communication department

Volume XX Number 1

Events

Adobe Supports STC as Conference Platinum Sponsor

STC is excited to announce that Adobe Systems Incorporated will be the Platinum Sponsor for STC’s 54th Annual Conference, the world’s largest annual gathering of technical communicators.

Susan Burton, CAE, Executive Director of STC, praised Adobe for its support of STC: “Adobe has shown a consistent dedication to quality professional training. STC members will be able to gain new knowledge of Adobe products by attending the sponsored sessions in the ‘Adobe in Technical Communications Seminar and Training’ offerings.”

“For more than two decades, the company’s award-winning technologies and software have redefined business, entertainment, and personal communications by setting new standards for producing and delivering content that engages people anywhere at any time,” said Don Walker, Senior Director of Product Marketing and Business Development at Adobe. “Adobe recognizes STC as a key professional association for technical communicators, and we personally invite STC members to come and meet the team behind Adobe® RoboHelp®, Adobe® FrameMaker®, Adobe® Captivate®, and Adobe Acrobat 3D.”

STC’s annual conference is breaking new ground with the “Adobe in Technical Communications Seminar and Training Track” delivered by Adobe staff, Adobe Community Experts, and Adobe certified trainers. Attendees at these sessions will learn how to maximize their use of the latest advances in Abode products. In addition, there will be Adobe-sponsored sessions on trends shaping technical communications. Attendees can also find out about Adobe product training resources and product certification programs. These interactive and informative sessions will provide information on the long-awaited next release of Adobe RoboHelp 6 and Adobe RoboHelp Server® 6 as well as useful product training, tips, and tricks for the following products:

• Adobe RoboHelp
• Adobe FrameMaker
• Adobe Captivate
• Adobe Acrobat 3D

Editor’s note: STC’s Platinum Sponsorship is offered to only one company. As part of its sponsorship, Adobe will be recognized in all conference promotions and brochures, on the conference Web site, and in selected on-site signage, and the company logo will be on all conference marketing and on-site materials. Adobe will also make a short presentation at the Opening General Session. Other sponsorships are available. Please contact Lloyd Tucker, Director of Education, at +1 703 522-4114 x226 for more information.

Amenities Abound at STC Conference Hotels

Attendees at the Technical Communication Summit can choose among four official conference hotels: Marriott Minneapolis City Center, Millennium Hotel, Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, and Hilton Minneapolis & Towers. Offering the height of service, these hotels boast many excellent amenities and easy access to downtown Minneapolis at competitive rates. Per-night rates for single rooms are $163 at the Marriott, $164 at the Millennium, $183 at the Hyatt, and $194 at the Hilton.

A partial list of hotel amenities appears on the STC conference Web site. Information about how to make reservations will appear in the conference Preliminary Program, which will be mailed in February.

Society Events

January 17, 2007 LIVE WEB SEMINAR

Neil Perlin will host an STC live Web seminar, “The X Factor—From HTML to XHTML,” from 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern Time. The seminar will address how and why XHTML is used and how it works at the code level. Participants will learn how XHTML differs from HTML and XML, what its codes look like, how to convert files from other formats to XHTML, and what tools can be used to do so. For more information or to register for the seminar, please visit the STC Web site.

January 31, 2007 LIVE WEB SEMINAR

Elaine Wisniewski and Steven Hall will present an STC live Web seminar, “ANSI Z535.6—A New Standard for Safety Information in Product-accompanying Literature,” from 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern Time. Participants will learn about a new national standard for presenting safety messages in owners’ manuals. The standard ANSI Z535.6, Product Safety Information in Product Manuals, Instructions, and Other Collateral Materials, was published in the fall of 2006. It focuses on the design and placement of product safety messages (or warnings) in product-accompanying documents. For more information or to register for the seminar, please visit the STC Web site.

February 2–3, 2007 CONFERENCE

The France Chapter STC will host its annual conference at FIAP Jean Monnet in Paris. The theme is “Raising Our Profile.” Learn how you can become better known within your company and within the profession, find out how you can broaden your horizons and job prospects, and discover ways to promote yourself and your profession. For more information, please e-mail conference@stcfrance.org, or visit the chapter Web site.

