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/.

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.

Wanted: Corrigo Correspondents for Summit 2023

Are you going to attend the STC Summit this year (14-17 May 2023)?

Are you going to listen to any of the excellent sessions?

Are you going to learn interesting things about our chosen profession of technical editing?

Why not share what you’ll learn with your colleagues?

Corrigo is looking for volunteer correspondents at the Summit to write summaries of the sessions they attend – if you are able to help,  send an email to editor@stc-techedit.org,

This Worked for Me: How to Create an Internal Style Guide that Users Will Follow

by Chelsea Fulton

Part 1: Welcome! Now, please memorize all of this.

I started my technical communications career in 2011. I was hired to document a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for the contact center of a Fortune 50 company, and my new team had an existing style guide. For a long time, our style guide was a one-page HTML document that outlined frequently used documentation processes and even included sections of code that users could easily copy/paste directly into drafted content. This style guide version worked well for a team of 4–5 people. However, the CRM system transition project and adding several new technical writers meant we needed more extensive documentation guidelines.

Continue reading “This Worked for Me: How to Create an Internal Style Guide that Users Will Follow”