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In this Issue: |
Editor's Welcome: Sunny Skies and a Rich Harvest! News and STC Events: Presentations on Privacy, Webworks & SnagIt, Managing a Project Congratulations! Laurie Pearce receives STC Distinguished Service Chapter Award Special Report: Tips for Cold Calling The Wandering Eye: A Technical Writer's Toolkit The Lighter Side: The Best and Worst of Technical Writing
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STC Events: |
April General Meeting: Privacy Matters Presented by Mario Morel and Peggy McChesney Mario Morel of YourPrivacy is an expert in privacy policies. Privacy is becoming a very big topic everywhere, and technical writers will be in demand to create the large number of documents required for a company to comply with the new privacy laws. His presentation focuses on the common requirements of privacy across industries. Learn about your rights and responsibilities as employees, employers, business owners, and members of educational institutions. It will be an eye-opener. Peggy McChesney of Key Communications is a freelance writer specializing in Information Security and Canadian Privacy issues. She was an Information Security Specialist for a major Financial Institution for almost twenty years and in that role represented technology issues on a number of working groups reporting to the Corporate Privacy Council. In this presentation, Peggy will help you to understand how the Canadian Federal Privacy Legislation impacts you and your business processes. Tuesday April 13, 2004 at 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. STC Toronto Online SIG presents Using WebWorks and SnagIt At the next meeting of the STC-Toronto Online SIG a guest speaker will talk about how to: • Design Help systems using WebWorks Publisher for FrameMaker and Word This meeting is an excellent opportunity to learn about WebWorks and SnagIt -- two useful tools for technical writers. For example, SnagIt helps technical writers increase productivity with the SnagIt Add-ins, that places SnagIt right in the toolbar of Microsoft Word. Then, you can quickly use SnagIt to add screen captures to your Word documents - without constantly moving between the two programs. As usual, our meeting is informal with members sharing their skills and knowledge. The meeting is at the Northern District Library, 40 Orchardview Blvd., telephone 416.393.7610. Orchardview Blvd runs west off Yonge Street, one short block North of Eglinton. The meeting is in room 224A and just before you enter the library, take the elevator to the second floor. Guests are welcome, there is no charge. STC Toronto Single Sourcing SIG presents Information Mapping Jim Purdy will join us to talk about how Information Mapping™ structures "content" (as opposed to "documents") so it can be managed from a single source. Jim is the Vice President of Training at Communicare. Communicare is the sole Canadian distributor of Information Mapping services in Canada. We are meeting at the North York Central Public Library, 5110 Yonge St. rooms 2-3. Ask at the library front desk for directions. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome. Seating is limited so please send in your RSVPs early to Rob Hanna at rob.hanna@ascan.ca Project Management Success - The Tangible and Intangible Elements… No matter whether you have the title of Project Manager or not, at some point in time during your career or business you will be faced with "MANAGING A PROJECT". We have seen this process make or break many companies. Join us as we discuss some of the most important factors in managing projects such as:
Panel: Schedule: Admission: Refreshments will be served. |
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Welcome: |
April 2004: Sunny Skies and a Rich Harvest! By Editor Philip Kahn - newsletter@stctoronto.org Having complained about the weather in a previous newsletter, it would be churlish not to acknowledge the gorgeous sunshine which is streaming through my window this afternoon. It might even be partially responsible for this bumper issue of the newsletter. Kim Van Rooy kicks off this edition with a well deserved tribute to Laurie Pearce, who just won a Distinguished Chapter Service Award from the STC. Our newest writer, Adrian Blake, then has some tips for the many of us who dread making cold calls. Susan Webb has another superb review of our last speaker, and Keith Soltyss looks at some software which may be of use to technical writers. Andre Brooke continues his series on handling interview questions, while STC Toronto President Robert Milkovich encourages STC members to get involved with the STC Executive. Finally, we have a couple of lighter articles about our profession which we hope will leave you smiling. Philip Kahn works for Rogers Media and also is the sole proprietor of Digital Jive, a company which provides web design and technical writing services, as well as Macintosh support. He lives off the Danforth with his wife, daughter, dog and a Mac G5... not always in that order. |
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Congratulations! |
