InfoPlus March 2025

ISTC News
ISTC Community
A bit of AI … poking and prodding
Upcoming events
Training courses
About InfoPlus
Back Page

ISTC News

ISTC Presidents

Following the recent passing of President Linda Robins, the ISTC Board has taken steps to ensure continuity and confidence during this period of change. We have asked Carol Leahy and James Bartley to jointly oversee the responsibilities of the President’s role until the next AGM, when a new President will be duly elected.

Carol, a past President, brings invaluable experience, while James, an active member of Council, is committed to continuing the work they started together and her vision for the ISTC. Their collaboration will ensure that the ISTC continues to serve and support its members effectively.

Annual Survey

The ISTC Annual Survey covering employment is available for all technical communicators in the UK. The purpose of this survey is to collect data relating to qualifications, experience and pay of technical communicators in the UK.

Please click on the link here to get started.

This is your final reminder to complete the survey. It will take you 10 minutes at most (guaranteed). The deadline for the survey is Monday 31st March 2025.

UK Technical Communication Awards

Entries are now open for 2025 through the ISTC website. Please check here for details. Then fill out the entry form to nominate yourself, your team or someone else. If you need any help with your online submission, contact us at istc@istc.org.uk.

We are keeping the established guidelines. The Awards are open to any individual or team, whether employed, self-employed, contracting, volunteering, permanent, temporary, full-time, or part-time. We continue to encourage entries of all types, from traditional documentation to those demonstrating technical innovation and look forward to receiving yours.

ISTC Website Updates (Current and Future)

The website team has been making great progress behind the scenes to improve the Communicator archives.

We’re making it easier to search for past articles and explore back issues, with clear previews before downloading. As part of this, we’ve been organising and refining the archive to ensure these valuable resources are as accessible as possible, and have taken the opportunity to update our libraries, ensuring that previously unavailable articles are now included. We’re also looking ahead, planning how best to present the collection in the long term.

In related news, we’ve begun work on improving website performance by optimising images with newer file formats. This will help pages load faster, making browsing a smoother experience. All of this is part of our ongoing commitment to using UX principles to design a site that truly supports members’ needs and goals, both now and in the future.

ISTC Mentoring Programme for 2025

We are pleased to announce that we will be opening the doors for the next round of entries to our mentoring programme in March. Our 4-month mentoring programme is open to all members of the ISTC, regardless of your membership level.

We will send an email to all members in March with a link to the application form once it’s live (sometime in mid-March). The same link will also be available on the Mentoring page on the ISTC website. Once we have accessed entries and matched up mentees to appropriate members, the programme will commence on May 1st.

If you have any queries, then please email mentoring@istc.org.uk.

Communicator (Spring Issue)

The latest issue will be going out (physical and PDF – depending on your preference) on March 15th and it will feature articles about mechanical and design engineering, artificial intelligence and several book and event reviews to keep you well informed.

IJTC Update

The February newsletter was issued (late) last week and nearly didn’t make the February deadline! It contained all the latest articles that are available on the site.

This includes an article API Documentation by Warren Singer and multiple articles by Firehead’s CJ Walker about technical communication and the career progression associated with it.

If you have anything that you would like to publish then get in touch with me via the editor@ijtc.net address.

Advertise in InfoPlus

Get your company or products noticed in the TechComms community! We are offering new opportunities for advertising in our monthly InfoPlus newsletter.

These adverts are banners to be positioned as you choose. Placement examples are included in this PDF, which also contains all the necessary steps and costs involved to place an advert in future editions of InfoPlus.

If you would like to advertise with us please contact Chantel Sankey – istc@istc.org.uk.

ISTC Community

Become more involved in the professional community through the ISTC Area Groups, join us online at one of our monthly ISTC Meets events, and find us on social media (links below). Members (once logged in) also have access to the ISTC Discussion Forums.

Area Groups

We hope to have some updates on both the Cambridge and Midlands Area Groups in the next issue of InfoPlus.

If you wish to start your own Area Group, contact istc@istc.org.uk.

