In addition to the regular education sessions—the presentations, the workshops, and the progressions—STC also offers a few special sessions to round out your Summit experience.
Project Showcase
This session allow presenters to share their projects with groups of attendees as they walk from table to table. These small groups and discussions will allow technical communicators to share their experiences and project solutions. The Project Showcase takes place on Tuesday, 22 May, from 1:00–2:00 PM. Participants follow.
Improving Large-Scale Retailer’s Intranet via a Content Audit
Challenge: Audit 60,000 intranet pages with 300+ associated owners to identify content appropriate for an improved intranet experience. Understand how we did it and leverage our learning in your organization.
Jen O’Brien, Manifest Digital
Technical Communication in Non-Computing Worlds
So many discussions about technical communications focus on writing for hardware and software markets. What about the rest of tech comm? In this session you follow a case study of a mining company that needed to create industry leading documentation and training materials, and learn how this was done.
Bernard Aschwanden, Publishing Smarter
A Tool Conversion from the Trenches
A case study about tool conversion for online help. Covers the planning process, implementation, and the “gotchas” encountered afterwards.
Rachel Houghton, Sage
21st-c. Communication Studio for a College of Engineering
Traditional instruction in writing and speech are necessary, but not sufficient skills for the 21st-century engineer. This presentation describes the University of Kentucky’s eStudio, which provides space for students to compose and present in various media (flat print, face-to-face, digital) and includes instruction in writing, speech, team-building, design, and marketing.
Janet Eldred, University of Kentucky, and Emily Dotson, University of Kentucky
What to do with a Useless 5K-page Document
Yikes! You have a document with missing information, incorrect grammar/punctuation, and riddled with errors! Find out how a 5K-page document was reduced 70% and transformed into a usable, accurate guide.
Helen Staveley, Airvana, and Taryn Light
Lightning Talks
Lightning Talks are five-minute talks on topics of interest to technical communicators. Each speaker is allowed to use 20 slides, displayed for 15 seconds per slide. Timing is strictly enforced. Expect presentations that are insightful, thought-provoking, humorous, and possibly controversial. Expect to see oratory skills tested, and expect to have fun. There are two Lightning Talk sessions, one on Monday, 21 May, from 10:00–11:00 AM, and the second on Wednesday, 23 May, from 10:00–11:00 AM.
Session 1
Enhance Your Writing by Critical Reading
Whether you create documents from multiple sources or from original work, you should follow a discipline of understanding what you read by checking sources and verifying currency and accuracy of information with subject matter experts. Anything to the contrary, and you’re only proofreading for grammar and punctuation.
David Dick, InfoPro
Virtual Teams, Real Meetings: How We Compensate
In a digital workplace that exhibits a growing tendency toward remote workers, project managers and instructional designers are often physically isolated from the rest of their team. This presentation looks at how remote workers can gain credibility and compensate for lack of face time with their team.
Tammy Rice-Bailey, Rice-Bailey Consulting
Where Did That Idea Come From?
Who were the originators of some of the most basic ideas we hold dear in technical communication? What is their history? Why is it important to know the roots of these ideas? After just five minutes you will know the answers!
David Caruso, NIOSH
Beyond the Gutenberg Parenthesis
The invention of the printing press introduced the Gutenberg Parenthesis in our historical timeline. With the advent of social media, we are emerging from this period. Learn how today’s digital culture is returning us to norms of communication that were common up until 500 years ago.
Alan Houser, Group Wellesley, Inc.
MySTC: Present Case, Future Considerations
This lightning talk provides a quick recap of how communities/members have used MySTC, successes and shortfalls, and provides advice for future activity.
Bill Swallow, LinguaLinx
What? Another XML Schema?
This lightning talk will quickly go through many XML schemas we use to structure our content. From well-known schemas like DITA and DocBook to lesser-known schemas like XBRL, oManual, and Mallard, structured content is a valuable resource that can be effectively reused and repurposed.
Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, Inc.
Session 2
Shockproofing Your Use of Social Media 2012
What are the top ten ways to shockproof your use of social media? What’s new for 2012?
Ben Woelk, Rochester Institute of Technology
Making Your Content Less Flabby
Is your content flabby? Lighten it! This talk describes some of the most common things that make for flabby content: verbosity, transitional text, and obsolete or useless information. I’ll show you how to find your flab and eliminate it to lighten your content—just in time for swimsuit season.
Larry Kunz, Systems Documentation, Inc.
My Dog is Smarter Than Me
What did training my dog to do simple tasks teach me about technical communication? Show up and find out!
Robert Armstrong, RouteMatch
Communication, Culture, Technology
Technical communicators know about communication and technology. They also need to know about culture, and this session explains why.
Ray Gallon, Culturecom
Wikis and Structure: Perfect Together
Stan and Ollie, Bob and Ray, chocolate and peanut butter. Sometimes the least likely pairings make the best combination. Wikis with structured content offer the same promise. Wikis are the perfect collaboration platform for writers, editors, reviewers, and their audience. Structure smooths production. Technical communicators need tools that combine both.
Richard Hamilton, XML Press
Student Poster Session
The STC Academic SIG invited individual and team submissions to a student poster competition for the 2012 Summit. The theme is Students’ Perspectives on Technical Communication. Both undergraduate and graduate students were invited to submit innovative work in communicating technical content, managing a technical communication group, producing and publishing content, researching content, or promoting the profession. Selected posters will be presented in person and through Adobe Connect at the Summit on Monday, 21 May. This makes it possible for students to participate in the competition in person while attending the conference or from a distance.
