I stumbled across this great post by Peter Shankman called Top Eight Ways to Survive Conference Season. In it, Shankman (who travels 300,000 miles per year consulting, advising and speaking) offers his insights on the best ways to get through a conference, now that the summer is over and conference season is nigh.

While his 8 tips are a good start, there are also a number of tips in the comments on the post that make it a worthwhile read.

Conferences can be valuable learning and networking experiences. However, for the unguided, they can also be places to pick up a nasty flu virus and one or more terrible hangovers, especially for the unprepared or uninitiated.

Do you have any tips to offer conference goers – especially newbies attending their first conference? We’d love to hear them! Please leave a comment.

Top Eight Ways to Survive Conference Season
How to Justify Conference Attendance
8th Annual LavaCon in San Diego in September

While the 2010 MadCap Software Roadshow might be winding down for the year, the lessons it’s passed on to those who attended continue to inspire and to educate businesses, HR departments and even those who are looking to begin a career in technical writing.

The writing world has changed in recent times.  With the innovations in technology, not only are people able to reach out to more audiences, but businesses which were never meant to be global now are – whether they are prepared or not.

With the proper technical writers, a business will be able to create a strong presence on the Internet as well as in publications designed to educate, inform, and to boost the reputation of a business.

Some of the highlights of the MadCap stopovers include:

• Reusing content as often as possible – Reusing content used to be a no-no in the business world, but now content can be used and reused in order to market and to inform.  While content is only written once, it can be used multiple times to reach a wider audience.
• Creating content for different publishing platforms – When creating a single piece of technical content, making sure it can be viewed and used over email, mobile applications, and the Web is of the utmost importance for maximum effectiveness.
• Measuring document effectiveness – If you’re sending out documents, you need to make sure they continue to be effective over the long term.
• Working together as a team – Though one article might only attribute one person as its author, this doesn’t mean that multiple people weren’t involved in creating it.  By creating a cooperative team, technical writing becomes easier and more efficient from start to finish.

Though other subjects were also explored at MadCap events, just knowing what others are concerned about can help you to begin to investigate issues which will support your technical writing needs, both now and in the future.

Learning more about technical writing and how to implement it in a business is crucial for businesses of all sizes.  When the discussion of technical writing arises, it helps to obtain as many facts as possible before making decisions about how technical writing can influence a business as well as how it can be implemented effectively.

Lionbridge is offering a one hour webinar on July 22, 2010 which will help to educate business managers and marketing employees.  In doing so, businesses will learn when technical writing is necessary, how it is necessary and what steps need to be taken once a decision has been made.

When: Thursday July 22, 2010, 12:00PM – 1:00PM EDT

Website:       http://bit.ly/ContentDevWebinar

Industry: Information technology and services

Intended audience:  Technical writers, documentation managers, authors, localization managers, product managers, vice presidents, CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, CTOs, marketing managers, directors of marketing, webmasters, globalization directors.

Host/Sponsor: Lionbridge

This one-hour live webcast will teach HR reps how to determine their organization’s needs and readiness if the organization is contemplating the move to a structured approach for writing and translating documentation.

Discussion points will include:

• The benefits of structured documentation
• Key considerations when evaluating a move to structured documentation
• Best practices for implementation
• Live question and answer session

Using the live question and answer session, attendees of the webinar can custom tailor the information to their needs and begin to see how technical writing not only influences them, but also how this specialized writing will allow for more structured documentation.

Attendees can register for the webinar here: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=215665&sessionid=1&key=DA687BC6CD4ACF6447578B3005B493F4&sourcepage=register

With more open source technologies available today, technical writing can be streamlined, but only when a company keeps up with new developments.

Event: Online Seminar – Adobe RoboHelp as the tool of choice for Policy & Procedure Documentation
Hosts: Adobe.com and Lightext
When: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM US/Pacific

Adobe has announced it will be offering a free online seminar on using RoboHelp for policy and procedures documentation. The webinar will feature experts from both Lightext and Adobe and is expected to address:

• Project Management
• Search & Retrieval
• Creating Consistency
• Content Reuse

To register for the webinar, you’ll need an Adobe.com membership login and password. If you don’t already have an Adobe.com membership, you can register for one on Adobe’s Sign-In Page

Adobe’s webinar information page more information on the event as well as system requirements needed to participate in the session.

More Upcoming Adobe Online Events

Communicating Policies and Procedures for the 21st Century Organization (August 17, 2010)
Integrating Adobe FrameMaker 9 and Vasont Content Management Software to maximize XML content reuse(August 5, 2010)

The eighth annual LavaCon conference on professional development will be held at the Omni Hotel in San Diego, CA from Sept. 29–Oct. 2, 2010. This year’s theme is:

How to develop, manage and publish digital content that enhances the customer experience, reduces production costs and promotes your online brand.

