The full schedule of sessions for the 2014 Summit (18–21 May in Phoenix, AZ) is now available by date and time. Visit http://summit.stc.org/program-info/program-overview to start planning your days in Phoenix.
Especially for first-time attendees, you might not know what to expect at the Technical Communication Summit. First off, all Summit education sessions are included with your registration, and you do not need to RSVP for individual sessions. There are a small number of preconference courses and workshops on Saturday and Sunday that require additional fees and registration, but all attendees at the Summit are welcome to attend any session desired from Monday through Wednesday, plus the Sunday evening Opening General Session and Welcome Reception.
There are four basic types of sessions, described below. Familiarize yourself with the sessions and be ready to decide which ones are right for you!
Presentations (45 minutes)
Presentations provide attendees an overview of the title topic. A presentation can be a case study, research report, demonstration, or informational session about a topic of interest. Presentations usually include slides and/or handouts, and many presenters offer audience participation or a Q&A at the end.
Progressions (20 minutes)
A progression topic uses a discussion format to facilitate the sharing of ideas and experience around a specific approach or topic. During a 45-minute session, up to 6 speakers will be grouped together into one progression on related topics. Each speaker will be seated at a different round table in the room. Participants will select two tables to attend during the session.
Spotlights (20 minutes)
This new format allows speakers to share a powerful message or story in a short time to a large audience. The Summit will offer three spotlight sessions at the same time, in different rooms, on the last day of the Summit. These sessions will be in larger rooms, accommodating up to 300 attendees in each session. After 20 minutes, a short break will be provided so attendees can change rooms, if desired.
Lightning Talks (5 minutes)
These 5-minute talks are on interesting and thought-provoking topics of interest to technical communicators—and entertaining, too! Each speaker has 20 slides, automatically displayed at 15 seconds per slide.
Student Poster Session
In addition, the results of the 2014 Student Poster Competition will be displayed in Phoenix. The STC Academic SIG invited individual and team submissions to a student poster competition for the 2014 Summit. 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 displayed at the Summit and the top three winners will be honored at the Honors Banquet on Tuesday, 20 May.