Thames Valley Area Group

The Thames Valley local group meeting is at the Bird-in-Hand pub in Knowle Hill, RG10 9UP on the first Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm. All are welcome.

They rarely have a set subject but the conversation always has a strong tech comms flavour. Maybe something from recent news, something that has happened at work, or some new technology to discuss.

London Area Group

The next London Area Group meetup is pencilled in for Wednesday 19th March.

The location is, by default, near the Royal Festival Hall at The Southbank Centre.

We can meet either inside (in the foyer) or outside (at the bench outside of the Foyles). You can confirm the exact location in the WhatsApp chat for the group at the time of meeting as it’s decided in the moment, depending on the environment.

ISTC Meets

ISTC Meets is our monthly series of live online presentations and discussions from industry experts across the Technical Communication spectrum.

There is a ISTC Meets planned for March, but we are sorting out the finer details and a separate email will be sent out to those on the email list. If you contact ISTC directly, istc@istc.org.uk, you can be added to the ISTC Meets mailing list.

If there are people out there willing to give a 30 minute or so talk on their aspects of tech comms (via Zoom), please get in touch with ISTC Meets.

For full details of all of our previous speakers, and for all future ISTC Meets, please visit our website.

Social Media

Community Forums

The forums are available to all members once you have logged into the ISTC website.

A Request for Back Issues

In ISTC Towers we’ve recently been looking at all of our back issues of our magazine, Communicator – or The Communicator, as it was originally called. Currently we are missing a few scans of our older issues and we’d like to find these gap fillers.

To save repeating this list in every issue of InfoPlus going forward, we’ve added the list of missing issues to the Communicator Archive page.

A bit of AI … poking and prodding.

Pot and kettle?

In last month’s InfoPlus, I had a mini-rant about Microsoft forcing all Microsoft Office 365 subscribers … oops! it’s now Microsoft CoPilot 365, I forgot about the rebranding!

This was where you will get CoPilot forced upon your various Office applications (whether you like it or not) and to really give a swift kick where it wasn’t wanted, there was going to be a raise in the yearly cost too.

Well, this month, Microsoft released a press release bemoaning the fact that people are getting so used to AI apps, that they aren’t thinking critically any more. (¹)

On the one hand, here’s an AI agent that they are forcing us to install (and pay extra for), which will get in your way. However, on the other hand, please don’t use it too much (or any other similar AI agents) before we all go back to living in a cave because we stopped thinking for ourselves!

Anthropic Wants You to Use AI – Just Not to Apply for Its Jobs

I spotted this on Gizmondo a few days after the February edition of InfoPlus had already been issued. But it’s in a similar vein to the pot and kettle approach from Microsoft above, so I’ve included it here:

In a comical case of irony, Anthropic, a leading developer of artificial intelligence models, is asking applicants to its open job roles to certify that they will not use AI in the application process.

Anthropic develops Claude, a chatbot that is well-regarded for its friendly conversational tone and coding abilities. The company has raised nearly $11 billion in funding from deep-pocketed companies like Google and Amazon to compete against OpenAI in the race to artificial general intelligence, or an AI that can replace most humans for most tasks.

Upcoming Events

There are four in-person and online only conferences coming up in March, followed by three in April and two in May. All of their details are below:

Title: prompt:UX 2025 (AI – UX Design)
Date: March 6th, 2025
Online/In-Person: In-Person in Zurich, Switzerland.
Website: https://uiuxtrend.com/event/promptux-2025/

About:
Design AI Prompts and Workflows to Improve User Journeys (Workshop)

AI is the biggest change to our domain since its creation. However, it can also be a tool to help you plan for change. In this workshop, we’ll dive deep into the art and science of designing AI prompts and workflows to unblock your productivity, spur creative ideation, and facilitate planning of content experiences in this dynamic market.

Through live exercises, using an AI-powered persona and journey mapping methodology proven with some of the world’s largest brands, you’ll learn how and where you can insert AI into your work. We’ll look at how to architect multi-prompt, multi-AI workflows to integrate these new technologies into your processes and build faster and richer journey and concept maps.

