ISTC news
TCUK2026 News
TCUK26 will take place online on Wednesday 11th November, starting at 1pm with the ISTC’s AGM which is for members only.
The UKTC Awards ceremony will follow and then we hope to have an invited speaker or speakers.
More details will follow in due course but, for now, please do put the date in your diary.
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.
Website volunteer team
Website updates
August is a quieter month for the team, due to summer holidays and other commitments, but we’ve still been able to continue our efforts to update the website.
We are expecting to make significant changes to the two areas we are currently working on, membership and TCUK. As such, we’re making sure that each group of pages are ready to update as a set before we publish them to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible. We’ll let you know here as soon as they’re live.
One bug that has been worked on this month, and that directly affects InfoPlus, is an issue we were having with links to content within the same page. Sometimes, the content would be partially hidden at the top of the page, or display halfway down the page. The linked content should now show up at the top of the page as you would expect. Try out the ‘back to top’ links to view the contents and browse this issue with ease.
Lastly, we’ve made some tweaks to the new design of InfoPlus to improve readability on mobile and desktop, as well as improving page-load speed.
You should see these roll out from this month, and we’ll be implementing these for previous issues using this design as soon as we can.
Want to lend a hand?
If you’d like to help the ISTC improve its website and collaborate with other ISTC members in the process, send an email to istc@istc.org.uk.
We’re a friendly team and there’s no pressure to volunteer a particular number of hours, you can help out as and when your availability allows.
IJTC news
August newsletter
The August issue was sent out on the 18th August and it contained articles from both Jean Rollinson and CJ Walker.
The articles were:
- A picture tells a 1000 words – Jean Rollinson
- The rise of English – Jean Rollinson
- Trends in English – Jean Rollinson
- Diversity in Language – Jean Rollinson
- How Semantic Search Skills Empower Technical Communicators (Number 43) – CJ Walker
- How Knowledge Organisation System Skills Empower Technical Communicators (Number 44) – CJ Walker
The IJTC website is here.
You must be a member of the ISTC to log in to the IJTC. You will have been added to the website when you joined the ISTC.
We want your articles!
Here are the rules:
- It doesn’t have to be of an epic length. We’re not expecting you to craft x-thousand words to fill a page.
- There’s nothing stopping you from sending in multiple small articles for a series, along the lines of our series from Jean Rollinson and CJ Walker.
- It has to be relevant to the technical communicators who are part of ISTC – as well as our Australian and New Zealand colleagues.
- If you would like to submit your “day in the life”, they are also welcome.
- It must not be generated using AI. You can, however, write about AI tools used within the tech comms field.
Take a look at the other articles already on the website and see if your subject would fit in.
When you’re ready to get your article(s) published, send it to editor@ijtc.net.
ISTC Community
ISTC Slack
The details of where to find our Slack channel can be found on the Members’ Portal page when you log onto the ISTC Website.
Before joining please remember:
This is a professional space, and all areas, including any private messages, may be reviewed by the ISTC and are subject to the ISTC’s Code of Professional Practice.
We look forward to seeing you in there.
Area groups
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
Due to the scorching hot weather, August’s meeting was online. The next meetup is Wednesday 23rd September. We hoping that as it’s cooling down, we can go back to doing face-to-face meetings and meeting up at the usual place on the South Bank.
ISTC Meets
This is our monthly series of online live presentations and discussions from industry experts across the Technical Communication spectrum.
For full details of all of our previous speakers, and for all future ISTC Meets, please visit our website.
Details of what our September edition of ISTC Meets will be covering will be emailed to all members of the mailing list after this issue of InfoPlus has been sent out.
Contact the ISTC directly, istc@istc.org.uk, to be added to the ISTC Meets mailing list.
Talking heads wanted!
Do you want to give a 30 minute talk on any aspects of tech comms (via Zoom)? Get in touch with ISTC Meets.
Social media
We recently pared back our social media areas to make them easier to manage and post to. Our FB pages for ISTC and TCUK will remain for the time being whilst they are archived, then they will be removed permanently.
Community forums
The forums are available to all members once logged into the ISTC website.
AI news & apps
Bill Gates says …
Bill Gates has written an article warning about being unprepared for the AI revolution and make sure we can recognise the good from the bad actors.
Back in the mists of time …
One for the history buffs. Steve Jobs was talking (back in 1983) about whether a machine will ever be self-aware. Things have changed since then. Link to the YouTube video clip.
The Hugging Face Incident
In July 2026, during internal cybersecurity evaluations, OpenAI models circumvented controls designed to isolate them from the internet and compromised parts of OpenAI’s internal research infrastructure and Hugging Face’s systems. The OpenAI has uploaded a report on what happened and what effects were felt.
Free AI courses
AI Tools
A round-up of some (new to me) AI tools that might be of use to all types of tech comms people.
Note: Just because I’ve included a particular AI app in the selection below, it doesn’t mean that ISTC are promoting these AI apps.
I do recommend, however, subscribing to the There’s An AI For That‘s newsletter if you want to keep yourself up to date on all things AI, including the latest tools.
Yinso AI is a music creation agent (like Suno) but it will also generate songs in multiple languages. It’s currently available in beta at the moment.
