Date

Time

Topic & Speaker

Location

STC Summit 2013 Lite Version

6:30 - Networking

7:00 - Presentation

STC Sacramento April Meeting:

Information Architecture Essentials

Information architecture (IA) is at the heart of technical communication. It defines the structure for information and helps make information findable.

In this talk, we'll define IA terms, look at examples, and review IA principles that can help improve the quality, consistency, and clarify of your documentation.

We'll talk about IA structure at a few levels:

• Deliverables (what information goes into particular books or information sets)
• Topic level (patterns for how different types of information are organized and presented. For example: concepts, tasks, reference, trouble-shooting, and command syntax)
• Clusters of topics that work together, to address user needs

We'll talk about a bit about metadata--the tagging systems that allow information to be generated, searched, and sorted in different ways.

And we'll also talk about the importance of making sure your content aligns with user needs and business goals. The best IA in the world won't do much, if it's not supporting the right content!

Bring your questions, ideas, and experiences, and be part of this interactive discussion.

About Linda Urban
Linda Urban is a long-time technical communicator and instructor. She works with technical writing and course development teams to improve the quality of their content, focusing on usefulness, usability, and alignment with performance  goals and objectives. She helps teams clarify their goals, determine what changes would help them get the results they want, and designs solutions to help them move in that direction. She is a skilled facilitator, and her workshops regularly receive excellent reviews.

She also teaches in the Technical Communication program at UC Berkeley Extension. Among the courses that she teaches are Principles of Information Architecture and Technical Communication I.

You can reach Linda here:
linda@ lucommunications.com
www.urbancreations.com

Aprill Meeting Prices

Students $5.00 USD STC Members $8.00 USD Non-members $10.00 USD

Please let us know you're coming...

Arthur F. Turner Community Library
in West Sacramento)

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Instructional Design and Learning SIG Webinar

E-Learning: Do You Have What it takes?
Featuring Jane MacKenzie

Are you interested in moving your career in the direction of designing or
developing e-Learning courses? Are you wondering whether you have the
skills to make that move easily? In this webinar by Jane MacKenzie, you'll
learn the skills you need at each stage of the e-Learning process and have
an opportunity to evaluate which skills you have and which skills you need
to acquire.

Jane MacKenzie (formerly Smith) has been an instructional designer for
over 25 years. She has written, designed, and produced training for
instructor-led classes, e-Learning, and audio training.

Payment Information:
$20 IDL SIG Member
$30 STC Member
$50 Non Member

Click here to register...

Click here for complete details...

Maxwell Hoffmann Presents:

Adobe Tech Comm Suite for Word Users

Since Word is the most common denominator amongst us all for content creation, this session will focus on how to understand the power of FrameMaker / RoboHelp and other aspects of Tech Comm Suite in terms that Word users can relate to. The session will be more of a “what you can do” rather than “step-by-step” “how to’s”.

Features covered will include:

• Quick ways to set up "bullet proof" autonumbering
• How to use unique page layout features leveraging both master pages, ref pages and system variables
• "Smart Art": Generate tables of views or parts from 3D graphics, and make hot spots from graphic areas to relate text
• Hints for quick and easy index markers
• Making the most of Cross Reference Formats
• Publishing from FrameMaker to HTML5 via RoboHelp using DEFAULTS loaded with Tech Comm Suite.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER: 
Maxwell Hoffmann is Adobe’s Product Evangelist for Technical Communications and a former product manager for FrameMaker at Frame Technology.  Hoffmann spent nearly 15 years in the translation industry, where he managed or published over 1,000,000 pages of multilingual content in thousands of projects.  He has managed projects in DITA, XML as well as authoring tools ranging from Word, InDesign, Quark Express to structured FrameMaker. Hoffmann is based in a virtual Adobe office near Portland, Oregon and claims to have presented face-to-face, hands-on training to over 1,200 people in scalable authoring solutions over several years.

Login creditials will be sent out after registering, before the meeting.

Meeting Prices

Students $5.00 USD STC Members $8.00 USD Non-members $10.00 USD

Please let us know you're coming:

Virtual

Robert Hershenow Presents:

Record Killer Audio with Simple Equipment

Robert Hershenow works as an independent technical communicator in Berkeley, California, and has been recording and editing audio for 30 years. In this presentation he will show how to get the most out of your equipment and recording space without a lot of hassle or expense.

Stanford Village Community Clubhouse
Stanford Village Court

12/13/12

6:30 to 8:00pm

STC SacMetro's Holiday Networking Event

Join Us!

You're invited to join the STC Sacramento Metro Chapter for a holiday networking get-together. Don't miss this great opportunity to mingle with your fellow professionals and suggest future chapter programs.

Best of all, this free event will be catered, so food and drink will be provided (sorry, no alcohol). All we ask is that you RSVP by clicking the button below. See you there!

Stanford Village Ct. Community Room

Stanford Village Ct.
Rocklin, CA 95765

12/6/12

6:00 PM (Pacific)

Free Student Webinar

On Adobe Connect: STC Student Membership: Challenges, Opportunities, and Benefits.

During the presentation, we will discuss the challenges, opportunities, and benefits of student membership in the Society for Technical Communication, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of all aspects of technical communication. We will have a question and answer session for students interested in creating a student chapter at their university or in having contact with STC student members at other universities.

No registration is required
When:  Thursday, Dec. 6th, at  3:00 PM EST

 Logon Instructions:
·         Internet Explorer or Safari is recommended. (There are known issues with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox)
·         Open:  http://stc.adobeconnect.com/studentchapters1206/
·         Select Enter as a Guest.
·         Enter your name in the field. You can add your school name as well (e.g., Joe Smith MWSU)
·         Click Enter Room.  Join Audio Conference will display.
·         Choose one of the following:

Ø  Dial-out:  Enter your phone number.  You will receive a call to this number, and you can speak through your phone and watch the conference presentation on your computer. On the main menu bar:
·     From the speaker menu, select Mute my speakers to avoid feedback.
·    From phone menu, select  Mute my phone so we can’t hear you during the presentation.

Ø   Computer: Use Internet Explorer or Safari. You will need a microphone to speak during the question/answer session. After you enter the room, on the main menu bar:
·     From the microphone menu, select Mute my microphone.
·     If during Q&A, your microphone does not work, from the Meeting menu, select  Audio Setup Wizard. Run wizard to setup its use with Adobe Connect.

Hope you can join us on Thursday.  If you have any questions , please let me know: sally.henschel@mwsu.edu