Preliminary Program - LavaCon · FrameMaker Publishing Server and Adobe RoboHelp Server. Adobe FrameMaker (2017 release) is the industry-standard tool for authoring and publishing

Preliminary ProgramNovember 5–8, 2017

Portland, Oregon

Schedule at a GlanceSunday, November 5, 20178:00– Registration Open, Coffee

9:00–noonPre-conference Workshops

Mastering Content Models for Total Content DominationMarlowe Beckley, Content Director, Hathway

The Anatomy of a Real DITA Documentation ProjectGeorge Bina, Managing Director, Syncro Soft/oXygen XML Editor

Snakes and Ladders: Content Collaboration with Subject Matter Experts in the Real WorldSharon Figueira, Pre-sales Engineer, IXIASOFT

MPACT: A Gameful Approach to Creating Relevant PersonasDana Ortegón, Jennifer Smerdel, Magga Dora Ragnarsdottir, and Priyama Barua, Mad*Pow

Management Workshop Part 1: Leadership and Management in Technical DocumentationEeshita Grover, Senior Manager of Technical Communications, Cisco Systems

1:00–4:00Pre-conference Workshops

Implementing a Customer-Driven Transition to DITA Content:A Step-by-Step Journey to SuccessSusanna Carlisi and Alexander Lum, CienaTom Aldous, The Content EraStefan Gentz and Dustin Vaughn, Adobe Systems

Creating Unified Content PortalsJim Edmunds, CEO, INGENIUX

The Joy of Improvisation: Practical Play for Serious ProfessionalsAnthony Apodaca, XeditorJack Molisani, The LavaCon Conference

Management Workshop Part 2: Achieving the Extraordinary: Content Development Management SuccessBarry Saiff, CEO, Saiff Solutions

7:00– Pre-conference Social Event

Program subject to change without notice Revised September 27, 2017

Monday, November 6, 20177:30– Registration Open, Continental Breakfast

8:30-8:45 Welcome Jack Molisani, Executive Director, The LavaCon Conference

8:45–9:05 Personalization of Content Experience Specialists Aaron Roe Fulkerson, Founder and CEO, MindTouch

9:05–9:25 Take the Risk, Embrace the Change! Hoa Aldous, Vice President of Operations, The Content Era

9:25-11:25 Find Your Tribe Business Card Exchange

11:25–12:25 Lunch

12:25–12:45 From Yellow Pads to Virtual Reality: The Evolving Role of Content Strategists Andrea Zeller, Virtual Reality Strategist, Facebook

1:00–2:00 Creating Strong Design and Content PartnershipsDayelin Roman, Content Designer, and Evan Prowten, Content Designer, Intuit

Automating Product Documentation Assembly: When Product Information Management Meets CCMAlex Masycheff, CEO, Intuillion

Making a Quantum Shift in Structured AuthoringEric Kuhnen, Director of Operations, Astoria Software

Maturing Process MaturityDawn StevensPresidentComtech Services

Faster Content, Better Healthcare: Improving Cancer Diagnostics with Electronic DeliveryLaura Meyer, American College of Surgeons, and Gretyl Kinsey, Scriptorium

2:15–3:15 Knowledge Freedom: Break Down the Silos!Nikoletta Vecsei, Director, Transamerica, and Laurel Nicholes, Director, F5 Networks

Content Development Estimates and Proposals: The Groundwork for SuccessBarry Saiff, CEO, Saiff Solutions

Developing Your Edge: Getting a Seat at the Customer’s TableCharles Rygula, Cisco Systems

Structured Content Authoring For All!Jan Benedictus, CEO, Liones/FontoXML

Transform your 1,200 Page PDF into Executable Content ModulesDarko Stefanoski, Ernst & Young, and Steffen Frederiksen, DitaExchange

3:15–3:45 Break in the Exhibit HallSponsored by Astoria Software

3:45–4:45 Connecting Silos With Content PipelinesRoger Hadley, Senior Technical Writer, and Derek Atlansky, Technical Lead, Fiserv

Static Site Generators are the Game ChangersLukasz Gornicki, Product Owner, SAP

Personalization of Content and the Power of MetricsOded IlanCMO, Iridize

How Modern Analytics Will Turn Your Technical Content Into a Rock StarFabrice Lacroix, CEO, Antidot–Fluid Topics

Case Study: How McAfee/Intel Security Scaled Up to Dynamic Enterprise PublishingTom Lair, Director of Content Strategy, McAfee, and Joe Gelb, Zoomin Software

5:00–5:20 It’s Amazing What You Can Learn When You Actually Listen to Customers Jon Ann Lindsey, Manager of Content Strategy, Google

5:20–5:40 Feed the Goldfish in 19 Minutes and 52 Seconds Stefan Gentz, Global TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems

5:40–7:30 Networking Reception in Exhibit HallSponsored by Adobe


Tuesday, November 7, 20178:00– Registration, Continental Breakfast

9:00–9:20 Think Bigger! Megan Gilhooly, Senior Manager of Content Management, Amazon

9:20–9:40 Why Introverts Make Successful Leaders Eeshita Grover, Senior Manager Technical Communications, Cisco Systems

9:40–10:00 Stop, Listen, and Collaborate: Creating an Experience-first Content Strategy Melinda Howard Belcher, Senior Director of Digital Experience, Mastercard

10:00–10:20 Engineering Content 4.0 for a Digital World Joe Gollner, Managing Director, Gnostyx Research

10:45–11:45 Countering the Chaos: The Case for Cross-Department WorkflowsBill Burns, Content Architect, Healthwise

Our Role and Responsibility in Information 4.0Ray Gallon, Co-founder, The Transformation Society, and Andy McDonald, Product Manager, TECH’advantage

Spanning Silos: Combining Marketing and Technical Content to Deliver a Consistent Customer ExperienceDustin Vaughn, Solutions Consulting Manager, Adobe

Let’s Work Together: How SASB Implemented DITA and Changed Their Corporate CultureJessi Lawrence, SASB, and Amber Swope, DITA Strategies

Building Catwalks Between Silos: Using Taxonomy to Drive Engagement from Content Marketing to Product DocsJoe Pairman, Vice-President of Operations, Mekon

11:45–1:15 Living Salad Bar Networking Lunch

1:30–2:30 People First! Design Content That Audiences LoveErin O’Briant, President, The O’Briant Group

Smarter Enterprise Collaboration through Content 4.0 and MicrocontentRob Hanna, Chief Info Architect, Precision Content Authoring Solutions Inc.

The Farmer and the Cowhand Should Be Friends, or, How UX and Content Can (and Should) Work TogetherDylan Wilbanks, Director of UX, Integris Software

DITA: Start Small, Grow Big Using Open-Source ToolsPatrick Baker, VP, Development and Professional Services, Stilo International

The Montagues and the Capulets: How Technical Staff and Enterprise Authors Can Find True Love (Without Death)Douglas GormanCEO, Simply XML

2:45–3:45 Think Global, Act Global, Go GlobalBill Swallow, Director of Operations, Scriptorium

Watch that Tone: Creating an Information Experience with a Consistent VoiceSarah Karp, Information Experience Team Lead, Atlassian

We Are Single- Sourcing! But How Well Do We Work With Others?Mike Hamilton, Vice-President of Product Evangelism, MadCap Software

XaaS: XML Authoring as a ServiceGeorge Bina, Managing Director, Syncro Soft/oXygen XML Editor

Case Study: A Journey to Intelligent Content Delivery Craig Prior, Director, Customer Technical Communications, Mastercard, and Joe Gelb, Zoomin Software

4:00–4:20 AI: Preparing Product Content for the Voice Revolution Joe Gelb, President, Zoomin Software

4:20–4:40 How MOOCs, SPOCs, and Next Generation e-Learning Are Impacting Content Strategy Keith Boyd, Director of Structured Learning Programs, Microsoft

4:40–5:00 Facebook Messenger as a Publishing Channel: Delivering Content via Chatbots Murray Newlands, Contributor at Forbes and Founder of Chattypeople.com

6:00– Chinese Lion and Dragon Parade to Offsite Venue for Kamikaze Karaoke and/or Slow, Quiet NetworkingParade sponsored by The Content Era, and karaoke sponsored by WebWorks


Wednesday, November 8, 20178:00– Continental Breakfast

9:00–10:00 Authored by Man and Machine: Interactive Documents?Vi Kellersohn, Chief Marketing Officer, Oberon Technologies

Agile Localization: Building Bridges Between Translation Quality and Rapid Software DevelopmentLaura Dent, International Freelance Technical Writer

Telling the Right Story: Managing Stakeholders to Implement an Integrated Content StrategyAndrea Ames, Content Strategist, IBM

Reusing Your Reuse: How to Keep the Reuse You Have When You Move to DITAHelen St. Denis, Conversion Services Manager, Stilo International

Case Study: Streamlining Maintenance at Siemens Rail by Linking Content and Engineering DataJulian Murfitt, CEO, Mekon

10:15–11:15 Out of Bounds Leadership: Got Flow?Tara Knapp, Content Strategist, Lincoln Financial Group, and Pam Noreault, Solutions Architect, SDL

How a Localization Proof of Concept Can Bring You More Insight in Your DITA ContentDominique Trouche, WhP, and Joe Gollner, Gnostyx Research

Overcoming Cross-silo Office Politics Marli Mesibov, Managing Director of Content Strategy, Mad*Pow

Building an Enterprise-wide Content Platform—and Why DITA will FailDave White, Chief Technology Officer, Quark Software

Case Study: Curating Your Help Site with Data to Bridge the Gap between Documentation and ProductJenny Evans, Avalara, and Ricky Nguyen, Mindtouch

11:30–12:30 Best Practices for Transactional EmailRian Van Der Merwe, Product Manager, Wildbit

Why Culturalization is Important!Jeaneane Marie Falkler, Business Development Executive, VMC Consulting Corporation

Future-proof Your Content: Beyond Traditional Publishing for Adequate ScalabilityMaxwell Hoffmann, Content Strategist, SDL

DITA Worst PracticesKeith Schengili-Roberts, DITA Evangelist, IXIASOFT

Effective Content Framework for Customer SuccessSara Feldman, Vice-President of Programs for STC San Diego

12:30–1:30Lunch Session

People Love to Give You Money! And Recognition! And Headcount! Chellie Campbell, Author of The Wealthy Spirit, Zero to Zillionaire, and From Worry to Wealthy

1:45–2:45 Design Thinking WorkshopAndrea Ames, Content Strategist, IBM, and Erin O’Briant, President, The O’Briant Group

Drawing the Line on Content Localization: How Much is Too Much?Daniel Foster, Snagit Strategy Lead, TechSmith

Collaborating on Content for a Better Customer ExperienceYvonne Gando and Utkarsh Seth, Google

Much Ado About Templates: Reduce the Learning Curve and Increase Productivity at DITA ImplementationsCatherine Long, Senior Information Architect, Varian Medical Systems

Getting Dragged Along? Start Charting Your Team’s Course with an Investment ModelLisa Hultman, Senior Manager, Information Development, ServiceNow

3:00–4:00 To Improve Translation, Wield the Period and the (Typographical) BulletJon Ann Lindsey, Manager of Content Strategy, Google

Presenting for Success: Achieving Buy-In (Almost) Every TimeStacey Seronick, Content Strategist, Wells Fargo

Reinventing a Traditional Content Team to Produce User-Centered Content in an Agile and SaaS EnvironmentPat Kreymborg, UX Manager, Workiva

Reserved for Compact Impact Award Case Study

4:15–5:15 Building a Chatbot for Customer SupportAlex Masycheff, CEO, Intuillion

Building 4,300- mile Bridges: Making Global Teams WorkMaryKay Grueneberg, Senior User Assistance Developer, SAP

TechComm Throwdown!Multiple Speakers Moderator: Bernard Aschwanden, President, Publishing Smarter

Reserved for Compact Impact Award Case Study

7:00– Closing Social Event


Welcome to the 2017 LavaCon Conferenceon Content Strategy and Technical Communication Management

LavaCon® is a gathering place for content strategists, user experience designers, documentation managers, and other content professionals.

Our Mission: To help organizations increase revenue and decrease costs by solving content-related business problems.

It’s one thing to hear people talk about content strategy and usability; it’s another to meet peers who are successfully doing it. Our speakers are practicing industry professionals who have volunteered to share their best practices and lessons learned—both what worked and what didn’t.

Choose from more than 70 sessions and workshops on how to plan, execute, and manage enterprise content development projects.

Ready for three days of great sessions, amazing food, and plenty of opportunities to network with your peers? Welcome to Portland!

Jack MolisaniExecutive DirectorThe LavaCon Conference

Contents

www.facebook.com/LavaCon

www.twitter.com/LavaCon

vimeo.com/LavaCon

Sponsors and Exhibitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Sessions and Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

google.com/LavaCon

Sponsors and Exhibitors

Many thanks to this year’s sponsors and exhibitors!

Diamond

AdobeAdobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information. Adobe's award-winning software and technologies have set the standard for communication and collaboration for more than 25 years. Adobe's Technical Communication group delivers best-in-class tools, systems and services that help businesses streamline content workflows end-to-end. With our cutting-edge solutions, teams can effortlessly collaborate on the creation of ground-breaking content, manage and reuse assets efficiently, and seamlessly publish it across multiple channels and devices.

With the convergence of marketing and technical content across enterprises - Adobe's new-age solutions will empower organizations to create valuable experiences that build brands, drive demand, and extend the reach and ROI of customer-facing content, pre-sale and post-sale.

Adobe's Technical Communication products include the Adobe Technical Communication Suite, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe RoboHelp, XML Documentation Add-on for Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe FrameMaker Publishing Server and Adobe RoboHelp Server.

Adobe FrameMaker (2017 release) is the industry-standard tool for authoring and publishing multilingual technical content across mobile, web, desktop, and print. Easily work with unstructured and structured content in the same documentation - however long and complex. Work faster and smarter with advanced XML/DITA capabilities. Publish next-generation HTML5 layouts with best-in-class search and navigation.

Adobe RoboHelp (2017 release) lets you create and deliver policy and knowledge base content for any device. Publish content as Mobile App, Responsive HTML5, PDF, EPUB, KF8, MOBI, WebHelp, CHM and more. Create next-generation HTML5 layouts with intuitive navigation. Help end-users find relevant content faster with best-in-class search, including search autocomplete. Dynamically filter content for personalized Help experiences. Generate content-centric mobile apps with a single click.

