Write less. Write better. It’s not just about doing away with words, but instead, improving the user experience by presenting the right information, at the right time, in the right format, to the right audience, and allowing them to make the right decision to stop reading content and start doing what they need to do. From search tools to airlines to the use of clear images, tables, or words, the goal of this session is to help you understand the right things to do to spend less time writing, and more time helping your company, your clients, and your readers reduce headaches and increase profits. See samples, join the discussion, and keep your words to a minimum.
Technical content is a commodity. Technical Writers must think of themselves as Knowledge Brokers and communicate the value they provide which includes increased revenue and improved customer retention. This presentation will show you the right mindset to build business cases that get your company to invest in Technical Communication/Publications as a revenue generator.
Presented by Bernard Aschwanden and Christopher Ward.
What is blogging? Does the idea of blogging seem daunting? Danielle M. Villegas writes the technical communication blog, TechCommGeekMom, and is a regular guest blogger for the STC Notebook with her "Villegas Views" by-line. Danielle shares her personal experiences in creating her blog, talks about how a blog can work for both personal and corporate gain, and will provide pointers on best practices.
Put Your Content on Mobile Devices Using Responsive HTML5 (STC New england IN...Deborah Sauer
The reality: Information is available instantly… on our phone, tablet, and computer. Have a question? Look it up using your phone. Expectations have been set. Our users want to be able to access our information with equal ease. How do we meet this need? Delivering information in responsive HTML5 format allows you to make your content available to your users on multiple platforms. Using the responsive HTML5 output functionality built into FrameMaker, you can quickly and easily create output that users can access from a phone, tablet, or computer. Output is easily updateable so you can deliver the latest information without having to wait until the next software release. Responsive HTML5 is frameless, facilitating search engine optimization. And, you can customize the output to reflect your corporate identity. In this session, we’ll explore creating responsive HTML5 output, improving search engine optimization, and customizing the output.
Technical content is a commodity. Technical Writers must think of themselves as Knowledge Brokers and communicate the value they provide which includes increased revenue and improved customer retention. This presentation will show you the right mindset to build business cases that get your company to invest in Technical Communication/Publications as a revenue generator.
Presented by Bernard Aschwanden and Christopher Ward.
What is blogging? Does the idea of blogging seem daunting? Danielle M. Villegas writes the technical communication blog, TechCommGeekMom, and is a regular guest blogger for the STC Notebook with her "Villegas Views" by-line. Danielle shares her personal experiences in creating her blog, talks about how a blog can work for both personal and corporate gain, and will provide pointers on best practices.
Put Your Content on Mobile Devices Using Responsive HTML5 (STC New england IN...Deborah Sauer
The reality: Information is available instantly… on our phone, tablet, and computer. Have a question? Look it up using your phone. Expectations have been set. Our users want to be able to access our information with equal ease. How do we meet this need? Delivering information in responsive HTML5 format allows you to make your content available to your users on multiple platforms. Using the responsive HTML5 output functionality built into FrameMaker, you can quickly and easily create output that users can access from a phone, tablet, or computer. Output is easily updateable so you can deliver the latest information without having to wait until the next software release. Responsive HTML5 is frameless, facilitating search engine optimization. And, you can customize the output to reflect your corporate identity. In this session, we’ll explore creating responsive HTML5 output, improving search engine optimization, and customizing the output.
10 Things To Do Before Emailing Your Sales Deck To A Potential ClientDeck Rooster
It's quite disheartening to see how so many sales people and entrepreneurs continue to send across their sales pitch deck over email when a potential clients says "Please email me that presentation" - without realising how doing so could affect the progress of the deal.
A presentation to be emailed has to be a version, but a very different presentation from the sales pitch deck.
Check out this presentation to understand why doing so is important and also how to do so in 10 easy steps.
When you're starting or running a company, how do you choose technology? The prevailing advice du jour is something along the lines of "use the best tool for the job." This is obviously right, but it is also devoid of meaning in an unfortunate way that lets people define "best" and "job" as myopically as they like.
Ideal slides (and live presentation) if you are looking to:
Develop video for use online:
Find out how to create and upload video to help users "get the picture." Get people to like your product and then buy it, which makes you money.
Create better content in Word: Find out how to best use styles to effectively manage content within your portfolio.
Reduce the amount to time spent manually adjusting content over and over and over and over again. That saves time. Time is money. Save money.
Share and collaborate with others:
Find out how to use the cloud to work together and increase productivity. Fewer back and forth conversations makes it faster to get to market. That saves money. And it makes money.
Publish content to the most popular formats: Find out how to convert your content to online formats with minimal effort, for maximum result.Single source publishing to multiple channels means spending less money, earning more money, and a smarter investment of money.
See and do. That's a powerful combination. During the lecture and demo, we showed you the benefits of the tools and processes, and now you can review all the slides in detail!
Daniel Shank, Data Scientist, Talla at MLconf SF 2017MLconf
Getting Value Out of Chat Data:
Chat-based interfaces are increasingly common, whether as customers interacting with companies or as employees communicating with each other within an organization. Given the large number of chat logs being captured, along with recent advances in natural language processing, there is a desire to leverage this data for both insight generation and machine learning applications. Unfortunately, chat data is user-generated data, meaning it is often noisy and difficult to normalize. It is also mostly short texts and heavily context-dependent, which cause difficulty in applying methods such as topic modeling and information extraction.
