TCUK23 archive page

Hope has no place in content strategy! Or does it? You can plan a garden, and sow all the right seeds, but there's still a whole lot of hoping that your garden grows as you want it to.

Pushing the metaphor a little further, where does technical communication fit into the changing landscape of content? Do we still deserve our space in the garden, and how can we show that? Where does our humanity add value? Could we be the gardeners, planning growth, facilitating change, pouring our love into a hopeful future?

Relly certainly thinks so, so stand tall, own your inch, or your whole patch, and let's turn our faces to the sun.

About Relly Annett-Baker

Relly Annett-Baker is the Head of UX content strategy for Google Corporate Engineering, managing a team of user experience and user documentation writers who power Google's internal tools. When she's not doing that she's wrangling pets, teenagers, and the draft of a crime novel, gamely aided and abetted by her own partner-in-crime.

Every day, technical writers are asked to do more with less. They are expected to be top-notch authors, cut-throat editors, eagle-eyed information architects, and inquisitive researchers. That’s a lot of hats to wear. Making these decisions for your content is difficult at the best of times. When you are working under deadlines and with inadequate resources, it can seem impossible. That’s where analytics steps in. 

Using analytics to make data-driven decisions enables you to quickly understand how users interact with your content and where you should prioritise your efforts. And as an added benefit, backing up those decisions with objective data simplifies stakeholder management. With analytics you can know: 

• Where do my users find my content? 
• How long do they engage with content? 
• Is our TOC important? 
• Should we be providing PDFs? 
• Do I really need to document how to use an edit button? (Spoiler warning: You don’t!)

By the end of this session you will know how to: 

• Identify a problem.
• Develop and gather data criteria.
• Analyse the data to inform your decision.

About Carl DeBeer

Carl DeBeer is a Tech Docs manager at VMware. He leads his team in creating data-driven content. (He maintains it’s only quality documentation if it’s got the usage statistics to prove it.) His passions include science fiction, Lego sets, and the Oxford comma.

Traditional methods of writing documentation involve embedding specialist writers in development teams, so that writers can document new features in-depth, writing content from scratch after the feature is "ready-to-document". This can result in great, hand-crafted documentation, with writers becoming experts on the feature they document. However, the process is labour-intensive, content may be rushed out to meet tight deadlines, and this can cause tensions between writers and product managers when releases are waiting on documentation to be written. David has implemented processes in different companies over the past few years, to focus more on a contribution culture, using a docs-as-code methodology to work closely with development teams, including pushing for the SMEs to write the initial documentation for all new features. At Snyk, this “Shift-left, Shift-down” scalable approach allows Snyk to release frequent product changes with no delays, bringing hundreds of Snyk contributors into the documentation process. Writers become reviewers, and SMEs become writers. David will take attendees through this system, including both the benefits and drawbacks of this approach.

By the end of this session you will understand:

• How you can adjust your docs processes in a changing world.
• How you can enable easy and frequent contributions.
• How docs can connect and stay relevant to staff and users.

About David Bailey

David has been working in technical documentation for over 30 years, writing and managing docs for a variety of software companies during that time, including working for NDS, ServiceNow, and Solifi. He has written content for a wide range of software applications, from user guides to API docs. 

David is currently the User Documentation Manager at Snyk, where he has been working since 2020, building a team of technical writers, improving the Snyk user experience through great documentation, and developing good practice and best-of-breed content for information delivered to Snyk’s end-user base. David has developed and implemented a collaborative docs-as-code culture at Snyk, bringing together SMEs and developing content creation practices throughout the company, to produce a scalable and automated documentation culture. 

David’s passion is to improve docs through culture change. He has implemented multiple docs platforms, processes, and systems at the companies he works for, always with the aim of delivering great-quality, easily-accessible content to users.

Who can attend the AGM?

All members of the ISTC.

What happens at the AGM?

Corporate members (MISTC, FISTC) vote to:

• Accept the minutes of last year's AGM.
• Re-elect existing Council members standing again.
• Elect new Council members.
• Re-appoint the auditors.
• Accept financial report.

What doesn't happen at the AGM?

