STC Rochester Chapter

Come see why Spectrum is regarded as the best regional TechComm conference! Great speakers, great networking, great learning. Your registration includes a pre-conference webinar, keynote and reception, and a full day of presentations, progressions, and workshops.

We’ve also added a Leadership Institute on Tuesday, April 24, designed to share leadership best practices with current and future leaders of local communities/chapters of STC and similar organizations.

For more information, visit our Spectrum Conference website at http://spectrum.stc-rochester.org

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• Spectrum 2012 Opportunities for Support (stc-rochester.org)

The STC Academic SIG invites submissions to a student poster competition at STC Summit ’12.  Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. Selected posters may be presented virtually at the Summit, making it possible for students to participate in the competition in person while attending the conference or from a distance through Adobe Connect.

Poster Session Theme:  Students’ Perspectives on Technical Communication.  Submit innovative work in communicating technical content, managing a technical communication group, producing and publishing content, researching content, or promoting the profession.

Who Can Enter:  Student members of STC. Students whose posters are selected for presentation will have their Summit fee waived.

Format:  Posters are to be submitted, and selected posters presented, as PDFs. Poster format templates and design help are available from a number of Internet locations, including C.B. Purrington’s Designing Conference Posters: http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign

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Delivery:  The competition committee will provide instructions on presenting virtually at the Summit to those whose posters are selected for presentation and who wish to present from a distance.

Winner Selection:  A panel of judges, composed of academic and practitioner members of STC, will evaluate the content and design of all submissions.  Those selected to compete at the Summit also will be judged on delivery. The top two posters will be awarded cash prizes of $125 and $75 and, we hope, additional incentives from vendors.

How to Submit:  In an email, attach the following two documents:

·         A Word document with your name, poster title, and a 250-word abstract.

·         A PDF of the poster.  Name the file TitleofPoster_STC12

Email to the following:  admin@stc-academic.org

Deadlines:

·         April 9, 2012:  Deadline for poster submission, midnight CDT

·         April 23, 2012: Notification of selection

·         May 21, 2012: Presentation and judging of selected posters at the Summit

Questions: Contact sally.henschel@mwsu.edu

Expertise, Knowledge, Leadership:
Influence Change in Your Organization

Are you someone who can and should influence change in your organization but aren’t sure where to start?

As a technical communicator, your talent is your ability to identify needs and explore solutions. However, technical communicators often do not feel equipped with the tools, skills, or language necessary to influence the decision makers in their organizations or show how the improvements they propose will benefit their employer or client.

Join other technical communication professionals to learn how to leverage your talents to successfully create a case for change that focuses on what matters to your employer, your customers, and you as a professional. The content you generate is critical to your employer’s success. It’s important that you are able to show the value of the content you create as well as the value you bring to your employer.

Spectrum 2012, Expertise, Knowledge, Leadership: Influence Change in Your Organization, will provide state-of-the-art information, technology, and inspiration. Become empowered with the technical and soft skills your employer needs for success and immediately add value to your role as a technical communicator. Become an expert. Share your knowledge. Lead change.

All technical communicators are welcome to submit proposals for Spectrum 2012. STC membership is NOT required to submit a proposal.

Why should you present at Spectrum 2012?

If you’re a seasoned presenter, you know the benefits of conference presentations.

If you’ve never presented at a conference, but have thought about it, here are some reasons to consider submitting a proposal this year:

• It’s easier to justify attending the conference to your employer if you’re a presenter.
• Several presentation options are available.
• Being a conference presenter is a great way to contribute to our field, plus it looks good on your resume.
• The conference registration fee is waived for presenters. (Registration fee is not waived for Lightning Talk presenters only.)

Presentation sessions

A variety of speakers, topics, and presentation styles will offer opportunities to learn, network, and revitalize your excitement about your profession. Presentation sessions are no more than 45 minutes long, including Q and A.

• Presentation: Inform your audience about a concept, process, tool, or technology that can be applied in a technical communication environment.
• Case Study: Show how you solved a business or technical problem. Report on a successful communication project, technology implementation, or management effort, and its results.
• Workshop: Prepare an interactive demonstration or learning exercise.

