The plans for our annual Professional Day have been finalized for Saturday, April 5 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m at the University of Hartford. Please read on for details about sessions and registration.
Sharing Ideas & Strategies
At a time when the media is throwing the big R Word around on a daily basis, and companies are being more conservative with their budgets, everyone is having to find new ways to do their jobs for less (or at least the same that they’ve had for the last year or two). And tech writers are no exceptions.
This year’s chapter event pulls together several speakers who have found ways to work more efficiently and more cost-effectively in their employers’ technical publications operations. These sessions will offer strategies and lessons learned that any organization can draw from, as well as insights into working with new tools that many tech writers are interested in.
Additionally, Dave O’Meara of TekSystems will be on hand to talk to folks about the job market in Connecticut. In addition to talking to the group at large during lunch, he will be available to talk with folks one-on-one from 11 to 1:30.
Schedule
8:00 - 8:50 Registration & Networking
9:00 - 9:45 Using SharePoint In A Tech Pubs Department
Two years ago, Honeywell implemented Microsoft SharePoint to maintain a reference library of user documents and data sheets. The site is now being used for: PDF file distribution; electronic document review and approval; sign-out of part numbers for data sheets; product label library; department-only documentation; and self-service document/file retrieval by other groups (e.g., Purchasing, Webmasters). Mary Sheahan will share how the Tech Pubs group is using SharePoint to help streamline processes, and how Honeywell plans to expand this implementation in the near future.
10:00 - 10:45 Trimming Documents For Greater Usability & Lower Localization Costs
To reduce translation costs, a documentation team at Oracle (formerly Hyperion) embarked on an initiative to reduce the number of words in documents. This effort quickly lowered translation costs by an average of 24%. The team is extending the effort by distinguishing between categories of information that users need and those that can be deleted. The goal is to deliver clearer, more concise information while decreasing costs even further. Cheryl Morrison will demonstrate how her team has accomplished word reduction and is pursuing minimalism.
11:00 - 11:45 Adventures In Single-Sourcing In AuthorIT
The help files produced in RoboHelp were not pretty — the topics were too long, the software was under-documented, and the help system was about as user-unfriendly as one could get. What began as a project to expand and improve the help file became a a project to change the entire documentation process. Whitney Potsus will describe how one client migrated from RoboHelp to AuthorIT, and how single-sourced documentation was started in a group composed mainly of non-writers.
12:00 - 1:30 Lunch
RSVP Now!
Cost is $15 (chapter members and non-members), payable at morning registration on April 5. Registration includes lunch. Please RSVP to Donna Ford, Chapter President, at donna[at]evolve[dot]net or (860) 255-3849. RSVPs need to be received by March 31, 2008.
We look forward to seeing you there!