We don't nag members, give out tasks, or recruit volunteers or new Council members at the AGM.

We don't take questions or discuss floor motions; discussion points for this year's AGM had to be submitted by 11th August.

If time allows after the AGM closes, we may accept questions from the floor. These will not be minuted as part of the AGM, but will be recorded in case a Council discussion is needed.

Why it's important to attend the AGM

The AGM is a legally binding condition of our Constitution.

To hold an AGM we need a quorum, which is a minimum attendance level.

It's not exciting but it is necessary, please do attend.

If you've installed an app recently, you'll notice that many of them have neat overlays describing key features and how to get started. With attention spans dwindling, in-situ help, in the form of guided tours and feature announcements, is a great way to assist users without asking them to interrupt their tasks. Modern digital adoption platforms make it quick and easy to build slick experiences, but what about translation? Reuse? Versioning and content governance? 

In this talk, Rachel discusses how to plan, develop, and implement guided tours, along with considerations you need to be aware of before you start. She will explore the tools available - from low-code third party solutions to React frameworks and SDKs - and reveal areas of hidden complexity to watch out for.

By the end of this session you will:

• Have an understanding of different approaches for building guided tours.
• Be familiar with the elements of good practice to make your tours effective. 
• Know the questions to ask software vendors. 
• Know the pitfalls to watch out for.  

About Rachel Johnston

Rachel has been a technical writer for almost her whole career, working alongside engineers, product managers and UX designers to make sure that users get the information they need. Her first ever writing job was setting quizzes, but she has written content in lots of different domains, from healthcare and education to logistics and accountancy. Rachel is also the organiser for ISTC Meets, the institute’s monthly online learning session.

This session will focus on best practice in building up a technical publication function and running a team. The session will be evidence-based, and will focus on a few core areas, such as:

• What are the qualities of a good manager?
• Establishing team processes, tools and expectations
• Planning, prioritising and delegating
• Communicating with team colleagues and other departments
• Dealing with conflict and team issues
• Managing hybrid working teams.otivating, supporting and developing team members
• Motivating, supporting, and developing team members.

This will be an interactive session where delegates will be encouraged to think about their own teams and actively contribute to the discussion.

An expert panel will be appointed to take part in the discussion. During the session the panel and members of the audience will be asked a series of questions relating to best practice around setting up and managing a technical publications team. The panel approach will provide delegates with a broad range of perspectives and insights. Warren will then present some findings from research around core principles, as well as insights from leading experts in the field of team management.

The nature of how we work and get together is changing, for example with the increasing popularity of hybrid working and the rise of disruptive technology, such artificial intelligence (AI). Managers need to be aware of some of these wider developments, and be flexible and adaptive in their approach.

By the end of this session you will:

• Have a new appreciation of aspects of building and managing a team.
• Understand that being in a leadership position, however small, is both a privilege and a responsibility.
• Understand that each of your colleagues will have unique skills which you will not have, and that they can contribute to the team in their own unique way, if given the opportunity.

About Warren Singer

Warren was born and educated in South Africa, where he completed a BA in English Literature and Psychology and an Honours degree in Psychology. He obtained a Master's degree in Linguistics from the University of Tel Aviv. After emigrating to the UK, he completed a degree in Computer Science and Engineering. He has been involved in technical communications over the past twenty-five years. He started his career as a technical communicator in Israel in the mid-1990s and has worked in both permanent and freelance positions since moving to the UK in 2002. From 2006 to 2020 Warren ran his own successful technical communication company, Cambridge Technical Communicators. In 2020 he decided to take a permanent role with a London-based financial services company called Thredd (previously Global Processing Services), where he now manages a small team of technical communicators.

This workshop will be presented in two halves. You are welcome to attend the appropriate half, or the full workshop. In part one, Tony will introduce SVGs and cover their many uses and benefits in technical documentation. Part two will be more advanced and include an in-depth process of creating an animated SVG. You can enter or leave between 11:45 and 12:00.

Managing graphics for technical documentation can be made easier by using SVG files and creating an ecosystem of tools and workflows. Tony will explain all the steps to use SVG files in your projects. He will describe how to use SVG files and traditional image formats together, the anatomy of SVG files, and the tools you can use to create them.

