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Where Do We Go From Here?
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Hits: 99 |
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Date added: 11/12/2007 |
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Chris Thiessen, a former president of James River Chapter STC, pointed out that, as writers faced with job demands, we often
develop tunnel vision and “tunnel skills” that enable us to effectively
perform our day-to-day job responsibilities. However effective that
approach is, he felt that it does not necessarily encourage us to
develop skills above and beyond those immediately applicable to our
job. Yet in today’s volatile job market, he pointed out that it’s
essential that we develop a palette of “extra-job” or “non-job related”
skills to make sure we not only retain value in the general
marketplace, but provide added value as employees.
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Training: It's in Your Job Description!
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Hits: 76 |
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Date added: 11/12/2007 |
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In this workshop, Robert Meyer (a former president of James River Chapter) reviewed some of the organizing principles that professionals use: doing a training needs evaluation, writing instructional objectives, establishing training objectives, and consistently presenting training materials. Participants practiced writing simple instructional objectives and success criteria based on procedures and user manual instructions.
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Teleworker, Telecommuter, Virtual Worker
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Hits: 59 |
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Date added: 11/12/2007 |
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This presentation offered an employee’s perspective on working away from an office environment. This session briefly described telecommuting and its purpose, and also went into detail about common myths, pros/cons, tips/tools for successful telecommuting, and suggestions for implementing a program in your company. The handout may help you find out if telecommuting can work for you.
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Single-Sourcing with MS Word and Adobe FrameMaker
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Hits: 62 |
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Date added: 11/08/2007 |
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Two of the most popular tools for authoring technical information are Microsoft Word® and Adobe FrameMaker™. Often, organizations are required to move information from one source to another. This session demonstrated how to round-trip information between Microsoft Word and Adobe FrameMaker. Many technical publication groups use FrameMaker as the strategic tool for single source publishing. Bernard Aschwanden showed that both tools have a specific time and place for use, pointing out that content often needs to flow between these applications.
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Keynote Speech (handout)
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Hits: 57 |
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Date added: 11/07/2007 |
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Clowns, acrobats, jugglers, flyers: these are the performers who present a wonderful show for you. Behind the scenes, though, are many other people who are vital to the success of the show: roustabouts, prop handlers, and office staff ensure a smooth operation. How does a circus resemble a career in technical communication? Who are the performers and who are the supporters? How can you, as a technical communicator, ensure that your performance receives rave reviews? Mary Wise, a former circus clown and current technical communicator, shared the lessons she learned from her show–business career.
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