I just attended a fabulous technical communications conference for the TransAlpine chapter of the Society for Technical Commication in Vienna, Austria. We learned a lot about blogging and WordPress from some real pros. (And I just happen to be the president of the organisation this year.)
The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is the world’s largest organization for professionals working in the widespread area of technical communication: technical writers, illustrators, indexers, online help developers, trainers, technical marketeers, etc. STC has 20.000 members, divided over 150 local chapters.
At our 2009 conference in Vienna, we had Tom Johnson from Salt Lake City, Utah, who is well known for his blog “idratherbewriting.com” to talk and give demonstrations on blogging, screencasting and podcasting and quick reference manuals.
Ellis Pratt, of Cherry Leaf in the UK spoke about employement trends in Technical Communications and how to prepare for the future market.
David Farbey of Danywell Ltd., presented his findings from a survey he conducted on end-user considerations in designing Technical Documentation.
All of the presentations and discussion had a focus on how social networking media will have a profound influence on both how we communicate information in our profession and the future of the market for technical communicators.
I’m convinced – Firehead is starting a blog! We’re going to go over trends, tools and topics in International Technical Communications, with the intention of creating a multi-layered dialogue with professionals in our field. Stay tuned.
