Advice

Taking Control of Your Communication

With mobile phones, email, instant messaging, and the like we're expected to be available at all times. It should be this way, and this article explains one path to taking control of your communication.

Making Time to Write What You Want to Write

Is it hard for you to find the time to write the things that you want to write? This article looks at some changes that you can make to your life in order to free up that time.

Four Keys to Writing Quickly

Writing quickly is a skill that you should definitely cultivate. This blog post looks at four techniques that you can use when you need to write quickly.

Flow to Done: Tap Into Your Creative Source

What is flow? It’s kind of like a river of writing, it’s an uninterrupted stream of consciousness directly from the source of your creativity through your brain, into your nervous system, out your hands, into your computer. I like to think of it as zen writing meditation. There is some important prep work that needs to be done before you’re ready for some serious writing flow time.

How to Stop Digital Fiddling and Start Writing

Are you prone to digital fiddling? I am. In fact, I’ve increased my skills of digital fiddling so much that I hardly notice that I’m putting off writing. There are three actions you need to take.

Seven Rules For Succeeding As A Brand-New Leader

The actions you take during your first few months in a new role have a major influence on whether you ultimately succeed or fail. Transitions are pivotal times, in part because they are when everyone expects change to occur. They're also times of great vulnerability, when new leaders lack established working relationships and detailed knowledge of their new roles. If you fail to build momentum during your transition, you will face an uphill battle from then on.

Top Ten Web Typography Sins

While many designers have been quick to embrace web standards, it’s surprising how often the basic standards of typography are neglected. Here are ten deadly sins to avoid in your web typography.

Five Ways To Scare Your Web Dev Clients Away

Some folks may find it impressive that you know the ins and out of UNIX and how your last open source coding project attracted media attention, but the majority do not. Especially when acronyms start spewing forth with articulated speed. Keep in mind that executives are employed to keep you employed and need to understand your ideas to communicate them to stakeholders and customers. One way to minimize 'tech' talk is to include the following words into each technical statement: We are using [technology/programming language] to enhance [a specific part] of our business.

Twenty Do's and Don'ts of Effective Web Design

Below are twenty do's and don'ts of effective web design. Study, read, (re)read and print this page. It will help either make or break your website. And don't hesitate to let us know of anything we might have left out, in the comments below. We love getting your opinions on things and discussing the articles with you -- after all, you're quite possibly the coolest people in the world.

Dear Viv: Switching Careers

I worked as a technical writer many years ago and then quit to take care of my kids. Now I'd like to get back into the field. How do I get my foot in the door when all employers require experience?

What to Do When You Have Nothing Better to Do

Most designers, for most of their education and careers, have been trained to think of themselves as problem solvers. True. But that doesn't mean we can't seek out the problems we want to solve too; there's no law that says that you have to be part of an organization to take on a cause you're passionate about.

Creativity in the Workplace

Most people consider writing to be a creative endeavor, and in some situations, it certainly is. But creativity is not just associated with writing, art, and the humanities. Penelope Trunk broadens creativity to include problem solving too.

Making Spaces in Cluttered Houses and Cluttered Lives

Putting Pedersen’s advice to practice, step one is to make a place for everything in our lives. Figure out where it belongs. Just as you can’t organize a house if you have no where to put things, you can’t organize your life if you have no way space for the activities. If something doesn’t fit, it’s time for a trip to the figurative Salvation Army (we call them Deseret Industries here). In other words, simplify.

Avoid Demon Adverbs

You can avoid adverbs most of the time by cutting them out -- the reader can do just fine without the extra information.

Four Useful Skills for the Technical Communicator

Skills. For the technical communicator, skills should go beyond the tools and techniques of the trade. This blog post looks at four skills that will be of use to any technical communicator.

Write Everything as if Writing for the Web

Writing tightly means packing the most information into the least amount of space. It's not easy, but when you do it, the result is like magic. The key to being an effective writer is to keep what you’re writing short, to the point, and easy to read. Like the best writing on the Web.