Despite these challenges, it is still possible to extract useful information from these data sources. In this talk, I will be providing an overview of techniques and practices for working with chat-based user interaction data with a focus on machine-augmented data annotation and unsupervised learning methods.
Bio: Daniel Shank is a Senior Data Scientist at Talla, a company developing a platform for intelligent information discovery and delivery. His focus is on developing machine learning techniques to handle various business automation tasks, such as scheduling, polls, expert identification, as well as doing work on NLP. Before joining Talla as the company’s first employee in 2015, Daniel worked with TechStars Boston and did consulting work for ThriveHive, a small business focused marketing company in Boston. He studied economics at the University of Chicago.
E-Learning Balancing Act: Good vs Efficient development-web_version092010tmharpster
Is faster always cheaper? What's the hallmark of truly EFFECTIVE e-learning? What does the research say about what's effective? This presentation outlines what makes e-learning effective and offerideas on ways to balance good design with efficient development that yields "good" results.
How To Decide: When To Use What In Office 365 - ITUnityRichard Harbridge
Your users may struggle with these questions: Should I share a message via Skype for Business instead of Yammer, Office 365 Groups, or Exchange? Should I collaborate on data using an Excel sheet or a SharePoint list? Should I share a file in Outlook, in a meeting, from OneDrive for Business, on Yammer, in a Group, or in a SharePoint site? This session is the ‘How To’ user’s guide What happens when your users can't decide what technology or feature to use? They use what they know, or what’s easy; even if better options exist. In this session, Richard and Kanwal help you maximize the value of your Office 365 investment by providing the guidance you need to help your users make better, more effective decisions on how they get work done.
Do you want to be a Cloud Architect ? Are you stuck in a Sysadmin / DBA job ,and want to transition into the Cloud? Are you interested , but do not know how/where to start ? Then, you are in the right place . This is Part 1 of a 3-Part series , where I share the secret sauce how best to get started on the journey to become a Cloud Architect , and enhance your career.
How to get a Job as a Front End DeveloperMike Wilcox
For career changers or general job searchers who have experience, and developers in general. Skills and subsets needed to be hirable; How and where to learn FED Skills; Job Search Preparation; Where to find job openings; How to write a resume; How to be a good interview
Do you want to be a Cloud Architect ? Are you stuck in a Sysadmin / DBA job ,and want to transition into the Cloud? Are you interested , but do not know how/where to start ? Then, you are in the right place . This is Part 1 of a 3-Part series , where I share the secret sauce how best to get started on the journey to become a Cloud Architect , and enhance your career.
Do you want to be a Cloud Architect ? Are you stuck in a Sysadmin / DBA job ,and want to transition into the Cloud? Are you interested , but do not know how/where to start ? Then, you are in the right place . This is Part 1 of a 3-Part series , where I share the secret sauce how best to get started on the journey to become a Cloud Architect , and enhance your career.
As a developer do you find yourself struggling to keep up with the endless stream of technology options available? If so, please join us as we take you through the A to Z of application modernization technologies that you need to be aware of in order to extend the life of your Notes databases. We will step our way through the Modernization Alphabet starting at APIs before working our way through to Web Components, XPages, YAML, and Zapier. Our goal in this session will be to give you a better understanding of at least one technology you might not have previously considered that you should be using when you return from this conference.
Presented at Engage 2018
10 Easy Productive Things to Do to Increase CreativityBusiness Glory
When it comes to creativity, everything is about productivity and efficiency. Your productivity will affect how much money you will be able to make at the end of the month.
A collection of my photography works created from more than a decade of wandering India with a camera, photographing its landscapes, culture and heritage.
See more of my work at www.paintedstork.com or know more about our photography tours in India, South & South-East Asia at www.darter.in
The Challenges Technical Communicators Face will address many of the topics we face as
technical communicators.
Some of these topics will include:
•Distinguishing content from information
•Untimely or no inputs from Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) or developers
•Communicating with management
•Getting the right people to review your work for content
•Prioritization: Is less importance given to documentation?
Panelists are:
•Donn DeBoard, Senior Information Developer at Vertex, Inc.
•Todd DeLuca, Manager, Technical Communications at Black Knight Financial Services
•Timothy Esposito, Principal Technical Writer at Oracle
Each panelist will give a short presentation followed by a group discussion open for questions and answers.
10 Things To Do Before Emailing Your Sales Deck To A Potential ClientDeck Rooster
It's quite disheartening to see how so many sales people and entrepreneurs continue to send across their sales pitch deck over email when a potential clients says "Please email me that presentation" - without realising how doing so could affect the progress of the deal.
A presentation to be emailed has to be a version, but a very different presentation from the sales pitch deck.
Check out this presentation to understand why doing so is important and also how to do so in 10 easy steps.
When you're starting or running a company, how do you choose technology? The prevailing advice du jour is something along the lines of "use the best tool for the job." This is obviously right, but it is also devoid of meaning in an unfortunate way that lets people define "best" and "job" as myopically as they like.
Ideal slides (and live presentation) if you are looking to:
Develop video for use online:
Find out how to create and upload video to help users "get the picture." Get people to like your product and then buy it, which makes you money.
Create better content in Word: Find out how to best use styles to effectively manage content within your portfolio.
Reduce the amount to time spent manually adjusting content over and over and over and over again. That saves time. Time is money. Save money.