Adobe Technical Communication Suite (2017 release) is an all-in-one toolkit to create and deliver rich, engaging content experiences across devices. Easily author XML/DITA content with Adobe FrameMaker. Create Responsive eLearning modules with Adobe Captivate and interactive presentations with Adobe Presenter. Collaborate in real-time with shared PDF-based reviews using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. Publish content as Mobile App, Responsive HTML5, PDF, EPUB, KF8, MOBI, WebHelp, CHM and more. Deliver personalized Help experiences to end-users with best-in-class search using

Adobe RoboHelp.

XML Documentation Add-on for Adobe Experience Manager is a powerful, enterprise-grade DITA CCMS. Dynamically deliver DITA content directly to Experience Manager, thereby offering highly interactive and personalized experiences to end users. Effectively manage all critical aspects of your enterprise content workflow such as authoring, web-based review and collaboration, translation, project management,

6 LavaCon | www.lavacon.org

digital asset management, reporting, and multichannel publishing. Benefit from a unified content strategy by bringing marketing and technical content to the same platform, making it easier to deliver a consistent user experience pre- and post-purchase.

Adobe FrameMaker Publishing Server (2017 release) is an enterprise software to automate multi-channel, multi-device publishing. Allow multiple users to access publishing services remotely, and manage your publishing setup with a comprehensive dashboard. Output technical content in multiple formats: Responsive HTML5, Mobile App, PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Microsoft HTML (CHM), Adobe Experience Manager Mobile and Basic HTML. Leverage out-of-the-box support for leading CMSs, or use the web APIs to smoothly integrate with other CMSs.

Adobe RoboHelp Server 10 extends the capabilities of Adobe RoboHelp and Adobe FrameMaker. Merge multiple segments of Help content, including responsive HTML5 content, into a unified information system. Host it for anytime, anywhere, any device access. Get extensive analytics reports on content usage, and use the insights to optimize Help content. Manage user rights and security, and take advantage of simplified deployment and configuration. Control operations remotely with an intuitive UI.

Sapphire

Quadralay® CorporationQuadralay Corporation, based in Austin, Texas, builds software and creates solutions for a variety of content publishing and web based applications. The company was incorporated in 1992 and eventually went on to graduate from the University of Texas’ prestigious Technology Incubator (ATI) program in 1996. Since its founding the company has been a premier player in developing solutions for the Internet and related web application programs.

The Company has prospered since its beginning and now provides services and products to thousands of customers in over thirty five countries worldwide. It has also partnered with numerous companies to collectively provide solutions to complex publishing and information deployment challenges.

WebWorks®

WebWorks is the brand under which Quadralay markets its products and services; the company utilizes the registered name WebWorks as its corporate URL (webworks.com) and its toll-free telephone number (877-8-WEBWORKS).

The company’s WebWorks line of products and services enables the automated delivery of online content into multiple formats, languages, and devices, including the packaging and delivery of content into its own exclusive web applications. These applications are designed for providing online help using only standard web technologies that function with numerous web browsing devices. WebWorks solutions are used by over 2,000 corporate customers in 6,000 locations across 35 countries.

2017 Conference on Content Strategy and Technical Communication Management 7

Hipster

Gnostyx Research, Inc.Gnostyx Research Inc. (www.gnostyx.com) equips organizations with the tools and knowledge they need to make the most of content technologies. A global, digital economy demands flexibility and efficiency in how organizations acquire, manage and publish content. Responding to this demand, organizations must find a way to tap into the content technology marketplace while remaining firmly in control of their investments and their content assets. To help organizations to meet this challenge, Gnostyx provides strategic guidance, implementation assistance, learning opportunities, and reusable technology components—all based on open content standards and all based on decades of experience implementing cost-effective and sustainable content solutions.

Platinum

Astoria SoftwareAstoria Software is the world’s most successful Enterprise solution for XML Component Content Management and the first to deliver both an Enterprise-wide SaaS/On-Demand and an On-Premises approach to structured content management. Cisco Systems, Teradata, Xylem (formerly ITT), Siemens Healthcare, Northrop Grumman, LexisNexis, ShoreTel, and other Forbes Global 2000 organizations rely on Astoria to meet increasingly competitive demands for product documentation—high volume, accelerated time-to-market, and globalized output. Astoria Component Content Management, whether On-Demand or On-Premise, is an enterprise-wide solution for Translation-Enabled Content Management, reducing documentation costs up to 90%, compressing product launch times from months to weeks, and generating productivity and management benefits with its flexible delivery model. Astoria Software, a division of TransPerfect, Inc., is based in San Francisco, California.

IridizeIridize is the first enterprise solution for real-time, contextual, training of web products.

Iridize is redefining the world of product and employee training with its new Context Aware Product Learning Mastery Suite that allows product owners to create a host of walkthroughs and guides which “sit on top” of the product interface, integrate with it and offer, small, bite-sized sessions, showing users how to operate the product.

The training is provided intelligently, as the user uses the product, and can be specific to his/her needs, roles, authorizations, and even use specific.

Iridize includes an advanced, user management and reporting dashboard which offers full analytics about guide use, down to the user level, as well as offering customization of the content and experience according to the organizational MO and branding.


The product is used today by large and small firms as well as Fortune 500 companies. Our customers include Macmillan, Nuance Communications, Network for Good, Towers Watson, and DocuSign, to name a few.

Whether you are an organization that wishes to:

• Quickly train and monitor new employees• Upgrade existing employees’ knowledge• Increase customer and user satisfaction• Reduce support and training costs• Enhance communication with customers

Iridize is your professional choice.

Saiff SolutionsSaiff Solutions is a technical writing outsourcing company based in the Philippines, led by Founder and CEO Barry Saiff, a technical communications leader with over 30 years of experience, most of it in the USA. Saiff Solutions provides the best of both worlds—outstanding documentation with excellent quality control, at a fraction of US rates. Find out more at saiffsolutions.com.

Benefactor

MindTouchMindTouch helps transform content a company already produces into customer engagement channels, drastically improving customer effort scores (CES). We unite help content from support, product, and training into a mobile-ready, SEO-optimized site for all of the company's content. MindTouch brings the customer record (CRM) and customers' self-service behavior together for insight into their brand experience. We help companies double organic web traffic, triple user time on site, and reduce bounce rates by 50 percent. Better understand your customers while they better understand your products or services with MindTouch.

Gold

Comtech ServicesFor over 35 years, Comtech Services has helped our clients design, create, and publish information products that meet the needs of their users. We offer a combination of training and consulting services to help you define and implement the infrastructure needed to meet the expectations of both your leadership and your users. At every point in the information development life cycle, we offer expert advice and guidance to help you improve your processes, get to know your audience, fine tune your content, and use the latest standards and technologies. From process maturity assessments, to information models, to stylesheets, you’ll find the support and training you need from our knowledgeable consulting team.


CongilityCongility provides solutions for the publishing and intelligent delivery of structured content. DITAweb for personalized content delivery and IdXML for the publishing of DITA content into Adobe InDesign. DITAweb is a platform for enhanced user experience, enabling collaboration and intelligent delivery of structured content. It eliminates the need to browse through large documents for relevant content. Today’s customers expect self-service information, DITAweb’s capabilities mean users can at last benefit from the intelligence of your source content. Customers can receive personalized and relevant content based on their products, role, device, location etc. they can easily find and be guided to related information. DITAweb provides low cost real-time review for an unlimited number of internal or external users. Integrated with your CCMS, authors can automatically publish to DITAweb and manage review comments within their authoring environment. Rich APIs enable integration with core systems (such as CRM), mobile devices, and software for online or embedded help. DITAweb’s easily accessible analytics provide insight into trends about your content. Come to our stand to see how DITAweb and IdXML can benefit your organization.

easyDITAeasyDITA is a next-generation, enterprise-level content platform that centralizes authoring, editing, and digital distribution of a company or organization’s knowledge products and assets.

IngeniuxIngeniux is a leading provider of web content management and digital experience software. Our solutions enable organizations to orchestrate the entire customer experience–from acquisition through to support and service—on any device, application, or website. The Ingeniux CMS is designed to manage and deliver modern websites, customer support portals, online communities, and other customer touchpoints.

At Ingeniux, we build content management software with an unparalleled focus on the content itself. We believe in intelligent “structured” content. We design our software to enable content reuse, true mobile and multi-channel content delivery, and insightful content discovery. Our unique content-as-a-service capabilities deliver content into web and mobile applications, and other key channels. Ingeniux software is available as a fully managed software service or an on-premise application. Our team delivers unparalleled service and support to customers worldwide.

Learn more at https://www.ingeniux.com.

IntuillionStart Small, Think Big. This is how our solutions allow you to adopt DITA. They can be deployed in a matter of hours and scaled over time. But we give you much more than just products. We are here to inspire you, share ideas, give you our back, and help you see what you probably are not seeing now.

Our solutions help you realize how structured content enables you to take customer satisfaction to a fundamentally new level and let your customers get an experience they couldn't have before.

More information at www.intuillion.com.


MadCap SoftwareMadCap Software, Inc. is a trusted resource for the thousands of companies around the globe that rely on its solutions for single-source multi-channel authoring and publishing, multimedia, and translation management. Whether delivering technical, policy, medical, marketing, business, or human resources content, MadCap’s products are used to create corporate intranets, Help systems, policy and procedure manuals, video tutorials, knowledge bases, eBooks, user guides, and more to any format, including high-end print, online, desktop or mobile. MadCap services include product training, consulting services, translation and localization, and an advanced developer certification program. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, MadCap Software is home to some of the most experienced software architects and product experts in the content development industry.

MekonFounded in 1990, Mekon are leading consultants and systems integrators. We are focused on increasing the effectiveness of your content creation, management and delivery. Faced with insufficient staff and ever increasing demand for output, organizations today often require some support to ensure project success. That support should incorporate best practice, risk management and customer- and ROI-led planning. Mekon provide a well-defined, end-to-end methodology and service that balances strategic guidance and training with the technical capabilities to make a solution a reality. We specialize in systems that allow reuse and recombination of content for flexible, scalable two-way publication, across multiple formats and via the latest publishing media.

Experience with all the major publishing, DITA, S1000D and XML technology vendors gives Mekon a unique and unbiased insight into which technologies are suitable for specific client needs. We are one of the few organizations to successfully implement XML in both the non-technical enterprise content space and traditional technical and professional publishing. As a result Mekon are ideally placed to help you use your content as a strategic business asset. Learn more at www.mekon.com.

Precision ContentPrecision Content Authoring Solutions Inc. is a full-service solution provider to medium- and large-scale organizations around the globe seeking help to better understand and solve their content challenges. Our core services involve designing and implementing innovative, scalable, and sustainable solutions for authoring, managing, and publishing high-value content.

Our highly-respected technical team of developers, information architects, and technology partners work to construct scalable, standards-based tool solutions. Our experienced team of technical communicators work closely with you to transform your unstructured content into highly-usable intelligent content for substantially improved future-proofing, accessibility, and multi-channel publishing capabilities. Once we are done, our trainers teach you everything you need to know to ensure a successful and sustainable hand-off.

We are a proud and committed member of the world-wide community of information professionals. We look forward to continuing the conversation around the importance of content creation practices as they pertain to improving the manageability and effectiveness of your content. Do not hesitate to contact us with your comments and questions. Learn more about how we can help you at www.precisioncontent.com.


Scriptorium PublishingAll organizations have content. Whether it’s telling your brand’s story to future prospects, or providing important technical documentation in support of your products or services, managing that content efficiently is the difference between it being an asset or liability.

We’re Scriptorium Publishing, and since 1997, we’ve helped companies manage, structure, organize, and distribute content in an efficient way. Turning content into a valuable business asset.

Stilo InternationalStilo International is the developer of Migrate, a cloud service that enables subject matter experts (SMEs) to automate the conversion of their content from various source formats including FrameMaker, Word, InDesign, and RoboHelp to DITA XML, and AuthorBridge, a new Guided + Fluid DITA authoring solution for SMEs and occasional contributors, that enables browser-based contributions to a CCMS at extremely low cost.

Learn more at www.stilo.com.

Vasont SystemsVasont Systems provides component content management software and XML data services to Fortune 1,000 companies and global organizations from a variety of industries, including manufacturing, technology, publishing, financial, and healthcare. Since 1992, Vasont Systems has helped companies organize their critical business assets, manage productivity, and disseminate information in many languages to multiple media channels while reducing their costs by an average of 63% and shortening overall cycle times by 75% on average. The Company has been named multiple times to the EContent 100 list of “best and brightest digital content companies.

WittyParrotWittyParrot is a cloud based “Intelligent Micro-Content Automation, Collaboration and Communication Platform” for Marketing, Sales and Support. WP helps external facing knowledge workers such as Salespeople, Marketers and Support Agents to communicate consistently and effectively, engage buyers andcustomers with timely and tailored information.

Micro-content can be consumed by knowledge workers at micro-content level via the portable widget embedded in office365 apps, CRM apps, chrome browser or in any browser based application. Once you have the WittyParrot widget, micro-content can be easily dragged and dropped from the widget literally to anywhere you can type text be it email, word, PPT, InDesign, LinkedIn, social media or chat, etc.

WittyParrot has a built in, intent based intelligent Q&A Bot built on using Artificial Intelligence technology to answer knowledge worker's natural language questions. Micro-content can be either created and curated in WittyParrot platform or can be pushed at the topic or content block level from any CCMS via DITA Toolkit. WittyParrot act as a micro-content delivery platform end users at snippet level in real time.


WittyParrot enable knowledge workers to:

• Deliver tailored message ‘at scale’ at the point of use• Find relevant content in context 'on demand'• Seamless access to contextual knowledge in 'any end user app’• Auto communicate across 'multiple channels'• Automated RFP responses and SOW creation

Resulting in:

• Up to 10x productivity improvement• Content effectiveness and performance stats• Tailor message at the point of use in end user pap at scale• Live collaboration with buyers, channels, all in one place• Up to 50% reduction in ramp-up enabled by cognitive recommendation • Message consistency, regulatory compliance & communication history• Engaged customers and buyer delighted with quick & effective response

Differentiated by:

• Role-centric capabilities, one stop pap for all content & collaboration• Automation powered by patented machine learning and NLP algorithms• Rich metadata enrichment and content organization capabilities• Embeddable widget in Office apps, CRMs or any browser app• Federated documents from multiple cloud or on-premise repositories

Integrated with:

• Office apps—Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams• CRM apps—Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle Sales Cloud, Vtiger• Document storage apps - Box, Sharepoint, etc.• Social Media—FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Weibo, WhatsApp, SMS• DITA XML based CCMS, DITA Toolkit

Modular Solutions with Unified Platform:

• Sales Campaign Automation• Bid and Proposal Automation• Sales and Channel Enablement• Customer Support Bots for Agents and Customers• Knowledge Management• Technical Publication

Silver

DeltaXMLDeltaXML is the leading provider of software tools for managing change in XML content. Many leading corporate and commercial document and data publishers rely on DeltaXML’s speed and accuracy in their workflows to present authors, reviewers and customers with a comprehensive view of document and data changes within XML content. In addition to their general XML comparison toolkit, DeltaXML also provide tools tailored for DITA and


DocBook comparison and merging. CMS vendors and authors alike are already benefitting by letting DeltaXML identify, process and publish their changes. For more information on DeltaXML and their industry-leading products, please visit please visit www.deltaxml.com or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

JustSystemsXMetaL Author Enterprise helps you get to market faster by bringing structure and automation to content creation. Using XML standards such as the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), XMetaL enables authors and contributors to collaborate effectively and to repurpose high value information into the myriad of languages and formats your customers demand. For more information visit www.xmetal.com.

