Paul Pehrson and I sat down after Leadership Day at the STC Summit to talk about some of the strategies the board is taking to address the issue of trust. This is the first in a series of videocasts that I’ll be posting at the Summit.

Last week Will Sansbury mentioned to me that one of his ideas with the Atlanta chapter site was to provide an example or template of how WordPress could be used for chapter sites. I got to thinking, why isn’t there a standard WordPress template for chapters and SIGs to use? Further, in WordPress 3.0, WordPress MU and regular WordPress will be merged. This is huge, … more »

Recently Will Sansbury and I gave a webinar to STC community leaders on chapter and SIG websites. Rather than giving a static, one-way presentation about theoretical concepts with web design, or boring people with technical details they probably didn’t care about, we held the webinar more like a design review workshop, not too different from a writing group workshop. Although I spent three years in … more »

Date: Jan 28, 2010 Time: 1 pm EST Platform: Genysys (on the web) Cost: Free for STC members Registration required Will Sansbury and I are giving a webinar on web design and WordPress this Thursday as part of the STC Community Leaders series. In the webinar, we plan to look at about five chapter/SIG sites in depth, examining what they’re doing well and how they … more »

This Wednesday, Jan 20, there’s an Intermountain STC Chapter meeting at 7 pm. in the Sandy library. Lyn Worthen will be speaking on running your own technical communications consulting business. Here’s an excerpt from her description: Unlike the consistent schedule, workload, and wages of a 9-5 technical writing job, going it on your own as a consultant or contractor is a lot like riding the … more »

If you’re interested in the PowerPoint for my screencasting webinar, here it is below. I always smile a little when people ask for the PowerPoint, because it just consists of pictures. I resist detailed bullets points on each slide because it locks you into a certain order that may be at odds with your presentation’s flow. Also, when you give people text to read while … more »

I’m giving a webinar for STC community leaders on January 28 titled “Site Critiques and WordPress Q&A.” Here’s the description: Because most communities have far more virtual participants than physical participants, establishing a strong web presence where members can find information, interact with each other, and access resources is critical. In this community webinar, we’ll review a handful of chapter or SIG sites and discuss … more »

I’m wary of posting on this topic because I don’t want to launch into a long STC discussion. But according to our recent chapter poll, only 21% of our members are planning to renew their STC membership. Forty six people participated in the poll (we have 77 chapter members). You can read their list of reasons for not renewing in the full survey report. I’m … 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 »

If you’re a college student looking to become a technical writer after you graduate, you face a formidable challenge: you can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job. Especially in a competitive job market, getting a job as a technical writer directly after you graduate — without a foundation of previous jobs, experience with a handful of tools, and … more »

I love it when leaders bare their thoughts in introspective ways on a blog. Hughes has really been grappling with the STC situation and how to handle it. I’m not so interested in possible solutions to the STC problem as I am intrigued by Hughes’ use of blogging as a heuristic for thinking. One result is that he gets us on his side, whereas leaders … more »

First time I’ve seen STC Online Certificate Courses. They look excellent. $595 per course, and there are four courses, each consisting of 5-8 sessions per course. Each of the instructors looks solid. Thanks @AndreaJWenger for the link.

We launched a new website for the STC-Intermountain chapter this week. We’re using WordPress as the platform. The theme is Streamline from Studio Press. One of the more interesting parts of the site is our Member List page, which shows every registered site user. Usually WordPress only allows you to generate a list of site authors. Authors are people who have written a post. But with … more »

I’m giving an STC webinar on blogging this Wednesday, July 29, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. ET. Here’s the title and description: Converting Readers from Casual Subscribers to Devoted Followers: Best Practices for Blogging Although many people feel blogging is an activity with no best practices or rules—you publish what you want, when you want, and how you want—these same bloggers usually crave readership, comments, … more »

As part of the solution to STC’s financial situation, some members have talked about making Intercom an online magazine only, removing the printed version that is mailed out to thousands of members each month. Many people think the move from paper to online would be a tremendous blow to the STC, one that would significantly decrease member value towards one of STC’s most attractive assets. … more »