Live Web Seminars

In addition to the STC Technical Communication Summit, the Society offers Web seminars. In a seminar, participants listen to the presenter over the phone (much like a conference call) while viewing presentation materials via the website.

This format provides easier access to materials for reference during the presentation, as well as a more intimate, "classroom" setting than the typical telephone seminar. Registrants are provided a toll-free number, a secure URL, and access to both the audio and online elements of the presentation.

Content Management with Microsoft SharePoint 2010

Nicky Bleiel

Wednesday, 22 February | 1:00–2:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

Managing your content ensures efficiency and accuracy in your documentation, and consistency across the enterprise. SharePoint is a popular content management system (with an estimated 100 million users), so chances are good your company is using it. This session will explain the content management features in SharePoint 2010 from the perspective of technical communicators and will include a demonstration of these features in a documentation workflow.

Style Guides and Style Manuals: Virtual Tools in an Editor’s (and Writer’s) Toolkit

Elizabeth (Bette) Frick

Thursday, 23 February | 4:00–5:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

Editors use style manuals and style guides as a vital tool in their toolkit. In this webinar, Bette Frick will provide an overview of their importance in the editing profession. This webinar will explore why to use a style manual or a style guide; what published style guides are available for general use, what specific style guides you should use for your editing, and how you can customize your company’s style while still using a published style guide.

Getting Ahead As a Lone Writer

Kai Weber

Wednesday, 29 February | 1:00-2:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

Writers are often the only person in a company who create and maintain documentation. Lone writers who operate without a dedicated budget or specific managerial guidance find it hard to excel in their work. In this presentation, Kai Weber will draw on his years of experience to show lone writers how to make the most of this "benign neglect." 

Designing Visual Texts for Print and Digital Publications

Kenneth Price

Tuesday, 6 March | 9:00–10:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

Effectively laying out technical information goes far beyond using bulleted lists and choosing an attractive font. In designing a page, you should create visuals patterns that help your readers to find, understand, and remember information. This webinar will introduce the principles of visual language, information architecture, and page design. These principles, based entirely upon research on how people learn, will help you to design effective electronic and print publications to make technical information more accessible.

Going Green as a Technical Communicator

Cheryl Landes

Wednesday, 7 March | 1:00–2:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

The green movement is growing rapidly, and it’s creating a high demand for great technical communicators. In this session, Cheryl Landes, who is working with clients in the green industry, will describe the opportunities in this field and provide tips on how to break in.

Automated Quality Assurance through a DITA-OT Plugin

Patrick Quinlan

Thursday, 8 March | 4:00–5:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

A successful build does not always yield a successful document. Verifying that a document set uses the correct product terminology, follows language standards, and is correctly tagged with proper nesting and attributes can be a tremendous challenge. Don’t have the time or resources to conduct editing and tag reviews on thousands of DITA topics? Join Patrick Quinlan from ditanauts.org as he demonstrates how to address these challenges with the open-source QA plugin for DITA-OT.

Your Career Is Your Job

Linda Oestreich

Tuesday, 20 March | 9:00–10:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

In this time of career turmoil and economic upset, how can we ensure that our careers progress and our professional development grows? What makes the difference between those who love their jobs and those who don’t? How can you find your bliss at work? Linda Oestreich will explore these topics and others with the participants of the webinar. Attend this webinar for a lively discussion and a few tools to help you find your own best path.

Confessions of an IT Contractor

David Dick

Thursday, 22 March | 4:00–5:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

Contractors are skilled professionals assigned to short-term and long-term assignments to client companies. They have the talent to quickly get a project started and see it through completion. In this webinar, David Dick explain how to break into the profession, how to interview with recruiters, how to keep skills marketable, and how to be successful.

The Technical Communicator’s Role in Facilitating High Reliability Organizations

Judy Glick-Smith

Wednesday, 18 April | 1:00-2:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

High Reliability Organizations (HROs) are organizations that are able to perform at maximum capacity in situations and environments where there is extreme potential for error and disaster. Examples of HROs are the fire service, the police, the military, hospital emergency rooms, and air traffic control systems. This webinar explores a business model extracted from existing HROs. This model is driven by setting expectations, communicating those expectations, setting up systems that support the work of contributing individuals, and fostering a culture of mindful decision-making and critical thinking.

Simplify DITA Authoring with Constraints

Patrick Quinlan

Tuesday, 19 June | 9:00–10:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

With the power and flexibility of the DITA standard comes many, many elements and attributes. Knowing which elements and attributes to use and in what situation can be confusing for new and experienced authors of DITA content. Join Patrick Quinlan from ditanauts.org as he provides an overview of constraints, demonstrates a freely available constraint plugin, and shows how to make changes to suit your organization.