Society for Technical Communication
Course Held Each Thursday, 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm ET – Learn More
Led by renowned author Geraldine Woods (English Grammar For Dummies, Basic English Grammar For Dummies, and more), this user-friendly course is designed for technical communicators.
Registration is open until March 13th. You can register here:
Today’s tech writing teams can strengthen their content if they craft proper learning objectives to ensure that documentation really addresses audience needs. Tech writers must also work closely with UX designers to make sure that in-product user assistance meets the same objectives.
During this STC-PMC event, held on October 26th, members of the team behind the book The Product is Docs shared their insights into developing effective learning objectives and discuss how to drive closer collaboration with product designers.
Authored by Christopher Gales and the Splunk Documentation Team, The Product is Docs is one of today’s most practical and definitive guides to the cross-functional work it takes to create great documentation and user assistance in a software development environment. Christopher Gales, Robin Pille, Matt Ness, and Mike Glauser presented some highlights from the book, such as crafting smarter Learning Objectives and working with the UX Team. For example, Robin encouraged tech writers to embed learning objectives with “action verbs” rather than using “understand” or “read about”, leverage more goal-oriented verbs such as “backup,” “locate,” “send,” and “optimize.”
Interested in viewing the webinar recording? Contact us at president@stcpmc.org
Note: thanks to all who have registered and attended this valuable webinar, held on 9/28. Please e-mail president@stcpmc.org if you would like a link to view the recording. Here’s a summary of the event:
Psyched up about all of the great tools, software, and practices out on the tech comm market – but unsure how to get any of it funded? Or are you fighting an uphill battle to get the minimum and keep your team whole? Is “but you don’t bring in sales” a common refrain when referencing tech comm in your company?
In this webinar, we discussed process steps that moved the conversation in a company from “can we make do with less tech comm” to “what can we do to support tech comm” in months. In this webinar we learned how to:
Presenter: Amanda Patterson, Technical Communications Manager at Hunter Douglas
After several years teaching college-level writing, Amanda ‘fell into’ her first tech writing job. And it was love at first manual! Amanda has spent much of her tech writing career building and deploying automated assembly equipment in the manufacturing industry. Currently, she is the Technical Communications Manager at Hunter Douglas, where her foci are on internal and external product documentation for luxury window coverings and growing her rockstar team. Outside of the office, Amanda is the current Programs Manager for the Rochester chapter of the Society of Technical Communication, a role she loves because she connects with exciting people and helps share their work with the tech comm community. Her Ph.D. is in Comparative Literature with a specialization in Sci-Fi and the human experience of the future. Feel free to ask her if she thinks she’s a robot today.
Let’s be real – 2020 took a lot out of us. Live events were canceled then went virtual. We couldn’t visit family members. Restaurants and bars closed, reopened and closed again. And wearing masks is now a fashion accessory. All this leaves the heart a little stressed and very empty. It’s 2021 and time to face the new “normal” for as long as it is normal. Looking for a volunteer outlet – one that will make a positive impact on a junior colleague? Well, we are actively looking for MENTORS.
If you have been a past mentor and want to serve again or if 2021 is your year to stop thinking and start doing, we want to heat from you! Email Jen Meservey, our current president, with your interest at President@STCPMC.org.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
PADLA is excited to present the timely workshop “Actionable Tips and Tricks to Teaching Online in Real Time.” This 90-minute highly interactive online workshop is NOT a webinar, a Zoom tutorial, or a product sales pitch.
You’ve learned the buttons to push to show your webcam, use your mic, and share your screen. That’s great! Now what? How can those and other features translate to interactive instructional activities? How can you engage learners of all kinds and levels in a way that’s sound and enables learning?
Our presenters, Gary Dietz and Shannon Forte, bring their collective 35 years of knowledge and skills in educational technology to PADLA. They will introduce you to the most important elements to consider when converting your physical experience to the real-time collaboration segments of virtual classrooms.
Sessions are limited to 25 participants.
Register for one of these identical sessions:
Before the session, you will be sent your personal Zoom link and password.
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