Incoming chapter president Kathy Graden shakes hands with outing president Karen Zorn.

Bonnie Graham Gonzalez, Sharon Burton, and Karen Zorn (left to right) before the meeting.

Kathy began her chapter presidency with a synopsis of her attendance at the STC Conference and delivered news of upcoming STC changes for members.  Changes include that for next year’s dues, members will not be charged to belong to a chapter, an initiative instilled for 2010 dues which was not popular in STC.  STC will host a social network mechanism, and will finally offer a certification in technical writing, an initiative that has been 20 years in the making.

The evening continued with a humorous presentation by Bonnie Graham Gonzalez, CEO and President of Manual Labour, Inc. and a former comedian.  Bonnie was accompanied by her friend and traveling companion, Sharon Burton, who is also quite a funny woman.  Bonnie presented us with some visual portrayals of technical writing that had the Phoenix chapter members laughing.  She finished with a very personal and poignant family story that brilliantly displayed her knack for finding humor in the most trying of family situations.

Bonnie dishing on the many wonderous examples of bad technical communication.

Bonnie provides her argument on why she knows she is going to heaven.

Finally, Karen presented chapter members with awards, and passed the purple presidential torch, a tradition started by former president Dana Osborne, to Kathy Graden.

New chapter officers:

• President:  Kathy Graden
• Secretary:  Maggie Haenel
• Treasurer:  Debra Gabriel
• Programs Manager:  Jan Kruse
• Membership Manager:  Miachelle DePiano

Miachelle DePiano
Membership Manger

In the spirit of international communication, refer to this STC France story for full details: http://stcfrance.org/articles/128/stories-of-technical-communicators-call-for-contributors.

To indicate your interest, send a 300-word proposal along with a 150-word biographical note to Dr. Yu, hyu1@ksu.edu,  by July 31, 2010.

» When:  Saturday, June 05, 2010 8:30 to noon
» Where:  Phoenix Airport Hilton, 2435 South 47th Street (Continental breakfast)
» Why:  Help plan 2010-2011 chapter events
 
At this time an agenda has not been fully completed, although we expect to discuss the following among other items:

»  Leadership positions/Limited Resources
» Chapter Membership 
» Program suggestions/recommendations 
» STC-Phoenix Website/other social media 
» Workshop proposal/suggestions
» Publications, Art, and On-line Competition
» Partnerships with other organizations

If this tentative list of topics doesn’t include an item or topic you think our planning session should address, please let Kathy know – ideas are welcome!

Please let Kathy know by 9:00 a.m., June 4th, 2010 if you will be attending.

Would you be willing to attend 3-hour workshop in the evening?

If so, what topic or speaker would motivate you to attend?

What would be a reasonable price range for you?

Feel free to comment here or contact me, Jan Kruse, at programs@stc-phoenix.com. I’d love to hear from you.

• Deb Duane and Sandri Richardson each won head shot photos for use on social media sites. Photos to be taken by Miachelle DePiano.
• Karen Pasley won a resume review by STC fellow John V. Hedtke.
• Miachelle DePiano and Karen Zorn each won $10.00 gift cards to the Gelato Spot.
• Debra Gabriel won a $20.00 gift card to the Changing Hands bookstore.

Our thanks to John and Miachelle for donating their time and talent!

Certification will be possible for the following six areas:

• Authoring (content creation)
• Delivery
• Document design
• Project management
• Quality assurance
• User analysis

Read the article: A Monumental Day Dawns for Technical Communicators: Certification!

• Jeanette Buenger 
• Chanda Child  
• Loretta DeMarais 
• Miachelle DePiano 
• Shelly Duncan 
• Debra Gabriel
• David Goldberg 
• Kathy Graden 
• Jan Kruse   
• Liliana Martinez-Criego 
• Gloria McConnell 
• Glenn Michaels
• Kim Rosenlof 
• Karen Zorn   

The handbook includes detailed information about the profession, including:

• Nature of the Work
• Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement
• Employment
• Job Outlook
• Projections
• Earnings
• Wages
• Related Occupations

The STC Phoenix chapter currently has 74 members, which is a 57%  renewal rate. Thanks to all renewing members, and congratulations to the following chapter renewal challenge winners:

• Marion Barchilon
• Maggie Haenel
• Glenn Michaels
• Michell Parcell

Each winner received a $50 Borders gift certificate!  Winners were selected by drawing from all members who renewed by the specified date last winter.

Loyal Attendees Reward

Members who have spent $60 throughout the year on any combination of chapter programs and meetings will receive the June dinner meeting free!  Our June meeting features accomplished technical communicator Bonni Graham with a humorous look at tech. comm. topics. Members who qualify for the free dinner will be notified in May.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed in the past year. If you have not yet volunteered to serve our chapter, please consider doing so! Several open positions exist, and they do not necessarily take much time. See our Contacts page and look for open positions – one is probably just right for you! Contact president@stc-phoenix.com/ to volunteer for a position.

