Ars Communica

The volunteer committee of the former STC chapter took a major step forward in redefining the identity of the Montreal organization by announcing its new name: Ars Communica.

STC-Montreal’s outgoing administrative council wrapped up the last bit of official business for the chapter this week.

A handful of the (soon to be former) members of STC-Montreal admin council are meeting up with STC Vice President Alan Houser this evening, Monday Feb 13 at Hotel de la Montagne.

Twenty people gathered for STC-Montreal’s final business affairs meeting on January 31, 2012. At the end of a 90-minute discussion, the attending members voted unanimously to sever ties with STC, and to allow the chapter to reconstitute itself as an independent organization.

Actually, not quite. Like a superhero returning more powerfully from a brush with the end, STC-Montreal will be transformed.

Harold Quesnel reports on Manny Gordon’s “Technical Writing 101″ workshop, and says it was an educational and exciting experience.

The Technical Writing 101 workshop was a success thanks to teamwork on part of our volunteers, says Manuel Gordon. Will you be the one to help our team with their next success?

Setting out as a freelancer can be fraught with financial uncertainty. Financial expert Robert MacIsaac gave us the straight dope about how to plan a freelance career. Download the podcast.

Robert MacIsaac illustrated with a sobering barrage of practical advice that there’s a lot to consider before you throw off the shackles of the 9-to-5 job and strike out on your own as a freelancer. Read the full review.

Members of STC-Montreal’s volunteer committee held a teleconference to discuss future plans for STC-Montreal’s educations events. The entire conversation has been podcasted.

EAC is holding its 2012 conference in Ottawa on June 1–3, and is titled “The Landscape of Canadian Language: Word Nerds Gone Wild.”

The Indexing Society of Canada will hold its annual conference “Pointing to the Future: Indexing in the Digital Age” on May 31 and June 1, 2012 in Ottawa.

Long manuals are outdated, ineffective ways to teach people software. The quick reference guide, with strong visuals and a magazine-like layout, is something that end-users, project managers, and just about everyone absolutely loves.

Mobile tech has its share of confusing new jargon and concepts. Getting them wrong may be harmless … or it might lead to buying the wrong tool, hiring the wrong person, or going off in the wrong strategic direction.

This webinar walks you through how to prepare software, your system, and yourself to give the best possible demonstration for your audience. Join STC on Tuesday, 17 January, for The Art of the Demo.

Wish you had more time to deeply understand customer reasoning? Join Indi Young and STC for the live Web seminar on 12 January 2011.

Every few years, new computer interaction paradigms are introduced. This webinar on December 14, 2011 will show how socio-technical design looks at the exchange of information within mediated communication networks, and sets the groundwork for group interaction within these environments.

Organizing help content so that users can both find and learn information often requires technical writers to break out of the traditional topic-based folders and move toward faceted navigation, search engine optimization, interface text, level-based help, and other methods for organizing content. Webinar Thursday, 1 December.