TechWhirler Recap for June 17

This week’s update is supported by Platinum sponsor ComponentOne & their Doc-To-Help Help Authoring Tool (http://goo.gl/QcMWA ).

No references to Dallas winning the NBA Title, or congratulations to Boston for the Stanley Cup win in this update. Nope, not here, this isn’t a sports channel … it’s all about the Technical Communications … written at 30,000 feet somewhere over flyover country, it is this week’s TechWhirler Update.

TechWhirl Alpha – Special Writers Unit

All great magazines need writers, cartoonists and photographers and we’re no different. TechWhirl’s Special Writers Unit is coming together nicely a super big thank you to Craig Cardimon, Jacquie Samuels, Kelly Anderson, Greg Larson, Gayle Stroup, and Amit Pandit for taking a chance and giving their time to help us provide thought provoking and interesting stories for technical communicators. The name? (http://goo.gl/fisis )

Ready to join up? Email Contact Us

TechWhirl Survey Released

Only one hiccup and a great response rate so far, if you haven’t taken time to fill it out can you give us 15 on or before June 28th? (http://goo.gl/MwgmA)

Madcap’s Back for Another Year

“Howlin’” MadCap Software has grabbed their gear and has jumped back into TechWhirl’s Platinum corvette (forgot about the corvette didn’t you, most people only remember the black van and yes we know it was white) for another year. Go … Try … Their … Stuff … Now … we’ll wait … OK, good stuff –eh? (http://goo.gl/pg2HQ)

TechWhirl Top Tips

We started these on Twitter (@TechWriterToday) two weeks ago on a lark and they’ve really been well received. So far they’ve mostly been about things we’ve messed up and decided to share, but thankfully we don’t have enough material for a regular feature so we need your tips & tricks: funny, poignant, thoughtful, or serious it doesn’t matter – email the ye’ old Contact Us

Wanted

Isn’t it nice when it happens?

What You’re Talking About

Quick shout outs to our Tech Writers and their discussions:

o “Best New Thing in User Documentation”—Nancy Allison thought it was going to be a slow topic! Lots of great opinions, and even some good tangents—we see fodder for future articles lurking in here…

o Pondering the value of your current job title? Erika Yanovich wonders “Has anyone noticed…” and a great flock of responses indicates that there’s always somebody noticing the morphing of job titles in fields such as ours

In Case You Missed it: This Week @ TechWhirl

· New: “The New Communications Cycle Part 3: Analyzing and Updating Content with the 3Rs,” by Connie Giordano | goo.gl/sXCj3

· Classic: “Creative Problem Solving: Getting the Best from Yourself,” by Lain Chroust Ehmann | goo.gl/n8yXV

· Poll Question: How do you show your portfolio of work to a potential employer or client? | techwhirl.com

Upcoming Events & Articles

· New: “Top 5 Trends in Tech Writing”

· Classic: “Conquering the Cubicle Syndrome” by Geoff Hart

· Poll Question: What work hats do you wear in addition to the Tech Writer one?

SPONSOR-Luv

We want to send a very special “thank you” to sponsors. Helping put fuel in all our vehicles.

Platinum: Madcap, Adobe, ComponentOne

Gold: EC Software, The Society for Technical Communications (STC),

Silver: Vancouver Island University

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