SDLSDL is the global innovator in language translation technology, services and content management. With more than 20 years of experience, SDL delivers transformative business results by enabling nuanced digital experiences with customers around the world.

With the most comprehensive offerings available, SDL masters the intricacies of delivering localized brand content to global audiences. SDL helps companies gain worldwide reach across all languages, mediums and touchpoints with unprecedented relevance so they can create personalized connections with customers, anywhere and on any device.

Companies with global ambitions use SDL as their proven, end-to-end solution for increasing their reach and market share. Our in-depth technical and language capabilities establish a dynamic resonance between brands and customers that powers tangible business results.

Are you in the know? Find out why 79 out of the top 100 global brands use SDL at www.SDL.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Bronze

AppsoftXeditor delivers a web-based and highly intuitive XML authoring platform that not only satisfies end-users but also developers who need a modern and extensible framework. The user-friendly front end leads authors intuitively through a defined document structure with real-time validation. Our innovative JavaScript architecture allows seamless integration into existing technologies and systems (CMS, DMS, PIM, etc.) and may be configured for any DTD/Schema. We currently provide out-of-box support for DITA, DocBook, and PI-Mod. Learn more at www.xeditor.com.


BluestreamBluestream’s flagship product is the XDocs Component Content Management System (CCMS). XDocs is a complete, out-of-the-box enterprise DITA CMS that installs and deploys in hours, rather than days. Bluestream has been providing content solutions since 1997 and has customers in many verticals, among them software, oil and gas, health care, military, manufacturing, and finance.

Learn more at http://www.bluestream.com.

The Content EraIt’s no secret that The Content Era team are fans of XML. After all, it’s a core piece of their content strategy and a key factor in most of their customer success stories—one of which will be showcased as a LavaCon Pre-Conference session outlining a successful transition to DITA. So, whether it is a DITA-based conversion project or just simply teaching new customers how to use XML effectively, The Content Era is able to masterfully craft future-ready solutions for their customers that fit like a glove and have a positive impact on KPIs.

DitaExchangeDitaExchange simplifies the way organizations create, manage, deliver, and re-use important content with Dx4—our structured authoring and content management solution built to run on the Microsoft SharePoint platform. By helping companies efficiently produce and maintain important information and documents quickly while also following compliance guidelines, employees spend less time duplicating content and repeating approval cycles while also improving overall compliance by improving consistency and quality.

Fluid TopicsFluid Topics unlocks the delivery of technical content through any channel.

User guides, reference manuals, installation and maintenance manuals and knowledge bases aren’t merely product documentation—they are also tools for winning business, increasing customer satisfaction and building loyalty.

Fluid Topics is a revolutionary turnkey platform for dynamic content delivery: it transforms all forms of static documentation into a lively, simple and interactive online publishing system. Users can browse, read, search, annotate, comment, create alerts, send feedback to writers, and even create personalized documentation. For more information and a free trial, visit www.fluidtopics.com.


Globalization and Localization Association (GALA)The Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) is a global, non-profit trade association for the translation and localization industry. As a membership organization, we support our member companies and the corporate language sector by creating communities, championing standards, sharing knowledge, and advancing technology. To learn more about the value of membership, visit www.gala-global.org or follow us @GALA_global.

IXIASOFTFounded in 1998, IXIASOFT is a trusted global leader in the XML content management software industry. Its signature product DITA CMS is an award winning, end-to-end component content management solution (CCMS) deployed by industry leaders such as SAP®, ARM®, AMD and BlackBerry®. From authoring to reviewing, localizing and publishing, DITA CMS provides all the tools required for large, global organizations to support their entire DITA documentation process. IXIASOFT is also the developer of TEXTML Server, a native XML database and powerful search engine. IXIASOFT solutions are accessed by thousands of users worldwide in various vertical markets such as software, hi-tech, newspaper, and medical device manufacturing.

For more information, please visit www.ixiasoft.com or connect with IXIASOFT on Twitter and LinkedIn. Already a DITA CMS user? Join the IXIASOFT DITA CMS User Group on LinkedIn.

Oberon TechnologiesOberon Technologies partners with our customers and leading software suppliers to provide innovative solutions for creating, sharing and delivering information. With hundreds of customers, we are known for our integrity, accountability and commitment in every engagement.

Our solutions enable you to:

• Automate your content creation, sharing and delivery processes.• Deliver personalized information• Synchronize content across CMS, translation and publishing systems• Deliver your content to any device

Our services include:

• Content assessments and strategy• Systems/software analysis and integration• Software implementation, configuration and customization (Authoring, Publishing, and Content

Management software)• Custom dynamic-assembly publishing and delivery solutions

oXygen XMLoXygen XML editor is the best XML editor available, with a large number of users ranging from non-technical to XML experts offering both XML development and XML authoring.

The XML authoring support is available on multiple platforms, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, etc. in different forms:


• as a desktop application• as an Eclipse plugin• as a Java component working inside a custom Java application or working within a browser as an

Applet• as a Web application running on a server and providing an HTML5+Javascript interface, thus making

XML accessible from mobile devices, smart phones and tablets

oXygen offers ready-to-use DITA support including visual editing, DITA-OT integration, DITA maps manager and much more. Its change tracking and annotation support, coupled with the possibility to create simplified user interfaces and its availability across platforms make it an ideal tool for capturing content from SMEs or for reviewing DITA documents. www.oxygenxml.com.

Simply XMLSimply XML™ offers a Microsoft Word-to-XML authoring tool called Content Mapper. Writers see the familiar MS Word user interface with the ugly but useful XML behind the scenes. Content Mapper’s target customer organization realizes the value of XML as an architecture for content reuse and flexible publishing. Target authors use MS Word instead of a traditional XML editor because they want simplicity, ease of use, and immediate productivity. You can easily get control of MS Word, implement a writing standard, and modernize your content supply chain. Our long-term background with structured writing and XML mark-up provide a great foundation for content creation and management throughout the enterprise. It doesn’t have to be complicated, its Simply XML. Learn more at www.simplyxml.com.

Trilyon ServicesTrilyon provides the finest technical writing and documentation expertise in the staffing industry. For more than a decade, Trilyon has set the standard for excellence and has contributed to the success of Silicon Valley's most well-known companies.

We offer the full spectrum of documentation, content writing and staffing services for any size company-from the largest enterprise to a bare-bones startup. Our writers take a practical, consumer centric approach, allowing them to tailor content for any audience. We can meet your technical writing needs with a cost-effective solution, whether you need a managed service with a team to produce a complete line of technical documentation, or a single technical writer for a specific project. Our talent pool includes the best API writers, DITA specialists, instructional designers, content strategists, localization experts, videographers and editors.

By truly understanding your needs, we are able to tailor our services to perfectly match your unique requirements. We are driven to find the right candidate for the right job, enabling them to play a vital role in your quest for success. For more information, visit us at www.trilyonservices.com. You can contact us at [email protected].

ZoominSuite Solutions is proud to announce its new product brand, Zoomin. Zoomin’s mission is simple: to deliver your content to your customers across all touchpoints, quickly, easily and precisely. Zoomin is strongly rooted in dynamic content delivery with a deep understanding of customer engagement and the user experience.


Zoomin’s dynamic publishing platform and analytics platform meets the need for innovative, enterprise-grade publishing solutions that substantially improve your users’ experience throughout their customer journey.

Visit www.zoominsoftware.com for more information.

Media

EContentEContent is a leading authority on the businesses of digital publishing, media, and marketing, targeting executives and decision-makers in these fast-changing markets. By covering the latest tools, strategies, and thought-leaders in the digital content ecosystem, EContent magazine and EContentmag.com keep professionals ahead of the curve in order to maximize their investment in digital content strategies while building sustainable, profitable business models. Subscribe to our free eNEws letter at http://www.econtentmag.com.

MultiLingual MagazineFor more than 20 years, MultiLingual has been serving as the world’s leading source of information for the language industry. Through our magazine, newsletter, website, and social media platforms, you will find anything you need to know about industry related events, news, development, and opportunities. Visit us at https://multilingual.com/.


Sessions and Workshops

Sunday, November 5

8:00– Registration Open, Coffee

9:00–noon Pre-Conference Workshops

Mastering Content Models for Total Content DominationMarlowe Beckley, Content Director, Hathway

Content models are the unsung heroes of any web design project. Learn to turn unstructured, cluttered content into “intelligent” content with a method you can reuse from project to project for successful launches every time. We’ll dig deep into how to slice and dice content types for complete content mastery that’s also technology agnostic—”future proof” if you will. You’ll leave with a method to start using immediately and a tool kit for selling content models into the team or client.

The Anatomy of a Real DITA Documentation ProjectGeorge Bina, Managing Director, Syncro Soft/oXygen XML Editor

DITA allows for a lot of flexibility, which translates to a huge number of choices. This is a good thing if you are an advanced DITA user, but it may be daunting if you are just getting started or an intermediate user. It is always easier to look at a real example and start from there, rather than starting from scratch.

In this workshop, we will look over a real-world DITA project, see how it is organized, explore the DITA features it uses, how it is set up to keep track of versions, what publishing options are available, how to check documentation quality, and more.

On one hand, this can serve as a starting point (as an example you can follow when you start a new project), and on the other hand, you may also notice some interesting approaches that you can adopt in your own projects.

Another goal is to show you that the latest trends in the documentation world, specifically that “docs like code” ideas are perfectly compatible with DITA.

Snakes and Ladders: Content Collaboration with Subject Matter Experts in the Real WorldSharon Figueira, Pre-sales Engineer, IXIASOFT

This workshop equips participants with planning tactics for laying out your next content change initiative. Participants will leverage a planning framework and participate in an interactive process of identifying key project opportunities and risks as well as exploring their own project roadmap. In this workshop, the project scenario focuses on how a content management system can be leveraged to facilitate content collaboration with subject matter experts. The topic will be approached using the familiar board game of Snakes and Ladders.

MPACT: A Gameful Approach to Creating Relevant PersonasDana Ortegón, Jennifer Smerdel, Magga Dora Ragnarsdottir, and Priyama Barua, Mad*Pow

How many times have you worked on a persona project, only to hear key stakeholders tell you that they don't see their value? Or ended up with personas that feel stale, static, and too stereotypical? Personas are key to nearly every experience design strategy. But they're useless if your stakeholders don't buy into them. That's where Mad*Pow’s Agile Persona Construction Tool (MPACT) comes in. MPACT turns persona creation into a game-like experience that delights, ignites, and aligns your stakeholders.

In this session, you will learn:

• Why static personas fail to deliver actionable intelligence for product teams.


• Why a quantitative, demographics-based approach to personas fails to describe the important behavior attributes that designers need.

• How to use the MPACT toolkit to create unique, relevant, evidence-based personas.

• How to plan and run an MPACT session.• How to start conversations that lead to rich

persona scenarios.• How to create a collaborative, team-driven

environment.

Management Workshop Part 1: Leadership and Management in Technical DocumentationEeshita Grover, Senior Manager of Technical Communications, Cisco Systems

Some of the unique challenges that technical communication managers face are offshoring, outsourcing, vendor management, managing across countries, and justification of resources. In this workshop, we will work with real-life scenarios and learn from solutions that have been implemented in organizations to manage and lead effective content management teams. You will be exposed to ideas and handy tools to build your team with a varied set of skills for scalability and longevity.

1:00–4:00 Pre-Conference Workshops

Implementing a Customer-Driven Transition to DITA Content: A Step-by-Step Journey to SuccessSusanna Carlisi and Alexander Lum, CienaTom Aldous, The Content EraStefan Gentz and Dustin Vaughn, Adobe Systems

This workshop is for anyone who needs to move to structured authoring but has to take existing unstructured content with them. You cannot afford to leave all that good content behind, and you do not have the time to copy-paste it into a structured authoring system. Adobe FrameMaker is the only product on the market that can combine structured and unstructured content without running into any conversion or compatibility problems. Your multi-channel output production will not need to skip a beat while you are converting the content bit by bit, one topic at a time, when that topic is up for revision anyway. In this workshop, you will learn to set up the conversion and you will discover that everything you need is contained in the product—no additional costs are involved. And even if you are not using FrameMaker for your unstructured content, this will work almost exactly the same.

Creating Unified Content PortalsJim Edmunds, CEO, INGENIUX

A lot goes into creating a success unified content portal. By successfully bringing together disparate parts of your organization (e.g., technical documentation, training information, and support documentation) and breaking down

content silos, organizations can revolutionize how content is stored, shared, and distributed throughout their organization—and beyond.

Discover what exactly a unified content portal is and how you can take the necessary steps to creating a successful one. Then, find out how modern organizations are adopting content-as-a-service (CaaS), search, personalization, and other strategies to make their content even more powerful.


• The definition of a unified content portal and what a successful one looks like in the real world

• Case studies and examples of ways in which unified content portals are being adopted and used throughout a diverse range of organizations

• Core business drivers, ROI, and competitive advantages

• How a unified content portal breaks down content silos—using hands-on exercises and workshopping

• Best practices for attaining buy-in from key stakeholders

The Joy of Improvisation: Practical Play for Serious ProfessionalsAnthony Apodaca, Xeditor, and Jack Molisani, The LavaCon Conference

Remember that feeling you had playing as a kid? When you didn’t care what anyone thought; you just had fun? When you made up rules as you


went along or even played with no rules at all? Somewhere along the way you became “professional” and lost some of that magic play. Attend this workshop and take the first step toward getting it back. Find out how developing improv skills can help your next brainstorming session, team project, or job interview!

