November 13, 2017 IDL SIG Virtual Open House

Join the IDL SIG online for our Virtual Open House!

4:30 pm Pacific / 5:30 pm Mountain / 6:30 pm Central / 7:30 pm Eastern

Monday, November 13, 2017

 

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As a virtual community, with all of our members scattered across the globe, we do not have the same opportunities as geographically-based communities to meet up face-to-face. Since 2013, we have hosted the IDL SIG Virtual Open House (VOH) so that new and prospective IDL SIG members could learn more about our community’s mission and goals, learn more about member benefits, and meet some of our leaders and volunteers.

During our VOH, participants have always had the opportunity to ask questions about the SIG and what we offer.

Virtual Party, too!

We’d like to combine our VOH with a virtual party (VP), where we would encourage all attendees to share a photo or story. The VP (not be confused with Vice President!) we hope will add a very human, personal side to our VOH. Hey, it is all about making real, enduring connections!

About the webinar

The webinar will be recorded so feel free to watch with us online and then rewatch at your leisure. No need to take notes. If you cannot attend, sign up anyway so that you will get a link to the recording.

See the 2016 VOH recording on YouTube.

See the 2015 VOH recording on YouTube.

See the 2014 VOH recording on Adobe Connect.

 

Register on Eventbrite
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IDL SIG Virtual Open House November 16, 2016

IDL SIG Open House Nov 10, 2015

November 16, 2017 “Remembering Forward: Using Emotion and Storytelling to Increase Learning Retention” with Allie Proff

Join us for “Remembering Forward: Using Emotion and Storytelling to Increase Learning Retention” with Allie Proff.

10:30 am Pacific / 11:30 am Mountain / 12:30 pm Central / 1:30 pm Eastern

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Register on Eventbrite.

About the webinar

Research shows that people remember events better when they have an emotion involved, as opposed to dry facts. Join us as Allie shares some of the recent cognitive studies as well as practical ways you can incorporate storytelling and emotive analytics trends to improve your instructional material.

We will be recording the webinar, so feel free to enjoy the presentation knowing that you can see the recording at a later date.

Intended Audience

Those who create and deliver presentations to live audiences.

The content will be introductory (e.g., > “101 level”)

About the Speaker: Allie Proff

Allie has been a high school teacher, a Communication officer in the US Navy, and a technical writer and a Knowledge Management coordinator for over 300 communities of practice and excellence at Boeing. She is now working Professional Services at Acrolinx, a software dedicated to helping companies speak with one voice. You can find her on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/allieproff), retweeting on Twitter (@allieproff), and writing as often as life allows on her blog Technically Eclectic (http://technicallyeclectic.com) .

Register on Eventbrite.

October 12, 2017 “Your Brain on Powerpoint: Better Presentations Through Science” with Robert Hershenow

Join us for “Your Brain on PowerPoint: Better Presentations Through Science” with Robert Hershenow.

10:30 am Pacific / 11:30 am Mountain / 12:30 pm Central / 1:30 pm Eastern

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Register on Eventbrite.

About the webinar

The last twenty years have brought tremendous advances in our understanding of the human brain, much of which can be applied to learning. In this webinar we’ll explore what goes on in our heads when we design, create, deliver, and view a slideshow presentation, with focus on maximizing audience engagement and information transfer. Expect a lively, entertaining session with time for Q&A. A handout will be provided.

We will be recording the webinar, so feel free to enjoy the presentation knowing that you can see the recording at a later date.

Intended Audience

Those who create and deliver presentations to live audiences.

The content will be introductory (e.g., > “101 level”)

About the Speaker: Robert Hershenow

Robert Hershenow has worked in tech comm for more than twenty-five years. He is a self-described PowerPoint evangelist and past co-manager of the IDL SIG. He lives happily in the San Francisco Bay Area where he plays music and can ride his bike to work (exercise is good for the brain!).

Register on Eventbrite.

The Saturday Series from the STC Puget Sound Chapter

Join the STC Puget Sound Chapter for their Saturday Series of webinars, free to members.

Find out more and register on their site http://www.stc-psc.org/the-saturday-series/


Overview

The Saturday Series are three, free, online introductory sessions to help new Tech Comm graduates or those returning to the workforce after an extended absence, gain some knowledge and exposure to common tools they are expected to know and use in their work. These tools are not generally taught in any technical communication program and yet they are important for new communicators to be familiar with when beginning a new position.

When: They are held on the 3rd Saturday of each month from Sept-Nov.

