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 [...]

Writing to create context to think – and work

The skill of technical communication is to create a context in which other people can work. – This concise insight helps me to stay focused on my users and their tasks, even if it’s not totally original. I came to it via an article by Tim O’Reilly in his Financial Times article “Birth of the [...]

Join me for “Getting ahead as a lone writer” at tekom

If you’re attending the tekom conference in Wiesbaden, consider joining me for my updated presentation “Getting ahead as a lone writer” on October 19 at 8:45 a.m. in room 12C as part of tekom’s international, English-speaking tcworld conference. My presentation will be an updated version of the session I did at TCUK 10. I will [...]

Pattern recognition for tech comm at #TCUK11

Our presentation “Pattern recognition for technical communicators” by Chris Atherton and myself at TCUK11 was well-received and brought “Ah-ha moments a-go-go” according to one tweet. Read how it went or download the slides in PDF by clicking on the title image. How the session came about The session (see the abstract) got its start when [...]

Structured content does not kill creativity

Structured content is cooler than you may think. As a model for technical communications, it suffers from several misconceptions which prevent that you and your organization get the most out of it. I’ll debunk a couple of misconceptions that I’ve encountered. Each one presents a learning opportunity where you can show a writer, a subject-matter [...]

Framing tech comm: O’Reilly vs. Dangerfield

Technical communication is perceived in many different ways, some more constructive than others. Luckily, the framing of tech comm is the result of a dialogue/feedback loop, so we can help to shape how we come across. Tim O’Reilly on the future Consider Tim O’Reilly, quite a visionary technical communicator. He works to create “The Missing [...]

Top 5 things I like about WritersUA

WritersUA is a very stimulating and inspiring conference! This year’s 19th annual conference draws 360 attendees (speakers included) which makes it the largest tech comm conference I’ve attended so far. Kudos and compliments to Joe Welinske and his whole team who simply “get it right”. Here are the top 5 things I like about WritersUA: [...]

Top 5 reasons to attend a tech comm conference

The benefits of attending a tech writing conference go way beyond learning about methods and tools. That’s why I really look forward to Writers UA next week! Most reasons are kinda obvious really. But put them all together, and they create a serious pre-conference buzz, almost like when you follow a band on tour or [...]

Recommended read: Practice technical writing

Becoming a better tech writer requires practice. Mike Pope, tech editor at Microsoft in Seattle, has a brilliant blog post about 12 ways to practice tech writing. The catch is he means “practice” like a musician, so you learn to do stuff better than yesterday – instead of just doing the same things over and [...]

Resolution for 2011: Attend a conference!

Attending a conference is the perfect professional new year’s resolution for us tech writers: Regardless of what other plans for improvement you (or your boss) have, tech comm conferences are the perfect platform to exchange ideas, learn about new methods and tools and generally recharge your enthusiasm! If you’re a manager: Sending your tech writer [...]