Using a corporate brand guide, he will guide you to create assets for an HTML5 responsive help project, including:

• Social branding that uses styles to control the SVGs. 
• Responsive graphics 
• Schematics, and infographics using Lucidchart 
• Animated SVGs using CSS 
• Creating a design system 

The workshop’s objective is to break down any barriers to working with SVGs, provide the knowledge, resources and tools needed, and hopefully have some fun along the way.

You can work along with Tony using MadCap Flare and any vector graphic tool. Tony will be using Affinity, and will provide a complete Flare project to use with the workshop.

Workshop resources are available in the following online portals: 

CodePen account codepen.io/collection/NqLKVY 

Documentation at tonytensheds.notion.site/tonytensheds/SVG-in-Tech-Docs-309c116030c5468ea3d9f559d185f05f 

Project URL

Notion Instructions page

By the end of this session you will have:

• Practical experience with SVG files.
• Free online resources with digital assets to experiment with, crib sheets, and online tutorials covering all aspects of the workshop to practise with. 
• A wealth of links and web resources, including reading recommendations, and further learning information.

About Tony Dzumaga 

Tony is an experienced technical writer with broad-ranging skills and a background in software, digital marketing and data analysis, electronics, and engineering sectors, specialising in technical documentation and illustration. 

In his last role for Apteco Ltd, he used MadCap Flare to Single-Source output to online help and PDFs. He modernised the documentation catalogue to the corporate standard, including installation guides, API integration guides and software architecture diagrams. He previously produced manuals for luxury yachts, documented SCADA software, and created training courseware for project management software.

Tony enjoys bookbinding, drawing and photography in his spare time. (Oh, and also building sheds.)

Domain models describe how users and stakeholders conceive part of a system or a product in useful detail. Domain models are artifacts, often UML drawings, that enable fruitful collaboration between business and technical people. For technical communicators, domain models enable higher-level conversations with stakeholders and subject matter experts, inspiring documentation that meets the needs of users effectively. Domain models can grow into written artifacts that teach part of a business, by complementing the UML diagrams with definitions of concepts, business interactions, motivations, examples, and processes. The presentation will illustrate how to create domain models by: 

• Abstracting technical detail away from technical artifacts, namely UML diagrams for REST APIs. 
• Describing business interactions and the concepts seen in those interactions. 

The presentation will also share the story of adopting domain models at Farfetch, with both successes and pitfalls.

By the end of this session you will understand:

• The benefits of domain models for technical communicators.
• The parts of a useful domain model.
• How to abstract domain models from API references.
• How to create domain models from business interactions.

About Joaquim Baptista

Joaquim is the information governance principal at FARFETCH. Since 1997, Joaquim has documented large and evolving software products that require industrial writing instead of just writing craftsmanship. Before tackling documentation, Joaquim worked as a trainer, programmer, system administrator, and academic researcher. Joaquim is a member of ISTC and IEEE PCS, and a leader at APCOMTEC and EuroSIGDOC.

The use of feature toggles in Nidhi’s team was a game changer. The release cycles were faster and the alliance between product development and documentation became stronger following a trunk-based development approach. The documentation and product development used the same feature toggles, making the documentation and development go hand-in-hand. Technical authors now have the flexibility to document content for future releases in the content repository. Feature toggles or feature flags can be used in documentation to speed release cycles and simultaneously allow authors to document features for future releases, in progress, and ready to be deployed. 

You might be wondering how Nidhi's team governs what goes out to customers and what stays in? This session will help you understand how feature toggles ensure only released features are available to customers. The documentation for features under development is hidden and is not available for customers. Customers get the documentation of released features only, and internal colleagues can still see and review the documentation that is not ready to be deployed. 

In this talk, Nidhi will share best practices for working with feature toggles in documentation. She will explain how to use feature toggles in documentation with a sample scenario, and demonstrate how feature toggles make life easy for technical authors when there is strict control on what is shown externally and what is available internally.

By the end of this session you will learn:

• What the best practices are for initial set-up of feature toggles.
• How feature toggles enable close collaboration between authors and development.
• The lifecycle of a feature toggle.
• How feature toggles enable different content for different audiences.