Management Workshop Part 2: Achieving the Extraordinary: Content Development Management SuccessBarry Saiff, CEO, Saiff Solutions

As a content development manager, you face a wide variety of challenges. More work, higher standards, less resources, diverse geographies, cultures, and language backgrounds. This all-day

workshop for senior managers will delve into the “soft skills” of management as well as the “nitty gritty” of staffing changes and team challenges.


• How to resolve conflicts with or among content development staff.

• How to enable excellence across geographically diverse teams.

• How to effectively provide feedback.• How to effectively motivate staff, regardless

of work or environment issues.• How to increase awareness of bias, and

improve cross-cultural collaboration.• How to address staffing changes: layoffs,

transfers, firing, hiring, and outsourcing.• How to empower yourself and others to

dramatically increase performance.

7:00– Pre-conference Social Event

Monday, November 6

7:30– Registration Open, Coffee

8:30–8:45 Welcome

Jack MolisaniExecutive Director, The LavaCon Conference

8:45–9:05 Personalization of Content Experience Specialists

Aaron Roe FulkersonPresident and CEO, MindTouch

The technical writer function has changed so much in the last 10 years that it’s nearly unrecognizable today. A role that was previously a cost-center and compliance function is now a critical resource for customer education, adoption, and sales. This warrants a rethinking of the role’s title, responsibilities, and compensation structure. Today is Page One.


9:05–9:25 Take the Risk, Embrace the Change!

Hoa AldousVice President of Operations, The Content Era

Hoa Aldous has made many difficult choices throughout her life. From escaping Vietnam to opting out of an arranged marriage, she's had to risk it all on more than one occasion.

In this keynote, Hoa will share her life experiences, how she assessed the risks she's faced, and that embracing the resulting changes can often lead to the experience you were looking for all along.

9:25–11:25 Find Your Tribe

Business card exchange

11:25–12:25 Lunch

12:25–12:45 From Yellow Pads to Virtual Reality: The Evolving Role of Content Strategists

Andrea ZellerVirtual Reality Strategist, Facebook

How do you write for online experiences when they're not limited to a computer screen? As interfaces are extending beyond website projects, screens are shrinking, becoming immersive, or completely disappearing. This shift is happening as more people connect with their friends on smartphones than laptops, and voice-activated devices are now mainstream in US homes. More people are playing with the feeling of “being there” as Virtual Reality headset owners are increasing.

How do you contribute to product thinking for these new platforms and opportunities when there are no established patterns yet?

As content strategists and technical writers, we plan and write content for web and mobile interfaces. We apply consistent standards and define editorial content processes. In the next few years, our role will move beyond words. This is our chance to embrace the change as our responsibilities evolve from perfecting words to understanding how people engage, navigate, and interpret information in immersive and spatial experiences. This is our time to focus on solving problems and helping our teams understand the entire journey that people take. While technology is still emerging and everyone's still learning, Andrea will share early opportunities for writing for 3D space, gestures, and spoken language in immersive experiences.

As platforms progressed from the early web days in the 1990s to responsive content design in the early 2010s, content strategists and technical writers rose to the occasion and adapted our deliverables while focusing on the people that use our products. We have experience and guidance to offer at the foundational stage of emerging technology. Join me as we explore this new frontier together.

1:00–2:00 Breakout Sessions

Creating Strong Design and Content PartnershipsDayelin Roman, Content Designer, and Evan Prowten, Content Designer, Intuit

Collaboration: It’s this thing every designer is expected to naturally do perfectly. But how often does it work like that in practice? Get the secret sauce behind great partnerships—in and out of


design. Collaboration is more like a craft you can continually improve upon, rather than something that works out naturally, and these two TurboTax designers will show you how. Find out how a strong partnership can lead to some of the best work of your life!

Automating Product Documentation Assembly: When Product Information Management Meets CCMAlex Masycheff, CEO, Intuillion

Product information and product documentation often work as disconnected silos. Product information, which is usually well-structured, includes product components definition data, regulatory compliance information, data about custom product configurations that different resellers receive, etc. It’s created by engineers, the legal department, IT teams, and so on. Product documentation includes technical documentation, marketing collateral, and sales documents, and is created by technical and marketing writers. Product information can become a source for automated creation and generation of product documentation.

Making a Quantum Shift in Structured AuthoringEric Kuhnen, Director of Operations, Astoria Software

Session description to come...

Maturing Process MaturityDawn Stevens, President, Comtech Services

Although tools, technology, and user expectations continue to evolve the content we produce, the processes followed while creating that content frequently remain rooted in what we’ve always done. To better respond to changing demands, we must leave behind our old concepts of information development management and adopt a new model of process maturity. Based on continuing conversations with leading information development organizations, this presentation examines key performance indicators for 10 characteristics that define mature organizations.

Faster Content, Better Healthcare: Improving Cancer Diagnostics with Electronic DeliveryLaura Meyer, American College of Surgeons, and Gretyl Kinsey, Scriptorium

Quick access to cancer staging information leads to faster diagnoses and improves patient care—which is a challenge when the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Cancer Staging Manual is only available in print. What if the manual’s content were integrated into electronic medical records to help doctors find the information they need via API instead? This case study shows how Scriptorium worked with the AJCC to build a DITA specialization that allowed them to implement such a solution.


Knowledge Freedom: Break Down the Silos!Nikoletta Vecsei, Director, Transamerica, and Laurel Nicholes, Director, F5 Networks

This real-world study shows our methods for a Content Potluck that engages thought leaders across the enterprise. It shares techniques for building executive support, identifying contributors, and sustaining engagement in a cross-departmental content strategy. Results? Rich, diverse community content, programming, and feedback mechanisms to share customer sentiment, customer and employee engagement, and co-creation opportunities. This method lightens the sales and support process and lets your team focus on what really matters: Being authentic, authoritative and collaborative internally and externally.

Content Development Estimates and Proposals: The Groundwork for SuccessBarry Saiff, CEO, Saiff Solutions

Estimating content development projects requires math skills and project management experience. In this breakout session, we'll explore how to create effective estimates and proposals. We'll examine several samples, and discuss how to reduce uncertainty and increase confidence. Feel free to bring your own samples for discussion and feedback.


• What questions to ask to facilitate creating good estimates and proposals.

• How to accurately estimate content development effort, duration, and cost.

• How to increase confidence in your estimates.


• How to create content development proposals.

• How to handle variances from your estimate.

Developing Your Edge: Getting a Seat at the Customer’s TableCharles Rygula, Cisco Systems

In many businesses, sales account teams closely guard and regulate contact with customers. Charles has heard of and has experienced situations where technical communications staff are refused access to customers unless there is a major issue. Customer engagement is the linchpin to understanding requirements and delivering value. It is the critical factor between celebrating success and wasting cycles.

This session explores the idea of getting communications professionals to overcome the trust and perception deficits we often face.

Structured Content Authoring For All!Jan Benedictus, CEO, Liones / FontoXML

Many say, “Structured content authoring is too complex.” But organizations have no choice. To keep content consistent, findable, and

manageable, we simply must write and store in a structured format. Semantic tagging, reuse, targeting, conditions, and references are all essential and valuable features that form the essence of structured content schemas. If we simply strip complexity for lightweight authoring, chances are fair that we lose much of this value. The question is: How do we make structured content authoring a mainstream activity?

Transform your 1,200 Page PDF into Executable Content ModulesDarko Stefanoski, Ernst & Young, and Steffen Frederiksen, DitaExchange

Ernst & Young is providing expert regulatory content to major banks and other financial institutions around the globe. Traditionally, this content was delivered in huge PDF files. Now, with Ernst & Young working with DitaExchange, this content has been integrated directly in the line-of-business systems. Instead of agents desperately trying to find the right answer in an unwieldy PDF, the line of business system will now automatically prevent agents from breaking the rules and give them the short explanation of the exact rule.

3:15–3:45 Break in the Exhibit Hall


Connecting Silos With Content PipelinesRoger Hadley, Senior Technical Writer, and Derek Atlansky, Technical Lead, Fiserv


Static Site Generators are the Game ChangersLukasz Gornicki, Product Owner, SAP

The most known static site generator, Jekyll was created eight years ago. Long time ago, yet still not many documentation specialists know about it. This technology is a game changer in building documentation portals. Thanks to it, only the sky is the limit.

Personalization of Content and the Power of MetricsOded Ilan, CMO, Iridize

Your social media feed is based on algorithms that collected user behavior and generate personalized content. Good or bad, the information we actually view is swallowed by machines, regurgitated and re-presented to us. Similarly, users expect supportive and training content made available to them to be short and precise, and to fit their needs. For this, we need to collect user data, and to analyze user behavior on our products and how they use support. How can we do that?


How Modern Analytics Will Turn Your Technical Content Into a Rock StarFabrice Lacroix, CEO, Antidot–Fluid Topics

Understanding how product documentation is consumed can fuel your company with data that can transform operations and impact decisions. To gain this insight, you need to change the way you track and mine the behavior of users when they search, read, and interact with your technical content. By combining the latest

delivery, text-mining and analytics technologies, you will transform tech content into a sensor and its delivery into a data generator.

Case Study: How McAfee/Intel Security Scaled Up to Dynamic Enterprise PublishingTom Lair, Director of Content Strategy, McAfee, and Joe Gelb, Zoomin Software


5:00–5:20 It’s Amazing What You Can Learn When You Actually Listen to Customers

Jon Ann LindseyManager of Content Strategy, Google


5:20–5:40 Feed the Goldfish in 19 Minutes and 52 Seconds

Stefan GentzGlobal TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems

Content consumption patterns have dramatically changed over the last decade. The maximum selective sustained attention span of a human being is about 20 minutes. The length of this talk. Latest research shows that the transient attention span of human beings has even gone down from 12 to eight seconds over the last decade. Even a goldfish has a longer attention span.

To communicate technical content in the future successfully, we need to move from drops to drips, deliver smaller content chunks, improve findability and searchability, and tailor content to the content consumer's role and context automatically.

5:40–7:30 Networking Reception in Exhibit Hall


Tuesday, November 7

08:00– Registration, Continental Breakfast

9:00–9:20 Think Bigger!

Megan GilhoolySenior Manager of Content Management, Amazon.com

Content crosses silos, giving content developers a unique perspective of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Years of experience leads to insight, but can also paralyze innovative ideas.

Has your experience given you tribal knowledge and wisdom, or preconceived notions that are no longer true or helpful?

In this keynote, Megan discusses new ways of thinking that challenge common business trends. She will provide examples highlighting how your ability to think critically and your passion for forging new trends can help you throughout your content career.

9:20–9:40 Why Introverts Make Successful Leaders

Eeshita GroverSenior Manager Technical Communications, Cisco Systems

Popular personalities, such as Bill Gates, Abraham Lincoln, Audrey Hepburn, Larry Page, and Albert Einstein, are/were introverts. Yet they have created a mark of their leadership in this world. Let's challenge the widespread perception that only extroverts can lead and focus on the quiet strengths that introverts hold to their core. The ability to process an overdose of information because they are analytical and deep thinkers, the ability to grasp from their surroundings because they listen, and the ability to be thoughtful because of their patience are all qualities of introverts that most definitely make great leaders.

In this session, Eeshita will discuss how some of the core qualities of an introvert can be channeled to demonstrate effective leadership. This will be followed by a breakout session, where the attendees role play to solve real-life, team-related situations as effective leaders, introvert or not.

9:40–10:00 Stop, Listen, and Collaborate: Creating an Experience-first Content Strategy

Melinda Howard BelcherSenior Director of Digital Experience, Mastercard

Everyone in your organization wants to keep the user happy, but they just have different ideas of how to go about it. Focusing on what information a user needs and when they need it along their journey can act as the bridge between product development, experience design, marketing, and sales. Get tips on how to bring each group into the process and how to leverage content as a way to keep the user front of mind.

In this session, you will learn a mix of “soft” and “hard” skills to help put together an experience-first content strategy, including:

• How to leverage internal stakeholder interviews and workshops to increase internal buy-in for your project.


• How to persuade an MBA that optimizing “content experience” is crucial to business success.• How to turn marketing personas into buyer personas, and how to leverage marketing data for your

research.• How to get busy sales teams to spend some time with you.• How to work with a clueless, junior or know-it-all designer.• How to get support and input on your work from other content strategists when you're the only one

at your organization.• How to get your content strategy out of a presentation deck (or spreadsheet) and out into the world.

10:00–10:20 Engineering Content 4.0 for a Digital World

Joe GollnerManaging Director, Gnostyx Research

In 2016, the idea of Content 4.0 emerged as a community of thought leaders put their heads together to envision how the business of communication is going to change in the years ahead. The rapid unfolding of events in 2017 has confirmed our original ideas. So this year, our attention has shifted to exploring the details of how we make this happen and what specifically we need to change. Also in 2017, we have been exploring further the idea of information consumers and how the notion of Consumer 4.0 can help us better understand what we mean by Content 4.0.

All this encourages us to re-energize another idea-that of Content Engineering, about the discipline of designing content and content processes so that they work within, and empower, digital landscapes for businesses and consumers. It turns out that achieving Content 4.0 to satisfy the Consumer 4.0 depends entirely on engineering content for a fully digital lifecycle. Now while all of this may sound a little like cyberpunk science fiction, it is, in fact, about to become very real….


Countering the Chaos: The Case for Cross-Department WorkflowsBill Burns, Content Architect, Healthwise

Are you tired of chasing paper around your organization? Is the network drive no longer sufficient to drive collaboration for your content development and review process? It may be time for you to consider how workflow can improve your content development processes. You can reduce the chaos around interdepartmental collaboration by instituting workflows for any process and even reduce your process cycle times by up to 75%!

Our Role and Responsibility in Information 4.0Ray Gallon, Co-founder, The Transformation Society, and Andy McDonald, Product Manager, TECH’advantage

Since April of 2016, a group of experts has been seeking consensus on what Information 4.0 is, how it impacts people, and how the content

industries can deal with it. In this session, we present our results to date, and address some fundamental issues, such as:

• What will machines have taken over by the time content industries are ready?

• What's the best way to manage changes in creation, curation, and governance?

• What is the added value of humans in this scenario?

• How do these things change roles, and what responsibility to communicators have for the results?

