This event invites speakers to offer a presentation on a topic related to technical communication, while viewers have a chance to ask questions and join in a discussion about the topic – all in just one hour!
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Upcoming schedule:
ISTC Meets is taking a summer break and will be back in September 2022. Our next events will be updated nearer to the time. Follow us at our Eventbrite page to be immediately notified when new events are listed.
In the meantime, you can peruse previous events by clicking on the titles below.
Previous events:
May 2022: Jonatan Lundin – This is why users cannot understand your content
A 37-minute video that covers mental models, and how we can think about our communication to ensure that users understand us correctly. Featuring examples of how things go wrong and a clear framework of what goes on in a users mind, you’ll go away with your own mental model to help you understand your users better, as well as a list of key points to address in your communication.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
One problem faced by technical communicators today is the fact that users often misunderstand or reject the information they find in user assistance and, consequentially, may dismiss the usefulness of the information entirely.
This presentation will explore research indicating that users shape a mental model of a product while using it. If the model does not match how a product works, the user will not be able to use the product or understand what they are reading in the manual. In this presentation, you will learn why this is happening and how technical communicators can design information in order to reduce misunderstandings and make it easier for users to shape a relevant mental model. The presentation draws upon sociocultural theory about how individuals learn and develop knowledge to accomplish tasks.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Jonatan is a senior information architect within the technical communication field, currently employed at Excosoft in Sweden. He received his PhD, which deals with the design of manuals, in 2020 from Mälardalen University. He has more than 25 years of experience of working as a technical communicator, mostly from a position as an information architect. As a frequent speaker at technical communication conferences, such as SIGDOC, ISDOC, tcworld, NORDIC Techkomm, STVY, FTI, DITA Europe, STC India etc, he thrives when discussing design challenges with fellow technical communicators.
April 2022: Margot Bloomstein – Writing and Designing for Trust
A 46-minute presentation by content strategist and author, Margot Bloomstein. Margot discusses why trust is such an important topic for communicators today and how to go about gaining trust and building confidence in your audience. Filled with examples from business, journalism and government, Margot’s talk will leave you feeling inspired and empowered to bring about positive change.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
In today’s economy, businesses need a new strategy to earn trust and help consumers and citizens make confident decisions. Undermining confidence is cynicism: it erodes trust in the media, government, public institutions, and consumer brands. To regain trust, we talk about empathy, transparency, and authenticity. But how do we get beyond those buzzwords in copy—and what is the responsibility and opportunity for content developers and content strategists to lead the way? The secret is in how we use content to empower our audiences: when we give more control to users, they put more trust in us.
Examining what works among teams of all stripes and sizes, Margot Bloomstein will share examples from retail, publishing, government, software, and other industries to detail what you can do to meet new challenges in information consumption. Learn how voice, volume, and vulnerability can inform your work to regain trust and lead your audience and organization from cynicism toward something far more productive: action and hope.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Margot Bloomstein is one of the most prominent voices in the content strategy industry. She is the author of Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap and Content Strategy at Work: Real-World Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project and is the principal of Appropriate, Inc., a brand and content strategy consultancy based in Boston. As a speaker and strategic adviser, she has worked with marketing teams in a range of organizations over the past two decades, including the American Montessori Society, Fidelity, Harvard University, Lovehoney, Mailchimp, and Sallie Mae. The creator of BrandSort, she developed the popular message architecture-driven approach to content strategy. Margot advises Women Talk Design and teaches in the content strategy graduate program at FH Joanneum University in Graz, Austria. She also lectures around the world about brand-driven content strategy and designing for trust. Find her on Twitter at @mbloomstein.
March 2022: John Kearney – Technical communication in cyber security
A 39-minute presentation by John Kearney about the interplay between technical communication and cyber security. In this engaging and informative presentation, John takes a user-centred approach to the issue of cyber security, and looks at how an awareness of security can inform our work as technical communicators. Highly recommended to all working in tech comms (and even those not)!
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
Cyber security is not just about hacking or coming up with technical tools and tricks to counter hackers. The ability to clearly communicate complex information is vital in the ongoing effort to help people be more secure.
In my talk, I hope to cover ways in which writers can help cyber professionals, and also what we can learn from them to produce better and safer content in other areas.
Audience:
Anyone in technical communication, from entry level to advanced.
No prior knowledge of cyber security is required, but curiosity is welcome!
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
John is a technical communication consultant with over 20 years of experience. He worked in cyber security early in his career, returning in 2018. Since then he has worked alongside security specialists to produce user-centred content in the public and private sectors. His pronouns are he/him.