The Four Layers of the “Learning Pyramid” for a Junior Technical Communicator

Once you take an interest in technical communication and documentation you’ll quickly discover that’s it’s an “endless country,” really. There is so much to learn and track since both the market and the technology changes constantly. But this does not mean that you can learn things randomly and become a successful technical communicator. Actually there’s a better way that I call the “Learning Pyramid” which requires you establish a wide base of learning first and keep on building the upper layers on top of such a strong foundation. Each layer of this pyramid supports the more specialized layer established on top it.

HelpScribe: Technical Communicators Cannot be Provoked

Have you ever received a review comment that totally ticked you off? Perhaps a sarcastic comment with no practical suggestion for improving the content? Maybe even one that questioned your abilities as a writer and the value of your contribution to the product? The dangerous thing about being a writer is that you're well equipped for unleashing scathing replies. If your buttons have been pushed, chances are your retaliation will bite deep and leave no room for misinterpretation. After all, you sling words for a living, right? Like the hands of Kwai Chang Caine, your words are deadly weapons. Hold that thought.

Draw the Line: When and How to Stop Giving Away Professional Advice

People are unabashed about asking for web advice and help related to blogs, social media, networking and other web work because they don’t regard it as a specialized service the way they do with medical and legal expertise. I’m not saying giving away freebies is always a definite no-no, but I do think that as web workers we need to start reinforcing the value of our work by drawing a line between friendly advice and working for free. Here’s how I’m trying to create that demarcation.

Unstoppability

Unstoppability. What does that mean to you? To Tom Johnson, it's about leading a life with passion and engagement. In this guest blog post, Tom talks about unstoppability and how it applies to technical communication.

Writing with Bullets, A Bit Too Much

Bullets definitely have their place in writing. But far too often, they're used to replace crisp, well-thought-out writing.

You Are What You Do?

It's easy enough to fall into the trap of identifying yourself with what you do for a living. This blog post looks at why you shouldn't do that.

How to Create a Great Website

No great website in history has been conceived of by more than three people. Not one. This is a dealbreaker.

Don't Stop Learning!

This article examines the need for continuous learning and the challenges that working professionals must overcome to invest in learning. It also explores how experience makes us better learners, and analyzes the relative effectiveness of various learning techniques.

Mining for Career Gold: Discovering Related Careers from Buried Skills

Set aside your job title and current responsibilities when considering a related career field to move into. Ost uses charts and matrices to illustrate how thinking about skills, interests, duties, and other aspects of your professional life can open up a world of opportunities.

"Telescoping" to Survive This Recession

“Telescoping,” or extending and adding to the range of services you provide, is one way to survive this recession, according to Frick.

What To Do When Unemployed

Lost your technical communicator job? Wondering what to do? Wondering where to go? Here are some key actions to take when you find out you don't have a job to return to the next day.

Designing Effective PowerPoint Presentations

This 52-slide, illustrated presentation covers a wide variety of key topics about preparing PowerPoint slides.

PowerPoint Presentations: Tips To Avoid Last Minute Surprises

The PowerPoint tips featured here are not about creating better or more effective presentations, instead they help you avoid any last minute surprises that may crop up when an eager audience is waiting to see your slide show.

Job Hunting Resources: Webcasts

The current economic downturn seems to have impacted almost every industry within the United States and many abroad. It has already had a direct impact on the employment status of an increasing number of individuals, including technical communicators. STC will assist with an economic recovery plan for those technical communicators who have already been laid off or expect to be soon. These only work for Internet Explorer users on Microsoft Windows computers.

Six Ways to Ruin Your Résumé

If you avoid these all-too-common mistakes that can be found in résumés for all kinds of IT positions, you'll boost your chance of landing the job.

