2012 STC-PMC Conference Brochure

Mid-Atlantic Technical Communication Conference

March 9, 2012

Time Willow Grove Room Thunderbolt Room Scenic Room Alps Room

8:45 to 10:00 Opening Session and Keynote Presentation: Whitney Quesenbury(pg. 4)

10:15 to 11:15 Developing for the Unknown (pg. 5)

Neil Perlin

An Introduction to On-Demand Web-Based Publishing (pg. 5)

Russ Ward

Seven Communication Killers: How to Present More Effectively (pg. 6)Frank Felsburg

11:30 to 12:30 Lunch with Competition Awards and Volunteer Recognition

12:45 to 1:45 Top Ten Tricks and Tips for Getting the Most from Captivate (pg. 7)

David Peirce

Communicating Culture: Resolving Conflict and Leveraging Feedback(pg. 7)

Barrie Byron and Ann Grove

Five+ Ways to Add Interactivity to Online Help (pg. 6)

Nicky Bleiel

2:00 to 3:00 What Writers Don’t Know About Translation Can Be Costly (pg. 9)

Myriam Siftar

Customer Journey Maps: Charting a Course for an Engaging CustomerExperience (pg. 8)

Donn DeBoard

Converting Quick Reference Information Into Mobile Performance Support (pg. 8)

Nad Rosenburg

3:15 to 3:45 Closing Session and Door Prizes

Conference Schedule

STC Mid-Atlantic Technical Communication Conference2

Time Willow Grove Room Thunderbolt Room Scenic Room Alps Room

8:45 to 10:00 Opening Session and Keynote Presentation: Whitney Quesenbury(pg. 4)

10:15 to 11:15 Developing for the Unknown (pg. 5)

Neil Perlin

An Introduction to On-Demand Web-Based Publishing (pg. 5)

Russ Ward

Seven Communication Killers: How to Present More Effectively (pg. 6)Frank Felsburg

11:30 to 12:30 Lunch with Competition Awards and Volunteer Recognition

12:45 to 1:45 Top Ten Tricks and Tips for Getting the Most from Captivate (pg. 7)

David Peirce

Communicating Culture: Resolving Conflict and Leveraging Feedback(pg. 7)

Barrie Byron and Ann Grove

Five+ Ways to Add Interactivity to Online Help (pg. 6)

Nicky Bleiel

2:00 to 3:00 What Writers Don’t Know About Translation Can Be Costly (pg. 9)

Myriam Siftar

Customer Journey Maps: Charting a Course for an Engaging CustomerExperience (pg. 8)

Donn DeBoard

Converting Quick Reference Information Into Mobile Performance Support (pg. 8)

Nad Rosenburg

3:15 to 3:45 Closing Session and Door Prizes

At a Glance

3STC Mid-Atlantic Technical Communication Conference

President’s MessageOn behalf of the STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter, I welcome our attendees and presenters to the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Technical Communication Conference. We are pleased you can join us in this an-nual day-long education and collaborative setting to learn, share, and network.

With additional support this year from our Event Host sponsor Adobe Systems Incorporated, and the great facilities at the Community Center at Giant in Willow Grove, we extended significant sav-ings and value-pricing to STC members and non-members. Appreciation and thanks to all of our corporate donors and sponsors for their valuable prizes and donations for our closing session raffle.

Enjoy the conference!

Todd DeLucaPresident, STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter

Keynote Presentation: The Power of StoriesWillow Grove Room 8:45 to 10:00

Stories are how we make sense of the world. In UX and technical communication, they let us imag-ine an experience through our audience’s perspective. From personas to design scenarios to usabil-ity testing, they help us create lean, global, accessible and usable products. Whitney discusses ways stories can help us bridge the gap between ‘what is’ and ‘what might be’ – and change the world.

Whitney Quesenbury is a user experience researcher with a passion for clear communication. She has worked with organizations such as the National Can-cer Institute, IEEE, Sage, Amtak, and the Open University on design research and evaluation, and coaches developing UX teams.

She is past president of the Usability Professional Association (UPA), an STC Fellow, and served on two national advisory committees for usability and accessibility. Her current challenge is the Acces-sible Voting Technologies Initiative, working to help everyone vote.

Whitney is the author of Storytelling for User Experience (with Kevin Brooks) and Global UX: Design and Research in a Connected World (with Daniel Szuc).

4 STC Mid-Atlantic Technical Communication Conference

Developing for the UnknownThunderbolt Room 10:15 to 11:15

Today’s project pressures require us more and more to create content that can be used on whatever display devices the future may bring.

