I had a great conference. It was great to see everyone I know from previous conferences and to meet new people. Everyone comes from such diverse job roles…it’s really amazing to hear about the many different things people write about in technical writing. Of course, we are supposed to call it “technical communication” these days because there are so many ways to communicate technical information: graphics, videos, social media, audio. And there are people in training, who help people learn in classrooms or virtually through learning management systems. Just a lot of variety in the positions, people, and work.
I am realizing now that I did not take many pictures! But here’s a very quick recap with what pictures I could scrounge up from others…
Leadership Day
Great keynote, good information on the Community Handbook, and an attempt to connect me with a mentor. Looking forward to going through my notes and the Community Handbook, and sitting in a quiet place to think over what I want to accomplish as President of my local STC chapter this year.
This is lunch after Leadership Day; I’m way in the back.
Welcome Reception
I worked at the Technical Editing Special Interest Group’s table, helping people play Hangman. Obviously, I was having WAY too much fun.
Honors Banquet
Our chapter is a Platinum Community for 2017, which is a reflection of the hard work of everyone on the chapter Council.
We were recognized at the Honors Reception along with many other award winners.
I was also pleased to see my name on the back of the Honors Reception booklet, as a member of the Intercom Awards Committee (otherwise known as the Intercom Editorial Advisory Committee the rest of the year).
I still need to go through my notes from the sessions I attended, so that I can start to act on what I learned. But I did come back to work with renewed vigor for some of the projects I had on my plate. For instance, I have been wanting to create videos on how to use Word for the writers where I work, but in order to do that, I needed to learn Camtasia. Generally, I like learning new software, but it often takes more time than you expect, and my fear of getting sucked into learning mode when I have so many other responsibilities at work was a deterrent. While at the conference, I went to the TechSmith booth and had someone walk me through Camtasia. She made it seem so easy, I pretty quickly started learning it when I got back. And while it is not as easy as she made it sound, and it is taking some time to get into the groove of making the videos, I am making much more progress than I was when I was just telling myself I should learn it and make the videos. I have a draft of one already, and I am going to work on more in the coming week.
Overall, I really enjoyed my 10th Summit, and I am looking forward to the next one!