Guest post by Leah Guren.
Two New Ideas
I do training. Lots of training. I work with engineers and SMEs, product managers, doctors and researchers, newbies who want to break into the field of technical communication, and more. Each group presents a different challenge, and I enjoy them all. (Yes, Virginia, I really do like engineers!) But my favorite gigs are those with technical communication professionals like you—TCs who are already in the field, already have a handle on what the profession requires, and are serious about keeping their skills and knowledge up to date.
The TCs I meet represent a wide range of backgrounds and talents, but most share the same joys and frustrations as they wrestle to provide better documentation and user assistance for their company’s products and services. I don’t need to spend a lot of time trying to convince them of the importance of good documentation; they get it.
I’ve worked with thousands of TCs over the years, and I’ve noticed that even the very experienced often have certain blind spots when it comes to writing. Perhaps they maintain writing habits established in their school years, or perhaps they never properly learned some of the finer points of grammar and punctuation. Whatever the reason, I see the same mistakes over and over again. I also run into the same myths and misinformation about TC writing.
Wednesday’s webinar, “Ten Things You Thought You Knew About Writing,” [see the link for a full description and to register] is my response to these issues. I’ve taken ten of the more common mistakes and misconceptions that I’ve run into from professional writers. In the webinar, I address each issue and present the best practices for correct usage, as well as the rationale behind it. This is particularly important, as many TCs have to deal with challenges about the choices made in text. Telling a doubting engineer, “Well, I don’t know, it just sounds better this way,” is not nearly as compelling as being able to site the linguistic rationale behind your choice!
I recently talked to a client who was somewhat dubious about the value of a 60- or 90-minute online seminar. “I could just read about the material on my own,” she said.
“But would you?” I asked. “Do you set aside the time to do that? How much time would you need to gather all that information from various sources? Would you be able to get clarification if you didn’t understand something or if your particular question wasn’t covered? In a webinar, you get the benefit of some printed content with a live, interactive lecture. You can ask questions and interact with other participants. There’s no travel, no down-time, and only a small investment of time and money.”
“Yes, but what if I already know some of the material?” she countered.
“Good training material always builds on what you know; if it was all completely new, you wouldn’t be able to absorb anything! The ideal conference session or webinar is one that leaves you with two new ideas that you can immediately apply. Anything over that is gravy.”
So join us on Wednesday and learn one, two, or even ten new things!