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Subject:RE: conference fees From:jgarison -at- ide -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 12 Dec 2000 13:22:11 -0500
The STC annual conference usually draws about 3500 attendees. The largest
for profit conference I'm aware of is WinWriters, and I would estimate the
crowd there at 1300. So, if you look at numbers alone, STC wins hands down.
Also keep in mind that the purpose and audience of these two conferences is
markedly different. WinWriters focuses almost totally on online help. The
STC conference tries to please a much wider range of audiences from Writing,
Editing, and Managing to Indexing and UI Design.
I have attended both conferences at least twice in recent years. IMHO,
WinWriters is more in-depth, more technical, and usually addresses topics
I'm interested in, though I must admit that I am also dead center in their
target market.
STC is a bit lighter in content. They don't usually go very deep into
technical subjects (though there are some very good ones). There are a lot
of topics that don't particularly interest me. However, there is something
there for just about everyone, at just about every level.
My biggest gripe with STC from a presenter's perspective is that I have to
submit all the presentation information (last time I looked they wanted
2,000-3,000 words) in August for a conference that didn't occur until the
next May. The stuff I do on a regular basis is pretty cutting edge, and I
can't predict what I will say or what will be relevant that far in advance.
Also, STC peer reviews their submissions which, while weeding out a lot of
chaff also gives it a "designed by committee" aspect. For WinWriters, Joe is
the final arbiter of what's acceptable and what isn't - that makes it a lot
faster and easier, but then, he doesn't have a huge committee to report to,
either.
Bottom line: pick the conference that best suits your information needs.
At either, you'll get decent quality presentations, decent speakers, and a
chance to mingle, meet, and network with your peers (the best things of
all).
My 2 ¢,
John
John Garison
Documentation Manager
IDe
150 Baker Avenue Extension
Concord, MA 01742
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