Re: Considering the STC summit in May

[Geoff Mann <geoff -dot- mann -at- uxwordsense -dot- com>]

Mary, are you interested in any specific aspects of tech comm? It's a broad
field that involves a wide range roles and contexts. I haven't attended the
STC summit, but it may offer a bigger picture than Write the Docs, but I'm
only estimating because I haven't attended either. Personally, of the two,
I'd choose the latter because most of my career has been in software doc
and grounded in UX (user experience). Plus Write the Docs seems fresh and a
tad less formal on paper, but I could be wrong.

My prior company sent me to Writers UA West (http://west.writersua.com/)
about 10 years ago, which was and still seems to be focused on help
authoring. A lot of tech writers there, but I was disappointed at the time
because it barely addressed the value of UX.

About five years ago I attended the Intelligent Content Conference (which
seems to have evolved into the Content TECH Summit
<https://www.contenttechsummit.com/>) which included several well-respected
pros in the field who offered a lot of info on the subject of content
strategy, structured authoring, and content marketing, but that may be more
specialized than you want to start with. But on that note, if you want to
get into content strategy (which every tech comm pro should have a sense
of, at least on a small scale), I'd also consider LavaCon
<https://lavacon.org> and Confab <https://www.confabevents.com/>.

But I'm wandering at this point. You asked about STC Summit. I can't help
much in that regard. You also asked about networking, and that's mostly
about you, how outgoing you can be, and how much energy you have to spare.
From my experience at three-day, all-day conferences, I'm exhausted by the
end of day two, but then I attend conferences and workshops for the
knowledge, not the networking. If you just want to meet others in the
field, you can probably reach more people through online channels and local
events (like through MeetUp) and it won't cost you as much. If you want to
immerse yourself in the substance and energy of the tech comm field, I
suggest trying to get a sense the conference's focus compared to other
conferences and especially your interests in tech comm. Obviously, it's
hard to know what you'll love without trying a few things that you don't,
but...) Also consider the prominence of the speakers and if their sessions
sound interesting to you. If you pick a conference that sounds the most
interesting, people aside, you may find that you'll get the biggest return
for your effort and may even connect with people more easily.

Hope there's something in there to chew on. Good luck!




On Sun, Jan 27, 2019 at 4:13 PM Mary Campos <mmcwrite -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

> Hello everyone!
>
> My name is Mary Campos and I am an English major at CSUN. I am considering
> going to the Society for Technical Communicationâs Summit in May. I just
> have a few questions for anyone who has gone before as I am not sure what
> to expect at this event. I would really like some insight on how to get
> into the field, leads on where to intern, as well as networking
> opportunities.
>
> Are there good networking opportunities there?
> What has been your experience if you have attended a prior STC summit?
> What should I expect?
> I am hoping that it will be a great learning and networking experience so
> that when I graduate next year I wonât be spinning my wheels for a while
> trying to get a job.
>
> Even if you havenât been to the STC summit any pointers or advice would be
> appreciated! The sooner I start moving forward the better off Iâll be when
> I graduate.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Mary M. Campos
>
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