The Power Presenter: Three Tips That Transformed My Last Presentation

As a presenter, I feed off the energy of the audience. I used to think that the audience determined the energy in the room, but after applying some of Jerry Weissman’s principles, I learned the presenter has more control over the room than I previously thought.

Outplacement: Why It Doesn't Work

If you are offered career transition support as part of your severance, do yourself a favour and opt out of the collective program, but find out how much has been set aside for the outplacement program. Then, ask your HR department to hold those funds for you until you can find an independent career consultant to work with, on an individual, tailored-to-your-needs, custom program. Independent career consultants like myself can work with you for a much longer period of time for the same budget the company is prepared to allocate to the big firm. When you find your independent, personal career consultant or coach, they can invoice your former company, and your ex-employer’s conscience can rest easy. And you can then arrange with your personal career coach when you want to start and how fast you want to go. At your convenience, not theirs.

What I've Learned as a Member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC)

In all, my experiences volunteering in the STC Carolina chapter have been very rewarding. I recommend dipping your toes in the water and trying something out. Email or call someone on the administrative council and ask what needs to be done. Start small. You might be surprised at the return on investment.

Stepping into the Freelance World, Part 1: Getting Set Up

So, you’re seriously considering making the jump into the world of freelance technical writing. It’s a big step, and one there’s a lot more to it than just giving up your day job and hanging out a shingle. This post details a number of things that are important to consider before making the jump.

Stepping into the Freelance World, Part 2: Getting to Work

The second part of a series on making the move to freelance technical writing. This installment discusses how to gigs and get paid.

The Top Five Risks of Not Managing Your Content

Managing content is the key task in keeping a website strategic and fresh. Content management requires commitments to develop and follow a standard set of publishing processes, archiving strategies/lifecycle rules, and coordination with marketing, sales, training and customer service.

Transitioning from Literary Studies to Technical Communication

A 250 page manual for a complicated product may be more difficult to write than a master’s thesis. It may require a massive amount of deductive and inductive logic, as you try to figure out how the product works. You may spend months interviewing subject matter experts, asking them hundreds of questions about how the product functions, and then hundreds more to clarify their cryptic answers.

Deconstructing the Design Process

The way to overcome the pressure of a new design is by breaking the process into smaller parts, and defining a step by step strategy that allows you to address each issue of the design separately rather than as a daunting whole. Instead of one monolithic problem, you have lots of small, more manageable problems. Breaking each problem out will also help you arrive at better design results as you will have given close consideration to all aspects of the problem.

Artists, Not Assholes

My key point in this column is that we need to support, defend, and promote our artisans, or artists, and we need to eliminate the assholes from our organizations. In practice, I see a lot of managers who do not support their artisans—their greatest performers—but hold onto and even reward their assholes. In the end, an organization that rewards the wrong people can destroy its effectiveness and drive the most talented people out.

Ten Tips for a Better Manual

If the manual is for novices, make sure that the average person can understand what has been written (that is, don't include a lot of jargon or technical assumptions). This is sometimes very difficult for a writer who is a subject matter expert. He or she may have forgotten what it's like to know absolutely nothing about that particular subject.

Stop Wasting Time: Ten Things You Can Do to Make Yourself More Efficient

Ten bits of advice about how to save time in the workplace, using software-as-a-service websites.

Break Through Writers Block

Bottom line is there are two types of writers: those who believe in writer’s block and those who don’t. Neither will deny the magic and energy that possesses an author when inspiration rears its mysterious head, but where their approach to writing differs is how the time is spent between those moments of inspiration.

Advice for the Inexperienced Web Designer

Website software and templates have made it easier for inexperienced website designers to create and maintain their own websites. Prior to the development of such items, if you wanted a website for your company you had to retain a reputable website design firm to create a website for you. Website development is not an easy procedure, but if you decide to undertake the process yourself, there are a few simple strategies that can make the process of creating a high-quality website a little bit easier.

With All This Fuss About Tools, Three Best Practice Attitudes

Although tools seem to play a significant role in technical authoring, some people disagree. Embrace tool learning. Recognize that the 'best tool' is relative. Expose knowledge gaps.

