Events Archives - Page 15 of 18

December 5, 2015November 17, 2016

December 12, 2015 Virtual Progression Webinars

Saturday, December 12, 2015

10:30 PST, 11:30 MST, 12:30 CST, 13:30 EST

UPDATE: This webinar was a huge success! See the recording on our Free recordings of IDL SIG webinars for members page. (requires password. Contact programs@stcidlsig.org if you did not yet receive your password.)

Please join the STC Instructional Design and Learning SIG for our first ever Virtual Progression – a new adventure in delivering bite-sized learning to our members and other interested attendees at a time and place that suits you.

A regular in-person progression lets you pick two or three of a number of simultaneous sessions and you have to miss the other “x” number of sessions. If you have attended the STC Summit you also know that these sessions are not recorded so once they have happened, they are history. Our virtual progression offers an advantage over this model, because if you attend one session or two sessions in the “progression” you will receive links to recordings for all four sessions.

How does it work?

We will have two presentations happening simultaneously, followed by a second set of two presentations. Instead of asking our presenters to repeat themselves, these sessions will only occur once… but again, even if you attend only one, you can listen to all four!

We recognize it’s a busy time of the year, so this will be short and sweet; over the holiday period, you’ll have lots of time to catch the other recordings.

Schedule

The schedule starts at 10:30 AM Pacific (11:30 AM Mountain, 12:30 PM Central, 1:30 PM Eastern) – log on a few minutes early so we can start on time. When you register, pick one of the two EARLY options and one of the two LATER options. Each session will last 20-25 minutes with time for Q&A afterwards.

The second session starts at 11:15 AM Pacific (12:15 PM Mountain, 1:15 PM Central, 2:15 PM Eastern)

Pricing

Sessions are FREE for IDL SIG Members; $10 per session for non-SIG STC members; $15 per session for non-STC members. (Remember, it’s only $10 to join the SIG if you are already an STC member… what a great time to join our SIG!)

Session Descriptions

Mellissa Ruryk presenting on 9 Things You Didn’t Know (you need to know) about Word

This is a presentation suited for beginning technical writers or more advanced ones who keep getting stumped by Word’s idiosyncrasies. We can almost guarantee everyone will learn at least one thing about Word, no matter how long you’ve been using it. Mellissa is co-manager of the IDL SIG and has worked with Word since version 3.0 (and before that she was a Wordperfect maven. At plenty-nine, she’s been around for a while!).

Robert Hershenow presenting on Audio Editing Tips: 3 Easy Steps to Improved Voice Recording

You might have recorded audio before for some of your training videos and been a bit disappointed in how you sounded. Or, you’ve never recorded before but want to learn tips so you know what to do right, from the very start. Robert can help you! Robert is co-manager of the IDL SIG and learned his audio chops as a radio engineer, recording studio owner and musician – including appearances as one of the Rough Drafts (at the STC Summit 2013 and 2014).

Scott McCoy presenting on The Mentor Board (cue echoing fadeout: MENTOR BOARD MENTOR Board Mentor board mentor board)

You’ve heard about the Mentor Board before but think it doesn’t have much to do with you. In fact, the Mentor Board won’t function without you, and it’s one of those cases (again) where you get back way more than what you put in. Mentoring is a way to grow – not just the next gen of technical communicators but also yourself. (Ever heard the adage that you don’t really know something until you can teach it to someone else?) In addition, others have already registered as mentors and you can gain more than you can imagine when you connect as a mentee (one who is mentored). Either way, listen to Scott as he tells you the whys and wherefores. Scott is the Mentoring team lead for the SIG.

Robert Hershenow presenting on the STC Body of Knowledge (TCBOK)

Here is the quick’n’dirty guide to becoming published in (or at least, increasing the odds of contributing to) STC’s BoK: our storehouse of knowledge of all things Tech Comm). He is going to cover what you need to know to get started, and where you can learn more. Robert is a member of the Technical Communication Body of Knowledge (TCBOK) task force.

Register now

Register now and bring a friend – there will be lots of room for everyone. One lucky registrant, drawn at random, will win a $25 AMAZON gift certificate simply for registering and attending. See you there!