About Nidhi Augustine

Nidhi is an Information Architect working in SAP Labs, India. She is a multi-talented individual with more than 19 years of expertise in industry and academia. Apart from her regular project activities, she is a trainer for authoring tools and has presented at several customer and internal events. She has created training courses on feature toggles that are available as part of learning modules (globally) for authors in her organisation. She has filed a patent in the field of data management.

The content management system you choose can dramatically impact the business ROI, the success of the product, onboarding, and customer stickiness. However, there is confusion in the area of content management over the terms Content Management System (CMS) and a Component Content Management System (CCMS), among others. It's important to understand that there are many different types of platforms and their use cases are actually quite different. In his time at Paligo, Andrew has been asked many times what the difference between a CMS and CCMS is, so he’s here to attempt to clear up some of the misconceptions out there, and  help you make a truly informed choice.

By the end of this session you will:

• Gain an understanding of the difference between CMS, CCMS, CDP, and headless. 
• Understand the pros and cons of each approach. 
• Have an idea of which system might be the right choice for you.

About Andrew Owen

Andrew Owen is a solutions engineer with Paligo. A veteran communicator with three decades of experience as a professional writer, he has worked in the business intelligence, consumer electronics, education, retail, and security sectors, writing for end users, administrators and developers. He holds a master’s degree in Informatics from Birkbeck, University of London and has been a member of the ISTC since 2007 and the IEEE since 2012.

This session will delve into the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to technical communication. TWi firmly believe that effective communication lies at the core of every successful venture, and their strategy starts right at home. In each project, they seek to create powerful nexus points, bringing together the best from various disciplines to achieve exceptional outcomes. Neil will explore the concept of "Interdisciplinary Synergy" and how it fosters a dynamic learning environment and provides better outcomes. He will  use examples from TWi’s own interdisciplinary approach, bringing together content strategists, content and DITA expertise, localisation, user adoption and technology experts. This seamless integration empowers TWi to craft compelling communication strategies that captivate audiences and drive results. The session will also show how this approach leads to "Collaborative Excellence", as experts from diverse fields come together, enhancing problem-solving approaches, and delivering exceptional experiences for clients. The unforeseen value added to each project also results in upskilling TWi’s staff simultaneously, creating a win-win scenario.

By the end of this session you will:

• Gain a deep understanding of the power of interdisciplinary synergy in technical communication. 
• Discover the art of collaborative excellence and how to enhance problem-solving approaches in your projects.

About Neil Mahony

Neil Mahony, SAP Enable Now Consultant and Instructional Designer, has shaped the way our customers interact with technology through his work developing user adoption content at TWi. Neil’s expertise lies at the intersection of technology and communication, where he has honed his skills in crafting engaging and intuitive content that seamlessly bridges the gap between users and complex software. With a keen eye for detail and an innate ability to anticipate user needs, Neil has played a pivotal role in numerous software implementation projects, ensuring they deliver an exceptional user experience. Neil's versatility as a content expert extends to developing content structure and reuse policies, thus maximising efficiency and consistency in content creation. Neil has also delved into the world of conversational AI at TWi, bringing to life interactive virtual assistants to enhance customer support and engagement. Neil is a certified SAP Enable Now Consultant. He has collaborated with colleagues across a number disciplines on various projects down through the years.

TCUK’s most famous, or should that be infamous, community session! Bringing together delegates, vendors, and sponsors, this session provides a safe space to vent about something that nobody outside our lovely community would understand. If there’s something bothering you, just stand up and get it off your chest - you’ve got the floor for five minutes. If someone thinks they can help you with some advice, a product recommendation, or just a shoulder to sob on, they can approach you. TCUK Rants has traditionally made our community stronger and allowed us to forge the bonds a lot of technical communicators miss, especially if we are the sole representative of our profession where we work.

We would like to invite our sponsors and vendors to this session. Listening to our issues can make your product or service stronger, and you might have something that can help.

By the end of this session you will:

• Feel better

This session will be based on themes explored in the June 2021 Communicator article entitled “The Globots are coming - Paul Ballard reflects on the fool’s game of making predictions, and then makes some.” 