What are we looking for? We will select 9 presentation sessions that support this year’s conference theme. Topic ideas include:

• How to be a valuable employee and become more employable
• Communicating your value to your employer or client
• Building a business case
• Personal branding
• Becoming the expert in the room
• Promoting initiatives that support quality standards, such as ISO and Six Sigma
• Applying technology that builds your value as a technical communicator
• Defining your organization’s value proposition
• Becoming proactive
• Your user experience with industry tools
• …What are your ideas?

Progression sessions

Progression sessions offer a great opportunity to connect one-on-one with conference attendees. In a progression, each speaker delivers an oral presentation (10-15 minutes) at a roundtable, to a group of 6 to 10 participants. Each speaker then moderates a short discussion with the participants for another 10 minutes. Every 30 minutes, participants change tables to hear a different presentation. Each presentation is made 3 times, each time with a different group of participants.

What are we looking for? We will select 8 to 10 speakers to participate on topics including user experiences with a variety of technical communication tools, demonstrations on how to use tools of the trade, what the benefits are, how they implemented the technology, lessons learned, etc.

Other topics that support this year’s theme will also be considered. Progression speakers will not have access to a projector, but we encourage using a laptop and/or providing handouts for the sessions.

Lightning talks

New for Spectrum 2012! Lightning talks are a series of five-minute presentations on topics of interest to technical communicators. If you had five minutes to deliver a Spectrum presentation, what would you say? What would you say if you had 20 slides, displayed for 15 seconds each?

Lightning talks will test your oratorical skills. The timing of the slides and the presentation is strictly enforced. You must provide 20 slides, which will be displayed for 15 seconds each, and you do not control the slide display.

The lively session will close the conference and bring everyone together for an exciting wrap to the day!

What are we looking for? We will select 8 – 10 lightning talks on any topic. Be Creative!! Your topic might be insightful, inspiring, thought-provoking, useful, humorous, controversial, or enlightening. If you would like to see some examples from last year’s Summit Lightning Talk session, Ben Woelk has provided some: Summit 2011 LT.

Speaker selection process

The Spectrum 2012 committee will evaluate all proposals and notify submitters by January 18, 2012. If your proposal is accepted, we will send you a presenter information form, in which you can provide additional information about yourself and any co-presenters, as well as provide a description of your presentation for the printed program.

Handouts, presentation slides, and papers

• If you would like to provide copies of your presentation slides or handouts, please bring enough copies for at least 35 attendees for your session.
• If you would like to provide a link to your presentation materials (for example, to a website or to SlideShare), we will provide a place on the Presenter Information Form for you to enter a link.

Next steps and key dates

• December 18, 2011 — 2011 Deadline for submitting the Proposal Form to spectrum@stc-rochester.org.
• January 18, 2012 –  Submitters notified of acceptance.
• February 18, 2012 –  Presenters return speaker agreement.
• March 5, 2011  — Registration opens for Spectrum 2012.
• March 31, 2011 –Submission of slides, handouts, and other presentation materials
• April 22, 2012 –  Keynote Speaker and Welcome Reception for speakers and sponsors. NOTE: The keynote speaker and Welcome Reception are on Sunday night and are included in the registration fee.
• April 23, 2012 –  Spectrum 2012

We look forward to receiving your proposal!

• Spectrum 2012 Call for Proposals (.pdf)
• Spectrum 2012 Call for Papers Submission Form (.doc)

Please send any questions to spectrum@stc-rochester.org.

Welcome to Summit Perspectives. This is the second in a series of guest posts by STC Rochester attendees at the STC Summit 2011 Conference in Sacramento.  We hope these posts will give those of you who were unable to attend Summit a view into the conference. Our latest post is from Lori Meyer, who is serving as the chapter membership manager for the 2011-2012 program year.

Being a resident of northern California, I was delighted that this year’s STC annual conference was just a few hours away by car, and that I was able to see fellow Rochester chapter members once again. Summit 2011 was a great success on many levels. Here are some highlights from my experience over four days.

