I’m excited to be speaking on “Structuring Topics Without Structured Authoring” at WritersUA Central in Chicago on October 21. This conference for technical communicators has long been one of my favorites, but it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to attend.
What will I talk about?
I’m going to outline my history of trying to deliver the right information to software users at the right time, and in the right format. Today that means being flexible in developing help for mobile devices, on the web, and for traditional desktop computers. Using structured, topic-based authoring is one of the best ways to do that. Traditional help authoring tools like Adobe RoboHelp don’t always give you a direct way to enforce structure, but with some self-discipline, it’s possible.
What else is going on at the conference?
Over two days, you can get a lot of information from some pretty smart people in our profession. For example:
- Former STC president Nicky Bleiel on Interviewing Subject Matter Experts and Collaborating in GitHub
- Scott DeLoach covering best practices in several areas
- Leigh White on Organizational Challenges in CMS Implementation
- Mike Baron on WordPress as a CMS
- Joe Welinske (the founder of WritersUA) on a variety of topics
Good stuff, huh?
More fun stuff
The conference is at the Willis Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world. There’s a visit to the Skydeck on the agenda, so you can see all of Chicago at once. There will be networking lunches, and general fun with available adult beverages at the close of Day One.
So count on some fun too.
Monday, August 31 is the last day for early bird pricing for the conference, so head over to the conference website right now!
Hope to see you in Chicago!