Share and collaborate with others:
Find out how to use the cloud to work together and increase productivity. Fewer back and forth conversations makes it faster to get to market. That saves money. And it makes money.
Publish content to the most popular formats: Find out how to convert your content to online formats with minimal effort, for maximum result.Single source publishing to multiple channels means spending less money, earning more money, and a smarter investment of money.
See and do. That's a powerful combination. During the lecture and demo, we showed you the benefits of the tools and processes, and now you can review all the slides in detail!
Daniel Shank, Data Scientist, Talla at MLconf SF 2017MLconf
Getting Value Out of Chat Data:
Chat-based interfaces are increasingly common, whether as customers interacting with companies or as employees communicating with each other within an organization. Given the large number of chat logs being captured, along with recent advances in natural language processing, there is a desire to leverage this data for both insight generation and machine learning applications. Unfortunately, chat data is user-generated data, meaning it is often noisy and difficult to normalize. It is also mostly short texts and heavily context-dependent, which cause difficulty in applying methods such as topic modeling and information extraction.
Despite these challenges, it is still possible to extract useful information from these data sources. In this talk, I will be providing an overview of techniques and practices for working with chat-based user interaction data with a focus on machine-augmented data annotation and unsupervised learning methods.
Bio: Daniel Shank is a Senior Data Scientist at Talla, a company developing a platform for intelligent information discovery and delivery. His focus is on developing machine learning techniques to handle various business automation tasks, such as scheduling, polls, expert identification, as well as doing work on NLP. Before joining Talla as the company’s first employee in 2015, Daniel worked with TechStars Boston and did consulting work for ThriveHive, a small business focused marketing company in Boston. He studied economics at the University of Chicago.
E-Learning Balancing Act: Good vs Efficient development-web_version092010tmharpster
Is faster always cheaper? What's the hallmark of truly EFFECTIVE e-learning? What does the research say about what's effective? This presentation outlines what makes e-learning effective and offerideas on ways to balance good design with efficient development that yields "good" results.
How To Decide: When To Use What In Office 365 - ITUnityRichard Harbridge
Your users may struggle with these questions: Should I share a message via Skype for Business instead of Yammer, Office 365 Groups, or Exchange? Should I collaborate on data using an Excel sheet or a SharePoint list? Should I share a file in Outlook, in a meeting, from OneDrive for Business, on Yammer, in a Group, or in a SharePoint site? This session is the ‘How To’ user’s guide What happens when your users can't decide what technology or feature to use? They use what they know, or what’s easy; even if better options exist. In this session, Richard and Kanwal help you maximize the value of your Office 365 investment by providing the guidance you need to help your users make better, more effective decisions on how they get work done.
Do you want to be a Cloud Architect ? Are you stuck in a Sysadmin / DBA job ,and want to transition into the Cloud? Are you interested , but do not know how/where to start ? Then, you are in the right place . This is Part 1 of a 3-Part series , where I share the secret sauce how best to get started on the journey to become a Cloud Architect , and enhance your career.
How to get a Job as a Front End DeveloperMike Wilcox
For career changers or general job searchers who have experience, and developers in general. Skills and subsets needed to be hirable; How and where to learn FED Skills; Job Search Preparation; Where to find job openings; How to write a resume; How to be a good interview
Do you want to be a Cloud Architect ? Are you stuck in a Sysadmin / DBA job ,and want to transition into the Cloud? Are you interested , but do not know how/where to start ? Then, you are in the right place . This is Part 1 of a 3-Part series , where I share the secret sauce how best to get started on the journey to become a Cloud Architect , and enhance your career.
Do you want to be a Cloud Architect ? Are you stuck in a Sysadmin / DBA job ,and want to transition into the Cloud? Are you interested , but do not know how/where to start ? Then, you are in the right place . This is Part 1 of a 3-Part series , where I share the secret sauce how best to get started on the journey to become a Cloud Architect , and enhance your career.
As a developer do you find yourself struggling to keep up with the endless stream of technology options available? If so, please join us as we take you through the A to Z of application modernization technologies that you need to be aware of in order to extend the life of your Notes databases. We will step our way through the Modernization Alphabet starting at APIs before working our way through to Web Components, XPages, YAML, and Zapier. Our goal in this session will be to give you a better understanding of at least one technology you might not have previously considered that you should be using when you return from this conference.
Presented at Engage 2018
10 Easy Productive Things to Do to Increase CreativityBusiness Glory
When it comes to creativity, everything is about productivity and efficiency. Your productivity will affect how much money you will be able to make at the end of the month.
A collection of my photography works created from more than a decade of wandering India with a camera, photographing its landscapes, culture and heritage.
See more of my work at www.paintedstork.com or know more about our photography tours in India, South & South-East Asia at www.darter.in
The Challenges Technical Communicators Face will address many of the topics we face as
technical communicators.
Some of these topics will include:
•Distinguishing content from information
•Untimely or no inputs from Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) or developers
•Communicating with management
•Getting the right people to review your work for content
•Prioritization: Is less importance given to documentation?
Panelists are:
•Donn DeBoard, Senior Information Developer at Vertex, Inc.
•Todd DeLuca, Manager, Technical Communications at Black Knight Financial Services
•Timothy Esposito, Principal Technical Writer at Oracle
Each panelist will give a short presentation followed by a group discussion open for questions and answers.