Note: ChatGPT access with a paid account is required.

Title: NORDIC TechKomm 2025
Date: March 12th-13th, 2025
Online/In-Person: In-Person at the Downtown Camper by Scandic in Stockholm
Website: https://se.nordic-techkomm.com/

About:
The main conference theme is “Technical Information in Heavily Regulated Industries”.

Key topics for NORDIC TechKomm Stockholm:

Future Trends in Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory Landscapes
Technical Documentation Best Practices
Technology’s Role in Compliance
Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals Case Studies
Cybersecurity and Data Protection
Global Standards vs. Local Regulations
Risk Management through Documentation
Training for Technical Writers

Title: KM & AI Summit
Date: March 17th-19th, 2025
Online/In-Person: In-Person in Scottsdale, Arizona
Website: KM & AI Summit

About:
The KM & AI Summit aims to unlock a new era of knowledge management by bringing thought leaders, knowledge management practitioners, and technology experts together to develop innovative strategies.

If you’re a knowledge leader, IT professional, or innovator, don’t miss the opportunities to explore AI-powered knowledge management, learn from industry leaders, future-proof your knowledge strategy and tools, explore real-world case studies, and network with fellow innovators.

(For anyone going to this event from the UK, March is the start of the ‘Arizona Summer’ which can last for up to 6 months. Take plenty of suncream and wear a hat!)

Title: Adobe Summit 2025
Date: March 17th-20th, 2025
Online/In-Person: In-Person is 17th-20th (inc. a Pre-Conference)
Online is March 18th & 19th only.
Website: https://summit.adobe.com/na/summit-online/

About:
Be front row for the future of customer experience. Get inspired by innovators from the world’s top brands, connect with other leaders, and explore what’s next in generative AI and personalization at scale. If you can’t attend the live event in Las Vegas, join us online from anywhere. Explore sessions.

Title: Convex, San Jose, California
Date: April 7th-9th, 2025
Online/In-Person: In-Person
Website: https://convex.infomanagementcenter.com/

About:
There are 3 days of sessions with 4 Tracks, the ever popular Technology Test Kitchen, content management solutions representatives, and the very best in industry networking.

ConVEx San Jose is designed with your specific needs in mind—providing strategies you can use immediately as you create and manage technical content.

Title: Information Energy
Date: April 2nd-4th, 2025
Online/In-Person: Online only
Website: https://www.informationenergy.org/

About:
This three-day event from Wednesday to Friday will bring together people, who want to explore the novelties of technical communication. Join 300 other attendees who care about current and future trends. Check out the exciting topics, which range from AI and other new technologies in TC to content strategy, professional development, and the business value of TC.

The entire event will be hosted online via Zoom, providing easy access for attendees around the world. The conference language is English. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to learn, connect, and grow within the tech comm community. We look forward to seeing you there!

Note: There is an early bird discount option on the ticket price. It will save you 100 Euros if you purchase your ticket before March 18th 2025.

Title: prompt:UX 2025 (AI – UX Design)
Date: April 8th-9th, 2025
Online/In-Person: In-Person in Berlin, Germany
Website: https://uiuxtrend.com/event/promptux-2025/

About:
Europe’s premier annual conference at the crossroads of Articial Intelligence (AI) and User Experience (UX) Design, will be held in Berlin. Whether you’re a designer, researcher, or UX leader, promptUX offers an exceptional platform to explore cutting-edge trends, exchange valuable insights, and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of digital experiences.

Note: The first day is the conference with the speakers, the second day is when one of the two full day workshops that you’ve picked will be held.

Title: Write The Docs, Portland
Date: May 4th-6th, 2025
Online/In-Person: In-Person in Portland, Oregon
Website: https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2025/

Write the Docs is a well known global event and community for software documentation professionals, including programmers, technical writers, customer support, designers, project managers, and more.

With hundreds of documentarians from around the world, this conference offers conferences, networking opportunities, open-source projects, and lightning talks all about the art and science of documentation.