How Do You Walk the Line Between Work and Home? Share Your Best Practices With ALA

At $4.14 a gallon in the United States, $5.29 a gallon in Canada, and $8.70 a gallon in the U.K., the price of gas is just one reason many web workers now commute from the bed to the basement as part of a conscious choice to work from home.

Walking the Line When You Work from Home

Working from home, whether as a freelance contractor or remote employee, can be a great thing, particularly if you live alone. But what if you have a spouse and/or children at home with you while you work? Every work environment offers distractions, but those who work from home with their families face a unique set of issues—and need equally unique ways of dealing with them.

Dealing With Professional Burnout

Professional burnout can strike anyone regardless of their profession - tech writer, corporate trainer, freelance writer, website marketing specialist, butcher, baker, candlestick maker - but it's not always easy to detect until the damage has been done. This article looks at the signs of professional burnout and dealing with them head on - alone and with the help of others. It also provides resources you can use to break out of your rut.

Potential Position Descriptions for Information Engineering Professionals

This article defines the tasks and responsibilities for up to seven levels of information engineers, plus two levels of management, because the author found that many companies do not provide formal position descriptions for their technical writers and other communication specialists.

Why Did You Hire Me?

Remembering why you were hired—and identifying whether or not you belong—is just as important as getting the gig. To sustain career and mental health, you must work within your means and know how to navigate ambiguous workplace situations. Using client and project management techniques is one part of the solution. Using your talent is the other.

Mapping Your Career Success

When you're going on a journey, it helps to have a good map because it will save time and help you make the right decisions along the way. Your career is a journey, and it's useful to have a clear picture of where you want to go with it.

Advice for the Novice Tech Writer: Be Like an Empty Cup

Technical writing is one of those jobs in which you're constantly learning. New tools, new techniques, new methodologies. No one knows it all. That's especially true for the new technical communicator. If you've graduated from a writing and rhetoric course or a technical writing course, you have a pretty good grounding in craft. But you're really only at the base of the mountain. There's still a lot to learn, and if you keep your eyes and ears and mind open then you can quickly pick up what you need to know.

Advice for the Novice Tech Writer: Hold on to Your Passion

Passion, though, is a funny thing. It's easy to become passionate about something. But the fire of that passion can also be easily dimmed or extinguished, often due to circumstances that are beyond your control. Throughout your career, you'll definitely find your passion waxing and waning. But holding on to that passion and nurturing it will make you a better technical communicator.

Advice for the Novice Tech Writer: Think Long-Term

So you've just started out as a technical communicator, or you've been on the job for a year or two. And you've decided that maybe, just maybe, technical communication is the career for you and you're in it for the long haul. Now what? Think about the future and how you want your career to develop.

Making Yourself Part of the Team

Thoughts on how a contract technical communicator can become part of a development team, and set the tone for the writers who follow.

Your Resume

I did a presentation recently at a local college, and the students had a lot of questions about resumes and cover letters. Below are some helpful tips.

Technical Communication: Love It or Leave It

In this column, we are going to talk about why some technical communicators just plain hate their jobs. The bottom line is not to just stay in that unhappy place. Make up your mind to do something about it. Make your job into what you want it to be.

Talent Isn't Everything

To succeed as a creative professional, you need more than talent. Chanpory Rith offers us a list of seven habits that can help put a junior designer's career on the path to success.

Have You Used Your Career Center Lately?

If you want your online career center to attract good resumes or really interesting candidates, usability is a key factor. If you are committed to attracting the most qualified candidates, be prepared to invest time and effort to improve the content and quality, and conduct tests to assess usability.

Expand your Skills in 2004

A sure way to find new work opportunities is to expand the range of skills you offer your employer or clients.