Leadership Day

I arrived on Sunday, May 15 for Leadership Day, a day set aside for chapter and SIG (special interest group leaders) to learn from one other about ways to strengthen their communities. Progression-type sessions presented by both Society and community leaders covered topics such as membership development, recognition of volunteers, and ideas for organization and planning. Chapter president Ben Woelk’s session, “Communication Liftoff! Rocketing Your Community to the Stars,” discussed the implementation of a social media-based marketing plan. His talk stressed the importance of taking a strategic approach to communication, and noted the benefits of carefully planning what you want to communicate, when, and to whom. I also attended a valuable session on membership development by STC board member Rich Maggiani, and a session with tips for volunteer recognition by Judith Herr.

STC staffers also announced the launch of My STC, a new forum by which technical communicators can share information, collaborate, and network. Much of My STC is open to both members and non-members of STC. If you’re already an STC member, you can log on to My STC by going to http://www.stc.org/mystc and entering your STC user name and password.

Although Summit 2011 was my 8th STC conference, this year was the first time I had participated in Leadership Day. If you are in any type of leadership position in an STC community and can attend next year’s conference, I recommend including Leadership Day in your agenda. For me, it was a day well spent.

STC Annual Meeting

At the STC annual meeting on Monday, the membership passed a motion to grant student members full voting rights.

Communities Reception

A communities reception followed the annual meeting. Several SIGs hosted tables, where visitors could learn more about SIG activities and membership. As secretary  of the Technical Editing SIG, I helped host our table along with our terrific SIG co-managers, Jeff Japp and Carol Lamarche, membership manager Andrea Wenger, and Distinguished SIG Award winner Virginia Janzig. We were delighted to have many visitors at our table.

Educational sessions

Summit 2011 had a comprehensive roster of fine sessions over three days. Here are highlights from some of the sessions I attended.

• Technical Communications 2020. This session, presented by Tristan Bishop, emphasized the shift in communication from static to dynamic and social, which has changed the way we seek and share information. A popular and dynamic speaker, Tristan discussed the impact of such trends as cloud-based authoring, technical reviewing, and translation;  social sharing of content; and mobile administration that enables updating and republishing of content in real time, from anywhere.

• Editing: Reviewing Levels and Choosing Types. This session, presented by Linda Oestreich and Michelle Corbin, discussed the difference between types and levels of editing, and provided examples of how organizations define editing levels and types. This informative session reminded me of the rich body of knowledge available about the discipline of technical editing, which organizations can draw on both to build a case for the role of editing and define editing tasks to best meet their needs.

• SIG progressions. I was one of the presenters at the Technical Editing SIG progression, whose general theme was the evolving role of editing in a rapidly changing profession. Session topics included the impact of Twitter on language and editing (my session) and strategies for simplicity in written communication by Andrea Wenger, incoming president of the Carolina chapter. The Lone Writer SIG progression included a session by writer Karen Mulholland with tips about effective self-management for project success. Karen shared samples of documentation plan templates and tracking tools she uses in her role as a single writer on a project. The Contracting and Independent Consulting SIG progression included informative sessions on working with contract agencies by Cheryl Landes, owner of Tabby Cat Communications, and using low-cost tools to enhance productivity by consultant Ed Marshall.

Recognition

I was happy to see two communities that are very special to me — the Rochester chapter and the Technical Editing SIG — receive major awards. Both communities received the Pacesetter Award, given to communities who demonstrate innovation in planning and execution of activities during the program year. The Rochester chapter’s award was based on a comprehensive marketing plan developed in conjunction with marketing students at Rochester institute of Technology. In addition, the Rochester chapter was named a Community of Excellence.

(For more information about the Technical Editing SIG and its accomplishments, go to http://www.stc-techedit.org.)

Networking

This year’s conference went social in a big way. Attendees tweeted and blogged live about the conference sessions and exhibits, issued online calls for lunch and dinner gatherings, and shared overall impressions and updates both during and after the conference. And yet…even with the strong pulse of social media, there was an energy of presence at this year’s conference — a genuine hunger to meet, learn, and teach in person. STC and its members have had our share of struggles in this challenging economy with its resulting job losses. But at this year’s Summit, I sensed a community of professionals who recognized their common bond and who drew together to celebrate both their accomplishments and the many opportunities available to us going forward. Even with all of the ways that technology can connect us, sometimes you just have to be there!