A presentation that introduces three different approaches that have been used to justify XML investments. Case studies used to illustrate how each model has been deployed. Concludes that business cases should in fact leverage all three models if an initiative is not only going to be approved but will be supported when the going gets tough.
Professional Publishing: Intelligent eBooks for Working ProfessionalsJoe Gollner
Presentation given at Intelligent Content 2013 in San Francisco. Incorporated a live demonstration of a professional eBook based on the Canadian Criminal Code.
Presented by Neil Perlin
Considering converting your help authoring tool (HAT) output to mobile but not sure what you’re getting into? Recent releases of HATs like Flare and RoboHelp can output to multiple channels such as ebooks, web apps, HTML5, even native apps. Mechanically, it’s surprisingly simple. It’s in the interface design and information design that things can get messy. Come to this session to learn about how. We’ll cover:
The types of mobile supported by HATs and how to define your mobile needs
Interface differences between online help and mobile
What help authoring tool features work, may work, and won’t work in mobile outputs
Are you aware that the federal government has requirements for how you communicate? If you use video, it needs to be both captioned and audibly described. Is your documentation on the web? It needs to be accessible. But what does it mean to be accessible? What are the laws governing accessibility, and how do they relate to your profession? In this presentation, Paul Paire from Temple University will cover:
•An overview of accessibility and the related laws
•Specific accessibility laws as they relate to the technical communication field
•Items to address when making documents (Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF) and videos accessible
This is a short powerpoint deck I wrote on how to write powerpoint decks. My staff had a wide range of experience in presenting and the results were often disastrous. This is a simple baseline briefing about guidelines for creating powerpoint presentations. Or not.
Get things done : pragmatic project managementStan Carrico
Bitovi summer training camp presentation on communication and project / task management.
Roleplay dialog:
Version 1 (not the best)
PM : How is this new chart progressing? You have been working on it for two weeks and it needs to be complete by end of week.
Dev round A:
I'm working as fast as I can! I'm trying to get it done by the end of the week.
PM : Well, I'll check in with you again in a few hours.
Dev round A : I need more time than that, why don't you give me a day and then try me again?
PM : I need this to be done by Friday and it's already Thursday. How much longer do you need?
Dev round A : I don't know, but longer than a few hours..
__ Version 2 (better)
PM : How is this new chart progressing? You have been working on it for two weeks and it needs to be complete by end of week.
Dev round B : The chart consists of the plot, the axes and the css styles we're applying from the design mockup. I have completed the plot, and I estimate that the axis and applying styles will each take about 6 hours to complete. The plot took me longer than I expected. I think we should plan to demo the full chart on Monday.
PM : Can you update me when the axis and styles are done?
Dev round B : Sure. Does the business need to give us feedback on the plot, axis or styles? We can demo the plot now, the axis will be ready in the morning, and the styles will be applied and ready to demo on Monday morning.
PM : No, I think we need the complete product. I'll verify the don't need to give feedback on the pieces.
Dev round B : Ok, I'll send you a note when they are finished tomorrow evening, or I will update you before that if I run into any blockers.
References
The Pragmatic Programmer 1999 By Andrew Hunt and Dave Thomas
Team Geek 2012 By Brian W. Fitzpatrick, Ben Collins-Sussman
Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design 2006 By Brett McLaughlin, Gary Pollice, David West
The Agile Samurai 2014 Jonathan Rasmusson
Behind Closed Doors 2014 By Johanna Rothman, Esther Derby.
Write your Big Idea Text. Crash Course by Rhea WesselRhea Wessel
A Big Idea Text:
-Addresses a problem with a solution that can lead to a transformation or mindset shift
-The solution is simple, surprising and inevitable
-Both the problem and the solution are attached to broader themes that are hinted to in the text
-The idea has a deeper truth as an ending payoff
Eight steps to leading a successful SharePoint project. Based on the article 'Leading Change' by John P Kotter with examples based on experiences with SharePoint projects over the past decade. Focused on business value, not technical fe
Make It All About Your Audience (Deliver What They Want, How They Want, When ...Publishing Smarter
It’s all about the audience and we hear that all the time. Know your audience. Articles and discussions abound about the informed consumer, audience metrics, and personas. How do you actually organize and create content geared to multiple audiences?
Learn tips and techniques for planning, writing, and publishing which help you deliver the right information, to the right audience, in the right format, at the right time, and let them make the right decisions.
Thinking Strategically About Content - Localization World SingaporeScott Abel
In this presentation from Localization World Singapore, April 2013, Scott Abel explores the importance of thinking strategically about content (how it is created, why its created, and the goals of global content initiatives) by helping the audience understand the importance of vision in content strategy. The presentation also touches on how organizations can find time for innovation and provides several resources for content strategy professionals.
A presentation I gave to a group of entrepreneurs at the Founders Institute program. The presentation focused on how to make the right product decisions on day 1 as well as post-launch.
Mimi Yin: Getting Things Done: Technology and PracticeSteve Williams
BayCHI March 14, 2006, program: Chandler is trying our exposure to too much information and not enough time to process, make decisions from the information available. Despite being in the information age, most of our decisions are still based on gut instinct, high-level impressions, tunnel vision (knee-jerk reaction), or someone else�s summary.
GTD or Getting Things Done is a task management system or methodology. It is a way of life. It is about putting things where they mean something to you. It is a trusted system. A trusted system is one that is complete and up-to-date.