Hey Clicky is an AI buddy that lives on your Mac. In the same way you would write a normal AI prompt to do “something”, Hey Clicky actually shows you within the app you need help with.
A Windows version is in the pipeline and you can sign up to receive a notification when it’s available.
From viral images to reusable prompts – don’t reinvent the wheel!
A visual workspace for GPT-Image2 creation: browse real cases, copy prompts, test image generation, explore industrial templates, and join the creator community.
Technical Writer HQ Infographic
Our thanks go to Technical Writer HQ for the above infographic. We will be including one in every issue of InfoPlus for the remainder of this year.
Upcoming events
There are multiple in-person and/or online-only conferences coming up this year. If you think we’ve missed any out, please get in touch via newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk, or send me a message via the ISTC Slack channel.
Title: Write the Docs, Berlin
Date: September 6th – 8th, 2026
Online/In-Person: Both – Paul-Lincke-Ufer 21, 10999 Berlin
Website: https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/berlin/2026/
Tickets will go on sale in April 2026 and the conference is still in the ‘Call for Proposals’ stage.
Title: Lead with Tempo 2026
Date: September 10th 2026
Online/In-Person: In-Person at Barbican Centre, London. EC2Y 8DS
Website: https://www.leadwithtempo.com/
Our global leaders cover topics such as:
- Thinking beyond the product to connect content across our orgs
- Leveraging AI within your teams
- Setting content design teams up for success
- Best-practice when designing for AI
- Fostering design-wide advocacy for content
Title: Hatch Conference
Date: September 18th, 2026
Online: Only streaming tickets are available.
Website: https://www.hatchconference.com/
Hatch runs out of Silent Green, a former crematorium turned cultural quarter. Indoor stages, open air, the feel of a design festival rather than a corporate conference.
As a conference born in Berlin, we are renegades, non-conformists and experimental. The talks and sessions at Hatch are unique and that energy comes through the screen!
Title: Lavacon 2026
Date: October 25th-28th
Online/In-Person: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Website: https://www.lavacon.org/
LavaCon is a gathering place for Content Strategists, Documentation Managers, and other content professionals willing to share their best practices and lesson learned—what worked, and what didn’t.
Our Mission: To help organisations reduce costs, increase revenue, and improve the Customer Experience through better content.
Title: Converge 2026
Date: October 22nd, 2026
In-Person: Sage 2, The Glasshouse, Newcastle (UK)
Website: https://converge.zeroheight.com/
Converge is zeroheight’s annual Design System conference, now in its 5th year. This time, we’re heading north to Newcastle!
Converge is for people doing the work of design systems, from starting out to scaling.
We’re coming together to share the messy realities, learn from each other, and move forward as a community.
Title: Service Design Global Conference
Date: 28th to 30th October 2026
In-Person: RheinMain Congress Center, Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 1, 65185 Wiesbaden, Germany
Website: https://www.servicedesignglobalconference.com/
The theme for this year’s event is “Beyond Boundaries: Enabling Solutions that Shape Tomorrow” and it explores how organisations across the public and private sectors, and the communities they serve, can move past today’s limits to shape more resilient, meaningful futures through service design.
As organisations face structural, cultural, technological, and environmental boundaries, progress increasingly depends on new ways of working, collaborating, and making sense of complexity across disciplines.
Accredited 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.
Training Courses
Armada
The Technical Authoring Training Programme by Armada is run over 5 days.
You can attend in-person at our dedicated training facilities at Bristol, Bromsgrove, Manchester or Reading, or participate live online.
The next course dates are:
- Online – 14th-18th September 2026
- Bristol: Classroom-based – 14th-18th September, 2026
- Reading: Classroom-based – 23rd–27th November, 2026
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.
- Using Generative AI in Technical Writing
48 modules, 40+ exercises, and personal feedback from working experts. Self-paced accredited course. - Technical Writer – Induction Course
An affordable way to master the skills of technical writing, with assessments and a certificate.
TCTrainNet
There are two accredited courses available from TCTrainNet:
- TCTrainNet Professional
Aimed at beginners and career changers. Intakes 20th April and 22nd June 2026. - TCTrainNet Expert
Aimed at experienced technical writers. Intakes 20th April and 12th October 2026.
Firehead
Firehead offer a number of accredited courses. They are supplied in a format of videos, PDFs, eBooks and assessments.
Important
Attending an ISTC Accredited course does not automatically make you an ISTC Member. Becoming an ISTC member is separate from attending an accredited course and requires applying separately. If the training course has wet your whistle, then come and join us.
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Back page
After the previous issue’s discussion about how Word gets it wrong instead of right, Don Barwick sent me these examples of Word’s Spell Checker and Grammar Checker getting in a bit of a disagreement over the word “stomach ache”.
We can see here that Word’s Grammar Checker didn’t agree with the Spell Checker.
A quick Google to see which one was correct, didn’t really help:
- Stomachache: Listed as a standard single-word noun in most major dictionaries.
- Stomach ache: Frequently used as two separate words and preferred in some style guides.
Any more Microsoft Word shenanigans? Please send them in.
Can you do any better?
If so, you can send them to newsletter.editor@istc.org.uk, or send me a message via the ISTC Slack channel, by 21st September 2026.