Spanning Silos: Combining Marketing and Technical Content to Deliver a Consistent Customer ExperienceDustin Vaughn, Solutions Consulting Manager, Adobe



Let’s Work Together: How SASB Implemented DITA and Changed their Corporate CultureJessi Lawrence, SASB, and Amber Swope, DITA Strategies

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board™ (SASB™) develops and disseminates industry-specific sustainability accounting standards that help public corporations disclose material, decision-useful information to investors. Because the Standards team needed to capture their research, track how it drove the standards, and publish the standards via multiple channels, SASB implemented DITA with a CMS.

Jessi Lawrence and Amber Swope worked with the SASB organization to change the culture from addressing individual team's pain points to collaboratively designing the right solution for everyone. They leveraged their agile development approach with the content and tool development, and developed tools and processes that organically adapt to the Standards team's existing daily workflow but still solve the larger problem of disconnected processes. Not only did the project change how the content creators and publishers work, it changed their relationship with the IT team, which moved from being a support organization to truly being a service organization.

In this session, you will learn how implementing DITA is more than an opportunity to address technical and business requirements. It's your chance to break down barriers between teams and work together. Jessi and Amber describe how implementing DITA with a CMS not only changed how the content creators and publishers work, but also changed their relationship with the IT team, which moved from being a support organization to truly being a service organization.

Building Catwalks Between Silos: Using Taxonomy to Drive Engagement from Content Marketing to Product DocsJoe Pairman, Vice-President of Operations, Mekon

While content marketing can improve brand preference, it's hard to link it to product information directly while maintaining an authentic voice. Conversely, product documentation is perceived as authentic and trustworthy—a potentially powerful marketing asset itself—but can be hard to find and hard work to read. This live use case shows how content marketing can link customers to docs in a relevant, contextual, and scalable way by combining taxonomy and minimalist structured content.

11:45–1:15 Living Salad Bar Networking Lunch


People First! Design Content That Audiences LoveErin O’Briant, President, The O’Briant Group

Design thinking skills can help content creators write for our readers, not just for ourselves. Join me to practice empathy and prototyping strategies that help you develop the content readers crave. In this breakout, session you’ll learn:

• How to develop deep empathy for your audience

• Ways to translate empathy into compelling content

• Fast, effective content prototyping and testing

Smarter Enterprise Collaboration through Content 4.0 and MicrocontentRob Hanna, Chief Info Architect, Precision Content Authoring Solutions Inc.

What if we could transform structured content into searchable, reusable, chunks of content that other groups could easily find from a highly trusted source such that they could reuse it in their slides, support sites, proposals, and emails? The potential for improved rigor and precision of Content 4.0 offers greater utility and effectiveness for content delivery. In this session, Rob Hanna explores the methods, technology, and use cases needed to support delivery of DITA/XML as microcontent across the enterprise.


The Farmer and the Cowhand Should Be Friends, or, How UX and Content Can (and Should) Work TogetherDylan Wilbanks, Director of UX, Integris Software

Let's be frank: If UX designers had their way, the only words you'd ever see on the web are lorem ipsum. And yet, words—from interfaces to microcopy to long narratives—are integral to the usability and delight of any web product. Based on his years of UX experience and love of good content, Dylan will talk about ways to bring the two sides together to make better things on the web.

DITA: Start Small, Grow Big Using Open-Source ToolsPatrick Baker, Vice-President, Development and Professional Services, Stilo International

You’re considering using DITA and would like to try it out without incurring significant upfront costs, but also keeping your options open longer-term. Where do you start? How will you approach the challenges of content creation, content management, and publishing your content? There are, in fact, plenty of options. The good

news is that XML and DITA are open standards. This has led to a healthy ecosystem with quality commercial and interoperable open-source tools, which do away with vendor lock-in and keep operating costs down. We will discuss the three challenges, and show an example of how end-to-end solutions can be built based upon Git and other open-source tools. In fact, the result may be better than you’d expect.

The Montagues and the Capulets: How Technical Staff and Enterprise Authors Can Find True Love (Without Death)Douglas Gorman, CEO, Simply XML

The Information Age challenge is for information consumers (readers) to get the information they need, at the right time, on their devices and media of choice with maximum productivity and efficiency throughout the entire process. The Montagues (Tech Pubs) does this with an XML architecture and various complex technical tools. The Capulets across the enterprise must now awaken the same content reuse and flexible publishing benefits with appropriate tools without the death of one side, the other, or both.


Think Global, Act Global, Go GlobalBill Swallow, Director of Operations, Scriptorium

Entering new language markets requires more than just translation. To succeed, you must provide the same quality product or service to each market-a unified, localized customer experience. One team or department cannot do this alone. Sales, marketing, product development, support, training, and more all need to work together and share their area expertise.

Going global requires a localization strategy. For that strategy to succeed, people from across your organization need to collaborate and begin thinking globally. This session focuses on the formation of such a strategy. You will learn:

• What content and information assets are needed

• Who to involve and at what levels in your localization strategy

• How to identify and harness the strengths of your teams and departments

• How to successfully manage the localization effort (how to herd cats)

• What pitfalls await and how to avoid them• Best practices for a healthy and effective

localization strategy

Watch that Tone: Creating an Information Experience with a Consistent VoiceSarah Karp, Information Experience Team Lead, Atlassian

Two years ago, Atlassian had no consistent voice guidelines across its content channels and product suite, creating a disjointed brand experience. Today, our Information Experience teams own the Atlassian voice and tone, and are teaching everyone from developers, product managers, designers, and marketers how to voicify their content.

We Are Single-Sourcing! But How Well Do We Work With Others?Mike Hamilton, Vice-President of Product Evangelism, MadCap Software

While single-source and content management workflows bring great benefits to core authoring teams, complications abound when trying to


work with others. For every benefit that heavy content reuse and multi-channel publishing brings, we must ask the hard questions: “How do I share content with other departments?”, “How do I interact with subject matter experts?”, “How do we work with vendors and/or business partners?”.

In this session, Mike Hamilton, Vice-President of Product Evangelism at MadCap Software, will look at strategies and techniques to help prevent the core documentation team from becoming a silo. How can we get other departments to use XML? Does getting other departments to use XML make business sense? If no, what other options exist? These questions and more will be addressed.

XaaS: XML Authoring as a ServiceGeorge Bina, Managing Director, Syncro Soft/oXygen XML Editor

In today’s world, we use more and more services. When we start a project, we do it on GitHub. If we want to communicate within that project, we create a Slack channel. To automate some tasks, we set up Travis to run some scripts. To publish content on the web, we can use GitHub Pages.

And so on. In this session, we will explore how an XML authoring service can fit into this services world and various possible use cases.

Case Study: A Journey to Intelligent Content DeliveryCraig Prior, Director, Customer Technical Communications, Mastercard, and Joe Gelb, Zoomin Software

In this session, learn how the Mastercard team implemented an enhanced digital platform that transforms the way technical content is delivered to and consumed by Mastercard customers. With this cloud-based solution, Mastercard can target content to a global audience and elevate the customer experience, all while more effectively optimizing internal processes. You will learn about our experience with the technologies and processes involved on the journey, including the use of taxonomy and SSO to support a complex array of user entitlements based on role, ownership, and geography. This discussion will demystify some of these concepts as we share our experience with you.

4:00–4:20 AI: Preparing Product Content for the Voice Revolution

Joe GelbPresident, Zoomin Software

Virtual assistants, such as SIRI, CORTANA, and OK GOOGLE, are now penetrating and taking the corporate world by storm. Powered with natural language processing and personalization capabilities and promoted by the abundance of smart instant messengers, bots can leverage your rich topic-based content in ways that have never been seen before.

In this session, you will learn how your taxonomy-based content strategy and semantic-enabled delivery platform can provide the content infrastructure you need to move forward with natural conversations that will give your users the answers they seek.

4:20–4:40 How MOOCs, SPOCs, and Next Generation e-Learning Are Impacting Content Strategy

Keith BoydDirector of Structured Learning Programs, Microsoft

In this session, Keith Boyd, who steers business strategy for online learning at Microsoft, will introduce you to the fascinating and fast changing world of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs), and how they should impact your content strategy.


A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In 2012, leading publications like the New York Times and Time made bold predictions that MOOCs would change education forever. While that hasn't come true (yet), the seismic shifts in the way people learn are starting to be felt.

Should MOOCs and SPOCs be part of your content strategy? If so, how do you get started? What resources are available to you as a content professional to explore this emerging modality? And why would you make a bet on MOOCs over other emergent learning options?

Learn why you shouldn't dismiss this trend, and how an investment now could help you to future-proof your content strategy and increase loyalty and affinity to your product or service.

4:40–5:00 Facebook Messenger as a Publishing Channel: Delivering Content via Chatbots

Murray NewlandsContributor at Forbes and Founder of Chattypeople.com

There are now more than 35,000 Facebook Messenger chatbots available to converse with, and while companies are now adopting them more as a customer service tool, they have forgotten about another hidden potential of chatbots: delivering content.

In this keynote, Murray will highlight some benefits of using Facebook Messenger as a publishing channel. He will also review steps you can take right now to use your chatbot as a content delivery tool.

Welcome to the new age of content publishing!

6:00– Chinese Lion and Dragon Parade to Offsite Venue for Kamikaze Karaoke and Slow Quiet Networking


Wednesday, November 8

8:00– Continental Breakfast


Authored by Man and Machine: Interactive Documents?Vi Kellersohn, Chief Marketing Officer, Oberon Technologies

Don’t limit your smart products with a dumb and inaccurate document experience. Leverage the XML intelligence in your documentation to actively guide the user through the proper use of your products. Let your machines enter data and guide the technicians through installation and service procedures. Allow your standard operating procedures (SOPs) and forms to dynamically capture and report on the actions of the user and the machine in use.

Interactive documents aren’t just in the future; they can very quickly be a reality for you today. Attend this session and learn how many organizations are eliminating errors and improving the use of their documents as they leverage the ever-growing Internet of Things (IoT).

During the presentation, you will learn:

• How interactive forms and documents can provide tremendous business value

• How easily XML-aware documentation teams can build interactive documents

• How interactive documents can increase accuracy and speed of operations

• Why interactive documents can be your competitive advantage

• Where to begin with an interactive document initiative

Agile Localization: Building Bridges Between Translation Quality and Rapid Software DevelopmentLaura Dent, International Freelance Technical Writer

Staying in sync with the rapid cycles of Agile software development can be a challenge for any technical communicator, and even more so when localization is involved. Localization includes both the technical and linguistic aspects

of translating software and documentation into other languages. You can be a hero in your organization by creating a smooth process to build a bridge between the seemingly incompatible processes of agile development and localization.

Telling the Right Story: Managing Stakeholders to Implement an Integrated Content StrategyAndrea Ames, Content Strategist, IBM

Stakeholder management is one of the most important skills—if not THE most important skill—that you can learn to build your professional eminence. Critical to managing your stakeholders is understanding what they need to know and communicating it to them. Sounds simple, right? Not always. Especially when you are attempting to drive a strategic initiative across silos where you have no direct authority.

Influencing the stakeholders across those silos is key! In this session, Andrea will discuss success factors to aim for and derailment factors to avoid when managing stakeholders by telling the right story, in the right way, to the right person.

Reusing Your Reuse: How to Keep the Reuse You Have When You Move to DITAHelen St. Denis, Conversion Services Manager, Stilo International

You are moving to DITA, but you've already got reuse happening in your legacy format. Reuse mechanisms don't usually match DITA's. How can you keep the added value of content reuse when you move the content to the new format?

Case Study: Streamlining Maintenance at Siemens Rail by Linking Content and Engineering DataJulian Murfitt, CEO, Mekon

Siemens Mobility are using structure XML DITA content, managed in an innovative publication system to ensure they deliver trains against a total service logistics contract. See how 3D models and


an interactive information portal contributed to estimated savings of 30% in train maintenance. Learn about some of their IA decisions, for reuse and an overall picture of the solution.


Out of Bounds Leadership: Got Flow?Tara Knapp, Content Strategist, Lincoln Financial Group and Pam Noreault, Solutions Architect, SDL

Those most responsible for the success of a company are people who spend the least time with company executives—middle managers and individual contributors. Middle managers orchestrate the change. With innovation and the application of the principles of positive psychology, results can be substantial. Get individual contributors to tap into their “flow” is a secret to success. In this session, Pam and Tara will step through their methodology of transforming disparate individuals into a cohesive “storming” team.

How a Localization Proof of Concept Can Bring You More Insight in Your DITA ContentDominique Trouche, WhP, and Joe Gollner, Gnostyx Research

Last November, we conducted a Localization Proof of Concept (POC) for a client of Joe Gollner’s at Gnostyx Research. Joe was working with them to modernize their content management system and publishing workflow—all using DITA. In this effort, they needed inputs on how to optimize localization. The POC provided insights that were factored into how DITA would be used within the client environment. It became clear that the right synchronization steps would optimize the client's localization process.

Overcoming Cross-silo Office PoliticsMarli Mesibov, Managing Director of Content Strategy, Mad*Pow

When Marli’s team redesigned the Harvard Pilgrim website, they knew that marketing initiatives would be significant in determining the design choices. What they didn't expect was the magnitude of the content they would discover, and the internal politics they would navigate right up to launch.

As a content strategist and UX practitioner, Marli learned more from this project than any other, and along the way determined a new process for blending content and design work with governance and organizational change.

Building an Enterprise-wide Content Platform—and Why DITA will FailDave White, Chief Technology Officer, Quark Software

Breaking down content silos requires an enterprise-wide strategy that serves distinct departments, creators, reviewers, and consumers. However, an enterprise-wide strategy that requires an enterprise-wide deployment of DITA will very likely fail. DITA simply is not made for ALL the content types and workflows within an organization, which usually span support, marketing, product documentation, legal, and more. In this session, we’ll focus on why an enterprise-wide content strategy is important, alternatives to DITA, and how to get started.

Case Study: Curating Your Help Site with Data to Bridge the Gap between Documentation and ProductJenny Evans, Avalara, and Ricky Nguyen, Mindtouch

Your help site is a living, breathing, evolving center for success. To provide the best content and experience for your customers, you need to constantly optimize by determining what is relevant to your customers. By curating content with data, you can bridge the gap between your help content and product, all while producing actionable insights for marketing and sales. An optimized site deepens customer relationships and leads to better customer satisfaction overall.


• How to develop a curation plan.• What data to collect, how to analyze the

data, and why.• How to curate your site.• How to provide feedback to your product

team to improve the product.


• How Avalara went from simply creating help content for a site and moved to a curated Success Center that changes based on user data, which allows Avalara to:– Deliver content that customers want

when they want it.

– Improve the customer experience.• The Avalara Help Center is a major selling

point for Avalara. It's demoed during sales calls, support calls, trade shows, and conventions.


