Note: This event is not sponsored by STC-Montreal. Please contact the event organizers for more details.

Workshop leader: Jordan Nardone
Where: rad’a, 841 St-André (corner of Gilford, Laurier metro)
When: Sunday, September 26, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $20 for QWF members; $22 for non-members

This workshop is designed to introduce writers to a simple, effective and practical way to relieve tension, improve posture and breathing, and refresh both the body and mind while at work. With the ancient practice of Yoga as our framework, we will explore techniques and exercises to encourage better posture and relieve the common aches and pains that tend to accompany hours upon hours spent at the computer.

All are welcome! No previous yoga experience is required. Even if you are currently living with an injury you can benefit from this workshop.

Most props (chairs, mats, blankets) will be provided at the yoga studio but please bring your yoga mat if you own one. Please wear comfortable clothing (no jeans please). The workshop will take place in bare feet.

Maximum: 20 participants

Jordan Nardone is a Hatha Yoga instructor and certified Masso-kinesitherapist. She also teaches anatomy to both students and teachers of yoga. Jordan’s extensive training in anatomy and biomechanics has led her to explore the therapeutic applications of yoga, and she delights in teaching others how to use this practice to heal themselves.

To register, call 514-933-0878 and leave a message if there’s no answer. Callers will be registered in order of phone messages.

Task Analysis for Developing Policies & Procedures Content Users Need and Prefer

19 October 2010, 12:00 PM–1:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

$49 General Admission, $39 STC General Members, $29 P&P SIG Members

In a presentation filled with anecdotes and examples, Raymond Urgo presents the principles and techniques for analyzing business processes and tasks that enable you to design policies and procedures topics and content that are performance-based, not subject-based. He reveals his tips on applying the task analysis method and its results to demonstrate a business need, build rapport, and manage content development projects effectively.

Raymond E. Urgo is an internationally recognized expert, educator, leader, author, and speaker in policies and procedures communication. His firm, Urgo & Associates, provides consulting services on the development and management of policies and procedures systems and information in organizations, and it publishes the award-winning e-newsletter The Policies & Procedures Authority.

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/stc-policies-procedure-sig/

Note: This event is not sponsored by STC-Montreal. Please contact the event organizers for more details.

Concodia University is offering a new course in Travel Writing this Fall. The course begins Thursday, September 16, 2010 (6–8pm), and continues for 10 weeks.

Taught by writer Elizabeth Johnston, Travel Writing is an introduction to the genre. For more information and to register, please go to www.concordia.ca/conted.

Elizabeth Johnston’s site: explore-the-possibilities.com

Elizabeth Johnston’s e-mail: information [at] explore-the-possibilities [dot] com

A message from STC President Michael Hughes

This is the year we reinvent STC! We do so to better serve the increasingly diverse community of technical communicators. We are shifting our focus from STC the organization to STC as a collection of services and delivery channels that meet the professional needs of our members.

To make this shift, we are becoming more market centered, understanding whom we serve and what they want and need. Today, I am extremely pleased to announce the start of Project Phoenix. This is the major program to bring about the shift to a market-focused STC. The project has the following goals:

• Transform the Society’s web presence to increase the value for current and future members
• Improve the relationship between the Society and its current and former members
• Increase the Society’s registered member base
• Grow the Society’s revenue while decreasing its reliance on dues-based revenue
• Establish the Society as the center of the online universe for technical communicators globally
• Dramatically overhaul the Society’s brand identity
• Increase the digital distribution of the Society’s publications

To help us meet these goals, we have engaged a team of specialists who have a proven track record helping organizations like STC. We are funding this engagement by not filling certain staff positions at this time. We are using that money to augment our staff with these specialists instead. We have created a special web page to keep you informed about Project Phoenix. We will be creating a community on our community network platform to encourage and support member input, feedback, and discussion about Project Phoenix. And we will be using our social media channels throughout the year to engage interested members and non-members alike.

I ask for everyone to look for some way to get constructively engaged in this project during this year. Together, we can build the new STC.

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/introducing-project-phoenix/

It’s open to the public and there’s no admission fee. This is a great chance to network with old and new friends at colleagues and meet real, live technical writers! If you want to meet technical writers, or are thinking of becoming one yourself, drop by!

When: Monday, September 20, 6:30-10 p.m.

Where: Le Cabaret, inside the Hotel de La Montagne
1430 rue de la Montagne Montréal, Québec Tél.: (514) 288-5656.
(Enter the main doors and head toward the sound of the piano.)
Metro: Peel or Guy

Parking: Street and lot parking nearby

RSVP with our Facebook Event

Have you become stuck in a rut with the same old user guide or manual structure? Do you find that you know everything about the products that you document … but can’t figure out how to best organize the information?

An important aspect of technical communication is applying an effective structure to information. This means that you must not only understand the purpose of the information and the needs of the reader, but you must also be able to find creative solutions for organizing the information.

If you’re in this rut you need Leah Guren’s STC webinar, Shake Up the Structure: Taking a Fresh Look at Information Organization, scheduled for Wednesday, 25 August from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT. Click the link for more information or to register.

With Leah, you’ll gain a greater understanding of the role of structure in user perception of information, become familiar with the LATCH organization, look at different solutions to information challenges, and develop a strategy for reassessing your own material.

Shake up your structure and take a fresh look at information organization with Leah Guren and STC!