Congratulations to our chapter!

• You can just put the user manual online.
• Don’t worry about testing it online. Everything plays online.
• Anyone can do it.
• The e-Learning process is the same  as the manual development process.
• Writing for e-learning is the same as writing for the manual development process.
• e-Learning is the best way to train.
• A Web presentation is e-Learning.
• Flash and graphics make an e-Learning course engaging.
• Rollovers and click events create interactivity.
• You must pick your authoring tool before you do anything else.

…And we walked away with a bibligraphy and links to explore to get us on the road to learning more.

Want to know what the audience thought?  Click Common Misconceptions about eLearning eval

While you are on the Scriptorium website, you might also want to check out upcoming webcasts.

Jack currently revamped his blog, thesocialatte.com, and talks about what he hoped to accomplish by doing so. I encourage you to visit his site  for slide presentations and more…

To see chapter members’ responses to Jack’s presentation, click Chapter-Meeting-Evaluation-Results.

by Ms. Grammar

Do you help your company maintain its corporate and brand identity? Despite the economy and company events that may have left you with a bitter taste in your mouth, if you appreciate your job, you need to do what you can to help your company succeed.  Brand identity equals consumer recognition and helps your company differentiate itself from competitors.

Company guidelines

If your company has brand identity guidelines, make sure you follow them. Are certain placements required for the company logo? Is there an informal name for your company or a product that should not be used in formal publications? Make sure you follow these rules. And if your company does not have identity guidelines, you might offer to write them!

Trademarks

Use trademarks properly:

1. Give notice that a mark is registered. The frontmatter of technical documents often includes notices, including trademark statements such as “Doc-o-Mat is a trademark (or registered trademark) of the Dynamo Corporation.”  In addition, the first appearance of a trademarked term in the body of the document should include the TM or ® symbol.
2. A trademarked term should never be used as a noun. It should be an adjective preceding a generic product noun. For example, the “Doc-Mat document generator.”  That being said, one large corporation’s legal department approved the use of the trademarked term as a noun in user documentation as long as the trademark statement appeared at the front of the document and the correct presentation was used in the introduction.
3. Use the mark distinctively. Initial capital letters, all capital letters, italics, boldface, are all ways of distinguishing the mark from surrounding text.

Do the little things

For example:

»  Include the company name in the first paragraph of the introduction of your document or training materials, not just the product name. 

»  If you create online Help, include the company name in the Help title – so that it appears in the Help title bar. For example, “Dynamo Doc-o-Mat Help.”

If your product developers are not following branding standards in the product, encourage them to follow suit. For example:

»  The product’s title bar should include the company name along with the product name. 
»  Start menu items should begin with the company name.
»  The splash screen and Help > About dialog box should include the company and product name, as well as version, copyright and trademark information.
»  And certainly the correct product terms (typically determined by Marketing) should be used within the product. Developers are not always careful.

You can gain an ally in Marketing and expand your role in the development team by watching for these brand identity issues in the product.

Did you read Neil Perlin’s article in the December 2009 Intercom? If not, make the time. It is well worth it: “Perfect vs. Good Enough”— Writing Quality in the Online Age.

Neil first wrote the article nine years ago, and updated it in 2009. In 2007, Paul Davies of Sun Microsystem also discussed this topic in his weblog. The article is Time to Go Home.  

If you are ready to lower your standards effectively but aren’t sure how to go about it, you might want to check into the Good Enough Documentation Workshop from Gordon and Gordon. They state:

Today’s successful software publishers release “good-enough” software, and writers need to produce “good-enough” documentation to ship with it. 

 What do you think of the “good enough” approach? Log in to our site and leave a comment.

Plain Language Examples Needed

The Center for Plain Language is looking for examples of great communication…and for some that aren’t so great for new awards. Deadline for submission is Feb 15. Awards announcement will be April 29 in Washington DC.  See ClearMark Award.

For Usability Buffs

Interested in user experience design? Check these two resources:
»  Arizona chapter of the Usability Professionals Association
»  Rosenfeld Media

Style Guide

Of Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry, Sun Microsystems says: “The must-have reference for every technical writer, editor, and documentation manager – now fully updated!” From Sun Technical Publications.

Font Conference

Take a few minutes to view “Font Conference,” a thoroughly delightful video from collegehumor.com. Make sure your sound is on.