Best Practices for Transactional EmailRian Van Der Merwe, Product Manager, Wildbit

Email is a powerful medium to reach and connect with people. When it comes to businesses, there are two major types of emails. The first is bulk promotional emails, and the second is transactional email. With transactional, the emails are usually sent to an individual or a small group of people based on specific actions or inactions. This talk will dive into the techniques you should apply to your transactional emails to ensure that they’re valuable to the recipients.

Lost in Translation: Why Culturalization is Important!Jeaneane Marie Falkler, Business Development Executive, VMC Consulting Corporation

This session is about the importance of culturalization, or what's also known as localization. With any content, when you expand to markets with different languages and cultures, your content will need to be adapted in a way that makes sense for each respective market. This session will take you through why it's important, how to do it right, and how to avoid common pitfalls. Included will be some humorous examples of translation gone wrong.

Future-proof Your Content: Beyond Traditional Publishing for Adequate ScalabilityMaxwell Hoffmann, Content Strategist, SDL

Not only is the world's climate changing, metrics for our survival as tech comm content creators are changing just as dramatically. North American tech comm professionals can no longer assume they will go another five years in English only, with traditional publishing methods. The days of “feels good,” unstructured authoring are soon coming to an end.

The biggest challenge facing us is that the most common, traditional method of publishing technical content cannot “scale” to meet the demands of today's markets. Eventually through

mergers, acquisitions, or major shifts in market demands, you will inevitably be producing technical content that must be delivered in multiple languages.


• The constraints of traditional publishing that prevent adequate scalability in your deliverables.

• How improved authoring and review will inevitably result from a migration into structured authoring.

• What type of internal supply chain is required to meet the demands of today's intelligent, structured content.

• Why it is essential to implement component content management simultaneously with a migration to DITA and structure.

DITA Worst PracticesKeith Schengili-Roberts, DITA Evangelist, IXIASOFT

While people are interested in hearing about successes, we can actually learn more from failure. Not only do we discover what not to do, but also how to avoid the circumstances that led to it. Keith has seen a lot of good and bad things happen to DITA implementations over the years, and part of his job at IXIASOFT is to investigate what works, what doesn’t, and why. Listen to his stories on the best worst DITA practices!

Effective Content Framework for Customer SuccessSara Feldman, Vice-President of Programs for STC San Diego

The core of customer success is based on understanding user objectives and reducing customer effort. If your content isn’t the best and quickest answer to your target users’ questions, then they will go elsewhere. Even Google’s AI is learning to favor content that most effectively fulfills the searcher’s intent.


Learn about a user-focused framework to guide your content decisions and learn how to use the framework to develop effective content standards tailored to your customers.

12:30–1:30 People Love to Give You Money! And Recognition! And Headcount!

Chellie CampbellAuthor of The Wealthy Spirit, Zero to Zillionaire, and From Worry to Wealthy

In our closing lunch session, author and money master, Chellie Campbell, will present a fun and inspirational talk on how to achieve financial and spiritual success in your job, your career, your life. Prosperity awaits!

1:45–5:15 Design Thinking Workshop

Andrea AmesContent Strategist, IBM, and Erin O’Briant, The O’Briant Group

IBM Design Thinking is a human-centered and collaborative approach that enables people with different backgrounds to work together by using creative tools borrowed from different disciplines to solve complex problems.

IBM Design Thinking integrates business (viability), people (desirability), and technology (feasibility). We keep the main focus on users. We develop empathy for them by putting ourselves in their shoes in order to deliver solutions that are meaningful to them, and that solves their problems and needs.

This half-day workshop will give you an idea of how to tackle challenges by solving problems with a creative, iterative, and practical approach by working in teams and stepping out of your comfort zone.

Join Andrea for this half-day hands-on workshop, in which you will be exposed to the practice of the IBM Design Thinking framework. Andrea will share tips on how to organize a workshop, how to facilitate it, and how to get the most out of it.


Drawing the Line on Content Localization: How Much is Too Much?Daniel Foster, Snagit Strategy Lead, TechSmith

So much content, so many languages. When adding support for a new geography or language, how deep do you go? Localize every last help file, marketing page, tutorial video—or something less than that? Who gets to decide and what’s their process for doing so?

Daniel will share best practices and frameworks for making these decisions, collected from content strategists at leading companies. He asked the tough questions to your colleagues, so you don’t have to.

Collaborating on Content for a Better Customer ExperienceYvonne Gando and Utkarsh Seth, Google

This talk focuses on the larger UX ecosystem, specifically on the critical partnership between writers and researchers to successfully craft user-informed text in the experiences they build. We’ll cover how writers can employ a variety of research methods like RITE, Heuristic Evaluation, Surveys, and Ethnographic studies. By incorporating these methods in the process of UX writing, we’ve learned how to put users first in the language we use, thereby creating better experiences for those we serve.



• The importance of the partnership between content strategy and research.

• How to employ UX research methods to make UX writing more informed and more objective.

• Do-it-yourself research methods anyone can employ without a dedicated research team.

Much Ado About Templates: Reduce the Learning Curve and Increase Productivity at DITA implementationsCatherine Long, Senior Information Architect, Varian Medical Systems

How did our team of five information specialists and 100 SMEs, who provide content for a worldwide audience of 3,500 service technicians in a regulated industry, move from Word to XML? We adapted—and used templates! Since we were used to Word templates, it made sense to mimic that for simplicity in training and transition.

Templates provide a built-in structure and allow customization of the user experience. Please join us as we expose our experiences with templates in XML.

Getting Dragged Along? Start Charting Your Team’s Course with an Investment ModelLisa Hultman, Senior Manager, Information Development, ServiceNow

To meet the demand for content, do you take a “peanut butter” approach and spread your resources evenly—but thinly—across the whole product? Or do you grease the squeakiest wheel, which means you neglect a wheel that’s more vital to the business? Either way, outside forces dictate how you'll use your resources. Soon you’ll have a lot of mediocre content that doesn’t represent your team's value. And that makes it hard to get headcount and funding.


To Improve Translation, Wield the Period and the (Typographical) BulletJon Ann Lindsey, Manager of Content Strategy, Google


Presenting for Success: Achieving Buy-In (Almost) Every TimeStacey Seronick, Content Strategist, Wells Fargo

When budgets get tightened, it can become more difficult to convince stakeholders to green-light proposals for things like research and development. These projects can, over time, lead to an improved user experience, but may not seem to have many, if any, immediate financial returns. You NEED to get approval for these projects, so you must prepare your presentation to maximize your chances of approval: Know your

audience, evaluate whether they’re “ideas” or “data” people, and tailor your presentation to that audience.

Reinventing a Traditional Content Team to Produce User-Centered Content in an Agile and SaaS EnvironmentPat Kreymborg, UX Manager, Workiva

We took a traditional Help documentation team from our customer support department and embedded them into our UX (User Experience) department to give them better access to the development teams that create the software they support. These changes required a complete re-thinking of how to produce content and follow the build-measure-learn cycles embraced by our R&D organization. This session will describe the challenges faced in making these changes as well as training and new processes implemented to ensure success.


Building a Chatbot for Customer SupportAlex Masycheff, CEO, Intuillion



Building 4,300-mile Bridges: Making Global Teams WorkMaryKay Grueneberg, Senior User Assistance Developer, SAP

Whether you manage a local team or a remote team, you want your team to be productive, quality-focused, and happy. We will discuss the key techniques to consider when you manage a remote team, highlighting specific issues that come along with global teams. This session will help you ensure that your remote team meets company, team, and personal goals for quality, product delivery, and professional growth.

TechComm Throwdown!Multiple SpeakersModerator: Bernard Aschwanden, President, Publishing Smarter

Tech Comm Throwdown: Two experts enter. One winner leaves.

Mixing fact and fun, two experts debate topics that may include “video tutorials are better than illustrated HTML or PDF/print content,” or “the table of contents is better than the Index,” or “craft beer and pizza are better for tech comm success than green tea and high colonics.”

An unbiased, highly professional, and stone-cold serious moderator keeps them in line, guides the debate, and awards meaningless points. Love debates? Love comedic timing? Love tech comm? Don't choose just one, get all three!

Debaters include winners (and losers) from last year's session as well as a few new faces. You can look forward to hearing from Jack Molisani, Christopher Ward, Andrea Ames, and more!

7:00– Closing Social Event


Speakers

Hoa Aldous

Hoa (pronounced “Waa”) Aldous, Company Muse for The Content Era (www.thecontentera.com), has been involved in the tech comm community for more than 25 years. As a key motivator for integrated technologies, she earned her stripes as an important contributor to the marketing and operations teams. Her strategic thinking has proven vital time and again as she routinely guides The Content Era to successful ventures. As an ambassador for The Content Era, Hoa excels at putting the company’s best foot forward and provides the extra level of care for customers that sets The Content Era apart from others.

Tom Aldous

Tom Aldous, the Founder/CEO of The Content Era, has more than 25 years of experience in the technical communications industry. Besides being the managing partner and lead XML/DITA/CMS consultant at Integrated Technologies for more than 20 years, Tom has also served as the Director of TechComm Business Development, Evangelism, and TechComm Consulting at Adobe, as well as a SVP of Global Operations at Acrolinx. At Tom’s new venture, The Content Era, his knowledge of content tools, markup languages and best practices reduces cycle time and increases efficiency for his clients. Day after day, Tom relentlessly strives to grow from not only a business standpoint, but personally as well.

Andrea Ames

Andrea L. Ames, M.S., is a Senior Technical Staff Member and Enterprise Content Experience Strategist, Architect, and Designer on IBM’s Enterprise Content team, where she is responsible for driving broad initiatives to improve integrated content experience. Prior to IBM, Andrea was a content strategy, architecture, and usability consultant, helping large and small businesses to engineer their product development processes to design and create content in ways that enhance product usability, increase and accelerate user productivity, increase product adoption and customer loyalty, and support business and marketing goals.

Andrea has more than 30 years of experience in technical communication. She is a Fellow and past President (2004-2005) of STC, a Distinguished Engineer of the ACM (the first technical communicator to achieve this distinction), a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a member of SWE, ASIS&T, IAI, UPA, and ATTW.

Anthony Apodaca

Anthony is Business Development Executive at Xeditor by day and comedian by night. Having spent the last six years training in and performing improvised theater in NYC, he is currently on the roster at CSz Seattle—where he teaches, performs, and directs improvisation.


Bernard Aschwanden

Bernard solves documentation-based problems and helps companies generate more revenue. He guides clients through the best processes to create, manage, and deliver content. Once content is delivered, he helps socialize the message, understand and act on feedback, and improve the process and workflow. He is the founder of Publishing Smarter, an Associate Fellow of STC, and the former President of STC. Bernard has helped hundreds of companies implement successful solutions. He is focused on publishing better, publishing faster, and publishing smarter.

Derek Atlansky

Bio to come...

Patrick Baker

Patrick leads all new product development at Stilo and is actively engaged in the successful deployment of content processing solutions for publishing clients. Major ongoing product development efforts include OmniMark, the leading high-performance content processing platform; Migrate, the world’s first cloud XML content conversion service; and AuthorBridge, a web-based XML editor for non-technical users. With a B.Sc. in Mathematics and a M.Sc. in Computer Science from McGill University, he leads an expert team of highly talented content processing specialists.

Priyama Barua

In what other field does being a jack of all trades actually work out in your favor? Priyama is part designer, part visualizer, part behavior analyst, part researcher, part strategist, and full-time believer that things can always work better than they do in the present moment. Priyama loves design because it's the most challenging thing she's ever encountered-always evolving, and rarely a clear-cut answer. She is passionate about building bridges between design and business, such as adding value to design by measuring impact on business more accurately, and getting people aligned on innovative thinking and doing.

Marlowe Beckley

Marlowe Beckley is the Content Director at Hathway, a boutique mobile-first agency. Previously a Senior Manager of Content Strategy at SapientNitro and Razorfish, she has spent the last 10 years providing content strategy and design for Fortune 500 clients like Allstate, PG&E, MGM Grand Resorts, and famous brands such as Disney and PayPal. Marlowe contributed to The Language of Content Strategy, by Rahel Anne Bailie and Scott Abel, and co-founded the Content Strategy Southern California Meetup.


Melinda Howard Belcher

The key to creating a great experience is talking to the right people about the right thing at the right time. That's why Melinda sees herself as a “content experience designer.” She has managed all phases of content strategy—content strategy and content mapping, content partnerships and sourcing, editorial and social calendars, publishing and translation workflows, localization strategy, content audits and inventories, taxonomies, metadata, SEO, CMS, and content tagging. Melinda specializes in the B2B, finance, and technology spaces.

Jan Benedictus

Jan Benedictus has been working in structured content since 1996. As founder of web agency Liones, he has helped many publishers to migrate from paper to online publishing. In 2012, Jan founded FontoXML, web-based XML editor for non-XML experts. He and his team develop and implement structured authoring solutions for many different organizations. Jan is a member of the OASIS Sub Committee (SC) Lightweight DITA.

George Bina

George Bina is one of the founders of Syncro Soft, the company that develops oXygen XML Editor. He has more than 15 years of experience working with XML and related technologies, including XML-related projects, oXygen XML Editor. He has participated in open-source projects, the most notable being oNVDL, an open-source implementation of the NVDL standard, now merged into Jing and DITA-NG, the Relax NG-based implementation of DITA, which was adopted as reference schema for DITA in DITA 1.3.

Keith Boyd

Keith Boyd is a 17-year veteran of Microsoft Corporation, where he currently serves as the Director of Structured Learning Programs in the new Learning and Readiness organization. He joined the Learning Experiences team in 2015 to lead Microsoft's Online Learning strategy. In that role, he was a member of the team that conceived of the Microsoft Professional Program—a role-based certification program to help fill the technical skills gap using emerging technology like MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses). He subsequently became the leader of this new business, which in its first six-months has attracted 50,000 students to its curriculum on data science. There are 15 additional curricula in development. Prior to joining the Learning Experiences team, he managed technical documentation and samples for developers in both the Windows and Cloud and Enterprise divisions.

Bill Burns

Bill Burns is an XML consultant and Content Architect for Healthwise, Inc. He has 23 years of experience in the technical communications and publishing tools industries, including 13 years working in the XML/CCMS space. Bill provides technical consulting and training services specializing in XML technologies, content management, XSL publishing processes, single-source process development, technical writing, and content internationalization. He currently resides in Boise, Idaho.