Congratulations Laurie - STC Honours One of Our Own Kim Van Rooy - kvanrooy@sympatico.ca At the general meeting on Tuesday March 9th Toronto chapter members, including many friends and colleagues of Laurie Pearce, gathered to celebrate her most recent achievement. Laurie is the latest Toronto chapter member to be selected by the International STC to receive one of their highest honours, the Distinguished Chapter Service Award. A formal Society-sponsored awards program was set up in 1988 to acknowledge the work of those members who repeatedly provide exemplary service to the Society through their chapter activities. The basic criteria are: length of chapter membership, consistency of service over time, and variety of service. Laurie Pearce joined the STC about 16 years ago and began her involvement in the chapter executive in 1997. As Information Officer, Laurie fielded questions from the public about STC and technical communication. From 1998 to 2001, Laurie served as Membership Manager and continued to actively promote STC. During these three years, the Toronto chapter membership peaked to more than 600 members. Early on, Laurie saw the need to assist new members in developing their technical writing skills and was instrumental in developing the chapter’s mentoring program. During 2001–2002, Laurie took on new challenges in her role as secretary. She helped to keep fellow board members focused on their goals by updating and distributing an action list in addition to the monthly minutes. Laurie also designed and created an attractive Toronto STC brochure—a marketing tool still used by the chapter at all of its promotional events. The following year, Laurie became co-editor of the Toronto chapter newsletter. Partway through the year, when her editing partner needed to resign for personal reasons, Laurie stepped in to edit the monthly publication on her own. Not only did Laurie rise to the challenge, she produced a newsletter worthy of earning an STC Award of Merit. On October 2002, Laurie conceived of and coordinated the volunteer job bank. The volunteer job bank links charitable organizations with newer STC members who volunteer as technical writers and build their portfolios in the process. As a senior member, Laurie has been a mentor to countless newcomers to the chapter and to the profession, helping them to find work and encouraging them to become actively involved in the Toronto chapter. On behalf of all Toronto chapter members, I would like to congratulate Laurie and thank her for the many years of volunteer service she has given so far. The citation on Laurie’s award for Distinguished Chapter Service reads as follows:
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Special Report: |
Tips for Cold Calling Adrian Blake - adrian.blake@sympatico.ca When it comes to picking up the telephone to call a new business prospect, do you feel the icy grip of fear grab you around the throat? Does it twist your stomach into a knot? A few of you might be getting moist palms from just reading these words and re-experiencing all-too-familiar emotions. Why? Well, for a lot of people, making a cold call is akin to giving a speech -- one of the most feared things in life besides death. And maybe taxes. A lot of the emotion is tied up in our self-esteem because it has a direct link to the dreaded fear of rejection. We ask ourselves why would a prospect like a company president or other executive possibly want to spend time listening to someone they don’t know try to sell them something over the phone. And, be interested enough to give me their business! They might just slam down the phone and crush my already fragile ego. Or, what if I completely blow my “lines” and sound like a fool instead of the competent, creative professional that I know I am? Of course, that’s where we sabotage ourselves before we even start. Those negative thoughts get translated into ambivalent intention which, in turn, get transmitted to the prospect who picks up the negative vibe. Your need to avoid any ego-battering and just tell-them-what-you-have-to-say-as-fast-as-you-can-and-get-it-over-with accomplishes exactly that. And only that. How can I make cold call marketing really work for me, you ask? Thankfully, it’s not rocket science. Cold call marketing is a skill and it can be learned. It’s one of the best skills in your business management arsenal when it comes to generating new clients. The key to a successful cold call campaign, I’ve found, is approaching it with the right attitude and the proper technique. Here are a few tips: When making cold calls it’s absolutely critical to remember that you are a peer of the individual whose business you’d like to acquire, no matter if they’re the head of a corporate department or head of the company. If you treat them that way, they will show you the same courtesy. The result will be a more level playing field. As a peer and as a business person, you also offer valuable professional services to your prospects. You provide value to the prospect because you offer solutions through your services. Those solutions will ultimately make their job easier and make them look good in the eyes of others, whether it’s their boss or their customers or both. It’s in their best interest to listen to what you have to offer. And here’s something else equally important: a cold call is not a slick, hard sell. You’re not telemarketing. So take the pressure off yourself! You’re talking to another human being and you’re interested in forging a long-term relationship. That’s where your interpersonal skills come into play, particularly active listening. Once you’ve gotten these simple, yet effective, techniques in place, cold calling won’t seem as cold anymore. Always remember that prospects are out there waiting for you to call. And you just never know when the next person you call will need exactly what you have to offer! Adrian Blake is a Professional Member of the Periodical Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) and has accumulated a wealth of cold calling and customer service experience from positions he has held as well as through his own freelance business writing services, Adrian Blake Communications (www.adrianblake.com). He is holding the following workshop, which may be of interest to STC members: Capturing Clients: How To Put Power Into Your Cold Calls |