Document Hack (A Technical Writer's Journal): First Day

Rule number one for a contractor is to never panic about what happens your first day. First days are naturally chaotic, and often companies are not fully prepared for you. Because contractors are usually brought in to solve a particular problem, the people are anxious to get you started, but companies, especially large ones, are not geared for quick action.

How To Write Your Own Contract

This workshop is designed to help independent contractors write their own contracts. Before attending the workshop, think about your current approach to the topics listed in the Workshop Outline.

Why Use an Employment Agency?

Today’s marketing advantage is specialization. To focus on a specialty is one of the many challenges a freelance writer must face. You must balance the amount of time spent on marketing, versus focusing on existing projects. To gain more time to focus on your specialty, use employment agencies as a marketing resource. Send your resume to two to three agencies to increase your opportunities. Use the time formerly spent marketing to increase your income by working on the additional contracts the agencies send you. To help your agencies, your resume should include keywords representing the documents written, software used, and your background or expertise.

It's a Marathon, not a Sprint: Managing Your Technical Writing Career

I've trained for and run three marathons. My marathon experiences taught me lessons that can be applied to going the distance in a technical communication career. Going the distance requires a willingness to “get going,” continually work on the basics, cross- train, avoid being distracted by what was and what could be, and learn from experience.

Living to Work or Working to Live?

When your life is out of balance, make a separation between your job and your work. Your job is what you're paid to do; your work fulfills your life's purpose. You can discover your work by paying close attention to the things that attract and motivate you. While you search, use your job to build up 'Working Capital' to support your work. Working Capital is created by using good money management and investing skills.

Separate But Equal: Developing Success Profiles for Technical Communicators

To compare and evaluate expertise within a group of technical communicators, we developed a Competencies/Career Phases Matrix. This matrix breaks down soft and hard skills in 12 categories, such as technical depth, skill acquisition, and teamwork/leadership. The matrix also evaluates each category in four levels of mastery: Apprentice, Experienced, Master, and Expert. Through this evaluation process, the leader is able to obtain a clear picture of an individual’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. In addition, it gives the technical communicator a way to evaluate him/herself and provides a clear image of what is expected of them, should they choose to improve their performance in the different categories.

Making the Transition from Student to Employee

Advice to students preparing to become technical communicators.

Achieving It All!

An observation can be made about success—everybody talks about it, but far too few do anything definite to ensure their own personal success. To be successful, you must know how to set and achieve goals, build a personal success plan, and develop self-motivation. Tapping into your unlimited potential allows you to progress, grow, and change. Powerful tools can be used to achieve your personal and professional goals. Understanding the role of visualization and how to formulate and use affirmations will help you become more successful!

No Work? Strategies for Surviving a Dry Spell

No new offers are coming in, and you don’t have any potential projects brewing on the back burner. Your clients have no plans to hire independent contractors for the time being. Now what?

Technical Writer Career Information

A brief handout about what a technical writer does, prepared for a school careers fair.

Respecting Technical Writers

Technical writers are made up of complex individual personae. As a writer, you are expected to have knowledge of your subject. The more subjects you write about, the more knowledge you gain. (Supposedly.) Not every writer is like that, but most are, and they deserve to be congratulated for going the extra mile and actually learning a product they are going to write about. Most writers maintain knowledge about many systems and subjects, thus becoming an 'expert' in the technical writing field.

Survival Skills for Part-time Technical Writing Parents

Suggests ways technical communicators can cope with the often-conflicting demands of work and family.

Understanding Career Development

Describes four stages of career development.

Working with Employment Agencies

As a professional recruiter and the owner of an agency that places technical writers, I have heard horror stories about some candidates’ experiences with employment agencies. Just as there are trustworthy car mechanics and those who are out to steal your money, there are reputable agencies and agencies that are, let us say, less than reputable. If an agency misrepresents you, you could lose a great job. Do the benefits of working with agencies outweigh the risks? I think so, especially if you are an independent contractor: Many companies will hire contractors only through agencies because of current tax laws.

