This May in Sacramento, CA, STC will host the largest gathering of technical communicators as it has done annually 57 times before. This year it’s even bigger, with Tim O’Reilly selected as our keynote speaker and Honorary Fellow! More than 80 education and networking sessions will be presented from Sunday evening to Wednesday afternoon, 15–18 May, kicked off by O’Reilly’s talk on 15 May. Top practitioners, academe, consultants, and researchers in the field of technical communication will present new material on cutting-edge technology, trends, and issues, mixed in with the staples of solid communication techniques and topic areas. And once again, STC has solved the dilemma of wanting to be in two places at once to benefit from all of the quality presentations.
Attendees have long struggled with choosing which one of the concurrent sessions presented in the Final Program to attend. With eight or more sessions offered at one time, choosing the most relevant one has been a perennial problem—but no more. STC will capture the content (audio and visuals) of almost every session and make it available to attendees at no additional cost. This will increase the value of the attendee’s experience enormously.
After the conference, STC will sync the audio with the presentations and make it available for attendees. The resulting product is called SUMMIT@aClick and will allow attendees to reap the benefits of almost every session at their convenience. The STC Summit is the only meeting in the technical communication field that offers this added bonus.
“The ability to ‘attend’ the sessions you missed is invaluable,” stated Lloyd Tucker, STC’s deputy executive director. “While we are thinking now of just the upcoming conference, this capture program will continue to be more valuable to both practioners and academics as we add successive years of conference programs.” So not only will participants be able to “attend” sessions after the fact, Tucker explains, but they also can use their SUMMIT@aClick access for research and “just in time” training. The captured material will be a significant addition to STC’s Body of Knowledge as well, and all STC members will soon be able to access the recorded sessions from the 2009 Summit on STC.org.
STC’s conference website (http://summit.stc.org) allows members to directly access information about the education sessions from a database that is updated almost daily. Education sessions cover a wide variety of topics and are organized into eight tracks: Communication and Interpersonal Skills; Design, Architecture, and Publishing; Education and Training; Managing People, Projects, and Business; Professional Development; Usability and Accessibility; Web Technologies; and Writing and Editing. The database also contains details on the content of preconference workshops and certificate sessions.
The Summit also offers Institutes, which are conferences-within-the-conference designed by experts in the field and featuring invited speakers with extensive and unique knowledge of their areas. Each Institute (Business Strategy, Content Strategy, Social Media, and User Experience) consists of conference sessions, runs concurrently with other sessions during the Summit, and is included in the conference registration fee.
Conference Overview
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Conference begins Sunday evening with a talk by keynote speaker Tim O’Reilly and reception in Expo Hall
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More than 80 sessions, organized by eight tracks
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Advanced sessions are identified as Institutes
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Registration includes two receptions, morning and afternoon refreshment breaks, and one free luncheon (Honors Banquet requires optional fee)
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Captured content (SUMMIT@aClick) included in registration fee
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Job Bank in Expo Hall
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Top exhibitors, snack breaks, and vendor showcases
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Preconference events include certificate sessions and tutorial sessions (optional fee required)
All of these education sessions and SUMMIT@aClick bring greater value to conference attendees. STC continues to work hard to keep attendees’ costs down, including lower hotel expenses. The two conference hotels (Sheraton Grand and Hyatt Regency) have rates of $174; both hotels are directly across the street from the Sacramento Convention Center and within walking distance of restaurants and tourist attractions. And the Advance rate for conference registration for members is $250 less than nonmembers (which would even cover the cost of your Basic membership dues). Finally, STC has lined up extra discounts on airfare, car rental, and shuttle bus service.
To assist those who must request funding from their employer to register and attend the conference, STC has created a sample memo that can be used to emphasize the necessity and benefit of attending the Technical Communication Summit. See the “Program Info” tab on http://summit.stc.org.
Members looking for work will find a fertile field at the 2011 Technical Communication Summit, too! With myriad resources onsite, education sessions, and the advantages of networking among the best and brightest of technical communicators, the annual conference is the best place for job hunters to be—there are job postings onsite, numerous opportunities for networking, updates on industry trends, new software announcements, and everything needed to stay ahead of the game. And the Consultants’ Corner returns to the exhibit hall this year, allowing consultants to purchase their own space on the floor and network with attendees. See the “Exhibit” tab on http://summit.stc.org.
The Expo Hall offers a lot to attendees as well. Over two dozen exhibitors will be present to showcase the latest and greatest in the technical communication field.
Savvy technical communicators know that STC is their professional home and that the annual conference is the best resource to advance their career. Register for the 2011 Technical Communication Summit online at http://summit.stc.org, and reap all the benefits.