The relationship between Chandler and GTD is such that Chandler is like a Unitarian church in relation to GTD. Chandler deals with the "spirit of the law" as opposed to the "letter of the law". Chandler picked out high level concepts that are universal and implemented a system aligned with GTD.
Creating Value out of SharePoint…an approach to making your company happyand ultimately achieving inner peace.
As a SharePoint consultant, I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. This presentation is my attempt to distill my years worth of lessons learned into a fun, and useful framework.
Automating DITA Publishing: How Gulfstream Publishes Style-rich, Interactive ...Publishing Smarter
If you have watched a TV show or movie in which characters travel the world in a Gulfstream, you have seen a company that elevates aviation to an art form. Sleek lines, luxurious cabins, and an ongoing pursuit of excellence are what we see onscreen.
Behind the scenes, there is DITA. Flight manuals, operators manuals, handbooks, and other content is sourced from one set of DITA materials. Gulfstream then publishes it in a system to PDF that is as functional, professional, and sharp looking as the airplanes they support.
How Gulfstream is doing this, though, is another story. It includes highs and lows of discovery, challenge, and success from open communications between partners. The experience of delivering the best looking and the best functioning documentation in the industry means months of effort to create a push-button approach to convert a DITA map to a finished digital PDF that provides a complete solution to online documentation for the cockpit.
This story is a continuing exploration of the boundaries of automation, compliance, design, and a desire to enhance the usability (and the re-usability) of content from creation to the final delivery. See how it works and what DITA can do to change the way we fly.
Convince Management to Invest in a CCMS (Lessons learned)Publishing Smarter
You are keenly aware of the benefits of a Component Content Management System (CCMS). Next steps; develop a business case to present to management. Answering their questions about an important investment decision means prepping for their key questions. This webinar presents you with questions management may ask, information on researching answers, and guidance on how to make your case. Learn through stories of companies and people who have a CCMS. Hear what they did to convince their management teams to make the long term investments that pay dividends for years to come.
Develop key components of a content strategy
Connect the implementation of the strategy with
Improved workflows for creating, managing, and publishing content
Reduction of risk in lack of compliance, inconsistency, missing information
Generation of revenue through effective multi-channel content delivery
Ask (and answer) questions related to tool selection
Hands-on with FrameMaker and DITA to create topics
Publish PDF and HTML5 formats
Implement an Adobe Experience Manager-based solution to ingest, manage, and publish content
DITA: From “Do I?” to “Done It!”: An Automotive Case Study that can apply to ...Publishing Smarter
This session showcases how documentation for one of the biggest auto manufacturers in the world was to migrated to DITA allowing for publishing of hundreds of manuals in over a dozen languages.
Vehicle documentation (owner’s manuals, user guides, quick reference guides, etc) are as crucial to a car as the brakes, engine, or chassis. Without these a car is not finished, and cannot be shipped and sold. Documentation failure can cost over $100,000 per MINUTE if it results in a line being shut down.
Learn about the journey and discovery of concerns, project scope definition and change, trials and tribulations of getting tools to do what was needed, and the net results. Along the way a component content management system, author tools, review processes, and much more had to be planned, tested, implemented, and supported.
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is the accepted industry standard for creating structured content. A Unified Content Strategy is the methodical and purposeful management of your information assets across all divisions of your enterprise, in a way that breaks down silos and makes information easy to find and use.
Brakes, engine, or chassis is mission-critical for a car. Equally important is all the documentation (owner’s manuals, user guides, quick reference guides, etc). Without these, a car is not finished, and cannot be shipped or sold. When supporting one of the biggest auto manufacturers in the world meant migrating to DITA, a solution that supported publishing had to work right. It had to work the first time, and every time.
Learn about the journey and discovery of concerns, project scope definition and change, trials and tribulations of getting tools to do what was needed, and the net results. Along the way, a component content management system, authoring tools, review processes, and much more had to be planned, tested, implemented, and supported.
Takeaways:
• Attendees should be able to clearly see what worked, what didn’t, learn why, and avoid similar pitfalls in their path to structured content.
• Identify how a tight time frame, expectations vs reality, last minute changes, and many late nights culminated into results that showcase the best and worst of tech comm and related tools and processes.
• Discover an automated publishing solution, where one source of content is transformed to multiple channels and uploaded to a CCMS.
Make the move from basic documents to structured documentsPublishing Smarter
Word is great when you have content that is managed by SharePoint, or based on standard and highly-enforced templates, or you have a team of developers to support your team of writers. However, there are too many ways for too many people to cause too many problems. Style overrides, manual formats, or just incorrect use of a template can haunt good content. You spend time and effort to make content great; now put a little bit more time into getting to know a tool that isn’t created for everyone. It’s created for those of us who work in technical communication. It’s time for Adobe FrameMaker.