Predicting the future is easy. Getting it right is not. The thread of the session will combine three things: reflections on some of the predictions made in the early 2000s about technical communication trends, what feel like relatively new approaches that Paul and his colleagues at 3di are deploying with customers, and the context and insights provided by the book The Globotics Upheaval by Richard Baldwin (published in 2019), with some additional reflection given to the even more recent advances in AI.

By the end of the session you will:

• Experience hope and reassurance combined with some practical ideas and examples to help technical communicators thrive through the upheaval.

About Paul Ballard

Paul has spent most of his professional life persuading technology companies to invest in technical communication - and still loves it.

Paul founded 3di in 2002 to combine his two professional passions: belief in the value of well-designed technical information and a commitment to making it easier to deliver multilingual versions of products and information to new markets. He resolved to establish and build 3di around a team of experts, designing and consistently delivering successful projects for customers who needed and valued effective technical communication and product localisation.

After a few years of learning to sell and consult with Rank Xerox in the early ’90s, Paul has since spent 25 years building his expertise in the technical documentation, translation, and localisation professions. He values the opportunities to learn and grow that come from recognising and investing in your strengths and specialist skills. He is a Certified Fellow and Past President of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators and served on the ISTC Council for 15 years.

When he’s not keeping up with his young (and not so young) family, he reads, watches movies, and doesn’t play his guitars.

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) technologies, such as ChatGPT, promises to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of technical communicators.

In an effort to bridge the gap between the potential of AI and the specific needs of technical communicators, Cherryleaf conducted a survey within the techcomm community. This was designed to uncover the most pressing questions, concerns, and areas of interest related to using AI and ChatGPT in technical communications. 

In this session, the findings of the survey are presented and provide valuable insights for technical communicators wanting to know more about the opportunities and potential risks that AI provides. Additionally, a framework will be offered that attendees can use to identify opportunities and best practices for integrating ChatGPT and AI into their technical authoring processes. Some of the AI software applications, services, and technologies that technical communicators can use will also be discussed.

By the end of this session you will:

• Be equipped with the tools you need to embrace AI technologies as a valuable asset in your role as a technical communicator.

About Ellis Pratt

Ellis is a Director at Cherryleaf. He has been working in technical communication since the early 1990s. He has a degree in Business Studies. He is also a Member of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC), an Associate of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and he served as a judge for the UK Technical Communication Awards 2020, and the DevPortal Awards 2020 and 2021.

AI is changing the workplace fast. What does this mean for technical communicators? Will we still have jobs in the age of algorithms? What parts are changing? Will I be replaced by a machine? Does anybody need a tech author anymore? In this short presentation, CJ Walker, founder and principal of Firehead, will provide her learnings as a techcomms professional and linguist who's worked for 20 years in recruitment in the field. She'll help you discover what's needed to stay employable in the world of human-machine interfaces. (Spoiler: you'll need to learn new skills. But which ones?)

By the end of this session you will have:

• Information about skills needed to adapt to the age of AI.
• Information about how to acquire those skills.

About CJ Walker

CJ Walker is the founder and managing director of Firehead, a training and recruitment agency providing services in technical communications. Through Firehead, she recruits and trains talent in technical communications and works to help content professionals develop the skills necessary to move into the age of AI. A Cajun-Swede now settled in France, CJ’s academic background is in computational linguistics. Her professional career spans technical communication, instructional design, information architecture, and digital communications. She is the International Manager for the ISTC Council. She is past-president of TCEurope and the TransAlpine chapter of the STC, and was a member of the board of the Information 4.0 Consortium. She has a passion for metadata and semantic technologies that make her happy to finally be able to apply linguistic theory to the real world and real clients. CJ works in English, French, Swedish, and Sign Language. Ask her about her new Goldendoodle.

In this talk, Nidhi will share how creating user personas and user stories not only lets you improve documentation but also helps to accomplish the golden rule of business: “Know your customers and build what they need.”

Technical writers always write documentation based on testing the user interface and inputs received from developers and product management. Focusing on user personas and user stories while writing product documentation gives a whole new perspective to what we write as technical writers.