Chellie Campbell

Chellie Campbell is the creator of the popular Financial Stress Reduction® workshops, is the author of The Wealthy Spirit, Zero to Zillionaire, and From Worry to Wealthy, and has contributed stories to Jack Can field's recent books, You've Got to Read This Book! and Life Lessons from Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Chellie is prominently quoted as a financial expert in The Los Angeles Times, Redbook, Family Circle, Pink, Good Housekeeping, Lifetime, Essence, Woman's World, and more than 50 popular books.

For “30 Days to a Wealthy Spirit” daily inspirational emails and other information, visit her website at www.Chellie.com or email her at [email protected].

Susanna Carlisi

Susanna is a Senior Advisor–Content Strategist & Tools Specialist at Ciena. Serving as both a technical communicator and tools specialist for most of her 17 years at Ciena, she has an in-depth view of end-user documentation requirements and writer processes. Susanna manages and supports all tasks related to authoring tools setup and maintenance, authoring standards, and publication/single-sourcing processes. Susanna has been a key player and valuable asset during the transition Ciena has made to a DITA XML environment.

Laura Dent

Laura Dent has several decades of experience working in technical communication, specializing in localization. As a freelancer, she provides her clients with localization of single-sourcing systems. Previously, at Rosetta Stone, she created systems that enabled SimShip (simultaneous shipment) of all software and documentation, an almost unheard-of achievement. Laura has a passion for languages, and speaks Russian, Italian, Spanish, French, and (a little) Japanese. She teaches technical communication to computer science majors at James Madison University.

Jim Edmunds

Jim Edmunds is the founder and CEO of Ingeniux Corporation a leading provider of digital content management software. Ingeniux software is used by organizations around the world to create and manage websites, communities and enterprise knowledge. The company was founded in 2000 to create innovative tools for managing and delivering content for the emerging digital marketplace.

Jim possesses a unique background in technology, publishing and entertainment. He has worked as an independent filmmaker, digital media producer, video game producer and senior technology manager. Prior to starting Ingeniux, he held leadership positions at Electronic Arts and Microsoft MSNBC.

When not talking about content management, you may find Jim craft vintning a new wine varietal. Ask him about his new CMS (Cab, Merlot, Syrah) Meritage.


Jenny Evans

Jenny Evans is Web Manager for the Avalara Help Center. She has worked at Avalara for three years. She started as the Editor and became the Web Manager as the company’s content grew. She has a background in writing, editing, and publishing, and loves all things related to words and content.

Jeaneane Marie Falkler

Jeaneane Marie Falkler started her career in the tech industry in 1998 and has held numerous executive roles across marketing, business development, and licensing. Jeaneane previously managed IP Strategy and Licensing for International Game Technology, where her influence spanned across brand and media licensing with various media conglomerates including HBO (Sex and the City) and Warner Brothers (Batman). Jeaneane currently drives business development and thought leadership for VMC, owning growth initiatives with key content partners including Microsoft, Tencent, and Glu Mobile.

Sara Feldman

Bio to come...

Sharon Figueira

Sharon Figueira has 19 years' experience as a technical communications professional, with two major DITA migrations under her belt for Ericsson and Kodak. She was a member of the Ericsson DITA/CCMS global transformation team, where she worked on mapping legacy content to DITA, testing, and piloting the new environment. Sharon then played a key role in migrating 14,000 objects to the new Ericsson environment, with a strong focus on reuse.

Sharon recently joined IXIASOFT, a leader in the content management software industry.

Daniel Foster

Daniel has 15 years of software industry experience, much of it in marketing communications, content creation, and social media. Currently he heads up market and product strategy for Snagit. Daniel has spoken at various events including STC Summit, LavaCon, The Content Wrangler webinar series, World Usability Day at Michigan State University, and MarketingProfs University.


Steffen Frederiksen

Since 1989, Steffen Frederiksen has been working with the creation, management and distribution of structured, reusable business content (operating procedures, business policies, product information, manuals, etc.).

The work included methods, software tools, training workshops, and CMS solutions. He has been part of the team managing the training of more than 200,000 writers around the globe, primarily in the financial services, pharma, and other regulated industries.

While working for Information Mapping, Steffen Frederiksen developed the concept of “object-oriented information” as well as the MOM (Mapping Object Model) XML DTDs—some of the work that the DITA standard is built on.

With the objective of bringing the power of structured content to everybody by combining the power of the DITA standard, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Office, he founded DitaExchange in 2001—and has been working there since then.

Aaron Roe Fulkerson

Aaron Fulkerson is one of the founders and the CEO of MindTouch. MindTouch is the leader in customer self-service software. Great companies like Accenture, ADP, McKinsey, Sprinklr, Whirlpool, and Zuora rely on MindTouch for effective self-service and because it helps them create actionable customer insights. MindTouch has been named one of 2017’s “Hot 100” best privately held software companies by JMP Securities. MindTouch makes your customers smarter, happier, and more successful.

Ray Gallon

As co-founder of The Transformation Society, Ray Gallon focuses on complexity and technological change. With over 40 years as a communicator in media and technical content industries, Ray has advised companies such as IBM, GE Health Care, Alcatel, 3M, and the OECD.

Ray is a university lecturer and a speaker at events throughout the world. He has contributed articles and chapters to many books and periodicals and is the editor of the recently published Language of Technical Communication (XML Press).

Joe Gelb

Joe Gelb, the President and Head of Business Development at Suite Solutions, has more than 20 years of experience helping enterprises implement, maintain, and capitalize on structured content. At Suite Solutions, he has spearheaded the development of advanced technology solutions for product content delivery. Joe believes that a key to success in any business is empowering customers with the knowledge they need to succeed in their goals.

Yvonne Gando

Yvonne Gando is a UX writer and content strategist with more than a decade’s worth of experience at big and small companies across tech, education, fashion, and e-commerce, but she’s really just a word nerd who fantasizes about being a poet in Paris.


Megan Gilhooly

As Senior Manager Content Management for Amazon seller support, Megan Gilhooly leads the editorial and publishing team for content, assisting sellers on all global Amazon sites. Prior to Amazon, Megan was Director of Information Experience at Ping Identity and, before that, Director of Technical Communications at INVIDI Technologies. Throughout her career, Megan has served as employee and consultant to various software companies, building technical communications products and processes. As a former online retail business owner and Certified Scrum Master, Megan brings a unique perspective to managing information development and communication teams. She has a BA in Speech Communication, an MS in Journalism, an MS in Strategic Management, and a Master’s Certificate in Technical Communication.

Douglas Gorman

As the long-term CEO of Information Mapping, Doug Gorman commercialized the foundational cognitive research and structured writing methodology called Information Mapping. As CEO of Information Mapping, he made content and related processes replicable, developed appropriate supporting technology, and brought both structured authoring and technology tools to more than a quarter million people in 43 countries. More recently, he has developed tools and a simple approach to letting large organizations achieve content reuse and flexible publishing in an easy and cost-effective way.

Lukasz Gornicki

Three years ago, we started working on a new product based on the REST API and microservices infrastructure. Lukasz introduced in his company a static site generator (DocPad) and for the last three years the company has used it successfully on production, plus making a lot of contributions to open source. Also for last three years, he has attended various conferences preaching about how to document REST APIs and how to change technology and the company for Microservices documentation.

Stefan Gentz

As the Worldwide Evangelist for Technical Communication at Adobe, Stefan Gentz’s mission is to inspire enterprises and technical writers around the world and show how to create compelling technical communication content with the Adobe Technical Communication Suite tools.

Stefan is also a certified Quality Management Professional (TÜV), ISO 9001/EN 15038 auditor, ISO 31000 Risk Management expert, and Six Sigma Champion.

Stefan is a popular keynote speaker and moderator at conferences such as tekom, tcworld, Information Energy, Intelligent Content Conference, Congility, LocWorld, TCUK, STC, GALA, ELIA, TTT, Translation Forum Russia and many others. He is also a member of the Conference Advisory Board of the world’s biggest TechComm event, the tekom/tcworld Conferences, and member of the iiRDS working group for Intelligent Information. He is also an active social networker on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.


Joe Gollner

Joe Gollner is the managing director of Gnostyx Research (www.gnostyx.com), an independent supplier of objective guidance and open content technology solutions. He has been a content gladiator for more than 25 years, implementing content technology solutions of every possible size and shape, and participating in a wide range of standards activities. He blogs as the content philosopher (www.gollner.ca) and continues to work on his magnum opus, a book about engineering content. He’s also an avid and sometimes self-destructive trail cyclist, a family man with four grown children, and something of a world traveler.

Eeshita Grover

Eeshita Grover is an experienced professional of 20+ years with a career equally divided across writing, teaching, and leading content creation and delivery teams. Eeshita has been with Cisco for the past 12 years building and driving innovative content strategies with an emphasis on delivery for the web, mobile web, and video. Eeshita has led content design and presentation for ease of consumption. Leading change in mindset of writing teams has been one of the key contributors to her success.

MaryKay Grueneberg

MaryKay has been a professional technical communicator for more than 30 years. She is a writer and editor and has 10 years of team management experience. She is a Certified Professional Technical Communicator and an Associate Fellow in the Society for Technical Communication. She believes in the importance of communication in every facet of life and enjoys helping to demystify technical things. She currently is a Senior User Assistance Developer at SAP.

Roger Hadley

Roger Hadley has led beginning to experienced DITA teams in a variety of projects. With 15 years of structured content experience, Roger is a Senior Technical Communicator at Fiserv, where he oversees a complex set of content in support of financial services systems. This includes developing XSL to convert API content from Confluence wiki to DITA. Roger also provides leadership to his team by crafting solutions to content problems with accompanying authoring environment support.

Mike Hamilton

Mike Hamilton is the Vice-President of Product Evangelism and one of the founding members of the MadCap Software team. With over twenty years of experience in training, technical communication, multimedia development, and software development, he has worked with organizations such as Cymer, National Steel & Shipbuilding, and the US Navy. He is a frequent speaker at industry events such as STC Summit, LavaCon and more, and is commonly quoted in technology articles in various trade publications.


Rob Hanna

Rob Hanna is the President and Chief Information Architect at Precision Content Authoring Solutions Inc. in Mississauga, Canada. He is a professional technical communicator and leading expert in structured XML authoring, DITA, and content management. In 2014, Rob was awarded the rank of Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and earned the Enterprise Content Management Specialist (ECMS) designation from AIIM. Rob is a member of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee working on the Technical Documentation Subcommittee.

Maxwell Hoffman

Based in Portland, Oregon, Maxwell Hoffmann works as a Content Strategist for SDL. His publishing experience spans the birth of desktop publishing to current DITA/XML strategies. His customer experience includes life sciences, medical devices, aerospace/defense, and national security. Hoffmann also has more than 15 years of practical experience in language translation working for language service providers.

Lisa Hultman

Lisa Hultman has more than 15 years leading technical writing and training teams and more than 25 years in the industry. She is currently a Senior Manager of Information Development for ServiceNow, Inc. Lisa started in DITA many years ago, excited to implement one information source for both the technical documents and the technical training solutions she managed.

Oded Ilan

Even before Oded Ilan graduated from the university in 1999, he spent four years as a high school teacher. Following graduation, Oded worked in various high-tech industries as a business developer. Getting the message across, creating appealing yet meaningful content, and delivering the correct story to the customers have always been passions of Oded’s. As Iridize’s Chief Marketing Officer, he gets to see, first-hand, how technology helps the training and documentation landscape with a new approach.

Sarah Karp

Sarah is a word nerd, design thinker, and impromptu dancer. Her five years at Atlassian have taken her from San Francisco to Sydney, where she currently leads a team of Information Experience writers within the Design organization. Sarah is driven by content experiences that educate and delight the people engaging with them. Find Sarah on Twitter at @skarpediem.


Vi Kellersohn

Vi Kellersohn is the Chief Marketing Officer of Oberon Technologies. Vi leads the marketing efforts, manages strategic partnerships, and supports key client projects. For more than 20 years, Vi has managed and executed all aspects of marketing for B2B technology organizations by working with sales to increase revenues in the millions. Throughout her career, Vi has led marketing organizations across all marketing functions, including strategy, demand generation, reputation, and sales enablement. Additionally, she has developed and executed custom co-marketing campaigns in support of customer and partner engagements.

Gretyl Kinsey

Gretyl Kinsey is a technical consultant who has been with Scriptorium since 2011. She has led content strategy projects for customers in education, life sciences, and high tech. She is an experienced interviewer and researcher who also develops business cases and writes recommendation reports. She has worked on every stage of content strategy implementations, from analysis to content modeling to follow-on support. Gretyl has given presentations on DITA, content strategy, and other industry topics during several conferences and webcasts.

Tara Knapp

Tara Knapp has over 20 years' experience as a content expert. As a Fintech manager, she drives broad initiatives to improve customer and content experiences. She specializes in content strategy, process optimization, product usability, and information architecture. Tara is a member of Scrum Alliance and has a MA in English from Creighton University and a MPA in Public Policy Administration from the University of Nebraska. In her spare time, she tries to perfect her sangria recipe.

Pat Kreymborg

Pat Kreymborg is a Mechanical Engineer with a Masters in Human Computer Interaction (UX). He currently works as a UX Manager in a financial reporting SaaS company, where he manages a user assistance department. They author help content that users access in the app (contextual) and in an external help site.

Eric Kuhnen

Eric Kuhnen has more than 20 years of experience in product research, development, and management. Eric was most recently responsible for competitive positioning, product marketing, and product management at Astoria Software, GoRemote (acquired by iPass), and Oracle Corporation. Since 1990, he has managed the launch of nine different software products across four different disciplines: on-demand, enterprise, equipment control, and government. Products that he launched have set sales records in the first years of their operation, and one was awarded 2002 Software Product of the Year by Semiconductor International magazine. Eric currently manages global operations, product management, pre-sales, and marketing for Astoria Software, a division of TransPerfect, Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Brigham Young University.


Fabrice Lacroix

Fabrice Lacroix is a known Web pioneer and the founder of Antidot, the company that puts enterprise content to work. As an entrepreneur, he has been working for 25 years on the development of the Internet and of the Web through several major companies. Visit his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabrice-lacroix.

Jessi Lawrence

Jessi Lawrence graduated from Smith College with a B.A. in English and a minor in computer science—a knockout combo for content strategy. She currently works for the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board in San Francisco as their Business Systems Analyst, architecting and managing their CMS and CCMS tools. When she's not teaching her users information management best practices, she can be found teaching San Franciscans best practices for urban bicycling.

Jon Ann Lindsey

Bio to come...

