STC owns the rights to all the photos taken by the official Summit photographer, Phoenix Chapter member Miachelle DiPiano. As such, members and communities are invited to use the photographs as desired on websites, newsletters, emails, etc. You can access Miachelle’s photos on the STC Flickr site.
The Phoenix Chapter planned a few outside social events for the Summit, and one of the popular ones was a showing of the documentary Helvetica. Sponsored by Discount Tire, this was a private showing of Helvetica at the FilmBar, a combined beer/wine bar and 70-seat movie theater within walking distance of the Phoenix Convention Center. The description for the event queried:
Arriving in Phoenix as a student volunteer for the second time was less intimidating than my first go in Atlanta. For one, I knew what to expect. STC members embrace students, welcoming us into the fold. People are actually excited and thankful we are here. They want to share their wealth of information with us. They want us to succeed. Also, I meet other students from around the country, establishing long-lasting relationships among future colleagues early on in our budding careers. The Summit is an amazing gathering of people who take care of one another and the people that will follow in their footsteps.
I’m suffering from the Summit hangover. And I don’t mean a hangover from drinking too much at the Honors Banquet (I didn’t). I’m talking about the “high” you get from seeing so many friends that you only see once a year. There are several posts on my Facebook feed from STC friends who are feeling the same thing, the post-conference depression that settles in after you’ve hugged all your friends goodbye and flown (or driven) home. It’s hard, because you know that unless you attend other conferences or visit other communities, you won’t see many of those friends again until next June at the 2015 Summit.
This year’s Summit has a bunch of subtle changes that translate to significant improvements. There have been some years when the STC Summit was at convention centers and hotels where the individual sessions were spread across a wide area—sometimes on separate floors. I remember at times either showing up for a session that was standing room only and having my second choice being a bit of a jaunt. In past years there was only a 15-minute break between sessions, which of course made things complicated if you had to haul from one end of the venue to the other for your next session and no doubt truncated some of the after-session Q&A. One excellent change this year is that for the most part all the sessions are in one hallway in adjacent rooms.
On Sunday evening at the Opening General Session of the 2014 Summit, we closed with the Honorary Fellow presentation to Alan Alda, actor and technical communicator. Alda is the namesake of and visiting professor at the Stony Brook University Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and was honored for his work promoting the need for greater technical communication in science.
As events continue at the Summit, Your Friendly Neighborhood Blogger will be posting news and information from the conference. I’ve also solicited a handful of our attendees to provide blog posts about their thoughts: what they’ve done, what they’ve learned, what they’ve enjoyed, and what they’ve experienced. Look for them in the coming days under the main title of At the Summit. Here’s the first of them, from Brian Lindgren.
Even if you aren’t able to attend the 2014 Summit in Phoenix, you can follow it via Twitter—and even get a little taste of the conference to boot! Both @stc_org and @STC_Summit will issue all the official announcements and information on speakers, preconference courses, and more.
Temperatures are soaring in Phoenix, with highs in the 100s on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and highs in the 90s on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But fear not! Phoenix newbie Rachel Houghton has sent along some tips on beating the heat that she’s used after her move from the Pacific Northwest. Enjoy!
Today is the final of six planned posts from our newest guest blogger, Geoff Hart. Geoff is a veteran of many conferences, including a number of STC Summits. The series Surviving the Summit provided tips on how to get the Read more