The sequence of stages is: User Research > User Persona > User Story > Product Documentation. Nidhi will help you understand how connecting these dots improves product documentation and also gains a happy customer base. Have you ever got stuck on where to start and how to proceed? This talk will give you more insights on making this journey a win-win situation for you and your customers.

Ready to play the Dots and Boxes game? If you connect these dots (User Research, User Persona, User Story, and Product Documentation) you already have a winning strategy in hand!

User stories help us to map our user personas in the context of the software or product we are building. This will help you achieve the basic principle of technical writing: understanding “Who is the audience?” You need to understand the audience so that you can write content that meets their requirements and needs.

By the end of this session you will understand:

• How technical writers can constantly build the bridge between customers and organisations.
• How understanding the user personas lets you plan your deliverables and engage more effectively with your customers.
• How the simple Dot and Boxes game helps you understand the winning strategy!

About Nidhi Augustine

Nidhi is a User Assistance Development Architect working in SAP Labs, India. She is a multi-talented individual with more than 19 years of expertise in industry and academia. Apart from her regular project activities, she is a trainer for authoring tools and has presented in several customer and internal events. She is an advocate for customer engagements for product documentation and has conducted several customer engagements in her current role. She has filed a patent in the field of data management.

This session goes through the successes and struggles of Jeremy’s first year as the only technical writer at a maturing startup. You might benefit from having some familiarity with authorship tools and the organisation of a tech startup, but that knowledge isn't required.

The session begins with the concerns that many writers have when considering roles as the sole writer at a company. Some are justified, as these organisations may not have realistic expectations for deliverables. A more common issue, however, is the challenge of adapting a team's work processes to accommodate the interviews and reviews necessary for good documentation.

The session looks at effective strategies for integrating with an existing team, how to ask for support from peers and management, and how to establish your value as a writer for multiple teams in an organisation.

By the end of the session you will:

• Know the factors that can help make a successful transition to a company hiring its first technical writer.
• Understand how to manage expectations and plan for outcomes to ensure a healthy professional relationship with your colleagues.

About Jeremy Nelson

Jeremy Nelson has been working with software companies in a variety of roles for almost a decade. His legal experience has been invaluable as a foundation for creating professional documentation. Originally from Hong Kong, he began his career in Portland, Oregon and is now based in Manchester.

What must a technical writer think about as they approach their work? And why should a technical writer care? If a writer doesn’t think enough, or doesn’t seem to care, the resulting documentation can become a burden that others must bear.

This workshop considers foundational thought processes that authors can use for developing documentation that promotes user success in the context of software products. These processes include:

• Solution-first design for the table of contents.
• Content relevance: identifying the wheat and losing the chaff.
• Detecting connections that the user interface doesn’t provide.
• Getting expert information when you’re not familiar with the subject.
• Identifying patterns of content that you can exploit.

Alongside these foundational thought processes, this workshop considers how authors can be concerned to provide content that lowers the barrier to success for their audience:

• Understanding user frustration with poor content.
• Building positive channels for feedback.
• Ordinary means for sustaining motivation.

By the end of the session you will:

• Have greater confidence about your role as a technical writer.
• Know some practical ideas on how you can improve your content, including actionable plans that you can implement when you return to your desk. 
• Be able to combat disillusionment with some sympathetic thoughts on how to refocus on a positive strategy going forward.

About Malcolm Wallace

Malcolm is a documentation manager within the Simulation and Test Solutions division of Siemens Digital Industries Software. He manages a team of technical authors who work on simulation software products including Simcenter STAR-CCM+ and Simcenter Amesim. Malcolm has a strong interest in introducing new recruits to the technical writing profession and training them in skills that promote useful documentation. His team have hosted several undergraduate student interns in recent years as well as receiving experienced people who were looking for a career change.

As a global company, SLB has field users operating in many countries with varying levels of competency and training, and not all have English as their first or even second language. The goal was to reduce human errors in the maintenance of their products as well as keep their people safe. Could more visual, interactive-based procedures help them reach this objective?

