In this session, attendees will learn how preparing now can make the transition to new platforms and tools (both known and unknown) less daunting and overwhelming. Topics will include:
How to write smaller, more compact chunks of content.
How to adopt a more conversational tone. How do you write content that Grandma can understand while keeping the distracted Millennial engaged.
How to write content for repurposing in knowledge articles, chatbots, and anything else.
2. 2
• Introductions
• Evolution of our history
• Our experience
• Accelerated change
• Content creation
• Technology
• Prepare now
Agenda
3. 3
Evolution of our history
Some of the highlights.
• 17+ years as a trusted supplier to
Fortune 500 companies
• Canadian headquarters with global presence
• End-to-end knowledge management company
Learning Documentation
Technical Support Software
• 45% growth in last 5 years
• Committed to superior customer experience
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4. 4
From
• Unstructured
• Minimal to no reuse
• Books/Manuals
Experience
To
• Structured authoring
• Single Source
• Reuse
• Multiple outputs
• Knowledge chunks
• Article driven
7. 7
When you search for information, it’s usually for one of three reasons:
Create the right information
You have a problem
you need to solve.
You want to know
how to do something.
You are curious
about something.
1 2 3
8. 8
What is a content chunk?
Write/Tag content chunks – What?
Topic/article
Paragraph
Phrase
Paragraph
10. 10
How do you write a content chunk?
• Identify your audience.
• Identify your output types.
• Identify how to chunk your content and define
processes around when to create each type.
When do you create a…
− Phrase?
− Sentence?
− Paragraph?
− Topic?
Write content chunks – How?
11. 11
What does it mean to write conversationally?
Conversational means relating to, or similar to, casual and informal talk.
Synonyms: chatty, informal, communicative, colloquial
- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/
Be conversational – What?
12. 12
How do you write conversationally?
Be conversational – How?
Do…
• Write for one person (or role).
• Use active voice.
• Use contractions.
• Keep it simple.
• Read your text out loud.
Don’t…
• Be overly technical.
• Use jargon.
13. 13
Be conversational – Before/After
BEFORE
How to Change a Tire
When changing a tire, there is always a catch.
So one must know that things won’t go
according to plan or some kind of
inconveniences will happen. So it is the coldest
day of the year and my hands are freezing cold
and on top of that I have to grab hold of a tire
iron. So I’m driving and a tire pops, first one has
to safely come to a complete stop and park the
car on the side of the road far away from the
road as possible.
Once the car has come to a complete stop, turn
on the emergency lights to notify the other
drives that there is an emergency, so they can
be aware of the situation.
AFTER
How to Change a Tire
If you find yourself with a flat tire, the first
thing you need to do is find somewhere
safe to park. If you’re on the highway, take
the nearest exit. A parking lot is your safest
bet. If you can’t find a parking lot, park on
the side of the road.
Once you’re parked, turn on your
emergency lights to let others know.
16. 16
Don’t do structured authoring?
Learn about the tools anyway!
• Authoring
• Component content management
• Publishing
• Language/terminology support
Learn the technology that is common now
17. 17
Learn how publishing works for tagged (XML/DITA) content
and what it is really, really capable of doing!
• Filtering content – hiding bits you don’t want to show
• Moving content – changing where content is found
• Enhancing content – adding navigation/tagging/etc. to make the content more
accessible
• Supporting many different formats!
Pay attention to publishing
18. 18
Evaluate your current processes and technology
Technologies have changed
Evaluate your current tool
sets against new versions
of tools or new tools
This ain’t your
mom’s CCMS
(or authoring tool)
(or publishing engine)
19. 19
Pay attention to changes in users
By 2025, roughly 75% of the global
workforce will be millennials.
- Forbes, 2017
75%
20. 20
You don’t need to be an expert,
but learn about new technologies
• Semantic technologies
• Taxonomy management and support
• Machine learning and AI
• Chatbots
• Voice interfaces
Get educated in new tools
21. 21
Ontologies render a framework for defining
the domain that consists of a set of concepts,
characteristics and relationships.
Ontologies
Knowledge mapping is an “inventory of
knowledge”. These maps are organized using
various interconnected nodes to make it easy
to find out where to look for information.
Knowledge Mapping
Taxonomies for search engines refers to
classification methods that improve relevance
in vertical search. Taxonomies of entities are
tree structures whose nodes are labelled with
entities likely to occur in a web search query.
Taxonomies
Get educated in new techniques/disciplines
Journey mapping is similar to personas, but
focus on tasks and questions and a user’s
experience over time.
Journey Mapping
22. 22
• Get your teams to conferences
• Keep them up to date as much as possible
• Res
• Change is hard
• It’s harder when you have zero control over it
• The better your teams are prepared for
change the better they will cope and adapt.
• ist status quo
For Managers … Prepare your teams for change
23. 23
• Start now
• Think in small chunks
Adopt a structured authoring approach