Career Coach Offers Survival Skills for Challenging Times

Condon encourages people to search for networking opportunities. She suggests reading the technology section of The Oregonian on Mondays to find out about meetings of professional groups in addition to STC. She said she often attends events simply because the announced speaker sounds intriguing. She visits meetings of Rotary clubs, Lions, and environmental organizations. She finds out what groups her friends and neighbors belong to and asks if she can attend a meeting with them. When she goes, she doesn't attempt to meet everyone, she just tries to make two or three new contacts. She exchanges business cards, and then, the next day, she follows up with a handwritten note to one or two people saying what a pleasure it was to meet them.

Career Workshop: Participation Is Inspiration

Like most technical communicators in the current economic climate, I've been considering where I've been and where I'm going. On Saturday, January 12, I had the golden opportunity to do some of that in the company of some 50 like-minded participants and a number of inspirational and practical speakers. Not incidentally, I was reminded what a tremendous reservoir of volunteer spirit the Willamette Valley Chapter of the STC holds.

How Have You Advanced Your Career?

Three technical communication gurus answer the question, 'What single action or decision did more to advance your career than any other?'

Getting Started in Technical Writing

This summary provides a collection of tips and advice for getting started in the technical writing profession. The following categories are included in this summary: Finding and Getting That First Job; Types of Technical Writing; Types of Technical Writers; Degrees and Technical Writing; Transferring to Technical Writing from Other Professions: From Journalism; From Teaching; From Academia; From Marketing; From Law; Essential Skills; On Being a Technical Writer.

Top Five Tips for Starting a New Job

This article offers five tips that can help you get off to a good start in your new job.

Perspectives on Science and Technical Communication

The purpose of presenting is to actuate. You want to persuade people. You want to persuade them to think, or get excited about something, or act in response to what you present. Otherwise there is no point in making the effort of preparing and delivering your presentation. Presentations do not necessarily need to be meaningful for you. You already know the meaning of your message. Deliver the message from the audiences' point of view. (Another way to say this: What you want to present is not as important as what the audience needs to hear in order for your message to come across clearly, simply.) Remember that an audience will judge a presentation on the basis of how meaningful is was for them.

The Technical Talk: More Effective Use Of Visual Aids

While most technical writing teachers assign the oral report and insist on visuals, very few offer their students good classroom examples of technical report visual aids. However, a set of 35 mm slides on one teaching topic could be easily produced with neither expensive equipment nor much ability in graphic design.

Present Like a Pro!

Suzanna Laurent discusses how we can add value to our work through presentation skills and techniques.

‘May I Have Your Attention?’: Exordial Techniques in Informative Oral Presentations

An introduction, even a short one, makes audiences more willing to listen to a speech, think more highly of the speaker, and understand a speech better than when no introduction is given. Two experiments at Delft University of Technology support this conclusion. Subjects viewed videotapes of professional presentations on the topic of Sick Building Syndrome. In one experiment, subjects rated the effectiveness of three introductory or 'exordial' techniques in gaining audience attention: an anecdote, an ethical appeal, and a 'your problem' approach. Results indicate that audiences do respond to exordial techniques, and in a predictable manner. In the second experiment, two speeches with anecdotal openers were tested against one without any introduction. The anecdotes led to significantly higher ratings of the presentation's comprehensibility and interest, as well as the speaker's credibility. The presence of an anecdote also resulted in higher retention scores. Oddly enough, the relevance of the anecdote did not seem to make a difference in the ratings.

Professional Development Online: Overview

This website discusses strategies for entering the job market. Whether you are looking for entry-level work or looking to move from one job to another, this site provides you with sound advice.

Age Discrimination in Technical Communication

Age discrimination in the workplace occurs any time one worker is treated differently from another due to age, or another worker's beliefs about age-related inabilities. Solving the problem of age discrimination in the workplace involves three things: understanding the problem and how it affects the way we work, educating ourselves and the rest of the general working public about age discrimination, and finding specific ways to address and overcome the issue.

