Tag Archives: STC Silicon Valley Chapter

Events, Reviews

Sep. 5, 2013 STC Jack Molisani LavaCon

STClogonew1 Molisani Jack

On September 5, 2013 in Dublin at Mimi’s Cafe, the STC East Bay Chapter hosted ProSpring CEO Jack Molisani’s presentation “When Your Ship Comes In.” Molisani talked about short-term tactics and long-term strategies for increasing your value to a company and your own bottom line. He also spoke to me about the upcoming LavaCon running from October 20th to 24th in Portland, Oregon.

Richard Mateosian reminded attendees about the ongoing Touchstone competition‘s call for entrants and judges. I announced that the next STC Silicon Valley chapter meeting will host Oracle’s Marta Rauch on “Google Glass and Augmented Reality.” Next month’s East Bay meeting will be on October 3, 2013 with Lori Meyer  speaking about “The Change Agent in You.”
 
I also met with new chapter president Romy Sinha and Past President Jane Olivera, STC luminary Gwaltney Mountford. Chapter Treasurer Joseph Humbert showed off his new book “There’s The Rub.” 

 Meter Lori Mountford Gwaltney Olivera Jane Sinha Romy

IMG_7371DJClinecom IMG_7379DJClinecom IMG_7384DJClinecom IMG_7388DJClinecom IMG_7399DJClinecom IMG_7424DJClinecom IMG_7413DJClinecom IMG_7421DJClinecom IMG_7422DJClinecom IMG_7425DJClinecom IMG_7431DJClinecom

Copyright 2013 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Jul. 13, 2013 STC EasyDITA Class At Nimble Storage

STCSVlogo3bosek patrickeasyditalogonimblelogo

The STC EasyDITA class is Saturday, July 13, 2013, from 9 am to 4 pm. The class will be held at Nimble Storage, Inc., 2740 Zanker Road, San Jose, CA 95134. Nimble is on the corner of Zanker Road and E Plumeria Drive in North San Jose.  All students MUST bring a laptop that can access a wireless network. EasyDITA is a server-based product. Students access EasyDITA through a browser and an internet connection. Coffee and water will be provided. STC Silicon Valley Chapter will provide a catered lunch. If you observe any dietary restrictions, please let us know when you register.  Class price: $100 for STC members. $125 for non STC members.

Copyright 2013 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

 

Events, Reviews

Nov. 19, 2012 STC Maxwell Hoffmann Adobe Tech Comm Suite 4

1 Comment

On Monday November 19, 2012 at the Santa Clara IHOP, the STC Silicon Valley Chapter will host Maxwell Hoffmann of Adobe Systems. The topic is “This month’s topic is An Overview of Significant New Functionality in Adobe Tech Comm Suite 4.” Julia Maynard won the door prize of a Tech Comm Suite 4 box! (See picture below.)

“Adobe launched new versions of its flagship products for Tech Comm, FrameMaker 11 and RoboHelp 10, late this summer. Through Tech Comm Suite 4, the two products are more seamlessly integrated than ever. This presentation will touch on some of the strongest improvements that are the most relevant to technical publications.”

On Dec. 17, 2012 the STC Silicon Valley Schmooze will be held at Chevy’s at 2116 West El Camino Real in Mountain View starting at 6:00PM. Take the Rengstorff exit west off of U.S. Hwy 101 to the El Camino Real intersection.

If you haven’t attended a chapter meeting in a while, let me take this opportunity to invite you. This is an informal social event, with no program or presenter and the chapter pays for food and non-alcoholic drinks.

Copyright 2012 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Feb. 23, 2012 STC Randall Bolten Painting With Numbers

2 Comments

On February 23, 2012, the February STC Silicon Valley Chapter Meeting was held at the Hola! Mexican Restaurant & Cantina in Belmont. Experienced financial executive Randall Bolten of Lucidity presented “Learning How to Communicate Better with Numbers.”

Bolten thinks rules of presenting numbers (quantation) are similar to other forms of effective verbal communication. He knows how to show the numbers and what they mean. A report should fit on one page. Learn how to set up spreadsheets, templates, shortcuts and use them as a database. Right justify numbers. Name and organize your files in a sensible intelligent pattern. Document what you do.  Provide relevant, appropriate context. If anything does not clarify your information, remove it. Rehearse your presentation onsite. Know the numbers by heart. Build credibility and you will build your brand.

Bolten’s new book “Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Can Understand You” will soon be available from Wiley & Sons on Amazon. As someone who is constantly bombarded with numbers, I think this will be useful book in making sense of financial presentations.

Please join us on March 22, 2012 for the March SVC Meeting; to be held at the Santa Clara IHOP, located at 4200 Great America Parkway in Santa Clara. The meeting starts at 6 PM. The topic will be “A Technical Writer’s Trip to Hollywood” with Elisa R Sawyer.