In this session, you will learn how to
» Evaluate a Word document for content quality
» Rework content for a topic-based model
» Import a Word file to Adobe FrameMaker
» Create a structured workflow
» Migrate legacy content to a structured format
» Move your content to a CCMS
» Publish single sourced content to multiple channels, formats & devices
Give in to the power of the Dark Side: Tech Comm and Marketing are ConvergingPublishing Smarter
Video: https://youtu.be/AXPG_d-XiZk
We’ve come to think of it like this: content is content. Marketing and technical communications are generated for the same end users at different points in the product adoption life-cycle. The distinction between marketing communications and technical communications is far less pronounced than it once was. Managers sometimes see little difference in skill-sets and often put content creators together in one role or department – and maybe they’re right. During our careers we’re often dealing with a lot of technical content but also creating marketing communications; we’re in a good position to see how very little difference there might be between them. They’re both an always-on dialogue with the user, just at different points in the product adoption life-cycle. We’ll explore the audiences who consume content, ideas related to a seamless content experience, how both training and support factor into this, and talk about implementation ideas.
DITA can help both marketing and technical communications teams connect with customers. In a non-technical way, this slide deck (and the associated presentation) shows how and why it matters to connect with your customer using all the tools at your command.
Text-rich, illustration-heavy, table-filled, overly-hyphenated manuals and docs sit on the shelf and never get read.
Today, we read information in the format we want, on whatever device we want, and with just enough information to support what we need to do.
Learn more about topic-based writing, what it is and what it can do for your approach to documentation.
Any device, any time, any format.
Information on business models in Canada, and some background on considerations when starting a business in Alberta. Focus is on general ideas, but details about one tech comm business addressed specifically in the session.
When creating technical documentation it's good to know how long it will take. This presentation (delivered to the STC in Calgary Alberta) explores estimating such projects as well as an overview of the estimating process.
Metrics that matter Making the business case that documentation has valuePublishing Smarter
Tell the story around content as a business asset. We agree there is value in documentation but have been challenged at times to “prove it”. Present to groups including sales, support, service, IT, engineering, QA/testing, manufacturing, HR, training, finance, marketing, and every other business unit in your organization. Demonstrate how documentation drives sales and generates corporate revenue to managers and executives helping them see how important documentation is to them
Content creation, reuse, and publishing to everyone on every device (WritersUA)Publishing Smarter
Timing is everything. It's crucial to quickly create content for multiple audiences, manage reuse effectively, and publish to an audience that needs: the right information, at the right time, in the right format. You can follow up and in a hands-on way you: create content for multiple audiences, in seconds generate dynamic HTML5 content, do so at the click of a button
Metrics that matter: Making the business case that documentation has valuePublishing Smarter
Presented at STC16 Summit in Anaheim, follow a case study in which a product launch was positively impacted by good planning around documentation early in the project.
Content creation, reuse, and publishing to everyone on every devicePublishing Smarter
Use Adobe FrameMaker and its conditional text settings to create content unique to your audience and allow them to choose exactly what they read. Step-by-step instructions make it easy to get started, and explore powerful ideas.
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
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Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
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2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
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Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
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Personal development courses are widely available today, with each one promising life-changing outcomes. Tim Han’s Life Mastery Achievers (LMA) Course has drawn a lot of interest. In addition to offering my frank assessment of Success Insider’s LMA Course, this piece examines the course’s effects via a variety of Tim Han LMA course reviews and Success Insider comments.
3. Tech Comm 101: Know your audience
12:08@publishsmarter
3
Here because nothing else you had planned looked
good?
It’s STC. This IS where I’d be on a Thursday!
Here because the topic is something you
Have a basic interest in?
Have a lot of interest in?
Love more than almost anything else on earth?
Already generally familiar with this topic?
4. About your speaker
12:08@publishsmarter
Publishing Smarter:
President
Content strategist,
publishing technologies
expert, author, and geek-
enough
Certified Technical
Trainer
DITA
Content management
Topic-based writing
4
5. Standard disclaimer
12:08@publishsmarter
In the interest of brevity I
will make some blanket
statements to keep it
simple
It’s not all 100% “the
truth”, but I’ll stay close
Purists may complain
And they are wrong!
(except when they are
right)
5
6. The irony is that I need 150 slides
(well, maybe not THAT many…)
@publishsmarter 12:08
6
Core principles of minimalism
7. Ideals of minimalism
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7
To the largest extent possible, a product should
document itself and do so
Explicitly, or
By being intuitive through good design
Documentation and product design must fit together
to let a user make the right decision on use, because
we provide:
the right information
at the right time
in the right format
to the right audience
8. History of minimalism
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8
Developed for graphical user interfaces (GUI) and
grew out of a need for great usability
Documentation borrowed from this
Not all ideas have 100% transfer
Minimalism can be applied via standards like DITA
Similar theory: less is more
9. Core principles of minimalism
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9
1. Focus on an action-oriented approach
Tasks are core to what people are doing, so let them do it!
2. Anchor the tool in the task domain
Ensure you understand the users’ world
3. Support error recognition and recovery
Recognize the importance of troubleshooting information
4. Support reading to do, study, and locate
Ensure that users can find the information they need
• Carroll, J. “Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel”
10. My suggestion: Factor in today’s audience
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10
Today’s audience is
More engaged Interactive
Eager Easily bored/misled/lost
Today’s audience engages/interacts
Not by being interested in what you write, deliver, or say
Not by talking to you (or your people) very often
Is engaged and interacts with present and
future audiences, and can impact perception
What you do now is noticed
What you did then is found
What you do in the future depends on both
11. 1. Action oriented approach (let’s explore)
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11
Provide an immediate opportunity to act
Ensure tasks are front and center, and that they start with the first steps,
NOT with a lot of extra content. People want to DO things.