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/upcoming-webinar-on-25-august/

The Professional Communication Society of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) has named Saul Carliner as Editor-in-Chief of its peer-reviewed publication, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. His term begins 1 January 2011.

The IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication is a peer-reviewed, quarterly journal devoted to applied research on professional communication.

Congratulations to Saul on this achievement!

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/stc-member-saul-carliner-named-editor-of-ieee-journal/

The Society for Technical Communication invites you to contribute your ideas, studies, experience, and expertise at our 2011 Technical Communication Summit, the Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication.

The core content of the Summit’s education program will be based on tracks that span the profession. Those tracks are detailed in the Call for Proposals. The work STC members do is an important element in the education process, and we invite you to share your skills with Summit attendees.

The Summit is scheduled for 15-18 May 2011 in Sacramento, California, USA. Proposals are due by 10:00 AM EDT (GMT-4), Monday, 4 October 2010.

All proposals must be submitted through our online submission system. Visit the Call for Proposals website for general information about the conference, descriptions of the individual tracks within the education program, descriptions of session formats and required supporting materials, answers to key questions, and a proposal checklist of issues to address before submitting your proposal.

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/call-for-proposals-for-2011-summit-is-now-open/.

Note: This event is not sponsored by STC-Montreal. Please contact the event organizers for more details.

The Association of English-Language Publishers of Quebec presents an evening about e-book publishing.

Diana Barry, Director of Digital Services for the Association of Canadian Publishers, will discuss the e-book phenomenon from a global perspective, looking at the opportunities, benefits and challenges involved in e-publishing. She will talk in detail about the ACP’s Canadian Publishers Digital Services suite of programs.

Schmoozing with fellow publishers from 5 pm on; presentation will begin at 5:30.

Thursday, September 9, 2010
5:00 to 7:00 pm
Atwater Library Auditorium
1200 Atwater, Westmount

AELAQ members free
Non-members $10

Please RSVP aelaq [at] bellnet [dot] ca

AELAQ acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), a part of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Phone: (514) 932-5633
Fax: (514) 932-5456
E-mail: aelaq [at] bellnet [dot] ca
Web: www.aelaq.org

The awards were presented during the end-of-season banquet held at Restaurant l’Académie on June 9. The recipients included:

• Charles Roburn for continuing to reach out to other organizations, and for keeping his eye on the STC-Montreal ball.
• Jim Royal for webmaster service “above and beyond” and for always keeping the STC-Montreal digital presence a step ahead.
• Laura Jaffrey for providing creative “safe deposit” services in our time of need and for bringing a series of stellar programs to STC Montreal members.
• Manny Gordon for elevating “sidling” to a performance art form and for his continued service to STC Montreal.
• Poppy Quintal for her global perspective, local commitment, and for keeping the STC-Montreal flame alive over many years.

Two teams are tasked with supporting a large website as well as peer localization in the field. Each team incubated collaboration solutions to address internal communications needs, but over time each solution evolved to meet specific user needs differently. One solution became a social platform where users could help other users, from over 60 different geographies, learn to use and exploit the features of a new CMS. The other solution evolved into a platform that automated the presentation of key publishing and localization information needed by regional teams to make business decisions about content to localize and deploy on their local websites.

Both, though, evolved from a weak social solution (supporting team members who already had strong interpersonal ties) into a strong social solution (addressing the needs of large, geographically dispersed teams with weaker social ties). Ken Efta presents a case study of the two teams, how they differed, and how they compared, in the STC webinar Social Solutions for User Support and Communication, taking place Wednesday, 11 August, from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT (GMT-4). Click the link for more information and to register!

Ken will show participants how to:

• Define and determine when “weak social” tools and interaction vs. “strong social” tools and interaction are necessary and appropriate
• Determine appropriate ratios of authorship to participation to consumption
• See how “weak social” is still social and can help drive key conversations
• Leverage in-person communications to drive requirements and build momentum for strong social solutions
• User support and communication is an ever-evolving situation. Explore your potential social solutions with Ken Efta and STC.

Original link

Since STC announced certification at the Summit in May, the momentum has built. An implementation committee honed the original proposal into a business plan. We clarified the areas of practice and are subjecting it to additional validation. (Later this year an academic group will perform a formal validation.) The STC staff analyzed the fee schedule, including possible member discounts, initial pricing, and package deals. Soon we will engage a consultant to advise us of any further refinements.

To help people stay informed of and offer comments on our progress, the Certification Committee will be one of the first groups using the STC Community website. We expect to go live in a few weeks. In the meantime, we have been reaching out to inform members and solicit comments from practitioners: on this blog, on the TECHWR-L list, and at chapter meetings. I presented to the New York Metro chapter in June and fielded what felt like a downpour of questions. I will be presenting at the Carolina Chapter on August 19 (click here for details about live Web access) and at the Boston Chapter later this year.

Our next major task is to translate the areas of practice into an assessment protocol. How do we determine whether an applicant meets our criteria in each area of practice? How can we accommodate applicants whose work may be confidential or proprietary? (New York Metro raised this issue.) From the answers will come an assessment methodology we can pilot, optimize, teach to evaluators, and ultimately put into action.

To sum up: a lot has been done, there’s more to do, and we’re working on it. For more information or to volunteer, contact Steven Jong by email.

Original link: http://notebook.stc.org/stc-certification-update/.