The conference’s Program page includes a voting system where you can rate your interest in each scheduled conference session. The sessions with the most votes will be assigned the largest meeting rooms available.

At press time, the session popularity leader was far and away “Generations: Digital Divide and Conquer”, which will be presented by Jenny Schmitt, Founder of CloudSpark.

LavaCon 2010 Official Website
LavaCon 2010 Registration Info
Conference Hotel Information (Omni, San Diego)

Related:
How Technical Documentation Professionals Can Use Twitter
Social Media: Are You Missing Out?
How to Justify Conference Attendance

Event: The Conference for Software User Assistance 2011
When: March 13-16, 2011
Location: Long Beach, CA

Sponsored by Writers UA the theme of the 2011 Conference for Software User Assistance is Better UX through Better UA. Registration is now open and early-bird discounts are now in effect.

The conference topics are expected to include:

• DITA, XML, and Information Architecture
• User-centered Design and Usability
• eLearning Tools and Techniques
• Hands-on Computer Tutorials
• Adobe, Microsoft, Google
• UA for Mobile Devices
• Case Studies

Conference Links
Conference Overview
Conference Agenda
Register Online
Conference Hotel/Travel Info

Also of Interest
How to Justify Conference Attendance

Event: ASTD 2010 International Conference & Exposition
When: Sunday, May 16 through Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Event Website:http://www.astdconference.org/

Writing Assistance, Inc. (WAI) will be exhibiting at this year’s ASTD International Conference & Exposition at McCormick Place in Chicago. Exhibition dates are May 17th through May 19th.

The ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) is the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals. Held each spring, ASTD’s International Conference & Exposition is considered to be the premier event for workplace learning and performance professionals and welcomes attendees from more than 70 countries. More than 8,000 workplace training and development professionals from around the globe, representing a wide variety of industries attend the ASTD International Conference & EXPO each year.

If you’re planning to attend the event, be sure to stop by and say Hello. We’ll be in in booth 1010. (Mention you saw this on our blog.) As we did at the recent STC Conference in Dallas, we’ll be offering the chance for you to enter to win one of two Kindles.

We had a great event in Dallas at the STC. We heard some good reports from other companies that see signs that the economy, and specifically the job market, is recovering nicely. We’ve experienced that first-hand with new postings on our Jobs page.

ASTD Conference Registration
ASTD Conference Expo Hall Floor Plan

Event: Workforce Planning Conference 2010
When: Monday, June 14 through Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Location: Chicago, IL

Sponsored by the Human Capital Institute (HCI), the second annual 2010 Workforce Planning Conference is designed with senior executives in HR, talent management and planning in mind. Since the economic downturn began, planning for future workforce needs has become more difficult than ever.

The conference is set to discuss the issues of workforce planning in challenging times. According to HCI:

“Rapid reorganizations, whether through downsizing or M&A activity, have made it difficult for companies to understand their current talent pool. Developing a hiring plan that accounts for a wide range of future scenarios is even harder. While many firms see the downturn as an opportunity to build a competitive advantage by acquiring top talent, this effort must be carefully guided by strategic workforce planning, with careful attention being paid to the alignment of talent with future business goals.

Conference Links
Conference Brochure
Meet the Presenters

Register Online

Also of Interest
Potential Position Descriptions for Information Engineering Professionals
What to Consider When Hiring a Technical Writer

If you are attending STC’s 56th Annual Conference, Writing Assistance, Inc (WAI) would like to make your visit to Dallas a success on and off the show’s floor.

Writing Assistance, Inc. (WAI) has compiled a guide to its favorite Dallas restaurants and bars. We’ve compiled this into a PDF document you can print and take to the conference with you.

Get a taste of what this historical city has to offer, but don’t forget to visit WAI in Booth 116 to find out who we are, what we offer and for a more complete and complimentary dining guide to the city’s best!

And don’t forget to register for our Kindle Giveaway at Booth 116. There will be two drawings, so don’t miss out!

Download the STC Dallas Conference Dining Guide

If you’re planning to attend the STC 2010 Annual Technical Communications Summit in Dallas this year, be sure to stop by the Writing Assistance, Inc. booth.

We will be exhibiting at the national STC conference in Dallas May 2nd through the 4th. We’ll be in booth 116.

Stop by and enter a chance to win one of two Kindles during the show. See you there! (Mention you saw this on our blog.)