Articles
Views from the Summit
The France Chapter was one of many STC communities to offer financial incentives to boost attendance at this year’s Technical Communication Summit. We provided conference scholarships to three students from the Masters program in technical communication at Paris Diderot University. STC France student ambassadors Clio Fouque, Djibril Diagne and Isabelle Godio report on their experience and share some insight into what makes the STC Technical Communication Summit such an important event.
We received news of our scholarships in early April and were truly enthusiastic about the idea of participating in the Summit in Atlanta, Georgia; a city famous for being the cradle of Coca-Cola, the host of the Olympic Games in 1996 and the home of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Our great motivation even overcame the “huge administrative obstacle” that stood in front of two of us — passports and visas! It was not easy to get these documents in time; but we made it thanks to the help of people supporting our cause.
Leadership Day
The Conference started with Leadership Day early on Sunday morning. This session brought together STC Community and Chapter leaders, as well as all of those who had an interest in how the Conference and Chapters were managed. The main objective of the day was to reinforce the links between STC Chapter leaders, Special Interest Group (SIG) leaders and the ‘mother’ society. It was a real opportunity for us, as students, to catch a glimpse of all the ‘behind the scenes’ work of STC leaders and future leaders.
The focus of this year’s leadership day was different from previous years. The STC is facing similar financial challenges to many other organizations and businesses around the world. A real feeling of community pervaded the atmosphere, as all leaders and other members brainstormed short- and long-term solutions for decreasing costs and increasing revenue during these “unprecedented times.”
The term “New Normal” was used several times during the day to describe this sudden change in the economic outlook and the fact that things would probably never go back to the way they were just a year or so ago. Globalization, and above all a shift from U.S. economic leadership towards Asian economic leadership, was one of the underlying issues discussed. Some bright ideas came out of the session, though, which will hopefully help the STC through these tough times with the support of all its members, and make STC better all round.
Leadership Day was also the Community Achievement Awards’ Day. We were proud to receive the STC France Chapter’s Community of Excellence – a well-deserved reward for “enhancing member services through the redesigned website and newsletter, the promotion of community networking options,” and the chapter’s “successful annual conference.”
General Opening Session
On the evening of this eye-opening first day, we attended the First-timer Attendees’ Session, the General Opening Session, the Welcome Reception and the Opening of the Expo. There was definitely no time to rest, but it was so enriching!
During the General Opening Session, outgoing STC President Mark Clifford welcomed all Conference attendees. STC Executive Director Susan Burton followed, reminding us of the “unprecedented times” that we are facing… and sharing with us some great news: the definition of our profession is about to change in the U.S Occupational Handbook. From Technical Writers who wrote “technical materials” and might have “help[ed] with page layout,” we are now to be acknowledged as Technical Communicators who “combine multi-media knowledge and strong communication skills with technical expertise” to “develop and design instructional and informational tools.” It is a real promise for future opportunities and true recognition. It was also reassuring for students like us who have decided to embrace this field of study and start a career as Technical Communicators!
Shawn Henry ended the Opening General Session with a truly dynamic, witty and refreshing presentation about Web Accessibility and its importance as an “act of enlightened self-interest.” Shawn’s presentation certainly enlightened us about the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative. The WCAG version 2.0 are guidelines for the development of more accessible and usable web content, which benefits not just people with physical disabilities, but also ageing people, people working under constraints or with learning disabilities… among others. Shawn Henry made a convincing case, and the growing mobile web industry is a rich field for technical communicators looking for jobs!
Opening Keynote Session
David Pogue led the Opening Keynote Session on Monday morning, after an early SIG breakfast meeting. His address, “The Power of Simplicity,” was truly entertaining. He highlighted users’ need for simplicity and for products (software in particular) that help them have a positive first impression and experience. Simplicity has become the key to a good user experience. The main objective: to keep consumers feeling positive about the company and encourage them to keep upgrading or buying more of the company’s products!
