[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. Powerpoint This podcast on Trends in Technical Communication is a recording of a presentation I gave at the Missouri State University Workshop for Teachers of Technical Writing on April 22, 2010. Although trends in technical communication could cover a variety of topics, I chose to focus on four trends: hybrid roles, social media, … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. Powerpoint This podcast is a recording of the presentation I gave at the STC Currents conference titled “From Overlooked to Center Stage.” If you read the essay and then listen to the recording, you’ll notice some differences because (a) I can’t remember everything I wrote in the moment that I’m presenting, and (b) … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. A couple of weeks ago I presented on voiceover techniques to an audience of about 35 people at PodcampSLC. I should have researched my audience a little more before the presentation because, from what I could tell, most people were there to learn how to start a podcast rather than learn voiceover techniques … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 45 min. Flare 6 is available today from Madcap Software. This weekend I interviewed Mike Hamilton, VP of Product Management, about the new features Flare 6 contains. In this podcast, we talk about five of the new features in Flare: Batch processing GUI and macro targets Topic metadata (e.g., owner, status) The new link viewer … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 80 min. In this podcast, Michael Hiatt at mashstream.com presents to the STC Intermountain chapter on documentation in the cloud. By documentation in the cloud, he’s referring to our move to the web of everything we do on the computer — the running of applications, the saving of our data, the way we access and … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 90 min. Lyn Worthen presented to the STC Intermountain chapter tonight on running your own business as a technical communications consultant. She covers almost everything you need to know as a consultant, including rates, billing, contracts, marketing, taxes, business structures, hours, salary, tools, locations, niche services, portfolios, client communications, and more. Here’s her presentation description: … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 38 min. In his controversial post, The Myth of Single Sourcing, Michael Hiatt explains: Single-source publishing is a zombie idea that revives itself periodically and refuses to stay dead. Its zombie supporters chant its purported benefits as a “write once, publish to many” promise and ploddingly follow it as their ultimate goal for mechanized authoring and machine … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 15 min. In this brief podcast, I discuss the results of the podcast poll that I published on my site earlier this week. I mostly wanted an opportunity to try out my new Behringer mixer/preamp, and the results of the poll served as perfect fodder for a podcast. In this 15 minutes of audio, I … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 View PowerPoint Length: 1 hour 45 min. Over the last month, you’ve been seeing various posts on my site about the seven deadly sins of blogging (being fake, irrelevant, boring, unreadable, irresponsible, unfindable, and inattentive). I mentioned at the beginning of my seven deadly sins series that I was preparing for some upcoming presentations on blogging. … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 50 min. Last week I was up at BYU Idaho at a writing conference for students looking to enter professional writing. This is a recording of a panel I participated on with two other writers, Scott Cameron and Keith Harten. The three of us (two technical writers and one editor) answer questions from students for … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 40 min. Last week I gave a presentation to BYU Idaho students entitled 7 Steps to Getting a Job in Technical Writing. This is a recording of my presentation. You may remember a lengthy post I wrote on this same subject, 7 steps to getting a job in technical writing, as well. Although getting a … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 15 min. For the past couple of days I’ve been in Idaho at a pre-professional writing conference at Brigham Young University – Idaho. The purpose of the writing conference is to bring in published novelists, poets, editors, and professional writers to give students a glimpse into the careers they plan to enter. Recommended link: If … more »

As you know, the sessions at the STC Summit in Atlanta last year were recorded. My blogging presentation, Introduction to Blogging: A New Technical Communicator Role, is the only recorded session you can listen to for free.  It’s labeled as the “Featured session – free of charge.” I didn’t even realize this until someone tweeted it this afternoon. I figure it means one of two … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 55 min. Dealing with information overload can be a huge stressor in life. Not only trying to keep up with the constant deluge of information that comes at you daily, but also managing that information in an organized way — so that you can find and implement it — can put your sanity in question. … more »

[amazon-product align="right"]0982219113[/amazon-product][Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 Length: 40 min. As a follow-up to my review of Anne Gentle’s book, [amazon-product type="text" text="Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation"]0982219113[/amazon-product], I also interviewed her for a podcast. Now you can listen to Anne talk about some of the concepts in her book in a more personal way through the headphones of your … more »