communication department

Volume XIX Number 10

What's New at the STC Conference

STC's annual conference has always been intended as your one-stop shop offering the latest information on communication techniques, publishing technologies, and business trends for professional communicators responsible for user assistance, intranet publishing, knowledge management, localization, user-centered design, and other branches of technical and product information.

Based on your feedback, STC has added a number of new components to the conference this year to strengthen its place as the primary source of professional development for technical communicators. The new components include certificate programs and conferences-within-a-conference (called Institutes), as well as new approaches to traditional conference components.

Certificate Programs—Providing You with In-Depth Explorations and Tangible Recognition

Five certificate programs let you explore a subject in depth over the course of the conference and, if you complete the program, receive a certificate of attendance. For a single price of $1,295, a certificate program includes a two-day preconference workshop on one of five topics and a full conference registration.

During the three days of the conference, you would attend four designated conference sessions in the same subject area. This combination of seminars and sessions is intended to help you develop skills and expose you to the broad range of thinking in the given topic area. Completing all of the requirements provides you with a certificate of attendance.

The following certificates are being offered this year:

• Technical Communication 101
• Master Writers (for advanced professionals)
• Usability
• Content Management
• Team Management

Institutes

Institutes are conferences-within-a-conference that explore hot topics in depth. Each Institute runs concurrently with the other technical sessions of the conference, is designed by a well-known expert in the field, and features a program of invited speakers with extensive and unique experience. Participation in the Institutes is included with your conference registration fee.

The following Institutes are included in this year's conference:

• Content Management Institute, organized by Ann Rockley, STC Fellow and author of the best-selling Managing Enterprise Content
• Globalization, Localization and Translation Institute, organized by Nancy Locke, well-known speaker on these issues
• Sharing Corporate Knowledge Institute, organized by Michael Hughes, award-winning author on knowledge management
• Information Design and Architecture Institute, organized by Saul Carliner, an award-winning author on information design and Manager of STC Conferences
• Web 2.0 Institute, organized by Phylise Banner Klein, an e-learning expert and Program Manager of the conference with Saul Carliner

Returning Favorites

In addition to the new components, the conference includes long-time favorites:

• Technical sessions, which are elective sessions in the key areas of interest to technical communicators. This year, we're offering a choice of seventy technical sessions in the following tracks (or topic areas): Designing and Assessing User Experiences; Developing and Delivering Content; Producing and Publishing Information; Managing People, Projects, and Business; Professional Development; and Applying Research and Theory to Practice.
• Popular evaluation workshops, in which experienced professionals evaluate your manuals, online help, tutorials, and indexes.
• Expo, the largest marketplace of products and services on technical communication. In addition to exhibitors, our exposition includes sponsored sessions, in which vendors demonstrate their products and describe case studies of their applications.
• Keynote presentations by STC's Honorary Fellow for 2007-the internationally renowned science communicator, Simon Singh-and high-tech humorist Ze Frank.

Register Soon

Online registration for the Technical Communication Summit, STC's annual conference, will open in mid-December at the STC conference Web site. Registration will also be available by fax and by mail.

When registration opens, make sure you take advantage of the STC conference Early Bird Rates, which offer the best value. Register by February 28, 2007, for significant savings:

• Member early bird rate: $645—a savings of $250 off the on-site rate
• Nonmember early bird rate: $875—a savings of $245 off the on-site rate
• Student member early bird rate: $175—a savings of $75 off the on-site rate

Remember, to take advantage of these rates, you must act fast by registering by February 28.

Also, for the first time, STC is offering a group rate for professors and students. Groups of four students and one professor can register at a special rate of $895.

For other rates, please see the conference Web site.