Title: tcworld China 2025
Date: May 22nd-23rd, 2025
Online/In-Person: In-Person in Shanghai, China.
Website: https://www.tcworld-china.cn/en/

About:
Key Topics for tcworld China 2025:

Technical Authoring
AI in Technical Communication
International Standards
Information Design and information Development
UX
Software Documentation
Globalisation/Localisation/Terminology
Content Marketing
Education and Career Development
Content Management and Delivery

Training Courses

Accredited courses have been reviewed by a professional panel of experienced ISTC members. A course listed as “ISTC Accredited” means that the panel believes the course meets its stated objectives and is suitable for its intended audience.

Course providers have to apply for renewal of accreditation every 2 years, which helps to ensure the courses reflect current best practice.

Armada

The Armada course (run over 5 days) is available either online or via an in-person classroom-based course. The next dates are:

Online: 31st March – 4th April 2025
Bristol: 31st March – 4th April 2025
Reading: Classroom-based & Online – 16th – 20th June 2025

There are also classes available at their Birmingham / Bromsgrove, Cardiff, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Nottingham and Sheffield Training Centres. These would need to be arranged upon request.

For further details, see www.armada.co.uk/course/tatp.

Cherryleaf

The Cherryleaf courses are available online and can be booked for single tech comms people or as a group.

Technical Writer – Induction Course: https://cherryleaf.teachable.com/p/technical-writer-induction-course

Using Generative AI in Technical Writing: https://cherryleaf.teachable.com/p/using-generative-ai

ESTON Technical/Commercial Authorship

This course run by ESTON is online-only and is available any time.

Technical/Commercial Authorship Diploma Course ‐ Parts 1 & 2 (EDL2D)

ESTON Simplified English Part 3 (EDL8T)

A discount is offered to ISTC members.

TCTrainNet – tekom Certificate training in Technical Communication

There are two accredited courses available from TCTrain and the dates in 2025 when they are run are:

TCTrain Professional course for beginners and career changers:

April 7th 2025
June 23rd 2025
September 29th 2025
November 24th 2025

TCTrainNet Professional

TCTrain Expert course for experienced technical writers:

April 7th 2025
October 20th 2025

TCTrainNet Expert

For ISTC members, TCTrainNet offer a discount of 200 Euros too.

Firehead

Firehead offer a number of accredited courses. They are supplied in a format of videos, PDFs, eBooks and assessments.

Please note that attending an ISTC Accredited course from the trainers above does not automatically make you an ISTC Member. You will still need to apply for ISTC membership afterwards. If the training course has whet your whistle, then come and join us.

About InfoPlus

InfoPlus is your go-to source for staying informed about our profession, featuring news not only from the ISTC but also from across the technical communication community.

This complimentary newsletter is emailed to approximately 1500 individuals.

Subscribe to InfoPlus here, you can unsubscribe at any time from within the email sent out each month.

For advertising enquiries, contact istc@istc.org.uk.

Submitting content

If you have noteworthy information to share with your peers, please send it my way at newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk. We want to ensure that your news reaches as many people as possible.

Published and distributed on the first working day of each month, InfoPlus occasionally experiences slight delays until the first week of the month. Keep this in mind when submitting time-sensitive information.

Please get the information for the April 2025 edition to newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk by Monday 17th March 2025..

About our publishers

InfoPlus, the Monthly Newsletter from the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC), is a valuable resource for the largest UK body representing scientific and technical communicators. Whether you are involved in technical writing, technical illustration, or other forms of communicating technical information, ISTC is the professional association dedicated to supporting your career.

Explore the benefits of ISTC membership and find out how to join.

Back Page

Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to find anything remotely “back page-ish” to use this month. There haven’t been any submissions from our members or via the ISTC forums, and a general lack of anything, other than Dilbert strips that need to be paid for if we used one.

If you have something else, be it funny or a puzzle, or even if it’s more puns, you can send them to newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk by Monday 17th March 2025.

Additional menu

Contents