Time: 10 am- 12 noon PST (or earlier)

Format

There are no books, PPT slides, or other materials, which is why the training is free. The format for these session will be as follows:

  • Review the tool in general and discuss its basic uses
  • Demonstrate how to perform basic tasks
  • Review best practices when appropriate
  • Q&A regarding the content covered
  • General Q&A regarding the tool

Long Term Plans for Saturday Sessions

If these sessions prove to be successful, (they are well attended and reviewed), we’ll continue to hold them and try to involve other trainers who want to donate their time in this format. For the first three sessions, Lin Laurie will donate her time as the  presenter/trainer.

Each class is approximately 2 hours or less and consists of an informal formal of a demonstration of a series of tasks and then open Q&A for the remainder of the scheduled time.

  • September 23rd Session 1: Introducing the latest version of SnagIt. SnagIt is a low cost, screen capture, mobile capture, and video recording tool on the market with a price-point under $50. It is so sophisticated it can take the place of most of what Adobe PhotoShop would do for the average tech communicator’s needs. Did you know you could create custom profiles and add settings like borders, image size reductions, and more so you can quickly take images without having to tinker with them? Or that you could set up SnagIt to copy your screenshots directly into a Word or other document (with borders) so you can skip a lot of repetitious and boring steps on the way to getting beautiful screenshots? Learn the best ways to use the tool, create your own customized profiles to suit your needs, automatically generate standard screen shots with boarders and other effects, convert batches of graphics, customize your workspace, and more. Also learn some basic best practices regarding how to take good screenshots, good border settings, and general good habits.
    Even if you’re an experienced SnagIt user, this course is guaranteed to teach you some new tricks! Register here.
  • October 21st Session 2: Introducing SharePoint. SharePoint is a collaborative environment that allows teams to share and manage documents across internet and intranets, and is popular in most companies. Learn how to navigate around in it, how to check files in and out, delete and add files, and some of its other basic functionality. This session will show you some other skills that will help you when you first use SharePoint. You should take this class if you’ve never seen a SharePoint site or if you want to increase your understanding of how they function. Register here.
  • November 18th Session 3: Learn to use Word like a Boss! Transform your basic Word skills into mastery.
    Learn to generate a table of contents based on built-in styles, use styles, move styles between documents, add ctrl keys to styles, and much more. If you have been using Word for years but can’t auto-generate a table of contents or can’t change the look of your document by making a change to one style (basically 1-click) then you should attend this class! In addition, we’ll be doing some work with the index and TOC and showing you why you should turn off paragraph markers when you generate these items, and much more. This will be a jam-packed session! Register here

Trainers Note: I used to teach Advanced Word at a junior college for five years and I found that about 20% of the students who took that class were not of an advanced level. They confused the length of time they used Word with the level of user that they were. But if you use a tool repeatedly for 1 year or 20 but never advance in your understanding of the tool, you never become an advanced use, just an experienced beginner. That goes for any of the sessions above. If you have used SnagIt, for instance, for years but never advanced beyond basic screen capturing, then you should check out the class.

These classes will be open to STC National so you will need to sign-up quickly using Eventbrite, and because seating is limited, if you decide that you can’t attend, please release your ticket so someone else can attend in your place.

September 21, 2017 “Create Presentation Handouts That People Will Actually Use” webinar with Chuck Campbell

Join us for the “Create Presentation Handouts That People Will Actually Use” webinar with Chuck Campbell.

10:30 am Pacific / 11:30 am Mountain / 12:30 pm Central / 1:30 pm Eastern

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Update:

The event recording is available free at Free recordings of IDL SIG webinars for members (requires password. Contact programs@stcidlsig.org if you did not yet receive your password.)

About the webinar

At some point in your career, you may be required to give a presentation to a live audience. Whether your presentation includes visual slides such as PowerPoint or not, you might want to provide printed handouts to your audience.

In this presentation, I will discuss suggested “best practices” for handouts from presentation experts, then introduce a new approach to creating printed handouts that will engage the audience in your presentation and provide handouts that they will actually use.

We will be recording the webinar, so feel free to enjoy the presentation knowing that you can see the recording at a later date.

Intended Audience

Those who create and deliver presentations to live audiences and need to provide handouts

The content will be introductory (e.g., > “101 level”)

About the Speaker: Chuck Campbell

Chuck has created and delivered numerous technical presentations over the past 25 years to small and large clients, including the U.S. Navy, United States Postal Service, FedEx Express, Cargill, U.S. Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Norwich Pharmaceuticals, and the New York Power Authority.

Chuck’s passion is learning and mastering new technologies, then teaching those technologies to others. He is always looking for new ways to engage learners, including eLearning, gamification, and other training methods and technologies.

Register on Eventbrite.