Encourage and support exploration and innovation
Don’t feed users every action. If it’s obvious, move on. If the task is
simple and the audience known, don’t include it, or summarize it.
Respect the integrity of the user’s activities
Keep the relevant info nearby, but don’t link them to a bunch of random
seeming places; instead support them in completing the task
In content, prioritize ‘how to’ (tasks) early
Use other content (concepts and references) to support tasks
In tools, let people do what they intend to do
Don’t put up roadblocks and obstacles. Ever. For any reason.
12. I presented in Edmonton, Alberta 1 day…
12:08@publishsmarter
12
13. … text didn’t do what I thought it should…
12:08@publishsmarter
13
Our site does not officially support your browser. Feel
free to explore with it, but you may not be able to use all
our features.
You may want to update your browser. Consider using
one of the following:
Microsoft Internet Explorer (download now)
Mozilla Firefox (download now)
If you have questions or encounter problems, please call
our Sales Super Centre at 1-800-538-5696.
From 114 words to 65 ~40% reduction
Message is cleaner, easier to understand
Translation costs decrease
Message changes to taking away blame
14. …this is what the airline did the NEXT day
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14
15. Is this respect for the integrity of the user’s action
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15
19. “Respect the integrity of the user’s activities”
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19
Focused links,
support the
goals
20. Recap: Action oriented approach
12:08@publishsmarter
20
Provide an immediate opportunity to act
Ensure tasks are front and center, and that they start with the
first steps, NOT with a lot of extra content. People want to DO
things.
Encourage and support exploration and innovation
Don’t feed users every action. If it’s obvious, move on. If the
task is simple and the audience known, don’t include it, or
summarize it.
Respect the integrity of the user’s activities
Keep the relevant info nearby, but don’t link them to a bunch of
random seeming places; instead support them in completing
the task
21. 2. Anchor tool in the task domain (let’s
explore)
12:08@publishsmarter
21
Select or design instructional activities that are real
tasks
If you document something, do so from the perspective of
doing something, not just documenting for the sake of features
Components of the instruction should reflect the task
structure
Organize the content so that it follows a natural progression
based on the tasks users actually perform
22. Good and bad of real tasks
12:08@publishsmarter
22
23. 3. Error recognition and recovery (let’s
explore)
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23
Prevent mistakes whenever possible
Provide error information when actions are error
prone or when correction is difficult
Provide error information that supports detection,
diagnosis, and recovery
Provide on-the-spot error information
26. More good error recognition/recovery
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26
27. 4. Read to do, study, and locate
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27
Be brief, don’t spell out everything
Users don’t need every bit of information about every bit of
functionality PLUS the entire backstory
Be consistent
Write things the same way in files, across publications
Don’t bury important content
If it matters THAT much, make it stand out; if it doesn’t matter,
don’t bother writing it
Provide closure in tasks
Where needed, let people know it’s done if there isn’t a natural
way to know they are finished
28. Be brief, don’t spell out everything
12:08@publishsmarter
Replace text
The breather is located on
top of the pump and is
usually capped in black.
Consider this instead:
Replace text
The butterfly valve is
located between the main
tank and the exhaust pipe.
Consider this instead:
28
29. Being brief can include better organization
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29
Supported formats include:
JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group (common on the
web)
AI: Adobe Illustrator (A vector format for line drawings, but can
be converted to other formats as well)
Extension Type Notes
jpeg Joint Photographic Experts
Group
Common web format
ai Adobe Illustrator Vector format for line
drawings
30. Good: Organize information
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30
A comparison of sizes tells you that whales are big:
The average US male is 5’9” tall
The average US female is 5’4” tall
The average Beluga whale is 18’ long
The average Blue whale is 98’ long
A table can tell you the same thing
Mammal Length/height
(avg)
Human being 5’7”
Beluga whale 18’
Blue whale 98’
31. Best: Images provide data AND scale
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18’
6’ / 2m
98’
< 6’
32. Be consistent when you write
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32
Don’t “mix it up”
Select File > New
Choose File > New
Click File > New
On the File menu, select/choose/click New
This will NOT help your users
34. Be consistent when you organize
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34
Learning’s complex enough
People clutter docs with:
Screen shots
Unneeded images
Useless text
Readers don’t have time
They want to just do the job
Stop telling them everything
you (or the SME) knows
Stop nesting (burying) tasks
1. Select File > Save As
The Save dialog appears.
2. Select a location
3. If required, create a folder
a) Click New Folder
A new folder is created
b) Type a name for the folder
c) Press Enter
4. Choose a file format
RTF: Rich Text Format
DOC: Microsoft Word document
FM: Adobe FrameMaker file
5. Name the file and click Save.
35. Save a file Create a folder
1. Select File > Save As
2. Select a location
3. Choose a file format
4. Name the file
5. Click Save
1. Click New Folder
2. Type a name for the folder
3. Press Enter
Much better would be
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35
36. Deliver what is relevant. The end.
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No Yes
37. Provide closure in tasks
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This sample is horrible
1. Select File > Open
The Open dialog
appears
2. Choose a location
Available files display
3. Select a file
The file is highlighted
4. Click Open
The file opens and
displays onscreen
Drop useless results
1. Select File > Open
2. Select location/filetype
3. Click Open
Provide closure when it’s
not totally obvious. ONLY.