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Meeting Report:
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March 2004: Kara Kuryllowicz on Writing to Sell Susan Webb - susan_e_webb@yahoo.ca Imagine reducing your project completion time by up to 75%! By efficiently planning the first 40% of your writing time, you need only spend 25% of the remainder writing, and 35% editing. Kara Kuryllowicz, the dynamo behind Bizwrite who also wields a compact 20-second elevator pitch, took the lectern at the STC's March meeting to share her cornucopia of writing-to-sell knowledge. With 17 years of tri-lingual (English, French and Spanish) experience writing for websites, press releases, newsletters, brochures and more, Kara believes that the medium does not make the message - all writing media are good regardless of the purpose. Writing is thinking that ushers the reader into your brain. To write about virtually any topic, even a seemingly boring one, you must become interested in it to hook your readers. Start with the right attitude; a healthy curiosity can help you wring the most out of even a mundane subject. You never know when you will learn something gripping - for instance, that ice machines have personalities and genders. Use whatever gets you fired up and happy about your writing to your advantage. Determine the value of the writing - for your client as well as for yourself - and if it is worthwhile. Find out what the story is and customize your WH- questions - carefully planning and researching before you interview and write. What does the company do? How do they do it? Asking the right questions and identifying the target audience and desired effect is crucial. You can re-word the same question several ways to encourage extra information from your interviewee, as that "pearl" you need may appear unexpectedly. However, rather than reviewing your notes before you start writing, try to capture what made the biggest impression on you during the meeting. Just let your brain roam, and simplify your words and sentence structure. Vary your sentence length and make it clear - instead of having the reader do a triple-take and then give up, facilitate that first read-through. Your writing must be believable, easy to read and understand, clear, concise and simple. Identify and curb your bad writing habits. Hype, jargon, clichés and long meaningless words, though easy to use, will expose your sloppiness, laziness and lack of imagination, rendering your writing "witlessly dull" and quickly losing your reader. Even so, many companies prefer this approach - often with long sentences - to make their product or service sound important. Beware - it generally achieves the opposite effect, leaving your reader baffled by the lack of meaning. When was the last time you used "permit" or "allow" during a conversation? If you cannot remember, then keep such words out of your writing. Be sure to edit or re-write your work at least twice, waiting a few days between drafts if possible. Using regional or local references will likely alienate your wider readership. Find and use the rhythm of your writing. Make your piece of writing personal - verify your sources and ensure that the details are correct. You need to tell the story and paint a picture. Do not Keep in mind that as writing is work, you cannot always write when you feel like it. Just start your story at the beginning and clarify what you want to say, to help your writing flow more smoothly. To recharge, take breaks with some non-writing activities. Keeping a daily journal can also help you to de-stress and warm up your brain for writing.
Other news to note:
Susan Webb joined the STC in September 2003. An honours graduate of the Technical Communications program at Seneca College, she is interested in online learning and editing opportunities. In addition, Susan leads Adult ESL learners on an engaging, fun-filled journey through Canadian English at the Toronto District School Board. |
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The Wandering Eye: |
A Technical Writer's Toolkit Keith Soltys - keith@soltys.ca I have to admit that I'm a software junkie. I like playing with software, and I'm always on the lookout for new tools that might save me a bit of time or just make it easier for me to do something. Much of the time, the new software gets installed, used once or twice, and uninstalled or forgotten, but once in a while I come across something truly useful, and it becomes a part of my standard toolkit. In this column, I'm going to present a few of these tools. All of them are either freeware or low-cost shareware. We all use dictionaries, or we should. Most word processing and desktop publishing packages include a dictionary, but they often aren't very good. Online dictionaries, such as Merriam Webster, are an alternative, but you have to be online and load up your browser. Usually I prefer to look up a word on my own PC. For that, I use WordWeb, a small, fast, and free dictionary, containing about 140,000 definitions. For most words, along with the definition, it also shows synonyms and antonyms. The synonym lookup makes WordWeb doubly