Many features and technologies needed to do this have been built into our tools for years, but haven’t been used correctly (or at all), or are little known because few people needed them. Others are just emerging. So to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, this presentation looks at what control features and standards we need to use to future-proof our content.

Neil Perlin has 33 years of experience in technical communication, with 27 in training, consulting, and development for various online formats and tools including WinHelp, HTML Help, JavaHelp, WebHelp, CE Help, Doc-To-Help, RoboHelp, and Flare.

Neil is a columnist for Intercom and a frequent speaker for numerous profes-sional groups. He is an STC Fellow, a member of the STC New England chapter, created and manages the Beyond the Bleeding Edge stem at the STC Interna-tional Summit, and represented STC for the W3C (WorldWide Web Consortium) for three years. He is also Madcap-certified for Flare and Mimic, Adobe-certified for RoboHelp and Captivate, and Viziapps-certified for Viziapps Studio.

An Introduction to On-Demand, Web-Based PublishingScenic Room 10:15 to 11:15

On-demand, web-based publishing has many potential applications in the technical communi-cations field, especially when dynamic customization of rendered content is necessary and/or real-time updates from a continuously-changing source are required. Using real examples with commonly-available web server technologies such as Java Server Pages (JSP) and Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP), this session will cater to the do-it-yourselfer who is curious about escaping the shackles of static published content. We will include considerations for content reuse, as well as multi-channel publishing. The session will conclude with a real-world case study of one such home-grown system that has saved (and continues to save) one company significant amounts of money through increases in efficiency (while simultaneously improving quality to boot).

Russ Ward is an experienced technical writer, structured technologies developer, and avid developer of plugins for Adobe FrameMaker.

He has spent many years working with structured content to maximize efficiency in the techcomm environment, both as an employee and as an independent con-sultant. Russ is also an experienced trainer and speaks periodically at conferences and other peer events.


The Seven Communication Killers: How to Present More EffectivelyAlps Room 10:15 to 11:15

How many times have you seen presenters “lay an egg” while speaking to an audience? They break every rule and you, having attended, felt as if it was a waste of time. This session discusses seven communication mistakes many presenters make while speaking in front of an audience. Learn how to:

• Deliver more dynamic presentations• See what not to do in a presentation• Walk away with new-found confidence as to how to present more effectively• Have more people come up afterwards to speak one-on-one• Do more business

Frank Felsburg is an account executive with Magnum Group, working with or-ganizations that want to communicate globally and optimize their international presence. A large percentage of his clients are in the Training & Development sector.

He is past president of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the ASTD (American Society of Training & Development), and currently serves on the ASTD National Chapter Recognition Committee. Frank has delivered stand-up training in the ar-eas of customer service, sales and communication skills. A graduate of Villanova University, he is the author of numerous articles and a book on listening.

Five+ Ways to Add Interactivity to Online HelpAlps Room 12:45 to 1:45

Content is king, but adding a measured dose of interactivity to your online help will increase read-ability and usability, as well as make it more compelling. This session demonstrates a number of simple ways to improve your help, even if you are single sourcing:

• Discover the options available for interactivity, including expanding/collapsing text, image maps, glossary popups, Google Maps, and more.

• Discuss how they can improve readability and usability.• Learn how to implement them in a single sourcing environment.

Nicky Bleiel is the lead information developer for Doc-To-Help and a Doc-To-Help trainer. She has 17 years of experience in technical communication and is a Director At Large of STC. She has presented talks at the STC Summit, STC regional conferences and chapter meetings, WritersUA, tcworld, LavaCon, CIDM/DITA North America, and DocTrain.


Communication Culture: Resolving Conflict and Leveraging FeedbackScenic Room 12:45 to 1:45

Resolving conflict and responding to feedback are core professional survival skills. Our ability to master soft skills such as conflict resolution can be more important than mastery of technical com-munication and project management. Barrie Byron and Ann Grove shed light on topics such as:

• Leveraging your listening and analysis skills to assess your options• Dealing with conflict when you feel powerless• Becoming more comfortable with conflict• Using feedback from your coworkers to improve your performance

With more than 20 years of professional experience, Barrie Byron is a consultant with a keen interest in new technologies and tools. She is past president of the STC Palm Beaches Chapter, an STC Associate Fellow, and the competitions manager for the STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter.

An STC Fellow, Ann Grove is president of and lead consultant for Logical Writing Solutions, Inc.. Ann has served as past president of the former Susquehanna Valley Chapter and is a member of the New York Metro, Palm Beaches and Philadelphia Metro STC chapters.