Catherine Long

Catherine Long has been with Varian Medical Systems for four years. She was brought in to assist the service documentation department with authoring standards and the publishing process, as well as to lead the move to DITA XML. Her challenge is to design a system architecture and provide training for 100 SMEs who write documents as only part of their busy schedules. Her relaxation is to immerse herself in the worlds of Shakespeare, Wodehouse, Wilde, and others.

Alexander Lum

Alexander holds a Bachelor’s of Engineering, Electrical Engineering–Telecommunication Degree from Concordia University. Starting as a software designer at Nortel, he made his way up the ladder until 2010, when he made the transition to Ciena, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the US. He didn’t just move laterally, however. His career jumped forward as he became the Director of Global Product Documentation Development. He is not only technically intelligent, but he also knows what it takes to manage his team and drive revenue for the company. Today, he specializes in many things, including end-to-end product document development and publishing. His primary focus today is improving customers’ user experiences and updating authoring tools with digital transformation initiatives.


Alex Masycheff

Alex Masycheff is a co-founder and CEO of Intuillion Ltd., which develops solutions for managing and automating content. Alex has been developing solutions for authoring, structuring, publishing, and managing content for more than 20 years. Prior to founding Intuillion, Alex served as documentation manager, product architect, and independent consultant, helping companies of all sizes build solutions that reduce the cost of content production, increase the value of the content, and take the efficiency of content processes to the next level.

Andy McDonald

Trained as a social psychologist, Andy McDonald has been designing and writing documentation for the oil industry since 1998, and is now Documentation Products manager for TECH’Advantage in the Paris area. Having seen methods, norms and formats come and go, his basic training leads him naturally to concentrate on the people and the end user requirements.

Marli Mesibov

Marli Mesibov is the Managing Director of Content Strategy at the digital UX agency Mad*Pow. Her work spans strategy and experiences across industries, with a particular interest in healthcare, finance, and education. She is the managing editor at UX Booth, and a frequent conference speaker. Marli can also be found on Twitter, where she shares thoughts on UX Design, content strategy, and Muppets. You can learn more about her and her work at http://marli.us.

Jack Molisani

Jack Molisani is the President of ProSpring Technical Staffing, an employment agency specializing in technical writers and other content professionals: ProSpringStaffing.com. He’s the author of Be the Captain of Your Career: A New Approach to Career Planning and Advancement, which hit #5 on Amazon’s Career and Resume Best Seller list. Jack also produces the LavaCon Conference on Content Strategy and Technical Communication Management: www.lavacon.org.

Julian Murfitt

Julian is CEO and co-founder of Mekon Ltd., a systems integration and content strategy consultancy. Originally trained as a mechanical engineer, he worked as a solutions architect during the 1980s. In 1990, Julian formed Mekon to capitalize on the growing demand for technical document solutions. He has led the company for more than 25 years, and it’s now a leading S1000D and DITA implementation company. In his spare time, he is an aerobatic flying instructor.


Murray Newlands

Murray Newlands is an entrepreneur, investor, business advisor and speaker. He is founder of www.chattypeople.com, a chatbot builder tool company and www.sighted.com, an online invoicing company. Both companies are based in Palo Alto. Newlands is an adviser to the Draper Nexus Network of Things Fund that invests in Internet of Things (IoT) companies. He advises entrepreneurs on various subjects, from funding to growth strategies. Newlands received a Bachelor of Laws, and he is qualified as a Lawyer. He gained his green card by being recognized by the US government as an “alien of extraordinary ability.” Newlands is the author of Online Marketing: A User's Manual, published by John Wiley & Sons. Murray is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Entrepreneur.

Ricky Nguyen

Bio to come...

Laurel Nicholes

Laurel Nicholes is an experienced content development leader with 20 years of experience. From startups to successful acquisitions, she has taken organizations from print to the new frontiers of digital experience. She is a passionate knowledge architect and content strategist who believes contextual content grows business. In her free time, she loves to travel, cook, and play with her two dogs.

Pam Noreault

Pam Noreault is a Solutions Architect at SDL Inc. She has more than 20 years of experience in technical communications, education, and management. She specializes in content strategy, customer engagement, content conversions, and social networking strategies. Pam has an undergraduate degree in education from Ohio State University and a master’s degree in English and Professional Writing from Wright State University. When not trying out new gadgets or trying to innovate in the business world, she’s hiking with her two dogs.

Dana Ortegón

Plain language/readability and health and financial literacy are Dana's not-so-secret passions. She also loves helping clients figure out the what's, why's, when's, and how's that make their content work harder and smarter. When Dana isn't waving her magic wand at sentences, she can be found huddled with experience strategists and designers, hammering out personas, exploring user journeys, and pondering the intricacies of behavior change.


Joe Pairman

Joe Pairman brought structured content to the User Education team in the Global Marketing Division at HTC. As lead technologist, he used sound engineering to create new mobile and web experiences. Since joining Mekon as Consulting Practice Lead, he has helped global clients from healthcare to software transform the way they work with content. He combines expert judgment of technical approaches with a primary focus on the human users and collaborative interactions that underlie any successful content management project.

Erin O’Briant

Erin O’Briant, MFA, MLA, learned design thinking as a grad student at Stanford University. During her four years at Google, Inc., she worked as a Senior Content Strategist and led design thinking sessions. Today, the O’Briant Group provides innovation labs and coaching to companies, schools, and government agencies. A former English instructor and two-time author, Erin is currently the President of the O’Briant Group in Atlanta.

Craig Prior

Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Craig Prior is a Director of Customer Technical Communications (CTC) at Mastercard, with the specific focus on design, development, and deployment of the technology that drives content delivery. Craig and his team are chartered with creating and enhancing best-in-class user experiences with online content, enabling our customers and business partners to fully leverage Mastercard products and services. For much of his career, he has managed teams tasked with application development and technology integration, and for the past 3 years, he has brought his experience to bear in advancing the value of content management.

Evan Prowten

Evan Prowten is a user experience designer on Intuit's TurboTax, based in San Diego. He has more than nine years of experience working on enterprise and consumer products at Qualcomm and Websense. He loves attacking complicated problems and making simple experiences through collaboration and empathy. When he's not thinking about users and design, you can find him traveling to parts unknown, kicking back with a nice drink.

Magga Dora Ragnarsdottir

Magga Dora has been advocating for users in software development since the turn of the century as a product manager, project manager, experience designer, and experience researcher for companies of all shapes and sizes. One of her biggest takeaways from this work is an understanding of how important the team is to the final outcome of a project. You might have the most talented people in the world on your team, but if they don't work well together, the project will suffer. She's fascinated by the magic that happens in smoothly operating cross-functional teams and with how to spark that in teams that find themselves struggling, which is why her attention these days is primarily on organizational design.


Dayelin Roman

Dayelin Roman is a content designer for Intuit’s TurboTax, where she works on making taxes less taxing. Before that, she was a newspaper journalist in upstate New York, where she often stood outside in single-digit temperatures while chasing politicians, cops, and innocent bystanders. When she’s not explaining the intricacies of itemized deductions, you can find her on a dirt road in the middle of Mexico, or eating chocolate cake. Or both.

Charles Rygula

Charles has more than 20 years of experience in technical content development and management (people, project, and product). During this time, he has worked for both small and large companies predominantly in the telecommunications industry. While his “there’s always something I can learn” attitude has afforded him a number of opportunities, he is currently a Senior Documentation Manager at Cisco Systems, Inc.

Barry Saiff

After leading technical writing teams for some of the largest US companies, Barry Saiff moved to the Philippines to start Saiff Solutions, a technical writing outsourcing firm based in Tagaytay City. Barry has experienced technical writing outsourcing from both sides—as a technical communications leader in the US, and as a manager of offshore technical writers and customer liaison in the Philippines.

Barry has written articles about technical writing outsourcing and led webinars on the topic. He has consulted for a variety of companies to help them improve their content and content development processes. For more information, see http:// www.saiffsolutions.com.

Helen Saint Denis

Helen originally joined Stilo as a technical editor and now works closely with Stilo’s Migrate customers, helping to analyze their content, configure conversion portals, and provide training and support. She has helped customers to convert many thousands of pages from FrameMaker, Word, RoboHelp, and InDesign to DITA and other XML formats. Helen holds a BA in English from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and has pursued graduate studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Keith Schengili-Roberts

Keith is the DITA Evangelist and Market Researcher at IXIASOFT. Keith is also an award-winning lecturer on Information Architecture at the University of Toronto’s School for Continuing Education. He is the Chair of the OASIS DITA Adoption Committee, and can often be found presenting at conferences, working with customers, and researching how DITA is being used and sharing those results. Keith's popular industry blog, DITAWriter.com, has become a focal point on DITA resources. Connect with Keith on Twitter @KeithIXIASOFT.


Stacey Seronick

Stacey has been making life easier through design and content for about 20 years. She is passionate about inclusive design, neural networks, humanist people management, math-based art, and the Red Sox. Stacey has been working on “The Great American Novel” for almost 30 years, with humorously few written pages, and more recently completed a Master’s degree program in Human-Computer Interaction and Design at University of California Irvine.

Utkarsh Seth

Utkarsh Seth is a UX Researcher at Google and works in the social research space. He has extensive experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies ranging from emotional measurement, eye tracking, RITE studies and triangulating data from quantitative sources to inform design. Seth has also done research on learning both in the lab and looking at it over time in a field environment.

Jennifer Smerdel

Jennifer combines analytical thinking and creativity to help clients overcome roadblocks and reach solutions. She creates new, innovative services and strategies for companies to understand the people they serve, and improve their products, services, and processes. She focuses on solving problems in new, interesting ways, using participatory design to understand people and their needs. She is most passionate about tackling mental health, addiction, and overall wellness in the future by using people-centered methods and research.

Darko Stefanoski

Darko Stefanoski is responsible for the digitization and modernization of the Ernst & Young cross-border advisory service offered to major banks and financial institutions, helping them comply with rules and regulations, as well as managing risks in this connection. Stefanoski's professional legal experience focuses on banking and securities law, capital market law, and corporate law. He has extensive experience supporting external audits, banks, and securities dealers regarding applicable internal directives, as well as implementing anti-money laundering rules.

Dawn Stevens

Dawn Stevens is the new president of Comtech Services. With 27 years of experience, including 16 years at Comtech, Dawn has practical experience in virtually every role within a documentation and training department, including project management, instructional design, writing, editing, and multimedia programming. With both engineering and technical communication degrees, Dawn combines a solid technical foundation with strong writing and design skills to identify and remove the challenges her clients face in producing usable, technical information and training.


Bill Swallow

Bill Swallow, Director of Operations at Scriptorium, specializes in content strategy with an emphasis on handling challenging localization and terminology scenarios. With two decades in technical communication, Bill has extensive experience in technology implementation, localization, and management. His experience on both the client and vendor side of localization has made him (rather painfully) aware of all of the potential pitfalls in content localization, from technology considerations to workflows to writing practices.

Amber Swope

Amber Swope is an internationally-recognized expert on the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) who specializes in helping teams develop their information architecture and implement DITA. With more than 20 years of experience in the information development field and 12 years of DITA expertise, Amber helps teams design and optimize their environments to improve efficiency and reduce costs. When she's not busy helping to change the world with XML, she can be found playing soccer, walking her puppsters, and enjoying Portland, Oregon.

Dominique Trouche

A graduate of a leading French Engineering and IT University, Dominique Trouche has managed several multinational operations. Head of WhP, Dominique strives to make localization rhyme with innovation. His passion for DITA has led him to position WhP as a specialist in DITA localization, with outstanding expertise and dedicated solutions to help customers streamline multilingual DITA content management. He is an active member of the DITA community and works closely with the leading CMS providers. He speaks regularly at DITA conferences.

Rian Van Der Merwe

Rian designs and builds high-quality software that people love to use. He also wrote a book about it, called Making It Right. After spending several years working in Silicon Valley and Cape Town, South Africa, he is now Product Manager at Wildbit, working from Portland, Oregon. He blogs and tweets regularly about design, technology, and software development.

Dustin Vaughn

Dustin Vaughn is a Solutions Consulting Manager at Adobe, who manages a team of experts in Adobe’s Technical Communication and eLearning products. He has served as a panelist, speaker, and Adobe representative at industry events. He delivers solution-oriented demonstrations for global customers.


Nikoletta Vecsei

Niki is an experienced Social Media and Communities Engagement Manager with a wealth of digital and content marketing experience for start-ups and Fortune 100 companies alike. Her passion is to connect people to content to enable everyone to find success in their work and private lives. Originally from Europe, her experience spans across two continents. In her free time, she loves to do sports, and enjoys the outdoors, cooking, and reading murder mystery books.

Dave White

Dave White is responsible for leading Quark’s product teams and strategy. He works with Quark’s strategic partners on product integration, manages the technical aspects of mergers and acquisitions, and is responsible for Quark’s OEM relationships. Dave joined Quark in November 2008 and has two decades of experience in the publishing and content management industry. Prior to joining Quark, White was vice president of product strategy at PTC and Arbortext, where he led key initiatives for executing on emerging technologies, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions. He has also held roles in sales, product management, engineering, and business development. With extensive knowledge of a broad range of science and technology, White has helped define XML standards, and he has spoken at a variety of publishing conferences. White graduated from Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering technology.

Dylan Wilbanks

Dylan Wilbanks is a Seattle-based user experience designer with a proven track record in enterprise and higher education. People look to him for strategic insight, tactical planning, and design leadership in their organizations. He has presented on user experience and accessibility at conferences such as SXSW and Webvisions. Currently, he is director of user experience at Integris Software, a privacy management startup. His closets are overflowing with board games.

Andrea Zeller

Andrea Zeller crafts virtual reality (VR) and 360 experiences at Facebook. Her first career as a filmmaker allowed her to think about perception and participation in experiences, which led to early thinking about writing beyond the screen at the University of Washington. When not thinking about virtual reality, you can find her in the reality of the East Bay, hiking and biking with her two kids and husband.


LavaCon loves a parade!We danced with a jazz band in a Second Line Parade down Bourbon Street in New Orleans. We strutted our stuff on Fremont Street in Las Vegas. And now, in Portland, we're having a Chinese Dragon Parade! Help carry a colorful dragon from the conference hotel to an evening of networking and Kamikaze Karaoke.

At LavaCon, you don't watch the parade. You are the parade!

Don't miss the fun...register today!

facebook.com/LavaCon

twitter.com/LavaCon

vimeo.com/LavaCon

google.com/LavaConThis document was created with Adobe FrameMaker.