By Todd DeLuca | 2016 STC Summit Chair and Jamie Gillenwater | 2016 STC Summit Program Manager
If you want to get a good sense of technical communication trends, add the STC Summit to your spring conference schedule. Each year, the conference committee receives hundreds of proposal entries from across the United States and around the world. These submissions reflect the broad swath of the roles that our members have, the locations where they work, and the various industries and audiences that they serve.
Some of these represented groups include government, software and technology, academia and higher learning, translation or localization, scientific bodies, independent consultants and freelancers, and more. Given this broad representation, you would think there aren’t many trends or common themes. Or that the topics are so widespread that it’s difficult to see any patterns or trends. But with nearly 300 proposals, quite a few themes emerged that technical communicators want to talk about this year. Two of the most popular themes were globalization and technology.
We Live in a Global Society
Because the Summit received proposals from around the world, international topics are a pattern we continue to see grow. A significant topic area here is the relationships with onshore and offshore teams (case studies, challenges, successes, cultural differences, and working together). This is increasingly important as we work with partners across multiple continents and time zones. These colleagues, customers, and team members represent not just different cultures, but also different roles. If you work with software development, it’s not just quality assurance or customer support; it’s also developers, managers, editors, team leads, and project managers.
The more traditional topic area related to globalization is localization. Surprisingly, it’s not just using tools and structured authoring to help make it easier and cheaper to translate content, though those are still represented. It’s also thinking about writing for global audiences (users and customers) using simplified or international English wording and structures that clarifies meaning and increases comprehension. Turns out these best practices help native and non-native English speakers alike. It’s clear that if your not looking at the world with a global lens, then you’re most likely limiting your opportunities for growth in the future. Fortunately, today’s technology and the internet have lowered barriers, which opens many global doors for our members to pass through more often.
Technology Surrounds Us
Speaking of technology, the majority of Summit proposals have some sort of tie or connection to it. And we’re not just talking traditional help authoring tools and software either. Heard about virtual and augmented reality? Sure you have, but did you know they’re different? We received proposals related to both topics.
And the Internet of Things (or IoT) is pretty big, too. Our keynote speaker, David Rose, will be talking about that. What helps build, fuel, and connect those Internet things? It’s the Application Programming Interface (API). You will find this hot topic well covered and represented at the Summit this year. If you work with a software company or in a software environment like many of us do, we have sessions that include development tools and programming languages like Git, Jeckyl, RegEx, and Markdown. Whether you’re a novice coder or an experienced developer, we’ve got it covered.
You might have one or two friends with a mobile smart phone or tablet device, or possibly know somebody who used an app recently. All joking aside, it’s obvious that there’s a trend with mobile devices and technology. Whether it’s preparing new or legacy content, writing for short formats, or defining structures and interfaces to support the different devices, mobile (ironically) is big. And what are people doing on these portable and connected devices? Listening to podcasts, taking courses, and watching videos! We received quite a few proposals in those areas as well from people who prepare, produce, manage, edit, and deliver content in many innovative and new ways. These are exciting times!
Based on what people told us they want to talk about and share with us at Summit, it’s clear that technical communicators are supporting, participating, and guiding what’s happening in the growing internationalization of the workforce and the rapidly evolving spaces of technology. That’s quite fortunate for us. Thusly, we have a strong sampling and mix of topics across this global and technological spectrum represented at the Summit this year.
Sorting It Out
With so many options, how did we choose which ones to select for Anaheim this year? It wasn’t easy.
We had an incredible lineup of proposals for the 2016 STC Summit, with topics including API, customer experience, mobile learning, independent consulting, and more. Our review team, which included experts from all walks in the technical communication field, sorted through hundreds of proposals to create an engaging and comprehensive program. It’s through their efforts that we are able to bring it to you, so please thank them when you see them in Anaheim this May.
You can imagine that the conference committee, with input and suggestions from track managers and review teams, had their work cut out for them and a difficult time trying to select “the best of the best. ” They did. Unfortunately, having a limited number of session slots to fill and more solid proposals than we could accommodate made it an even greater challenge. Rest assured that the group has done the heavy lifting for you and put together a compelling mix of content delivered from a qualified set of speakers.
A Sampling of Topics
As we mentioned, the hottest new topic seems to be API documentation, which includes presentations by Marta Rauch, Ed Marshall, and Nabayan Roy, along with video making, with ideas from Matthew Pierce and Li-At Rathbun.
Our customers are also receiving a lot of attention this year as several presentations focus on the customer experience, including “Building Quality Experiences for Users in Any Language, ” “Customer Experience (CX): Come Join the Party, ” “Help Begins with the GUI: TC meets R&D, ” and “An Extreme User-Centric Approach to Kiosk Writing. ”
Independent contractors and consultants have good sessions to choose from, too, such as Rich Maggiani’s “Three Hats of Independence ” or “How to Write Contracts and Statements of Work ” by Jack Molisani.
In addition to our 45-minute presentation sessions, we are offering workshops before and during the Summit. Pre-conference workshops include hot topics, such as “Documenting REST APIs ” presented by Tom Johnson, “Gamifying Writing Skills ” by Leah Guren, and “Information Visualization: Seeing Through the Numbers ” by Phylise Banner. Popular workshops during the conference will include “The Future of M-Learning and Mobile Help ” by Danielle Villegas, “Don’t Edit—Teach: Strategies for Mentoring Writers ” by Jessica McCaughey, and “Big Data for Beginners: Tools and Methods ” by Aimee Roundtree.
These are just some highlights of the great educational offerings you can expect at Summit this year and some the trending areas. For details and a complete list of speakers and topics, please visit the STC Summit website (summit.stc.org).
TODD DELUCA (techcommtodd@gmail.com) has over 15 years of experience as a senior technical writer and currently manages a technical communication department. His professional background includes graphic design, editing, client communication, and software development documentation. Todd is an STC Senior Member and conference chair of the 2016 Summit. Other recent STC activities include Philadelphia Metro Chapter president (receiving a Distinguished Chapter Service Award) and Community Affairs Committee outreach team member. Todd has an MA in technical and scientific communication from Miami University (Ohio) and speaks at various regional and national STC conferences.
JAMIE GILLENWATER (jamie.gillenwater@transcendtext.com) has been an active member of STC since 2010, including the STC Carolina Chapter, Instructional Design & Learning SIG, and Consulting and Independent Contractor SIG. She currently serves as program manager for the 2016 Summit. Jamie owns and manages Transcend Text, LLC, a technical communications firm in Greenville, SC. She has a BA in English from Lander University, with an emphasis in professional writing.