February 2022: Dr Anu Singh – Creating content in disruptive times
A 33-minute presentation by Dr Anu Singh about what are disruptions and how do we adapt to them as technical communicators. Touching on what it means to be a technical communicator, and how we go about our role, the talk has something for both those new to the profession and those seeking to think about their established processes.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
With the latest technology trends, intuitive products and smart devices, it has become critical to create content that is credible, concise and intelligent for enhancing client experiences for the products and services. At the same time, in this ever evolving uncertain times, it has become vital to create content that instil a feeling of safety and success in the users.
This session will attempt to explore strategies for creating content with respect to platform and delivery, and processes and tools for content development in disruptive times. Additionally, considerations for using technology like AI enabled Bots, micro-content and micro-learning that can address various information needs of targeted audiences for personalized experiences, enhanced efficiencies, discoverability, accessibility etc., at the same time.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Dr Anu Singh is a creative disrupter who believes in the enormity of the human mind, its thoughts, feelings and the social paradigm it creates and coexists in. Anu’s mission is to close the gap between experiential learning of a user on products they use for the first time through content. She can help you connect the dots between a great product experience and a successful product adoption for customers.
Anu possesses numerous degrees and certifications, and years of progressive experiences in varied technical and non-technical areas like content operations and strategy, structured and unstructured content development, client experience, project management including Agile, employee engagement and career development, management and leadership with a focus on empowering clients and enabling their success through adaptive predictive information around their needs.
Anu is passionate about technical communication and has presented at multiple platforms like CIDM Summer Ideas conference, ConVEx, STC India Annual and Regional conferences, tcWorld, Technical Writer’s Tribe and various forums within her organization. She is a life-long learner and volunteers for non-profit organizations like Society of Technical Communicators (STC) India as a learning manager, Technical Writer’s Tribe as an instructor, Mentor Together as a life-skill mentor for young adults.
Anu has earned a Ph.D. in English Literature for her studies about American Literature and Indian Writing in English, and she loves reading about culture, new technologies and stories in the novel or short-story format.
December 2021: Chris Hester – Content Debt: Understanding the Basics – LIVE ONLY
A recording for this event is not available.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
In tech comms, quality documentation has an impact: it can reduce support, training, and development costs and increase conversions and sales. The content we produce can also help to attract and retain customers, minimize risks and liabilities, and increase compliance with regulatory bodies.But as we continue to create and update content, what happens to the content we leave behind? What is the impact of unused or outdated content on our teams and our customers? And, more importantly, on our environment?In this session, Chris will talk about the concept of content debt and how lowering it can be an initial step to developing environmentally conscious content. She’ll talk about how to recognize and reduce content debt and provide tips for starting a content debt management plan of your own.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Chris Hester is the founder of Red Desk Studio, a consultancy that specializes in content strategy, taxonomy, and knowledge management solutions. She has presented at the TCUK conference and other events.
November 2021: Andrea Flolid – I Don’t Know is on Third
Andrea is creating a video of her presentation to be shared later in the year.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
Andrea will talk about the relationship between Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX), EX @ Arm, and why Training is important for improving EX. Andrea will conclude with specific examples of the new Tech Comms Training program at Arm.
This is the final presentation in a series based on the famous Abbott & Costello comedy routine, Who’s on First. Get ready to laugh and enjoy one of the funniest skits on mis-communication ever performed.
- Who’s on First: Audience Analysis (TCUK 2018)
- What’s on Second: Customer Experience & Content Development (TCUK 2019)
- I Don’t Know is on Third: Employee Experience & Training
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Andrea Flolid is a Sr. Tech Comms Manager at Arm in Austin, TX. After an early career as an RF Engineer at Motorola, she switched gears to work on technical documentation as an Information Developer (ID). While at Arm, Andrea released 70 documents, totalling almost 250,000 pages of content. She also participated in or lead several change projects as well as managing a global team of IDs. A year ago, Andrea started working part-time as a Program Manager for one of Arm’s key customers. Whether working as an Engineer or an ID, providing customers with high quality, technically accurate products has always been at the centre of Andrea’s career.
October 2021: Chui Chui Tan – Getting to know your international audiences
A 43-minute presentation by Chui Chui Tan, Director of Beyo Global about the impact of cultural differences when communicating to global audiences. Full of insight, stories, and helpful reference information, this is sure to be of interest to anyone in communication, sales or marketing, whether technical or not. Worth listening to for insight in communicating with your home audience too!
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
In this hour, Chui Chui will talk about why, when designing and communicating with your global customers or users in different countries with different cultural backgrounds, it is important to have a clear holistic understanding of them and their context. Examples will be given to show what to look out for when setting design and business directions to provide an as best and localised experience for your global audiences as possible. The session will also include time for the audience to raise any questions they might have and for us to discuss as a group.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Chui Chui Tan, Founder of Beyō Global, is a culturalisation strategist and customer experience (CX/UX) consultant. She helps companies create products and services which provide the experience their global customers need, desire and expect.