STC

Ten Things You Thought You Knew about Writing
Wednesday, 3 February, 1:00–2:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Technical Documentation
Wednesday, 10 February, 1:00–2:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

Scenario-driven Information Architecture
Wednesday, 17 February, 1:00–2:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

Managing Conflict on a Global Team
Wednesday, 24 February, 1:00–2:00 PM EST (GMT-5)

Details/registration: STC Webinars

STC Special Interest Groups

Evaluating Training: Core Components in Training Materials
Presented by Instructional Design & Learning SIG
Thursday, 4 February, 1:30 – 3:00 PM EST (GMT-5)
Feb. 2 is the last day to register.
Details/registration: IDL SIG Webinar

FREE! Effective Job Search Techniques for 2010 – Teleconference
Presented by Consulting and Independent Contracting SIG
Wednesday, 10 February, 1:00-2:00 PM EST (GMT-5)
Details/registration: CIC SIG Teleconference

Other Organizations

How Effective Use of Metadata and the Resource Description Framework (RDF) Can Be an Answer to Your DITA Nightmares
Presented ComTech
Tuesday February 2, 2010, 8:00-9:30 AM PST (GMT -8:00)
(60 min. presentation and 30 min. Q&A)
Details/registration: ComTech Webinar

FREE! Form Assistant (FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers add-on)
Presented by Schlomo Perets, MicroType.
Thursday, February 11, 10:00 AM PST/PDT (GMT -8:00)
Details/registration: MicroType Webinars 

FREE! DITA features in oXygen
Presented by Scriptorium
Tuesday, February 16, 11:00 AM – Noon EST (GMT -5:00)
Details/registration: Scriptorium Webinar 

FREE! Navigation Assistant (FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers add-on)
Presented by Schlomo Perets, MicroType.
February 25, 10:00 AM PST/PDT (GMT -8:00)
Details/registration: MicroType Webinars

by Gloria McConnell

So, you have taken precautions to protect your PDF file by setting various limitations and requiring a password to allow changes to the settings. In some cases, you may want to require a password just to open the file.  Adobe Acrobat allows you to password-protect the following actions:

» Opening a document
» Printing
» Changing the document
» Commenting
» Form field completion and signatures
» Document assembly
» Content copying
» Accessibility (text access for screen reader devices)
» Page extraction

Other PDF programs, such as Nitro PDF, provide similar security settings.

Your file is protected, right? Probably not, as discussed in the following paragraphs. 

Crack the Code

Perhaps you have a legitimate reason to open (and/or copy from, change, print, or add comments in) a password-protected file, but do not have the password. I had such an experience recently. A PDF reference document for a course I’m taking is completely blocked except for printing. I would like to use highlighting and commenting in this file for my personal use, but I can’t.

Maybe you have a password-protected file and need to make a simple change. PDF-ing the source again might be a complex, time-consuming effort. You’re on a deadline and you have forgotten the password! (Or your coworker, who knows it, is on vacation in Tanzania.)

Enter PDF password-cracking software. Several companies offer it, including those in the following list. I tried the  PDFKey Pro demo and it seemed to work like a charm (the demo allows you to unlock one page).

So, if you find yourself with a legitimate need to “get into” a password-protected PDF file, all may not be lost! Following are just three of the many products that will crack the PDF password(s) for you.

» Guaranteed PDF Decrypter
» PDFKey Pro
» Recover PDF Password Mac or PC

Beef up the Protection

On the other hand, if you need a protection code that can’t be cracked, turn to products such as:

» Lizard Safeguard
» Book Guard Pro
» CrypKey

• Tip # 3 Build a professional website. (Buy a domain too.)
• Tip # 22 Do More.
• Tip # 23 Do it Differently

John suggested that what ever you have been doing, do more of it. Double the time you have been taking to market yourself.

Hmmm… Could you use social media to give you an edge? The February chapter meeting, Getting Social Media to Work for You, features  Jack Smith, an  interactive media consultant specializing in social media. He’ll give some examples and some practical advice to help get you started.

• Tip # 4 Add a New Technical/Professional skill.
• Tip # 6 Change Your Venue (Try a new kind of Technical Communication).

Our March and April programs feature two well-known experts in the Tech. Comm. field who will give you the foundation for a new skill:

• How about getting a handle on Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)? Our virtual meeting in March features Sarah O’Keefe, Founder and President of Scriptorium Publishing, who will sort out the basics of DITA.  And… you can join us from the comforts of your own home.
• or is e-learning something that intrigues you?  Our April meeting  features  Sedona’s own Jane Smith,  President of JEM Communications. Jane Smith has been an instructional designer for over 23 years and  will give us the scoop on Common Misconceptions about e-Learning.

John suggested that another way to change your venue would be to write a magazine article or a  non-fiction book. But he didn’t stop there. He provides the “how tos”  on www.hedtke.com/clouds.htm

• Tip # 11 Network as much as possible.
• Tip # 12 Go to every STC event that you can.
• Tip # 24 Have fun!

John suggested  you have your business cards and resume (both printed and on your thumb drive) with you at all times. (Take them to STC events and non-STC events alike.)

Also, if you find that there just isn’t enough time to connect with everyone at our program dinner meetings, you can practice your networking skills at our next Meet & Greet in May at the Spaghetti Factory.

It’s never to late to get started!