Gain the Edge to Get Results. The Technical Communication Summit is the annual conference for STC. The #STC17 Summit was May 7-10, 2017 at the Gaylord Resort at National Harbor in Washington, DC.
Highlights
- The 2017 theme was ‘Gain the Edge to Get Results’ and spanned more than 75 different sessions during the conference. View the full schedule (PDF).
- The San Diego Chapter won Most Improved Community!
- Wach our STC17 YouTube playlist. While you’re there, please subscribe!
- Browse through all the #STC17 Tweets.

Hot Topics
These topics either had multiple sessions or a lot of interest among conference attendees.
Strategies for Introverts – Revive and Thrive: Strategies for the Introvert in Today’s Workplace | Introverted Entrepreneurship: Leverage Your Strengths to Build A Successful Business
Terminology management and translation memory – Val Swisher of Content Rules has been circulating this topic and people are interested because the payoff can be huge. She presented at the conference, The Holy Trifecta of Intelligent Technical Content, but you can read a blog post or watch a free webinar on the topic.
DITA – Even if you don’t have the business case to implement DITA, more people are catching on that you can apply DITA principles to non-DITA setups, a.k.a. structured authoring. Is DITA Right for You? Scenarios for Considering a Move to DITA | Leveraging Structured Authoring: DITA Techniques When All You Have are Unstructured Tools.
Analytics & Reporting – TechComm is paying more attention to content analytics, well beyond just article feedback and ratings. A Layman’s Crash Course on Analytics in Help Content | Analytics and Tech Doc: The Dawn of a New Era.
Journey Mapping – Capturing customer interactions has been around for a while, but this specific methodology is getting extra attention lately. Walk in Your Customer’s Shoes: Learn the Art of Journey Mapping.
Accessibility and ADA Compliance – This is starting to get more attention from a content-perspective. Section 508: Are You Ready for ADA Compliance Standards? | Accessibility Made Easy: Automating and Optimizing Accessible Outputs from DITA XML.
Agile Writing – 4 different sessions explored this topic. Finding Your Documentation Utopia in an Agile Environment | Art of Writing in Agile | Creating User Documentation in an Agile World | Proving ROI: Agilely Cutting Costs in Help.
Read More About #STC17
- STC Summit 2017 wrapup by Sarah Maddox
- Facial Expressions and Analytics
- Social Media, Ultramarathons, and Crowdsourcing
- An App and Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
- Language and the F Word, Clutter, and Collaboration
- The Honors Reception
- Service, Yellow Brick Road, and Knowing Your Audience
- Closing Session: Fix My App
[…] Here’s a good summary of the STC Summit from STC San Diego. […]