Finding a Job as a Technical Communicator: Inspiration Plus Perspiration

Today, there are many ways to practice our craft, and our main objective as technical communicators is to find a way to do just that. Those of us who are unemployed or underemployed know that we need to have the job we want in order to make the contribution we know we can. The same skills that make us good technical communicators will serve us well in our job search. With a little inspiration and a lot of perspiration, we can get the right job.

The Writing Student’s Guide to Successful Oral Presentations

Graduates of technical writing programs often enter the workplace with poor oral communication skills due to lack of practice. The trainer or writing teacher can use several strategies to offer the students oral practice without expending a great deal of class time. Recommended classroom strategies include teaching the students basic preparation skills and presentational techniques, giving them brief as well as longer practice following strict time limits, and allowing them to receive immediate feedback from listeners. These efforts can aid writing students in giving oral presentations and in preparing them for the work setting.

Ideas are a Dime a Dozen, So Why Should I Listen to Yours? "Pitching" Your Ideas So That They Will be Heard

Getting your ideas heard and approved can be difficult any time, but especially when your audience is a supervisor or other decision-maker who is juggling numerous projects, ideas, and deadlines.

Rolling the Start-Up Dice

So you want to work for an Internet start-up company. Bruce and Moyer show you the ropes.

The Short Talk

The short talk (<= 20 minutes) is a fixture at most scientific conferences. Assuming that you have an overhead projector, this note focuses on how to give a good short talk. I think that if you can give good short talk then you can probably give a good 50-minute presentation because the additional time permits a certain flexibility. For example, in a 50-minute talk I think that the speaker can risk losing the majority of listeners for 10 minutes while a technical aspect is embellished for the 'experts'. In contrast, the short talk requires a more sustained level of clarity if it is to be successful.

Advice about Technical Writing

Technical writing doesn't always mean 'computers.' Many companies hire technical writers to document policies and procedures for auditors. This means you would actually sit with someone and write down the steps they follow to do a function. Technical writers must be excellent communicators. Verbal and written skills must be of the highest caliber. A technical writer must be methodical, organized, and succinct.

Choosing and Using a Technical Writer

Offers advice for anyone looking to hire a technical writer on choosing a writer and using a writer.

Do You Have the Brain to be a Writer?

Parents, teachers, and guidance counsellors sometimes tell children who are anxious about what they're going to do with their life, that they can pursue virtually any career they put their mind to. With determination and lots of hard work, anyone can become a future Prime Minister or President. As reassuring as this sounds, recent findings in the field of brain research suggest that not all people (i.e., brains) are born equal.

Ethics in Scientific and Technical Communication

Discusses many ethical issues including: taking personal responsibility for one's actions, Behaviour toward colleagues, subordinates and others,Dealing with experimental subjects, interviewees, etc, Telling the 'truth', and choosing between advocacy and objectivity.

Getting a Job as a Web Developer

The most extensive training I took was in C programming. I learned C and then wrote two simple CGIs to show that I could apply that knowledge. At the same time, I practiced with Photoshop until I had several graphics of publishable quality for our Web site. Once I had done that, I was promoted to Webmaster.

Ivory Tower or Real World?

One man's career transition from academia to the technical writing. He dicusses foiled ambitions, crossing over, what is shared, Is it different, and Is it a matter of worth?

Keeping Recruiters Accountable

Sooner or later, most of us work with a recruiter or two (or three or four) to look for a job or to respond to the ever-increasing abundance of employment opportunities for technical communicators in the Triangle area. In fact, due to the tendency companies have for hiring technical writers on a contract basis, recruiters often play a necessary part in our career development. This site offers some tips on dealing with recruiters and avoiding poor recruiting practices.

Tech Writing Jobs

A guide to job types, employers, work environment, and salaries.

Ten Steps to Getting a Writing Job

A hiring manager in a documentation firm offers some advice and tips on getting a writing job.