The Top Ten Tricks and Tips For Getting the Most From CaptivateThunderbolt Room 12:45 to 1:45

In today’s fast-track project environment, project mangers and development budgets are not pre-pared to accommodate lengthy multimedia training efforts. In this session, Dave shows some lesser-known techniques and shortcuts to complete a project without sacrificing quality such as:

• Making the best use of templates and styles• Using Placeholders• Using batch processing• Exporting and importing text• Using a combination of capture techniques for the best image results• Making the best use of popup and rollover captions• Determining and using the best narration methods

Dave Peirce is a technical writer, documentation specialist and instructional designer. He has exten-sive experience producing multimedia and computer-based training and materials using a variety of applications.


Converting Quick Reference Information Into Mobile Performance SupportAlps Room 2:00 to 3:00

Help cards, quick reference cards, and job aids have traditionally been used to assist in learning new tasks, or as refreshers for tasks performed infrequently. The mobile platform is perfect for these performance support tools but how do you convert them to mobile and ensure their legibility and functionality? This session addresses a number of issues:

• How to format information for mobile devices so that information is legible and usable. Specifi-cally how do you handle the fact that most of these documents are in a tabular format which may not work well on a small device?

• How to edit content to reduce the amount of text needed to convey the message.

• How mobile performance support tools can be made interactive without much (or any) programming.

• Technological bells and whistles that can be added.

Before starting TechWRITE in 1985, Nad Rosenberg managed documentation departments for several large corporations. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, an STC Associate Fellow, on the Board of Directors of the Plain Language Association InterNational, and a past resident of the STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter.

Customer Journey Maps: Charting a Course For an Engaging Customer ExperienceScenic Room 2:00 to 3:00

Customer Journey Maps (CJMs) provide a visual framework that puts you in your customer’s foot-steps when using your product or service. These maps help you understand your customer’s needs and intentions, and helps you identify customer touch points.

In this session, we identify the general components of CJMs, and discuss how to create and review them to design interactions or content that better supports customer success and identify new opportunities for customer dialogue.

Donn DeBoard is an award-winning technical communicator dedicated to en-hancing customer experiences through clear, engaging content. With 25 years experience developing software documentation. He is a Senior Information Developer for Vertex.

Donn is an STC Associate Fellow and is involved with the STC Community Affairs Outreach Commit-tee (CAC) and the Usability and User Experience (UUX) SIG. He is a member of the Usability Profes-sional Association (UPA), the Institute for Information Architecture (IAI), Philly CHI, and the Interac-tion Design Association (IxDA).


What Writers Don’t Know About Translation Can Be CostlyThunderbolt Room 2:00 to 3:00

With ever-increasing globalization, more and more technical materials are destined to be localized in at least one foreign language. Preparing materials with translation in mind saves a great deal of time and money and makes you a hero at your company or to your client.

But what does this mean? It’s not just the writing itself that is involved; the authoring tools you use, controlled language and terminology management, organizing your materials for ease of reuse, and choice of graphics and icons matter.

This session introduces technical writers to the nuts and bolts of the translation and localization process, the kinds of costs that are typically involved, and to a variety of things that they can do as authors to facilitate and help control the costs of that process.

Myriam Siftar is the president of MTM LinguaSoft, a professional language services company, which she founded in 2003 after a successful career as an information technology consultant. Myriam was born in Paris and received degrees in computer science and management in France, before coming to the United States where she also obtained an MBA from Drexel University.

Congratulations to our 2011 Distinguished Chapter Service Award winners!

Nad Rosenberg

For your years of distinguished service, prior leadership, and continued gener-ous support of the Philadelphia Metro Chapter.

Gary Sternberg

In recognition of your ongoing contributions to the Philadelphia Metro Chapter as a participant, presenter, and coordinator of the South New Jersey Networking Group.


Event Host Sponsor

STC Mid-Atlantic Technical Communication Conference10

Donors

STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter would like to extend our gratitude to The Community Center at Giant for hosting this event and providing such a great facility, helpful service, and excellent catering!

www.adobe.com

www.rosenfeldmedia.com

www.madcapsoftware.com

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Closing Session Prizes You must be present in order to win

STC Mid-Atlantic Technical Communication Conference

MadPak Suite from MadCap: Flare, Contributor, Mimic, Capture ($1499 value)

4 free admissions to Madcap Roadshow in Philadelphia on May11 ($99 value)

Technical Communication Suite 3.5 from Adobe: FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Photoshop, Acrobat, Capti-vate ($1899 value)

2 sets of the Rosenfeld Media Library Pack, consisting of eight great books on user experience courtesy of Rosenfeld Media ($229 value)

Use discount code MATCC for 20% off all products!

Brochure designed by Jacqueline Caddle using Adobe InDesignwww.mortvia.com

Education

2012 STC-PMC Conference Brochure