After outlining the reasons for being challenged to provide interactive CAD-based 3D procedures to users, Mark will present the key steps taken to produce the instructional procedures, what feedback he received from users, how that led to a second phase of development, and where he sees this type of content delivery progressing in the future. 

The focus is on the use case, key design points, the user experience and feedback, what was learned, and what can be done better for the future. The presentation will also touch upon 3D-CAD versus other forms of visuals that could have been used, such as illustrations, photos, renders, or video.

At a time when technical writers are often being challenged to create content using "new cool technology" such as AR/VR, it is essential to stay very focused on what users actually need. This presentation will be of interest to anyone thinking of how to repurpose their existing CAD models, or just generally wanting to learn about the experience of users when using this type of media to help them complete their daily tasks. Many of the same lessons and principles will be of interest to anybody embarking on a journey to produce more visual technical instructions. 

By the end of this session you will have:

• Key planning tips for when or how to develop 3D CAD-based procedures. 
• User feedback on when they are best used or not. 
• Our learning experiences with how to present visual/interactive assembly instructions, both good and bad, with emphasis on what might be seen as learning content versus instructional content.

About Mark Swaine

Mark Swaine is the Well Construction Technical Communications Manager at SLB. After 30 years of working in technical writing and information design in both the software and hardware industry, Mark has a wealth of experience in developing all forms of instructional content. He graduated from Staffordshire University after completing an Electronics Instructional Media course. Mark spent some time co-ordinating the Mentoring scheme for the ISTC and is passionate about mentoring and helping technical writers grow their careers. Mark currently manages a global team of technical writers producing user guides, work instructions, videos, and 3D CAD-based procedures.

As content consumption moves from more traditional methods to digital formats, technical writers need to change the way they approach content creation. More and more users are accessing content through search engines, querying, and clicking the topics they think will help them. Content is no longer locked behind logins and in product help. There is competition from bloggers and user forums. You can’t just create good content anymore. Now you must work to ensure your content appears in the first search result.

To compete in the online content sphere, writers must create content that users can find. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) cannot be an afterthought during content creation.

So how do you compete? Writers must change their definition of good content. All content should meet three rules for SEO content:

1. Write it clearly.
2. Write it plainly.
3. Write it once.

Write clear language that is concise and efficient. Plain language lets users scan your content and understand what you are trying to tell them. Reducing redundant content improves SEO and prevents users from getting “lost” finding the correct version of the content. Use these three rules and you’ll create content that users can find.

By the end of the session you will understand:

• How Google measures your content for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
• How to optimise your content for search engines.
• How to analyse your customers’ behaviours to align with their expectations.

About Carl DeBeer

Carl DeBeer is a Tech Docs manager at VMware. He leads his team in creating data-driven content. (He maintains it’s only quality documentation if it’s got the usage statistics to prove it.) His passions include science fiction, Lego sets, and the Oxford comma.

API reference documentation is not usually considered sexy, but it can address a large number of minute decisions facing client developers. After recalling the base concepts of REST APIs, this session shows how to create a diagram that visualises the relationships between API operations and API definitions. The visualisation allows technical communicators to chunk the API into cohesive pieces for explanation. Then, the session focuses on the sequence of decisions facing a client developer that is trying to use a REST API. Any of these small decisions can interrupt a developer by forcing a lengthy investigation or a support request. Drawing upon the Open API standard for describing REST APIs, technical communicators can guide these small decisions by writing suitable focused descriptions in the right places. 

While the approach described in the session applies to any kind of API, examples will use REST API concepts. 

By the end of this session you will learn to:

• Create UMLish diagrams of REST APIs that visualise the relationships between operations and definitions.
• Identify the decisions of client developers, and how descriptions in Open API specifications can address their needs.
• Recognise ambiguous and incomplete specifications.

About Joaquim Baptista

Joaquim is the information governance principal at FARFETCH. Since 1997, Joaquim has documented large and evolving software products that require industrial writing instead of just writing craftsmanship. Before tackling documentation, Joaquim worked as a trainer, programmer, system administrator, and academic researcher. Joaquim is a member of ISTC and IEEE PCS, and a leader at APCOMTEC and EuroSIGDOC.