One of the best ways to improve as a technical communicator is to attend technical communication conferences. They provide you with the opportunity to learn new skills, find out about new trends, pose questions to experts in the technical communications community, network with others, and take time out to reflect on what it is you do each day.
STC's Summit conference offers those opportunities to those based in the USA, and there are a couple of similar conferences for technical communicators in Europe: tekom/tcWorld and Technical Communications UK.
Let's look at how they compare to the STC Summit.
tcWorld
The best word to describe the tekom/tcWorld conference is “huge.” Organised by the German technical communication professional body, tekom, the conference comprises a German language conference (tekom-Jahrestagung) and a parallel English language conference (tcWorld). The conference is held over three days, with up to nine conference tracks. The exhibitors' hall is ginormous, where you'll find translation and technical writing companies, in addition to the many different software vendors.
Here is a link to a video clip about the tcworld conference (sorry, I cannot embed the video). Can you spot Scott Abel in the video? (Hint: look around the 45-60 seconds period.)
Unlike STC's policy of moving its conference around cities in America that have burnt down at some point in their past, tcWorld has been held in the same location for the past 10+ years: the Rhein-Main-Hallen conference centre in the city of Wiesbaden, Germany. Germany is a underrated and wonderful country, but I'm afraid I'm not a fan of Wiesbaden. With a population of fewer than 280,000 inhabitants, it's simply not as interesting as cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Munich, or Stuttgart. The sheer size of the tekom/tcworld conference also means that delegates are scattered around different hotels in the city.
There are a number of other differences between the STC Summit and tcWorld. Germany's position as the third-largest economy in the world is reflected in the importance placed on localisation and manufacturing-related user documentation. German technical communicators probably lead the world in developing systems and solutions for these. The exhibition hall is full of eye-catching vendor stands offering an amazing number of free gifts (such as cocktails), entertainments, and prize draws.
It also has a very business-like feel. That may be down to the fact it's held in November, when it's cold, and it being held in a conference centre.
It's been a number of years since I spoke at tekom/tcWorld. I'll be speaking at this year's conference, and it will be interesting to see how it has changed since I last attended.
Technical Communications UK
Technical Communications UK (TCUK), by contrast, is a lot smaller. Organised by the British technical communication professional body, the Institute for Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC), the conference is held over three days, with up to three parallel conference tracks.
With around 200 delegates, the conference has fewer delegates than the STC Summit or tcWorld conferences. This has its advantages, as you have the opportunity to speak to pretty much everyone at the conference, and everyone can stay in the same hotel.
The ISTC has a policy of hosting TCUK each year at a different location around the UK, and this year's conference will be held at a Marriott hotel in the west English city of Bristol. The speakers mostly come from the UK, with a few speakers from mainland Europe and the USA. It also encourages new speakers and case study presentations. Indeed, 13 out of the 45 presentations this year are case studies.
TCUK sessions are organised around 40-45 minute presentations, followed by a 15-20 minute break. These breaks really do encourage people to talk to each other and helps give the conference a friendly, informal feel.
The ISTC has always striven to have interesting keynote speakers, not only professional experts from within the technical communication sector, but also people at the edge of technical communication. These are “outsiders” who have stories and insights that can enhance the profession. For example, I saw an interesting presentation from someone who creates information boards in the national parks.
In many ways, TCUK is like a smaller version of the STC Summit: friendly, informal, and with everyone staying in the same location.
What makes for a good conference?
What is it you enjoy when you attend a conference? Have you been to the tcWorld, TCUK, or a similar conferences?
Please share your thoughts below.
Ellis Pratt is director at Cherryleaf, a UK technical writing services company. Ranked the most the influential blogger on technical communication in Europe, Ellis is a specialist in the field of creating clear and simple information users will love.
Thanks for the comparison, Ellis. I agree, the three conferences are wildly different – which is frankly the main reason I try to attend all three. If one was more like the others, there’d be less of a reason to go.
Some more comments about tekom/tcworld:
– “Huge” is right. Last year 2400 conference goers attended 220 presentations, workshops and tutorials in up to 15 simultaneous streams.
– English alone still accounted for more than 50 sessions, so you get still get a full conference experience – and just about all trade fair vendors will be happy to converse in English. It is a truly international conference, much more so than STC or TCUK.
– Bring business cards! I use a lot more at tekom than at STC or TCUK.
– This year will be the last time tekom will be in Wiesbaden for a while; they will tear down the convention center not soon after. tekom 2014 will be in Stuttgart.
– For more impressions, may I recommend my blog post http://kaiweber.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/tekom12-what-i-learned-how-its-unique/
And about TCUK:
– TCUK manages to get very diverse and professional presentations into a comparatively small schedule. It encourages interdisciplinary topics such as statistics, public speaking, user experience design, and cognitive science. Not only were those sessions engaging, they also took care to show how they’re relevant and applicable to technical communications.
– Yes, it is smaller, but in a way it’s exactly the right size: Large enough to draw a diverse crowd of interesting people, yet small enough that I never feel lost in an anonymous crowd.
– I like that most attendees are engaged in the conference and our profession in general. Fortunately, there’s very little of a “sit-back-and-entertain-me” attitude that I’ve seen at other conferences.
– And again, a blog post with more impressions: http://kaiweber.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/tcuk12-summary-likes-dislikes/
Cheers, Kai.
There is also the UA Europe conference. It’s a two-day conference. This year it was held in June in Manchester. It had a general purpose strand and a DITA strand. Around 132 people attended.
It was a good technical writing ‘refresh’ for me. When I got back to work, I was able to report on two case studies that were relevant to us. One of the companies that presented is located nearby and kindly gave their presentation at our site.
Hi Jean
I did think about mentioning UAEurope, but I decided to stick to conferences run by the professional bodies. UAEurope is always a good conference, with an emphasis on practical ideas and techniques you can use when you get back to the office.
Ellis