Copyright 2012 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Jan. 26, 2012 STC Joe Welinske Optimize Googleability

1 Comment

On January 26, 2012 in Santa Clara, the STC Silicon Valley Chapter hosted Joe Welinske of WritersUA  to speak about “Optimizing the Googleability of Your Content.” To get a higher rank with search engine optimization (SEO), create fresh HTML content on a registered site with a public facing server. Create relevant links and metadata. Consider search engines other than Google like Alexa, Bing or Yahoo.

Welinske wants people to think about the growing mobile needs of the Apple iOS, Google Android and Microsoft Windows devices as seen in his new book “Developing User Assistance for Mobile Apps.”

More information will be presented at the Conference for Software User Assistance on March 11-14, 2012 in Memphis Tennessee.

Please join us on February 23, 2012 for the February STC Silicon Valley Chapter Meeting to be held at the Hola! Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, located at 1015 Alameda de las Pulgas in Belmont. The meeting starts at 6 PM. This topic will be “Learning How to Communicate Better with Numbers” with Randall Bolten.

Copyright 2012DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Jan. 21, 2012 STC Touchstone Awards

3 Comments

On January 21, 2012 in Oakland at the Highland Hills Country Club, STC Berkeley Chapter hosted this year’s Touchstone Awards. The competition is intense and the judging is tough. The STC Silicon Valley Chapter website won an award. As the content developer, I accepted the award on behalf of Todd Hawley who manages the site, the late Viki Maki who led the original team and Doug Wray who designed and built the beautiful website. I am grateful to the people I worked with and the organizers of the Touchstone competition. I don’t know how to top this. I walked out to my car after the event and saw the lights of the city below me. It was good way to start of the Year of the Dragon. Below are all the winners.

Touchstone 2011-12 Awards

The six Northern California chapters of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) sponsor an annual technical communication competition. We submit winners in the Distinguished category to the Society-level competitions, where they compete with entries from around the world.

Distinguished Awards

The entry is clearly superior in all areas. It contains no major flaws, and few, if any, minor flaws. It applies the principles of technical communication in an outstanding way, particularly in the way it anticipates and fulfills the needs of its audience.

Autodesk Inventor WikiHelp: Autodesk: Kristen Kent, Claudia Wood

Sonoma Medicine: Sonoma County Medical Association: Steve Osborn, Cynthia Melody, Linda McLaughlin, Erika Goodwin, Rachel Pandolfi

Excellence Awards

The entry consistently meets high standards in all areas. It might contain a single major flaw or a few minor flaws. The entry clearly demonstrates an exceptional understanding of technical communication principles.

Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac User’s Guide: Parallels: Jason Cabassi, Andrey Starovoitov, Christina Kajtsa, Tanya Romanova

Chatter Video Library: salesforce.com, Dean Atchison, Noella Tavares, Sarah Marovich

Merit Awards

The entry consistently meets high standards in most areas. It might contain a small number of major or minor flaws but it still applies technical communication principles in a highly proficient manner.

Advent Revenue Center 3.0: Completing Your Billing Cycle: Advent Stewart Florsheim, Heather Donnell

Moxy 7: Using the Portfolio Manager: Advent: Stewart Florsheim, John Biasatti

AT3545G Full Spectrum DWDM Transmitters—Installation and Activation Guide: Aurora: Vince Swanson: Ed Perry, Greg Heath

GT3410A T1/E1 Access Module Installation and Activation Guide TM 87-10444: Aurora: Fred M Wickersham, Shridhar Kulkarni, Chuck Becker, Ed Perry

TN-10-002—OR4148H RFoG and TN-10-007—OR4168H RFPON Diplexer/Return Receiver Installation and Setup: Aurora: Vince Swanson, Ed Perry, Glenn Carley

AutoCAD User Assistance Videos: Autodesk: Jonathan Geary, Allen Lowe, Marianne Schwerdtfeger

Energy IQ: Australia’s Champion of Conservation: Chevron, Claire Tom, Wai Tu

Corel Painter 12 Getting Started Guide: Corel: Carmen Humplik, Nadezda Vladimirova, Ludmila Minkova, Corel Painter Development Team

Oracle PeopleSoft Information Development – Hosted Documentation Website: Oracle, Hideto Kishi, Jessica True, Lisa Brown

Oracle PeopleSoft Information Development – PeopleSoft Information Portal: Oracle: Greg Parikh, Race Bannon

Oracle PeopleSoft Information Development – Upgrade Resources Report Tool: Oracle: Greg Parikh, Laurice Strickland

Pegasus Product Manual, v1.0: PROMISE Technology: Daniel Doornbos

Chatter Help: salesforce.com, Sarah Marovich, Lauren Pederson, Chris McGuire, Kristen Powell, Noella Tavares, Liane Yee, Stefanie Andersen, Sheri Bernard

