Getting Excited About the Upcoming STC Summit in Pennsylvania
When I woke up this morning, I reread the latest STC email, which said although the deadline for proposals to the next STC Summit is today (Friday, Oct 19), they won't actually download the proposals until Monday morning.
This is an indirect way of giving people the weekend to finish their proposals, and also a hint that they want more proposals. (Perhaps after the low acceptance rate from last year, many people were intimidated from reapplying?)
I initially wasn't planning to submit a proposal, because last year at Doc Train West I learned that it's tough to both present and try to interview people at the same time.
Still, I've been thinking about the upcoming STC Summit in Pennsylvania (June 1-4), and I'm pretty excited about it. I had a blast at the STC Summit in Minnesota last year, which I attribute partly to the 20+ interviews I did. I talked with everyone I could find, both notable and unknown. It was an exhilarating feeling. I'm excited to return again this year. The audio setup I used worked great, and the proposal I submitted itself is on podcasting (called "The Art of the Podcast").
Having spent a full year and a half as a podcaster, it should be much easier to prepare a presentation on this topic. I also found at Doc Train West that I really like giving presentations (reminds me of my days as a teacher). Also, given some cool recent sponsorship of my podcast lately, I'm planning to step up the pace with more podcasts.
If my proposal is accepted, I'm also planning to hold a little podcaster meetup session, where I can meet the people who listen to the Tech Writer Voices podcast, and also where I can trade tips and tricks with other podcasters. Or I might just hold an informal technical how-to session to show people how to use Audacity and WordPress.
If you've never attended the STC Summit, I highly recommend it. Most employers will sponsor you to go. It was so enjoyable last year, even if my employer doesn't sponsor me, I'll most likely go anyway.
About 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.
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