November 11, 2015November 17, 2015

Recording of our 3rd annual Virtual Open House

Big thanks to all who attended tonight’s virtual open house.

The meeting was recorded so you can review it again or perhaps see the open house for the very first time.

Here is a link to the recording: http://stc.adobeconnect.com/p4wxu8slitf/

Feel free to pass this link on to anyone you think might be interested. Help us spread the IDL SIG love around!

Download the IDL SIG Virtual Open House 2015 slides as a pdf.

And don’t forget to visit our website for news and updates http://www.stcidlsig.org/

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

November 9, 2015November 17, 2015

A virtual progression? Why not?

Hello again, IDL SIG members!

We would like to try a new activity and need your support and enthusiasm to participate.

If you have ever been to an STC Summit, our annual conference, you know that there are several sessions called ‘progressions’ where several presenters each do a short talk on a theme-related topic (such as instructional design), sitting at a table surrounded by attendees. After 20-25 minutes, a bell goes off and attendees change tables (progress) to another table where that presenter then repeats his or her presentation. Usually there are three iterations of each presentation, so attendees learn about three different topics in the session.

Because we are a virtual community, we are going to try out a virtual progression. The way we think it will work is: we will have 2-4 presenters who present simultaneously in different Adobe Connect sessions. These would be half hour presentations, with a 15-minute bio break where attendees would log out of the first Connect room that they were in, and log back in to the second Connect room they want to attend. Presenters would stay in the same room and give their presentation again. We would record each session and for the price of attending, attendees (and presenters) would get all recordings to listen later to the ones not attended “live.”

The whole event would be over with within an hour and a half.

We haven’t set pricing for attendees, given that this is first time we’ve tried this. We will likely pay a small honorarium to our presenters. These needn’t be heavy duty presentations – in only a half hour, it would likely be 20-25 minutes of presentation and 5-10 minutes for live questions. Presenters would not be alone: a SIG leader who is familiar with how Adobe Connect works will be in the room to help with fielding questions, etc. (plus we’d likely have a rehearsal so presenters feel completely comfortable with the program and can concentrate on their presentation.)

SIG Members: would you volunteer to present at this first-ever, ground-breaking event? It would be wonderful if the topic were related to instructional design and learning, but if you had a great idea for another topic we might be able to fit that in! If you are willing to present, does the thought of doing it on December 5 scare you? It would be nice to get this done before the holiday season really gears up and distracts everyone from work and professional development. (And we would like to use the event for bonus points on the Community Achievement Award application, so it must be done in 2015.)

Because this is our first attempt, we may not invite anyone from outside the SIG… we’ll try out the logistics internally first and then do it again (same or different presentations) in the Spring of 2016. It’s another reason to say YES! to presenting, because you’d be among friends! No judgement, just support!

And those who cannot volunteer to present, does this sound like an attractive event to attend?

Robert and Mellissa really can’t wait to see/hear/read your responses. Fire away!

November 6, 2015November 12, 2015

November 10, 2015: 3rd Annual STC IDL SIG Virtual Open House

6:00 pm Pacific / 7:00 pm Mountain / 8:00 pm Central / 9:00 pm Eastern
Tusday, November 10, 2015

The meeting was recorded so you can review it again or perhaps see the open house for the very first time.

Here is a link to the recording: http://stc.adobeconnect.com/p4wxu8slitf/

Technical communicators near and far: Join us on November 10, when the welcome mat will be out for our third annual IDL SIG Virtual Open House! Drop in to find out what we’re all about, “meet” our SIG leaders and volunteers, and hear about the many opportunities to be involved with our vibrant, award-winning STC community. All technical communicators are welcome; you do not have to be an STC member to attend. Watch this space for registration information, coming soon. We look forward to your visit!

October 28, 2015October 28, 2015

November 5, 2015 “Editing Training Materials, Part 2” Presentation and Membership Meeting

9:00 am Pacific / 10:00 am Mountain / 11:00 am Central / 12:00 pm Eastern
Thursday, November 5, 2015

On November 5, 2015, the STC Technical Editing SIG and our IDL SIG are hosting a joint presentation of “Editing Training Materials, Part 2” by SIG member Lori Meyer. Free to SIG members.

See the details and register on the Technical Editing SIG website.