Category: Training

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Of Interest: STC Education Online Course – Creating and Using a Department Style Guide

Wednesdays, 13 September to 1 November 2023  at 6:30 to 7:30 PM ET
(click here for your time zone)

Instructor: The TESIG’s own Kelly Schrank!

Registration closes 12 September 2023

Whether building a new department, working as a department of one, or joining a new or existing department, many technical communicators have found themselves working on documents without the benefit of a style guide.

In this course, as a group we will create a new style guide from scratch, incorporate common elements, and decide together what’s needed and what might be better relegated to other documents or resources. From grammar and punctuation to style and formatting, we’ll go through the process together. We’ll tackle this as the big project it is, by planning its scope and schedule, including tracking status, training others, and gathering feedback.

After the course, everyone will be emailed the finished document in Microsoft Word to use as is or as a template for their own style guide.

  • STC Members: $375
  • Gold Members: $300
  • Student Members: $295
  • Nonmembers: $595

To register, go to https://www.stc.org/course/creating-and-using-a-department-style-guide-september-2023/.

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Of Interest: Style Guides: Love ‘Em, Hate ‘Em, Gotta Have ‘Em! (Workshop Pt. 2)

On 20 June 2023, at 12 PM ET (click here for your local time), join the TESIG’s own style guide “agony aunt”, Marcia Shannon, as she presents part 2 of her workshop on how to deal with all sorts of style-guide-related issues.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/style-guides-love-em-hate-em-gotta-have-em-workshop-pt-2-tickets-595873251937?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you missed part 1, no worries! You can get tickets for it here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/style-guides-love-em-hate-em-gotta-have-em-pt-1-recording-tickets-569029962937

This is a joint event between the TESIG and the STC Carolina chapter. It is open to both STC members and non-members. It is free for TESIG/STC Carolina members, and available at a small charge for non-members. It will be recorded, and the recordings, slides, and handouts will be available for a year afterwards.

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Newbies’ Corner: Monthly TESIG Student Chats

One of the goals of the TESIG is to help technical editing students get more involved in the field. We want to hear some new, fresh voices, especially from those who are studying the subject or just starting out.  It’s important to us to discuss the needs, dreams, and issues of the next generation of technical editing practitioners.

With this goal in mind, we are excited to announce the TESIG Monthly Student Chat series!

These 30-minute virtual chats will be held over Zoom on the last Wednesday of each month, and are a forum for current TESIG student members to discuss editing challenges, as well as share helpful resources, editing tactics and tips, and career advice about finding internships/jobs.

For details, please contact student_outreach@stc-techedit.org.

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This Worked For Me: Tackling Complex Content as a New Editor

by Jill Mazza

For some, the saying, “Those who can’t do, teach” may be true. For me, it speaks some truth about learners being my best teachers.

I am a trainer on effective technical writing. But my learners and I are not the same type of technical professionals. They are mostly engineers, scientists, and statisticians. While I can’t technically do their jobs, I do help them to see their written content through the eyes of non-technical readers.

At the training firm I work for (WD Communications), I design writing programs using our clients’ technical documents, such as investigation reports and procedures. When first in this niche role of editor-designer-trainer, I was overwhelmed. Literally. My background was in psychology, business communication, and coaching. It was hard enough to see my way through technical content at all, let alone edit anything.

How was I going to tackle such complex content?

Continue reading “This Worked For Me: Tackling Complex Content as a New Editor”
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Announcing the STC Technical Editing SIG Editors’ Exchange 2022 Mini-Conference!

The STC Technical Editing SIG is proud to announce its first official mini-conference – EdEx2022!

The goal of the STC Technical Editing SIG (TESIG) is to provide its members with high quality information about editing processes and best practices, as well as resources that demonstrate the value of editing and editors in an organization.

To meet this goal, we are launching the first of what we hope will be an annual event – a mini-conference dedicated to the field of technical editing and to technical editing practitioners.

EdEx2022 will be held on 15 November 2022 from 8:45 AM to 12:00 PM ET (for your local time, go to https://bit.ly/3ARVwEn).

We especially encourage students and new technical editing practitioners to join us!

To see details about the presentations and to purchase tickets for EdEx2022, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stc-technical-editing-sig-editors-exchange-2022-mini-conference-tickets-372579063007.

The price of the tickets is for the entire mini-conference, and attendees can join at any time. All sessions will be recorded, and the recording and slides will be made available to attendees after the mini-conference.