Database.com Workbook: salesforce.com, Jon Mountjoy, Mike Jacobsen

ISVforce Workbook, salesforce.com, Mario Korf

Java for Heroku Workbook: salesforce.com, Mark Leonard, James Ward

STC Silicon Valley Website: STC Silicon Valley Chapter: DJ Cline, Todd Hawley, Doug Wray

vSphere 5 Videos: VMWare: Renate Kempf, Amy Bowman, Chuck Potter, Doreen Kasson, Gary Gray, Diane Huffman, Svetlana Voskoboinikova

NanoSec Product Guide: Write Quick: Monique Semp

Judges

The following people evaluated the entries: Mysti Berry, Melody Brumis, DJ Cline, Nathaniel Lim, Patrick Lufkin, Michael Meyer, Joy Montgomery, Chris Muntzer, Bruce Poropat, Frank Ripp, Vince Swanson, Gail Waldron, and Prescott Williams.

Volunteers

The following people volunteered in non-judging roles: Guy Haas, Judith Herr, Misty Herr, Joe Humbert, Patrick Lufkin, and Richard Mateosian.

Copyright 2012 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

 

Events, Reviews

May 26, 2011 STC Social Networking Lori Fisher

1 Comment

On May 26, 2011 at the Santa Clara IHOP, the STC Silicon Valley chapter hosted IBM Director of User Technology Lori Fisher’s  presentation “Integrating Social Networking Into Your Role As A Technical Communicator.” Fisher explained how social networks change how you work with fellow employees. She also showed how to start a conversation with your customers.

We also welcomed new member Iram Nawaz from Seattle.

Copyright 2011 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

May 17, 2011 STC Fellow Richard Mateosian

1 Comment

On May 17, 2011 in Sacramento at the STC Summit, Richard Mateosian of the STC Silicon Valley Chapter and leader in the Berkeley chapter has been named Fellow. For years he has helped technical communicators get recognition for the work and now it is his turn. Congratulations to Richard and the other new Fellows!

I worked with Richard for years in the hope that a new generation would take charge. Last night it started. The student members fought for their right to fully participate in STC. I think this is a further sign that the old STC is gone and a new generation will build an organization better suited to their needs. The torch is passed, but because it is California, it must happen in a designated area with proper permits. :-)

Copyright 2011 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Feb. 5, 2011 STC Richard Mateosian

Richard Mateosian, member of the STC Silicon Valley Chapter and leader in the Berkeley chapter has been named Fellow. I have worked with Richard for years and campaigned for this recognition. For years he has helped technical communicators get recognition for the work and now it is his turn. I look forward to his receiving this honor at STC conference in Sacramento in May. Congratulations Richard!

Copyright 2011 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Sept. 23, 2010 STC ArborText Liz Fraley

On September 23, 2010 in Santa Clara at the Avatar, STC Silicon Valley Chapter hosted Liz Fraley of Single-Sourcing Solutions. Fraley’s presentation “Where Are They Now?” showed the ROI of improving dynamic information delivery from companies like IBM, Medtronics, Harcourt School Publishers and the National Council on Insurance.

Copyright 2010 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Mar. 25, 2010 STC Jeffrey Gardiner

STClogonew1Gardiner Jeffrey copy

On Mar. 25, 2010 in Mountain View the STC Silicon Valley Chapter hosted Jeffrey Gardner’s presentation “Using a Wiki for Documentation.” Jeffrey Gardiner was the Editorial and Production Manager at Sun Microsystems. Gardiner is probably best known for managing the development and publication of  “Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry” which is now in its third edition. He has also taught editing classes for UC Berkeley Extension.

Gardiner discussed the advantages and disadvantages of using a wiki for product documentation. He had good suggestions about document structure, organization, and navigation. He talked about how to encourage collaboration and participation by community members when working online.

Copyright 2010 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Oct. 15, 2009 STC Jack Molisani

STClogonew1Molisani Jack copy

On October 15, 2009 at the San Jose Scottish Rite Center, the STC Silicon Valley Chapter hosted Jack Molisani of ProSpring Technical Staffing. In a follow-up to his popular “The Top 10 Mistakes Writers Make When Looking For Work” session, Molisani presented “Resume Secrets That Might Surprise You”. He talked about little-known facts about resumes and the hiring process that may be hurting your chances of landing that new job. Jack raffled off a free entrance to the LavaCon Conference on Professional Development to be held October 25-27, 2009 in New Orleans.

10-15-09 Mason copy10-15-09 STC crowd copy

Copyright 2009 DJ Cline All rights reserved.

Events, Reviews

Feb. 26, 2009 STC DITA For Training And Support

1 Comment

stclogonew1.jpglasselle-joan-2-copy.jpgvoltz-tom-copy.jpg

On Thursday February 26, 2009 in Cupertino at the University of California Santa Cruz Extension Campus the STC Silicon Valley Chapter hosted Joan Lasselle and Tom Voltz of Lasselle Ramsey. Their presentation was “Beyond the Book and the Class: Using DITA for Training and Support”. Continue reading Feb. 26, 2009 STC DITA For Training And Support →