useful, as you can use it as a thesaurus. You can download an unsupported template that will let you hook WordWeb into MS Word. There is a professional version, costing $20 US, which offers a large dictionary and wildcard searches, (very useful if you are an indifferent speller), and they also sell industry-specific dictionaries. But the free version is probably good enough for most people. TreePad is a Swiss knife utility. It's a note taker, an outliner, a FAQ and web site builder, a database, a PIM, and more. Yet it's small, fast, and easy to use. Think of it as a combination of Notepad with a hierarchical outliner, but with a lot of extensions. I've used it to keep track of things I have to do on complicated projects, as I can keep a list of to do items easily organized by book. It's not as flexible or powerful as the late and much lamented Ecco Pro, but it's a lot better than anything else I've come across recently. There is a free version and a commercial version with extensive export facilities that make it easy to assemble a collection of notes and save them as a web site, with a dynamic table of contents. You could even use it to do web-based help, at about 1/30 the cost of WebWorks Publisher or RoboHelp. Although FrameMaker remains the tool of choice for technical writers, most would agree that's it's interface is dated and lacks some useful features. MicroType's Express Customization for FrameMaker goes a long way to making FrameMaker easier to use. It adds paragraph style, character style, and font drop-down lists, a wide range of useful keyboard shortcuts and toolbar button commands, and modifies the help menu to include links to all of the FrameMaker online documents, as well as some provided with the toolbar. And it's free. This one goes on every copy of FrameMaker that I use. If you do much web or help authoring, you've probably had to incorporate someone else's HTML into your projects. If that code was generated by Microsoft Word, for example, it could be pretty bloated and messy. HTML Tidy is a free tool which will clean up HTML code. It strips most of the non-standard code from HTML files generated by MS Office applications, completes incomplete tags, fix incorrect nesting, convert HTML to XHTML, and has many other useful capabilities. It can also be used as a plug-in to some HTML editors, such as DreamWeaver and HTML-Kit. For most technical writers, a commercial graphics editor like PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro is overkill. IrfanView may be a good alternative. It is small, very fast, and has a wealth of features, mostly oriented to viewing graphics of virtually any format. It also has some basic editing capabilities and will do screen captures. If you work with a lot of screen captures, it has an excellent thumbnail and browse mode. It's free for non-commercial use and the commercial license is a very reasonable $10 U.S. If you need more editing power, the GIMP is a free, open-source graphics editor that rivals the power of PhotoShop. It's widely used on UNIX and Linux systems, but runs on Windows and Macintosh too. There are many other useful shareware and open source tools out there. If you have a particular favourite, email me and I'll do another column of readers' choices sometime in the future. Keith Soltys has been working as a technical writer for 16 years, and is currently at the Toronto Stock Exchange. He maintains the Internet Resources for Technical Communicators web site and has recently started a weblog. He lives in Pickering with his wife, two children, a cat, and an ever growing collection of Grateful Dead CDs. |
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Career Corner: |
This month, we continue our series on interview questions. But before we begin, here's some excuses people have given for taking time off work, according to a recent study by Accountemps, a Canadian recruiting firm:
Why do you want to work here? To effectively answer this question, you must have thoroughly researched the company and the kind of work they will expect you do do. This will allow you to state specifically why you would be a good fit. For example, you may say:
This question represents a good chance to restate your strengths and tie them in to the current position. You may say, for example, that you've learned the importance of being approachable and always encouraging open communication with your peers. This has resulted in a higher quality of drafts during review time, because people are not shy about approaching you with practical suggestions for enhancing the documentation.
You need to get more information before answering this question. Ask a question such as "What are your greatest areas of need right now?" or "What would be my responsibilities for the first six months or so?" From this, you can base your response, which may be something like:
The strength of this response is that it gets the interviewer already thinking of you as an employee.
A good strategy for this question is to state the ways you minimize or eliminate stress. You can list things like:
Keep in mind that some stress is actually productive, because it can give you the energy needed to get the job done. It's only when you have too much stress that your work can begin to suffer. Also, although most people associate stress with having too much to do, note that not having enough work to do can also be stressful. You may want to say that you handle any down time by reviewing other projects such as older documentation that has not been reviewed in a long time.
