Get thee
to a conference!
By Walter
Hanig, President
Yes, conference season is here. First up is the WritersUA conference, March 28-31, in Hollywood, CA. For details, see: http://www.winwriters.com/ohc04/index.html. Though I've never been to this conference, previously known as WinWriters, everyone I know who has been to it gives it high marks. The driving force behind the conference, Joe Welinske, spoke at a San Diego STC chapter meeting about two years ago and I certainly learned a lot. Historically, this conference has focused on tools, design, and information architecture for online help authors. According to the Web site, there will also be sessions on one of the hotter topics in technical communications, content management.
Next on the conference schedule is the annual international STC conference, May 9-12, in Baltimore. This is the largest of the conferences most technical communicators will ever attend. There will be sessions on a great variety of topics, such as technical presentations on tools to project management to indexing to web design. And, you'll get to meet with most of the tool vendors and see the latest versions of their products. I've been lucky or persuasive enough to attend six of the last seven conferences and every one has been worthwhile. You just can't beat the opportunity to learn a little about so many different topics, from object-oriented programming (which I believe contributed to my getting a job at Qualcomm) to structured FrameMaker7 and XML (ditto for NCR job). You can see a list of sessions and who's presenting them at the conference Web site at: http://www.stc.org/51stConf/.
Can't make it to Baltimore? Attend the STC Region 8 conference, July 25-27, in Davis, CA, about 30 miles west of Sacramento. For considerably less than the cost of the international conference, you'll get to see and participate in many of the same presentations that are given at the international conference. Though the number of presentations is less, the quality is every bit as good. Besides, you can still volunteer and get a discount on the cost of the conference. Share a room and a ride and reduce the cost even more! For more information, go to the conference Web site at: http://www.stcregion8conference.org
Now, I probably don't to try hard to convince you that all of these conferences are great opportunities to learn. The challenge that all prospective attendees faces is how to justify the cost to the holder of the purse strings, typically one's boss. The natural tendency is to focus on how you'll benefit. I think that's a mistake. Instead, focus on what you'll learn and how that will benefit the company. Identify each session you plan to attend and document (yes, write a memo!) how the information being presented contributes to solving a problem in your office.
Good luck and I hope to see you in Hollywood, Baltimore, or Davis!