1. Press Ctrl+s
The asterisk by the page
number is cleared
Unsaved
Saved
37
38. Recap: Read to do, study, and locate
12:08@publishsmarter
38
Be brief, don’t spell out everything
Users don’t need every bit of information about every bit of
functionality PLUS the entire backstory
Be consistent
Write things the same way in files, across publications
Don’t bury important content
If it matters THAT much, make it stand out; if it doesn’t matter,
don’t bother writing it
Provide closure in tasks
Where needed, let people know it’s done if there isn’t a natural
way to know they are finished
39. Tips to get you started on minimalism
@publishsmarter 12:08
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Reworking source content
40. Work with images: Text heavy, mixed source
12:08@publishsmarter
It has been said a picture is
worth 1000 words. If this is
true, it makes sense to use
images to show ideas,
visualize things, or to add
life to dry text. You can add
images in supported formats
to web pages.
To insert images first select
where you want in on your
web page. Choose Insert in
the Image menu. There are
many image formats
supported (web formats),
and since pictures draw the
eye to a specific location, you
may want to add maps or
charts.
If maps or charts are used
they can visually explain ideas
that may take many pages to
write about. They can even
make content feel more alive,
so if it makes sense, add
them to reports to accentuate
an idea that matters.
Once you know the format
you need, select a file location
and click Map or Chart if
needed. We support jpg, gif,
png, svg (and we convert
Illustrator or Photoshop too!).
Click on a file, then Insert.
40
41. Remember: Tasks come first
12:08@publishsmarter
It has been said a picture is
worth 1000 words. If this is
true, it makes sense to use
images to show ideas,
visualize things, or to add
life to dry text. You can add
images in supported formats
to web pages.
To insert images first select
where you want in on your
web page. Choose Insert in
the Image menu. There are
many image formats
supported (web formats),
and since pictures draw the
eye to a specific location, you
may want to add maps or
charts.
If maps or charts are used
they can visually explain ideas
that may take many pages to
write about. They can even
make content feel more alive,
so if it makes sense, add
them to reports to accentuate
an idea that matters.
Once you know the format
you need, select a file location
and click Map or Chart if
needed. We support jpg, gif,
png, svg (and we convert
Illustrator or Photoshop too!).
Click on a file, then Insert.
41
42. Repeat for concepts
12:08@publishsmarter
It has been said a picture is
worth 1000 words. If this is
true, it makes sense to use
images to show ideas,
visualize things, or to add
life to dry text. You can add
images in supported formats
to web pages.
To insert images first select
where you want in on your
web page. Choose Insert in
the Image menu. There are
many image formats
supported (web formats),
and since pictures draw the
eye to a specific location, you
may want to add maps or
charts.
If maps or charts are used
they can visually explain ideas
that may take many pages to
write about. They can even
make content feel more alive,
so if it makes sense, add
them to reports to accentuate
an idea that matters.
Once you know the format
you need, select a file location
and click Map or Chart if
needed. We support jpg, gif,
png, svg (and we convert
Illustrator or Photoshop too!).
Click on a file, then Insert.
42
43. And for references
12:08@publishsmarter
It has been said a picture is
worth 1000 words. If this is
true, it makes sense to use
images to show ideas,
visualize things, or to add
life to dry text. You can add
images in supported formats
to web pages.
To insert images first select
where you want in on your
web page. Choose Insert in
the Image menu. There are
many image formats
supported (web formats),
and since pictures draw the
eye to a specific location, you
may want to add maps or
charts.
If maps or charts are used
they can visually explain ideas
that may take many pages to
write about. They can even
make content feel more alive,
so if it makes sense, add
them to reports to accentuate
an idea that matters.
Once you know the format
you need, select a file location
and click Map or Chart if
needed. We support jpg, gif,
png, svg (and we convert
Illustrator or Photoshop too!).
Click on a file, then Insert.
43
45. Now, the task title reads: Import pictures
12:08@publishsmarter
45
Images, maps, and charts can be
added to web pages.
Prereq: Ensure graphics are in a
supported web-friendly file format.
1. Select the location to insert an image.
2. Select Image > Insert.
If inserting a Map or Chart, specify
this.
3. Select a folder location.
4. Select a file.
5. Click Insert.
6. Configure the image as needed.
46. Concept title: Reasons to use pictures
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46
It has been said a picture is worth 1000
words; use images to show ideas,
visualize complex ideas, or to add life to
dry text.
Pictures draw the eye to a specific location.
If maps or charts are used they can
graphically explain an idea that may take
many pages to write about. They can even
make content feel more alive, so if it makes
sense, add them to reports to accentuate an
idea that matters.
47. Reference title: Supported image formats
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47
Graphic types, how they are used,
and background information.
Format Function Notes
.jpg Raster based
images
displayed online
(web).
Our conversion tools allow
multiple options, test for
best compatibility.
.gif
.png
.svg Vector based
images
displayed online
(web)
Our conversion tools allow
multiple options, test for
best compatibility.
.ps Adobe
Photoshop
Raster based source.
.ai Adobe Illustrator Vector based source.
48. Summing up the discussion,
and options to continue it.
@publishsmarter 12:08
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Conclusion and contact
49. About this session
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49
Basics of minimalism
1. Focus on an action-oriented approach
2. Anchor the tool in the task domain
3. Support error recognition and recovery
4. Support reading to do, study, and locate
Light examples
Serious ideas