With a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, Chui Chui takes a holistic approach to fully understanding customers/users with different cultural backgrounds, to help businesses define their (product, marketing, design, business, new market launch) strategies and grow their international reach and markets.
Her clients include names such as Spotify, Netflix, Asana, Babylon Health, Marriott, and Clarks, as well as start-ups, preparing for their launch and advising their global strategy. Chui Chui is the author of International User Research, and frequently speaks and runs online/offline workshops on Culturalisation and International UX.
September 2021: Catherine Rushton – Translation: Getting it right
A 37-minute talk by translation professional Catherine Rushton giving us a great insight into the world of translation for technical writing. With demonstration of the processes and software involved, you will learn about the different ways to get translation done, and how to set yourself and your translator up for success, as well as see how the information you provide a translator is used. Invaluable for anyone involved in writing for, or being responsible for, translation.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
So. You need to translate your documentation. How do you find the right translator(s)? What exactly is the sorcery that turns your files from language A into language B? And what can you as the customer do to ensure fit-for-purpose translations while obtaining value for money? This talk will help you distinguish the good from the mediocre, walk you through translation tools, processes and practices, and set you up for success and sanity.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Cat Rushton is a freelance translator and reviser working from French, German and Spanish into English. She specialises in technical documentation and industrial marketing content.
Before setting up her business in 2011, she spent 20-plus years running the gamut of international B2B marketing, market research, consultancy and business analysis. Alongside a Modern Languages degree she has an MA in European Management from Cranfield and is a qualified member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI).
Cat is a closet nerd with a creative streak, which may explain why she builds her own computers but is also a published songwriter.
July 2021: Chris Hester – A conversation about Governance – No recording
We are not able to share the video from this talk on the website.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
Our teams are facing requests for more, better content – faster. Governance frameworks codify the policies, processes, roles and responsibilities that enable consistent content production and can help Tech Comms teams deliver on those requests. This session will look at what a governance framework is and how to start defining one for your team.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Chris Hester is the founder of Red Desk Studio, a consultancy that specializes in content strategy, taxonomy, and knowledge management solutions. She has presented at the TCUK conference and other events.
June 2021: Bjørn Smalbro – Designing Adobe FrameMaker templates
A 34-minute presentation by graphic designer Bjørn Smalbro about his work with Adobe creating some new templates for Adobe FrameMaker. He goes through the thinking behind them and how they might be used, as well as how templates in general work in FrameMaker.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
Bjørn works with all sorts of graphic design. Lately he has taken up developing templates for Adobe FrameMaker. It was in that capacity that Adobe reached out to him, about creating new templates for Adobe FrameMaker 2020.Adobe FrameMaker, which is the main part of the Adobe Technical Communication Suite, is mostly used for long document publishing like end users guides, product manuals and reference works. This is an area where graphic innovation can be a bit conservative, so Bjørn was chosen to create some fresh designs. Being a sample manual, there are some considerations to do and design decisions to contemplate. Bjørn will talk about the design process, the thinking behind it and show the samples. He will also demonstrate how FrameMaker’s templates can be used for working with the aesthetics of publications.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Bjørn lives in Copenhagen, Denmark with his wife and daughter in a crumbling old bungalow. In his sparetime he likes tinkering with woodwork and and enjoys reading most everything from sci-fi over russian novels to graphic novels.
Bjørn also owns and runs Tequila.dk and TequilaList.com. Tequila.dk is a webshop specializing in highend Tequila and Mezcal and TequilaList.com is a europe oriented tequila blog.
May 2021: Mike Ingeldew – The changing role of the technical publication in Integrated Product Support
A 38-minute video by Mike Ingeldew about technical publications, and the systems & technology we now have to support them, with a focus on S1000D and the Aerospace, Space and Defence industry.
Please note that the video sadly recorded at a low frame rate and this affects it throughout, however there are some great, detailed slides worth seeing.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
The aerospace, defence and space technical publication is changing and at a rapid rate. The adoption of domain focused standards and specifications coupled with external influences like the Internet of Things and a continuous OEM ambition for a deeper integrated product, all mean the authors role is evolving and how the technical publication itself has changed on many projects.In this webinar, Michael Ingledew, Managing Director of Tech Data World, will present on how the modern technical publication is being used today to support complex products and platforms in the aerospace, defence and space domains. Where the publication is going and why the author today is more than a traditional writer.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingledew/
April 2021: Amanda Maher – UK Technical Communication Awards
A 20-min presentation by Amanda Maher about the UK Technical Communication Awards, which are now open for 2021. Focused on how Amanda prepared and entered her winning entry in 2020, it offers great ideas for anyone interested in entering in the future.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
As a small business owner and freelancer, Amanda will be talking about how the UK TC Awards are open to projects of all sizes, and to encourage you to think about the impact of celebrating your work both for yourself and your clients.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
At the TCUK 2020 online conference, Amanda Maher received a UK Technical Communications (TC) Merit Award for the iHASCO Knowledge Base. Amanda is an active member of the ISTC, and hosts our monthly podcast at http://istctechcomm.podbean.com/
March 2021: Vera Gergely – Plain Language
Vera Gergely is the Chair of the International Plain Language Federation and spoke for 35 minutes about Plain Language: what it is, how to use it, the organisations involved in its adoption, and the new ISO standard being produced as an International framework for plain language across the globe!
