soap! A new conference for technical writers in Poland

Pawel Kowaluk is a technical writer in Poland who is organizing a new conference called soap!, scheduled for October 1-3, 2014, in Krakow. I asked Pawel, who works as a tool specialist for technical writing at Motorola Solutions Inc., to share a little bit more information about the new soap! conference, including his reasons for organizing one in Poland, and some other details about the tech comm scene. What's the tech comm scene like i...

Two months after leaving the church -- an update

It's been about two months since we left the church, and I wanted to write a blog entry, as this represents a significant milestone in our lives. When I left, I decided to write out my exit narrative, which I published here: Why I left the Mormon Church. When I first wrote this narrative, it appeared that I would be the only one interested in the details. For the first few weeks, almost no one asked me why I left, but this is perhaps more expe...

Do I need to take courses in technical writing? Guest post by Laura Palmer

A reader asks, Is there a technical writing standard certification or course that is renowned as the best and one that touches on the additional skills necessary (technical programming/software etc.) to succeed in the field? Maybe one that addresses the best way to find contracts, projects, and other jobs? I just don't want to pay for classes and find out the one I chose is irrelevant or inferior to another course. I see you note STC's co...

Videos and reflections from the 2014 Intelligent Content Conference

While at the Intelligent Content 2014 conference, I interviewed 10 different people about their presentation topics. In addition to this compilation post, I posted all of the interviews as separate posts (mainly to simplify linking). The list of interviewees include: Tobi Crabtree Val Swisher Noz Urbina Rahel Bailie Mark Baker Kyle Wiens Theresa Putkey Don Day Sarah O'Keefe Marcia Riefer Johnston Tom Johnson Video files As a compilatio...

Tobi Crabtree on Virtual Agents (Intelligent Content 2014)

Listen here: Tobi Crabtree talks about her presentation, "Ivy, Intel's Virtual HR Agent," at Intelligent Content 2014. Video and audio files

Val Swisher on Translation Without Borders at Intelligent Content 2014

Listen here: Val Swisher of Content Rules talks about her presentation, "WikiProject Medicine: Breaking Down Barriers to Save Lives" at Intelligent Content 2014. See translatorswithoutborders.org for more information.

Noz Urbina on The Biological Imperative for Intelligent Content (Intelligent Content 2014)

Noz Urbina talks about "The Biological Imperative for Intelligent Content" at Intelligent Content 2014. See urbinaconsulting.com for more info. Audio Listen here: The Biological Imperative of Intelligent Content from Intelligent Content Conference

Mark Baker on Every Page Is Page One (Intelligent Content 2014)

Listen here: Mark Baker talks about Every Page Is Page One at Intelligent Content 2014. See everypageispageone.com for more information.

Rahel Bailie on the Language of Content Strategy (Intelligent Content 2014)

Rahel Bailie talks about the Language of Content Strategy at Intelligent Content 2014. See thelanguageofcontentstrategy.com for more information. Listen here:

Don Day on Connecting Intelligent Content with Micropublishing (Intelligent Content 2014)

Listen here: Don Day talks about Connecting Intelligent Content with Micropublishing and Beyond at Intelligent Content 2014. See contelligence.org for more information.

Theresa Putkey on Diagnosing and Solving Content Problems (Intelligent Content 2014)

Listen here: Theresa Putkey talks about Diagnosing and Solving Content Problems at Intelligent Content 2014. See Key Pointe Usability Consulting, Inc at keypointe.ca for more info.

Kyle Wiens on gamification and iFixit / Dozuki at Intelligent Content 2014

Listen here: Kyle Wiens talks about the various ways they gamify their repair manual site, iFixit.com, at Intelligent Content 2014. For more information, see http://www.ifixit.com and Dozuki for more information.

Sarah O'Keefe on The Many Facets of Content Strategy (Intelligent Content 2014)

Listen here: Sarah O'Keefe speaks about The Many Facets of Content Strategy at Intelligent Content 2014. See http://scriptorium.com for more information. The Many Facets of Content Strategy from Intelligent Content Conference

Marcia Riefer Johnston on Writing (Intelligent Content 2014)

Listen here: Marcia Riefer Johnston gives some practical strategies for writing at Intelligent Content 2014. To learn more, see http://writing.rocks/. For a transcription of this interview, see this post on Techwhirl.

Tom Johnson on Blogging (Intelligent Content 2014)

Listen here: Marcia Riefer Johnston (see howtowriteeverything.com) interviews me at Intelligent Content 2014 about writing, blogging, and other topics.