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Of Interest: STC TechComm Unconference!

Calling all technical communicators: Join us for our first-ever Tech Comm Unconference!

The STC Chicago Chapter, in collaboration with the STC Rochester and STC Carolina Chapters and the STC Technical Editing SIG, will be hosting a collaborative space for technical communicators to come together and discuss relevant topics, including projects, questions, difficulties and more. You bring the topic and we provide the space for the discussion.

How It Works: Attendees can bring their own topics and lead discussions in our hosted breakout rooms, or they can join someone else’s topic that they find interesting. Just as at an in-person event, attendees can move freely between different breakout sessions.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to discuss new topics and ideas with colleagues in an open and inviting virtual environment!

To register, go to https://www.stc-chicago.com/tech-comm-unconference/.

When:

February 29, 2024 at 12:00-2:00 p.m. CST (for your local time, click here)

Cost:

STC members – FREE
Students – FREE
Non-members – $5

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Of Interest: You’re Wrong. My Documentation Is Brilliant!

On 30 January 2024 at 1200 PM ET (click here for your local time), join Jeff Klein for an interesting discussion about the complexities technical writers encounter when navigating negative feedback that is generic, vague, and utterly lacking in specificity. Uncover an effective approach to identify the underlying issues that feedback providers often struggle to articulate. Learn a practical methodology you can implement that will transform their non-actionable critique into a roadmap for enhancing the precision, clarity, and impact of your technical documentation.

For tickets, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/youre-wrong-my-documentation-is-brilliant-tickets-788846088887.

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The Fundamentals of Technical Communication: Throw Out Your Thesaurus and Pick Up a Style Guide

by Chelsea Fulton

Consumers of technical content are hardly a captive audience. Typically, our readers need help setting up a product and troubleshooting errors. Rarely, if ever, do technical content consumers browse our websites and white papers for entertainment. Our consumers are purpose-driven. Therefore, technical content creators must be accurate, explicit, concise, and consistent.

  • According to Demand Metric, consistently presented brands are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience brand visibility.
  • A study by Marq determined that consistently presenting a brand can increase a company’s average revenue by 10-20%.
  • BBC News found that one spelling mistake can cut online sales in half.​ 

The bottom line is that consistency and quality matter.

Consistency is one of the fundamental differences between technical writing and other writing styles. Effective technical communication is uniform. The margin of interpretation for technical content should be next to non-existent. So, how does a team of 15 technical writers tasked with creating and maintaining hundreds of documents write in a way that is indistinguishable to an untrained eye?

An internal style guide, that’s how.

Continue reading “The Fundamentals of Technical Communication: Throw Out Your Thesaurus and Pick Up a Style Guide”
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Coming Soon: The STC TESIG Editors’ Exchange 2023 Mini-Conference!

The goal of the STC Technical Editing SIG (TESIG) is to provide its members with high quality information about editing processes and best practices, as well as resources that demonstrate the value of editing and editors in an organization.

To meet this goal, we are happy to announce EdEx23, an online mini-conference dedicated to the field of technical editing and to technical editing practitioners.

EdEx23 will be held on 14 November 2023 from 8:45 AM to 12:00 PM ET (for your local time, go to https://tinyurl.com/cw228pyx). Come hear the following fascinating speakers:

  • Chelsea Fulton will be presenting a session called “Write It Right: Implementing a Global Style Guide“.
  • Fatima Hyder will be speaking about “Technical Editors – What Are They Good For?“.
  • Leah Guren will talk about “Don’t Touch That Doc ’til You’ve Had the Talk!”.

We especially encourage students and new technical editing practitioners to join us!

To see details about the presentations and to purchase tickets for EdEx23, go to https://tinyurl.com/35w7ae8p.

The price of the tickets is for the entire mini-conference, and attendees can join at any time. All sessions will be recorded, and the recordings and slides will be made available to attendees after the mini-conference.

EdEx23 attendees who are STC members can earn up to 2 CEUs for the full half-day program. For credit, submit a request for CEUs to certification@stc.org.

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Of Interest: Exploring Workplace Bias in Software Companies

Amanda Altamirano, a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Central Florida. is inviting technical communicators to participate in research that gathers their opinions and experiences working in the software industry.

The purpose of this research is:

  1. To find out about technical communicators’ perceptions and experiences specific to bias in the software workplace,
  2. To figure out if these perceptions and experiences impact their ability to author and manage technical software documentation.
  3. To determine whether a diagram can help reduce biases in technical documentation.

Survey participants will receive a $5 Amazon e-gift card.
Click the link below to participate:

https://ucf.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_br0Yehc69OQIaKq