By Kylie Jacobsen If your university is anything like mine, by about this time in the semester students have already begun excitedly chatting about summer plans, when they can put down the textbooks and take up internships, more shifts at Read more
STC Atlanta is so excited that STC Summit is back in Atlanta! This year’s theme is The “How to” Conference: Learn Well through Show and Tell. All 2023 Technical Communication Summit events, sessions, and meetings will take place entirely at Read more
Alyssa Fox, STC 2022 Conference Chair This is the first of a series of 2022 Summit News blogs that will be posted in the upcoming weeks to bring you to most up-to-date news and announcements about our highly anticipated in-person Read more
This is one in a series of sketch notes taken at the 2017 Summit by STC Senior Member Elizabeth Alley. Relive the magic of the Summit in a unique and dynamic way through Elizabeth’s sketches! You can see more of Elizabeth’s work at elizabethalley.com.
This is the first in a series of sketch notes taken at the 2017 Summit by STC Senior Member Elizabeth Alley. Relive the magic of the Summit in a unique and dynamic way through Elizabeth’s sketches! You can see more of Elizabeth’s work at elizabethalley.com.
The 2017 STC Summit closed Wednesday with a special event, a taping of a future episode of the YouTube show Fix My App, hosted by Richard Brevig with a team of UX experts: Lorelei Brown, Geoffrey Robertson, and Vera Rhoads.
Wednesday morning – the final day of the Summit – kicked off with another pair of Spotlight talks, today from Todd DeLuca and Ben Woelk. Todd spoke about the impact that the person providing service has. For example, he said, if you go out to dinner you’re most likely to remember your server rather than the chef and cooks. While technical communicators may be the chefs and cooks of the products we work on, Todd encouraged attendees to try to find ways to be involved with the service and delivery of products to customers. He said service is “COMP-limentary: Chemical, Opportunity, Memorable, and Personal. “I’ve gotten more credit being the deliverer of information that I ever did writing it,” he said.
The stars came out a little early Tuesday evening in Washington. D.C., as STC held its Honors Reception to shine a light on the best and brightest in our profession and in our community. Fellows and Associate Fellows shared the limelight with honorees for the Jay R. Gould Award and Ken Rainey Award. Publishing excellence came forward with the Frank R. Smith honorees as well as the Intercom awards for both article and guest-edited issue. And student honorees and winners of the International Summit Awards walked the metaphorical red carpet.
Tuesday’s afternoon sessions started with a pair of “Spotlight Talks,” shorter presentations paired together for one session. Chyrstal Mincey, in Know Your Client’s Language, spoke about the need as a government contractor to know your client in depth. “Client needs can vary from project to project and agency to agency,” she said. In addition to knowing the client, you almost must try to understand the full context: your client’s bosses, any conflicts of interest, goals, and expectations. She advised attendees to make sure they know the client’s guidelines and style guides and encouraged them to learn more about the client as a person and how they work.
How does a technical writer conceive, plan, create, and publish an app for both the web and mobile? That’s the lesson within the Tuesday morning session A Tech Writer, A Map, and an App, presented by Sarah Maddox. Sarah is the mind behind the app Tech Comm On a Map (see https://ffeathers.wordpress.com/tech-comm-on-a-map/), a repository of events of interest to technical communicators, from idea to coding to finished product.