February 7, 2007 LIVE WEB SEMINAR

Heather Hedden will host an STC live Web seminar, “Creating Indexes on Web Sites and Intranets,” from 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern Time. The seminar will focus on manually created A-Z site indexes as a solution for managers of Web or HTML content. The structure of HTML indexes and a review of how such indexes compare with site maps, taxonomies, and search engines—as well as an overview of Web indexing tools—will be presented. For more information or to register for the seminar, please visit the STC Web site.

February 10, 2007 CONFERENCE

The deadline for submitting presentations for the fourth annual technical communication conference of the Manitoba Chapter STC and Red River College is February 10. The conference will be held April 12–13, 2007, at Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba. More information and a call for presentations can be found on the chapter Web site.

February 21, 2007 LIVE WEB SEMINAR

Makarand Pandit will present an STC live Web seminar, “Working in Global Teams,” from 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern Time. The seminar is designed for both those just getting started in a virtual team environment and those who want to optimize their virtual relationships. It is especially beneficial for participants working with teams in India. Pandit will discuss the state of technical communication in India and share the experiences of Indian technical writers working in virtual teams. For more information or to register for the seminar, please visit the STC Web site.

March 9–10, 2007 CONFERENCE

The Atlanta Chapter STC will host its annual conference, Currents 2007, at the Mercer University Atlanta campus. Conference session topics include management, online content, tools and technology, writing and editing, usability, consulting and independent contracting, and marketing. Susan Burton, STC's Executive Director, will deliver the conference keynote address. For more information, please contact Dirk Bender or visit the chapter Web site.

March 14, 2007 LIVE WEB SEMINAR

Rahel Bailie will present an STC live Web seminar, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Content Management, But Were Afraid to Ask,” from 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern Time. This seminar provides the groundwork for understanding what a content management system (CMS) is and what it does, the differences between various types of CMSs, circumstances in which content management can be beneficial, and techniques for determining system suitability. The seminar will also demystify the industry vocabulary, thereby eliminating some of the barriers that can slow down the investigative process. For more information or to register for the seminar, please visit the STC Web site.

March 16–17, 2007 CONFERENCE

The Philadelphia Metro Chapter STC will host its annual conference in the conference center at Penn State Great Valley, located in the Philadelphia suburbs near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Featured speakers include Cheryl Lockett Zuback, Neil Perlin, Ed Marshall, Stephanie Morgan, and keynoter Robert Glushko.

For more information, please e-mail conference@stcpmc.org, or visit the chapter Web site.

March 28, 2007 LIVE WEB SEMINAR

Austin Skaggs and Christine Granger will present an STC live Web seminar, “Visible: The New Valuable,” from 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern Time. The seminar will focus on how documentation departments can show their value by becoming more visible within their organizations. For more information or to register for the seminar, please visit the STC Web site.

April 11, 2007 LIVE WEB SEMINAR

Kevin A. Siegel will present an STC live Web seminar, “Creating Interactive CBTs with Captivate®—in Half the Time,” from 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern Time. Participants will learn how to maximize the potential of Macromedia Captivate®, a powerful tool for creating software simulations, and how to create hybrid computer-based training systems (CBTs) that will cut development time by 50 percent. For more information or to register for the seminar, please visit the STC Web site.

April 12–13, 2007 CONFERENCE

The Manitoba Chapter STC and Red River College will hold their fourth annual technical communication conference, “Technology and Teamwork,” at the Red River College Princess Street campus. For more information, please contact Leslie McKendry-Smith or visit the chapter Web site.

April 18–20, 2007 CONFERENCE

The Trans-Alpine Chapter STC will host its spring 2007 conference at the corporate center of Zurich Financial Services in Zurich, Switzerland. For more information, please visit the chapter Web site.

May 13–16, 2007 CONFERENCE

The Technical Communication Summit—STC’s 54th Annual Conference will be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Preconference workshops will begin on May 12. For more information, please visit the STC Web site.

June 4, 2007 CONFERENCE

The Israel Chapter STC, which will celebrate forty years as a chapter and is the oldest STC chapter outside of North America, will hold its semi-annual convention, “The Proactive Technical Communicator: Multiple Disciplines, Multiple Perspectives,” at the Daniel Hotel, Herzliya, Israel. For more information, please e-mail convention@stc-israel.org.il or visit the chapter Web site.

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