Search results

My upcoming workshop and presentation at the STC Summit 2015 in Columbus, Ohio

by Tom Johnson on Jun 18, 2015
categories: technical-writing

I'm giving both a workshop and presentation at the STC Summit in Columbus, Ohio. I'm also receiving an award for oustanding guest-edited issue of the Intercom.

Upcoming API documentation workshop

I’m giving a 3.5 hour workshop on API documentation at the STC Summit in Columbus this year. Although I gave some workshops and presentations on APIs earlier this year, for this Summit workshop, I’ve completely reworked the material and focused almost entirely on REST APIs. I’m really excited about the content I’ve got in this workshop and hope to repurpose it later with an online learning platform.

The API documentation workshop is Saturday from 1:00pm to 4:30pm at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus. For details, see Crash Course in API Documentation (Pre-conference Workshop).

Upcoming API publishing presentation

I’m also giving a presentation titled Publishing strategies for API documentation. This presentation is Monday at 9:45 to 10:30am and is also part of the STC virtual track. This means you can tune in to the talk if you’re not going to be at the Summit physically.

Accepting an award

At the Honors Banquet, I’ll also be accepting an award for outstanding guest-edited issue of the Intercom. Here’s an excerpt from the STC Notebook about the award citation:

For guest-editing an issue of Intercom that contributes to the professional development of technical communicators by delivering valuable information that appeals to both the novice and the veteran technical communicator. This comprehensive issue showcases articles that enlighten and educate readers with useful examples and context for application, as well as effective strategies for practitioners to implement.

You can read the issue here. As a guest editor, here’s what I did:

  • Selected a theme
  • Listed out the desired topics
  • Put out a call for submissions
  • Matched up writers with topics
  • Edited the articles
  • Write a foreword

It wasn’t that difficult at all. We had 10 writers (6 published in the print magazine, and 4 more published in the online version).

I’m happy to see the STC is encouraging more attention and focus on API documentation. This year there’s an entire API documentation track at the Summit (there are 5 sessions on API documentation, which you can view by looking at the API tag here).

Other notes

It’s been a couple of years since I last attended the Summit, so I’m excited to see the people, presenters, vendors, and Ohio landscape. I’m getting into Columbus early Sunday morning and flying out early Wednesday morning.

Also, although the Golden State Warriors just finished defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Championship, and I’m a big basketball fan, I’m going to leave my Stephen Curry jersey and Warriors flags at home out of respect for the general sense of mourning in the area.

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the tech comm, be sure to subscribe to email updates below. You can also learn more about me or contact me. Finally, note that the opinions I express on my blog are my own points of view, not that of my employer.