How to Deliver Winning Presentations: Connecting Through Body Talk

The real secret to powerful delivery is a strong, positive, uninterrupted connection with the audience. To build that connection, you first of all need the right attitude. This is a combination of appreciation and respect for your listeners and enthusiasm about getting your message across to them. Now let's look at ways to express that attitude with your body and face.

How to Deliver Winning Presentations: The Magic of Connection

Do you wish you were a powerful, persuasive presenter? Do you envy people who can address a large audience with casual ease and charm, as though conversing with a few good friends? In this series, I will show you how to turn wish into reality and become one of that select group of exceptional presenters. It's surprisingly simple, as you'll see - and you don't need any special 'natural talent.'

How to Deliver Winning Presentations: The Winning Attitude

As we saw last time, the master key that opens the door to powerful delivery is honest connection with your audience. Outstanding speakers know that they must at every moment be connected with the real people in the audience, for a real purpose that matters to those people, and without hiding behind any slick stage personality. This is what generates the trust essential for persuasion. You may object that in most of your presentations, you're only selling technical information, with persuasion rooted entirely in objective criteria. But our experience with many organizations strongly suggests that this is the wrong view. You're always selling a package: people want the facts, but they also want to know that you are trustworthy and committed to helping them or to seeing a project through. And they get this essential information about trustworthiness and commitment not from the numbers and charts you present but from the way you connect with your listeners.

How to Deliver Winning Presentations: Using Your Voice to Connect with the Audience

We've seen that an attitude of appreciation, respect, and enthusiasm is the key to achieving the all-important connection with your listeners. In the last column, we examined ways to express that attitude with your body and face, through appropriate position, movement, gestures, and smile. This time, we'll consider the contribution your voice can make. Briefly, you must be heard and understood; you must talk at the right speed that invites the audience to stay with you; and you must maintain an emotional bond by expressing appropriate emotions.

Preparing Outstanding Presentations: Effective Visuals

Good visuals can strengthen your presentation tremendously - but unfortunately, they're rare. Here are their four key attributes: few, big, simple, and (occasionally) memorable. How many visuals per minute? People often ask me how many visuals they should use per minute of speech. I think they hope I will say expansively, 'As many as you like!' Instead, I tell them the opposite: 'Use no more than you really need.' The key is this: Use a visual only if it has a clear purpose.

Preparing Outstanding Presentations: Making Visuals Memorable

We saw how to create clean visuals that support your points. In essence, this involves 1) keeping text big (at least 18-point) so it can be read easily from the back of the room and 2) minimizing clutter (grids,numbers, legends, and unnecessary details). If you do that, your visuals will work for you rather than compete against you. This time, we will discuss how to make some of your visuals not just effective but memorable.

Preparing Outstanding Presentations: The Basic Structure

Last time, I showed you that answering three questions will give you the right main message and key points for a strong presentation: 1. Who are my listeners? 2. What do I want them to do or believe? 3. What are their main needs and interests? Once you have the message and key points, you need to fit them into a structure that will produce the response you want. There is one structure that works uniformly well for all presentations technical or non-technical, informative or persuasive. It consists of three parts, which I will discuss more fully in upcoming columns. Here, I want to show you what the structure is and why it will always work for you.

Preparing Outstanding Presentations: The Summary

In this series, I have described a universal presentation structure consisting of introduction, body, and summary. Parts 3 and 4 discussed the introduction and the body in detail. This time, we'll see how to close the presentation with an effective summary.

Preparing Outstanding Presentations: Understanding Your Audience

A presentation is a great chance to further your career. The reason is simple: most presentations are ill conceived and poorly delivered. So, if you can become one of the few who do it right, you'll stand out like a shining beacon in a dark wasteland. People will pick you for key projects because they can count on you to sell the work at presentation time. In this series, we look at the principles that enable you to prepare outstanding, career-boosting presentations.