News and Notes for Technical Communicators in Michigan
Refer to the Upcoming Events list on the right side of this home page, which is regularly added to as the registration links become available.
You’ll see virtual lunches, book club, webinars, and even in real life (IRL) meetups. All events are free for STC-MGL chapter members. Non-members will pay a fee for webinars, but other event types are free for everyone.
Learn how to interview Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) like a pro!
Please join the STC-MGL and STC Ohio chapters for our next collaborative program “Three Steps to Successful SME Interviews” presented by Nicky Bleiel, STC Fellow.
Interviewing subject matter experts is one of the most important skills needed for success as a technical communicator. During this program, Nicky will discuss how to cultivate sources, write questions, and keep cool during an interview. You’ll learn what to say and what words to avoid–and how to conduct an interview asynchronously. Nicky has interviewed many SMEs, as well as tech comm luminaries (including David Pogue, Dr. John Carroll, and Kathy Sierra), and she will share her experience with you.
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
7–8:30 p.m. ET
Online
Nicky Bleiel is a Lead Information Developer at Innovative Systems. She is a Fellow and Past President of the Society for Technical Communication and has more than 20 years of experience writing and designing content for software products in a variety of industries. She has interviewed a number of experts in technical communication, including John Carroll, David Pogue, Kathy Sierra, and Nancy Duarte; and was Guest Editor of the all-interview “Legends of Technical Communication” issue of STC’s Intercom magazine. She is a popular speaker at many conferences, including the STC Summit, tcworld, WritersUA, CIDM, CPTSC, IEEE ProComm, and LavaCon; and has been published in STC’s Intercom, tcworld magazine, ISTC Communicator, and more. See nickybleiel.com for a list of her talks and articles.
On January 26th, 2021, Kelly Schrank, an Associate Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and a technical writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in different industries, presented the “Engineering Your Networking Experience” webinar for STC. The purpose of the webinar was to describe how to network effectively and to present tips for people with introverted personalities to connect with other people at networking events.
To introduce the webinar, Schrank made an analogy suggesting that people should think about networking the same way they think about their jobs. People often face challenges at work that make it unlikely that they would consistently enjoy their jobs every day. Similarly, most people do not always enjoy networking; however, just as people stick to a job because of pay, benefits, opportunities to gain experience, job satisfaction, and other reasons, they network to reap its benefits.
Schrank quoted the Dictionary.com definition of networking: “a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest” (Dictionary.com, n.d.). People network to build relationships, to learn from other people they meet, and to share ideas. What is important to remember is that networking is not transactional, and to succeed at it, attendees must be relational with each other and not use each other as a means to an end. For example, simply asking a stranger for a job would be detrimental to building a relationship with that person.
Continue reading “Engineering Your Networking Experience – Program Recap”
Join us on Wednesday, February 24 from 7-8:30 p.m. for “Mastering Your Website” presented by Timothy Esposito.
In this webinar, you will learn how to improve your website by integrating social media, mail lists, event calendars, and more. We’ll go under the hood to learn how to tighten security, scan for viruses, have Google analyze your site visits, optimize for search engines, and FTP files to/from your web server. All of this will help you work towards mastering your website!
This webinar is for those currently serving as webmasters, are incoming webmasters, or are interested in learning more about using WordPress and cPanel for their website.
Timothy Esposito is the STC Secretary and an STC Fellow with over 20 years of technical communication experience. He has been the President, VP, treasurer, webmaster, and scholarship manager of the STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter. He lives just outside Philadelphia with his wife and son.
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
7-8:30 p.m. EDT
Zoom
* Honorary members for the evening: employees of the sponsoring organization and members of partner organizations (UXPA, CHI, and ASTD)
Please register for this event on Eventbrite here.
Happy New Year! As the snow swirls and we navigate 2021, please join us from the comfort of your home for a virtual open house on Tuesday, January 26 from 7-8:30 PM ET.
In this open house we’ll showcase our new STC-MGL logo, share the updated Active Membership Program, and talk about the remaining events in our program year.
This virtual open house is open to all and will be a perfect opportunity to learn about our STC-MGL chapter, ask questions about technical communications, tell us about yourself, share ideas for events, and make some new connections.
Tuesday, January 26
7-8:30 PM ET
Zoom
Please register by the end of the day, Monday, January 25. The confirmation email from Eventbrite will include the Zoom link.
Fabrice Lacroix, CEO of Fluid Topics, will present a webinar: Is Content Delivery Possible Without Breaching New Data-Privacy Regulations? Learn about the new global privacy rules and how they will impact your operations.
This webinar will be on Thursday, February 21, 2019, from 2–3 p.m.; registered attendees will receive a link to the recording. Read more and register for this STC webinar.
STC CNY (Central New York) and STC Rochester are holding a multi-chapter webinar on Thursday, February 28, from noon–1 p.m. There will be three brief presentations and question-and-answer periods:
There is more information about the speakers and their presentations, as well as a registration form, on EventBrite.
Paul Joseph, publisher of the recently revised landmark plain language book, Put it in Writing, will discuss what distinguishes technical writing from other nonfiction in his presentation, What’s the Difference Between Technical Writing and Other Types of Writing? This free, half-hour webinar will take place on Monday, January 28, 2019, at noon. See the article on NEO STC’s website for more information and the registration link.
Over the past year, STC-SM has been using Slack to share information and communicate with our chapter members. Slack is a powerful messaging and collaboration tool that allows individuals and organizations to work together and share information in meaningful and efficient ways. We invite you to join us in our “Intro to Slack” webinar, which will show you how you can use the STC-SM Slack workspace to connect with STC-SM chapter members and council members so that you can stay up-to-date on programs and networking events in the STC community. Continue reading “Intro to Slack—Webinar”
Have you ever been interested in learning more about APIs and API documentation? It’s one of the fastest growing areas of technical communication, and it’s quickly becoming a common job requirement. APIs, or application programming interfaces, are sets of functions and methods that allow you to interface to a program or service running on another computer. APIs have become increasingly prevalent, and more technical writers are needed to document the core functionality of these APIs. Continue reading “Swagger UI and the Open API Specification”