This may seem like a tough question, but it is, in fact, a "dream" question, the one question that you should hope you will be asked. In fact, as I stated at the beginning of this serious on interview questions, all the questions you will be asked are simply variations of this question. The interviewer wants to know exactly what makes you so special that they will pick you over the many other equally qualified candidates. You need to highlight the areas from your background that relate to the needs of the job. Recap the job description and match it point by point to your skills. Drive home the fact that you are enthusiastic, a team player and that you are ideally suited for this position, but be specific. This question represents one of your single best opportunities to sell your strengths. A sample response would be:
*** Next month, we'll wrap up our discussion on interview questions. Andrew Brooke (abrooke@insystems.com) is a full-time technical writer at InSystems and maintains a technical writing and career management website. |
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From the President's Desk: |
As the 2003-2004 season draws to a close (only three more meetings!), we turn our attention to recruiting volunteers for our next season. Working on the STC Toronto Executive Committee has been a very rewarding experience for me. When I first came to a meeting in 1996, the incoming chapter president at the time, Jane Aronovitch, gave me some advice: get a business card, and volunteer in a professional association. I'm sure glad I followed her advice. I have met some very interesting people. I have found three jobs through our very own job bank. I have made contact with leaders in our field, both from Toronto and from around the world. My involvement in the STC has attracted the interest of recruiters and hiring managers when I've attended interviews. And I have made some really good friends that I know I will keep for the rest of my life. This STC thing has really worked for me! And I know that it can work for you, too. I would like to give you the same advice as Jane Aronovitch gave me - if you want to enhance your career prospects, get better at your craft, and meet some great people, get a business card and join a professional association. Of course, I'd like you to join the STC Toronto Executive Committee, but even if you become active in another professional association I guarantee that you'll have a very positive experience in either case. In the next month or so we will know which positions will be vacant for next season. In the meantime, I invite you to send me an email at robert.milkovich@sympatico.ca and let me know what your interests are. Whether you want to take a seat on the Executive Committee and work at a project over the course of a season, or just donate a few hours of your time once in a while, we would like to hear from you. The best part about volunteering is knowing that you have helped other people. And let's face it, giving feels good. So join us for an exciting season and get involved with the STC Toronto Executive Committee. |
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The Lighter Side: |
The Best of Technical Writing... Article Submitted by Susan Webb - susan_e_webb@yahoo.ca The following is from the Washington Post Style Invitational contest that asks readers to submit "instructions" for something (anything), but written in the style of a famous person. The winning entry was The Hokey Pokey (as written by William Shakespeare), composed by Jeff Brechlin.
...and the Worst of Technical Writing. Technical Standards, Southern California’s source for specialized documentation staffing and technical writing, today announced the winning entry in its fourth annual Worst Manual Contest. This year’s $100.00 prize went to Rhonda Bracey of Western Australia for her submission of a two-page Safety Section from her friend’s air-conditioning unit. “The frustration that’s caused by a poorly written manual is almost a universal experience. Poor documentation can cause more confusion than comprehension and could lead to liability issues and hidden costs for companies,” said Michelle Wier of Technical Standards. “On the other hand, good product documentation results in satisfied repeat customers, reduced costs, and limited liability exposure for companies.” With entries solicited from the 25,000+ membership of the Society for Technical Communication, Technical Standards’ Worst Manual Contest is designed to underscore the importance of clear technical writing for everything from consumer products, computer hardware and software, to employee handbooks.
This year's worst manual, submitted by Rhonda Bracey of South Perth, Western Australia, is a section of a User’s Guide for a commercial product marketed to the general public. Rhonda’s entry only consisted of the two-page Safety Section, but that was enough! As Rhonda Bracey puts it, “translator beware!” If the phrase, “…to have the observance without fail to prevent the damage to harm and the property beforehand to the person who use this product and other persons” doesn’t scare you, then some of the other text will! The symbol key alone provided much material for the staff at Technical Standards to question. For example, the symbol key contained a symbol (twice) that wasn’t referenced in the text, but didn’t contain a symbol that was referenced. In another instance, the same symbol was used for both Warning and Caution, but each represented very different consequences. The difference between possible death compared to minor injury or material damage seems worth having its own distinction. There were also some amusing symbol descriptions such as, “Attention rousing,” “Prohibition” and “Compulsion.” A few excerpts:
Often, poorly written manuals for consumer products can be attributed to translation problems. Clear, accurate translations are extremely important when communicating health and safety warnings associated with operating or assembling a product. “For many end users, bad documentation amounts to nothing more than an inconvenience and possibly a poor impression of the company,” said Wier. “But for companies, the results can affect the bottom line in terms of overloaded help lines, reduced revenues from dissatisfied customers who won’t come back, and increased liability.” To view the top entries and more information about Technical Standards’ fourth annual Worst Manual Contest, go to their Web site at www.tecstandards.com. |
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About the STC: |
The Society for Technical Communication is an individual membership organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication. It is the largest organization of its type in the world. Its 25,000 members include technical writers and editors, content developers, documentation specialists, technical illustrators, instructional designers, academics, information architects, usability and human factors professionals, visual designers, Web designers and developers, and translators - anyone whose work makes technical information available to those who need it. The STC Toronto Chapter was founded in 1959 (then the Society of Technical Writers) and is the largest chapter in Canada. |
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About this Newsletter: |
This newsletter is produced monthly by the STC Toronto Chapter and is sent to all registered members just before the General Meeting. We will not share nor sell our address list and will only send e-mails with information we believe to be useful and relevant to our members. Our mailing list comes directly from the STC, so if you want to receive the newsletter at another address you will need to login to their members profile section and update your information. |
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