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
We are very pleased to announce that Vera Gergely, the Chair of the International Plain Language Federation (IPLF), is going to be joining us for our March TCUK online.
If you’re not sure what plain language is, the chances are you’ll immediately recognise it when you hear about it. We’re very excited to have Vera come and speak.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
In 2014 Vera embarked on the ambitious task of introducing plain language in Hungary. Since then, they have worked as a freelancer, offering plain language editing and training to companies. Vera also wrote a comprehensive guide on how to write clearly in Hungarian.
Vera also leads the Drafting Committee of the ISO Working Group for international plain language standards, is the chair of the International Plain language Federation, and a Board member of PLAIN (Plain Language Association International).
February 2021: Ciaran Dodd – Simplified Technical English (ASD-STE100): Let us show you how!
A 30-minute presentation by Ciaran Dodd about how to work with ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) with examples of correcting text to fit the STE rules, words, and philosophy.
January 2021: Mike Unwalla – Simplified Technical English (ASD-STE100): What is it and What is it for?
A 30-minute presentation by Mike Unwalla on Simplified Technical English, what it is, what it is for, and the pros and cons for its use. PLEASE NOTE: Presentation slides are only used for about the middle 10 minutes, this is intentional. Some visual aids were also used that were not recorded, but are described verbally.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
Human failures cause accidents. A typical cause of human failure is unclear instructions. ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) helps to make instructions clear, and thus STE decreases the risk of human failure.
Standard English can be difficult for people who read English as a second language. Phrasal verbs (multi-word verbs) such as ‘carry out’, ‘put up with’, and ‘work out’ are a special problem. STE helps to make text clear to people who read English as a second language.
STE is a controlled language. This presentation gives examples of rules from STE. The examples show how STE makes text as clear as possible.
The implementation of STE in an organization is not easy. The implementation must include terminology management. Input from subject-matter experts is necessary. Possibly, technical communicators will resist the use of STE, because they do not like to conform to a controlled language. Technical communicators must be trained to write STE.
You can read most of what I will say in ‘The case for ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English’ in ‘Current Practices and Trends in Technical and Professional Communication’ (https://istc.org.uk/homepage/publications-and-resources/istc-books/current-practices-and-trends-in-technical-and-professional-communication/). Come to this presentation ready to ask questions, argue, disagree, and discuss. Thank you.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Many years ago, Mike taught English as a foreign language. Now, he is a freelance technical writer. At the ISTC conference (now TCUK) in 2001, someone showed him a software checker for AECMA Simplified English, which is now ASD-STE10 Simplified Technical English (STE) (www.asd-ste100.org). Since then, he has been interested in STE. He was a temporary UK representative of the Simplified Technical English Maintenance Group (STEMG) at the May 2019 meeting. He is a member of the UK Simplified Technical English Working Group.
December 2020: David Bailey – 5 Minutes to Midnight
A 30-minute update to David’s 2019 TCUK (Technical Communication UK) conference presentation “10 Minutes to Midnight”. David talks about his experience moving the documentation from after development to alongside development using the CI/CD (Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery) model.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
Documentation is often written right before the midnight deadline. It’s a classic release-based documentation problem: we think we can’t start to write content until the software is stable, tested and ready for release. But that’s the worst time to access SMEs, do the research, and write good-quality content. We write in a rush, or we release documentation late. It’s a lose-lose scenario for both writers and readers.
However, if we look at practices in code development, we see that “Continuous Integration” (CI) and “Continuous Delivery” (CD) is increasingly being used to solve a similar problem in software, combined with a “Shift left” approach. David will describe how he is adopting a CI/CD solution for documentation, and how you can apply a similar solution yourselves, by both “shifting down” to turn everyone into writers, and by “shifting left” to write documentation earlier.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
David is the Information Architect at Snyk, a software company selling developer-first tools based around the Snyk platform.
David has worked in technical communications for nearly 30 years, including information architecture, technical writing and content development, working on a range of documentation: from product descriptions, to user guides, to detailed API documentation. David has worked for multiple companies in the software sector, including ServiceNow and White Clarke Group.
November 2020: Matthew Ellison – Using Micro Content to create featured snippets in search results
A 35-minute presentation by Matthew Ellison, launching the ISTC’s monthly “TCUK online” series. Matthew discusses what featured snippets and micro content are, how they are useful, and how to set them up in MadCap Flare.
About the presenter
