UPDATED 18 AUGUST 2021: Access to Summit OnDemand has been extended to 30 September 2021.
Even though the live virtual Summit is now history, STC is still offering Summit OnDemand with access to recordings of all of the Featured Speaker sessions, education sessions, and exhibitors on the virtual Summit platform. Access to all of these goodies will be available through 31 August 2021.
I believe this would be a good education investment for anyone interested in improving their technical communication skills. To help you decide whether to spend the money to access all of the recordings, here are some of my recommendations, based on my favorite sessions. I hope you find these recommendations useful whether you are catching up on sessions you could not attend in June or attending the virtual Summit for the first time.
So You Think You Know What Your Readers Want? (Yoel Strimling)
This was the first session I attended and it was informative and lively and full of immediately useful information. Sometimes, a presentation about a research project can be dry or too detailed about the methodology. Yoel’s presentation brought the answers that technical communicators need to reach their readers. It’s a research paper brought to life.
Yoel’s proposed documentation quality feedback model charted the information in an easy-to-follow format. He showed us how to approach asking about what readers want and how to interpret their responses without becoming overly technical. Follow up the session by reading his Proceedings Paper to get more details.
Develop Engaging, Interactive Online Training Sessions (Mark Kleinsmith and Steve Morgan)
This is the story of how a manufacturing company pivoted from face-to-face customer site training to virtual delivery of the same value. The presenters described how they fulfilled the goal of meeting their multiple customers’ needs with uniform instructional design that did not rely on an on-site trainer. Instead of downloading software and hoping it would be used, they provided tablets with uniform content so that all customers received the same training, despite shipping delays and connectivity problems.
This was good example of a different approach resulting in a better training experience for the trainers and the customers.
Low-Cost, Low-Effort Ways to Create Infographics and Visually Appealing Slides (Kelly Schrank)
The infographics I have struggled to construct usually turn out to be less than useful. Kelly provided the coaching I needed to change my approach to infographics in favor of cleaner, more user-centered infographics. Getting to the heart of the design is the need to emphasize the most needed information by avoiding needless clutter. Good tips and resources gave me a confidence boost in this topic.
No Money, No Design Skills, No Problem (Mike Parkinson)
This session offered more help to conquer less-than-useful infographics. Mike provided many sources for free and low-cost illustrations and a master planning sheet to figure out what sort of infographic will best present your content. This session definitely increased my confidence that I can create good infographics.
Tools Be Damned! Full Speed Ahead (Bernard Aschwanden)
This session was crammed with tips and shortcuts across several apps, including Google and Microsoft Excel. Bernard’s relaxed approach to sharing so much information made it easy to follow. Again, lots of additional resources are included in the slide deck.
Zoom-Proof Your Presentations: Delivering Engaging Talks in a Virtual Space (Leah Guren)
Leah concentrated on the “how” of an effective virtual presentation. She demonstrated a several things not to do as well as what setup and behavior will help an audience concentrate on content instead of being distracted. The goal is for attendees to talk about what they learned, not what distracting antics they wished you hadn’t done.
These are my top picks, but I gained knowledge and tips from every session I attended, whether in June or afterward. The 2021 virtual Summit OnDemand is a treasure trove of information and inspiration. I hope you don’t miss this opportunity.