people, politics, implementation and global issues. “Failure to communicate” When poor communication derails tech comm projects, it’s often due to missing information. Specifically, a project [...]

Neil Perlin, Developing for the Unknown at STC12

It’s of course impossible to develop techcomm content for formats that don’t exist yet, but Neil Perlin shows how you can prepare for them to future-proof your work – and job. Problem The problem he addresses is that content formats will change, we just don’t know yet how. The answer is generally to create solid [...]

Things I learned at STC12 on Sunday

Even though I only arrived at the STC Summit 2012 on Sunday afternoon, I learned a lot already, despite missing the pre-conference workshops and certificate courses. Planning good, worrying bad My worries about congestion and heightened security due the NATO summit in Chicago were unfounded. Immigration and everything else at O’Hare were as smooth and [...]

Top 5 reasons I look forward to the STC12 Summit

I’ll be going to my first STC Summit in a couple of weeks and I’m already really excited about it. Here are my top 5 reasons and motivations: 1. Learn about new trends The obvious reason to attend a conference: Many of the 80 sessions cover new industry trends – or at least topics that [...]

So what’s it like to present a tech comm webinar?

Presenting a webinar isn’t much different from other “public” presentations, but the format has a few quirky effects and demands of its own. On 29 February, I had the chance to present my first webinar. As with many first-time experiences, the newness of it all felt a little weird, there were some glitches, but altogether, [...]

Top 3 tech comm lessons in 2011

2011 was an eventful year for me as a tech writer. Here are the three most important lessons I learned this year. Content strategy can change tech comm in 2 ways … and only one of them is up to us tech writers: Tech comm departments can engage in content strategy bottom-up, connect with stakeholders [...]

My tcworld11 presentation “Getting ahead as a lone writer”

You can download the PDF slides to my presentation “Getting ahead as a lone writer” at tekom/tcworld in Wiesbaden on 19 October 2011: For alternative formats and versions, see Getting ahead as a lone author, the article from ISTC’s Communicator. Getting ahead as a lone author, my TCUK presentation which is a little more verbose and may work [...]

Content strategy day at tcworld11/tekom11

Scott Abel hosted a full day of content strategy talks with many big shots of the industry at tcworld11 (the international half of tekom11). Strategies and case studies by Joe Gollner, Ann Rockley & Charles Cooper, Aaron Fulkerson (of MindTouch), Rahel Ann Bailie & Geoff Roberts, and Noz Urbina were followed by a panel discussion [...]

tekom11 & tcworld11: Two worlds under one roof

My first visit to tekom/tcworld, the world’s largest tech comm conference in Wiesbaden near Frankfurt, left me inspired and overwhelmed. Impressive numbers I’ve been attending the trade fair part of tekom for several years, but this was my first time attending the conference. 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the conference with impressive numbers: 200 [...]