On to 2012

I truly hope that as many of us as possible can attend Summit 2012 next year in Chicago. If you’re on Twitter, check out tweets with the hashtag #stc12 for the latest news about Summit 2012!

Related articles

• STC Rochester at Summit (stc-rochester.org)
• Summit Perspectives: Frank Halstead (stc-rochester.org)
• STC Summit 2011 Leadership Day (stc-carolina.org)

Welcome to Summit Perspectives. This is the first in a series of guest posts by STC Rochester attendees at the STC Summit 2011 Conference in Sacramento.  We hope these posts will give those of you who were unable to attend Summit a view into the conference. Our first post is from Frank Halstead, Technical Writer, ILS Projects Group, Harris RF Communications.

Joe (Andres) and I are from Harris RF Communications. We met up with Heather (Ferrin-Germani) and Elaine (Lanni) at the airport on Sunday morning to begin our STC Summit 2011 Conference and as a dinner/social group. The Summit offers a very nicely packaged opportunity to explore a diverse set of topics and while it is possible that I may have been in sessions with other Rochester members, I only knew of those in our small group and a fellow employee from my ABB years who works in Columbus, Ohio. Of course, it would be great to meet the rest of you; but, I will need to find the time to make the local meetings.

My first session was “Cut the Fluff” with Leah Guren. This was a great way to start out, a down-to-earth basics reminder of how less can equal greater content and the fact that we are under no obligation to document all paths/methods all the time. “TechComm 2020″ (Tristan Bishop) was my next session. I think it might as well have been 2011 or 2012 extended since the only real trend I took from that was what is currently happening being morphed out. One good insight was the use of twitter hashtags and a reference to hootsuite.com (See what I mean). And, some of us still work in more restricted environments.

Monday afternoon, I took in the Certification session with Steve Jong. This is a first step in setting basic standards for technical communicators and lays the foundation for other focused certifications in our field. OK, in the “Extending Adobe FrameMaker Beyond What’s In the Box (Rajat Bansal), I was able to get back to a good old how-to session. Well, on the surface anyway. Vendors can never resist offering to do it for you

On Tuesday, I was able to get a session in that I had missed last year in Dallas, “Building Visual Explanations” with Don Moyer. So, maybe I will do that parade of vignettes and make use of some magic vision. Don is an outstanding presenter and knows how to keep everyone fully engaged. A great session! Well, going from such an open experience to “Structured Authoring” (Mary Craig, Pamela Kostur) is certainly one way to take that first step into content management. The presenters made a great case for their movement in that direction because they really do have many variations on basic products and systems that could benefit from reuse. We did some exploration work with this using Documentum as our content management system at ABB.

That afternoon I was back with the Adobe people (Samartha Vashishtha) looking at their community help with their writers (another great insight) and finished out the day with Delivering Content with Adobe TCS 3 (Matt Sullivan) and a few ins and outs of getting content single-sourced through to multiple devices. Do you have a favorite?

The “Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies” (Tom Johnson) session had me hoping for a real breakthrough. What I did come away with is the need to apply better metadata facets to chunked information and to look closer at our points of entry in a world where everything is miscellaneous and every page is page one. Does this make you want to learn more?

Wow, Wednesday came really fast and was the surprise of the Summit for two really great sessions: “Knowledge Transfer” with James Conklin and “Mental Model Diagrams” with Indi Young. James had really good insights into the knowing-doing gap and offered much research into implementation science. Looks like some of us may want to be knowledge brokers someday soon. Finally, Indi helped me understand how to map out a qualitative approach to understanding and mapping customer reasoning using behaviors, beliefs, and reactions to the things we do from a user perspective. Naturally, these topics are more complicated than can be easily summarized here.

I do hope that you get a bit of the flavor and experience you may find by attending the STC Summit. It is well worth your time.

Finally, to my travelling partners, thanks for sharing a wonderful few days together and the joys of travelling – delays and all.

As you’ve read, Frank packed an amazing number of sessions into his days at the conference. His experience gives you an overview of some of the many sessions offered.

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• STC Rochester at Summit (stc-rochester.org)