Educational sessions
Our choice of educational sessions was determined by the additional knowledge we sought for our research projects, the information we needed to prepare our future career, and the attractiveness created by topics dealing with our daily life.
Many sessions were organized as mini-workshops where attendees were asked to participate actively and share their knowledge. A perfect example was the session “That’s a good question!” animated by Elizabeth Frick. She suggested different ways to ask questions to team mates so a clear dialog can be established and all questions raised during meetings can be answered properly.
Several sessions focused on best practices for project management. Many projects fail because they are poorly defined from the outset. For example, during the session “Determining the Best Design Approaches and Development Tools”, Mr Ganci explained how to plan and implement a successful e-learning project with a three-step approach that could prove useful even for projects that are not clearly defined at the beginning. Another session explained the basics for running a successful DITA pilot project and focused on how to ensure a well-structured migration to DITA. Mr Mark Wallis, an IBMer, explained how difficult it could be, but also how important it is to follow a clearly defined process.
With the help of a little session-jumping, we were able to attend several presentations that provided tips to help find a place in a company at the end of our studies.
The sessions led by Mr Molisani – who awarded us pretty necklaces (to add to our conference swag) whenever we participated – explained some of the mistakes technical writers make when applying for a job and underlined the point of view that recruiters can have when looking for a new employee. Although these sessions applied to the American market, they pointed out common mistakes that we were familiar with, but which we never guessed could stop us from getting a job.
During the session “Ten Tips Writers Make when applying for a Job,” the speaker made a simple but important point: “If you have a job interview, all it means is that you have not been rejected… yet.” Mr Hedtke also took the time to advise us on our job search. In his session “How to make it rain on you even in a dry spell”, we learned what we should not neglect when it is hard to find a job, especially during this recession time. These sessions provided knowledge that can directly impact our daily life. Last but not least, the rich program allowed us to attend sessions about Accessibility and Social Media. These topics are attracting more and more people because of the fast-growing technologies. They can directly influence the way we work and our future career path.
Networking and Social events
The conference social events provided an excellent opportunity to meet technical communication professionals from all over the world. Many meetings were planned to facilitate networking. As first time attendees, we had to make the first step towards the others and get to know them. It was not that hard because people were really welcoming. We met students from New Mexico, Orlando and, at the Student Welcome Breakfast, other students joined us.
Supervised by Char James-Tanny, we took time to exchange our points of view on different subjects. Another session dedicated to networking was the community Luncheon with an interactive quiz to get to know the other STC members and SIGs. There was also a “Twitter Town Hall”, and SIG luncheons during which SIG members gathered to share a meal, talk about the objectives of the SIG and get in touch with each other. Many great opportunities for networking and learning about other STC members!
Conference Take-aways
So as you can see, this summit was the place to be. It gave us wonderful opportunities to make new contacts with professionals from our field and to discover how our work was perceived and practiced on the other side of the Atlantic. It was a real success, and not only for us. Many professionals to whom we talked were satisfied with the content of the sessions they attended. As for us, we learnt a lot on various subjects such as e-Learning, DITA, Social Media and how to be successful in our job search. Surely this will be of great help in our near future.
This summit gave people a lot of energy. It was really motivating and stimulating to share with others some of the problems we could have encountered at work and some of the successful approaches we have used to overcome certain difficulties. Sometimes, just sharing a problem with others allows you to identify potential solutions to a problem or spark new ideas for you to try. The Summit is the ideal place to do it. This is why it is so important that this kind of event goes on in the years to come.
Now that we are back to France and our studies, we hope to continue attending local STC France Chapter workshops and events. We already presented our conference report at the France Chapter’s Annual General Meeting in May and attended an excellent full-day workshop on Topic-Based Authoring organized by STC France and led by Linda Urban.
The STC France Chapter has planned many other events for the year, which makes us understand the value of joining it. The three of us who were lucky enough to be granted these conference scholarships can certainly testify that, whether you are a student or a professional, when you join the STC community, you can expect a whole new world of enriching opportunities and interactions!