Plan to join your fellow colleagues at the 65th Annual Technical Communication Summit and Expo, the premier technical communication conference, 20-23 May 2018 at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida. The 2018 Summit will offer top-notch technical communication education and networking to help you "communicate the future of how we work, where we work, and you at work".
Registration is now open! Register now and get the Early Bird, 65th Anniversary rate of $925 for regular and academic STC members available from 1 December 2017 to 31 January 2018. The registration rate will increase after 31 January. See the registration rates table for the advance rates, regular registration rates, and one day attendance rates for regular members, Gold members, students, retired members, and non-STC members.
Make your room reservations with the Hyatt Regency Orlando hotel. For information about the STC Summit hotel group rate, see Summit's Hotel page. All Summit events including education sessions and the Expo Hall will take place on one level at the Hyatt. The Hyatt offers a limited number of accessible rooms. You should make your reservations as early as possible by calling the Hyatt directly at +1-407-284-1234 and ask for the onsite reservations manager or the front desk manager. Be sure to tell them you are coming for STC's Summit to get STC's group rate.
The Call for Proposals for the 65th Annual Conference: Technical Communication Summit 2018 is open. Proposals are due at 11:59 PM EDT (GMT-4) 27 September 2017.
Night View of the National Harbor and a Blue Capital Wheel. Photo credit: Paul Nelson.
If you are planning to attend Summit 2017 and have already made your plans, great. If you are still thinking about it, check out our Guide to the Annual Conference. Three articles written by chapter members Ugur Akinci and Cynthia Lockley are now included in the page.
We Love Living Here: We Think You'll Like Visiting
Chapter and local STC members provide their insights for visiting this area for articles in the Intercom and on thia site.
We know you'’ll love attending Summit 2017 and visiting the many attractions around National Harbor and in DC. For more tips about what the DC and Baltimore metropolitan areas have to offer, checkout out Pinterest Board, "Things To Do in DC & Baltimore Metropolitan Areas", https://www.pinterest.com/stcwdcmb/things-to-do-in-dc-baltimore-metropolitan-areas/
The Technical Communication Summit fosters industry-leading technical communication by stimulating information exchange, cultivating research, and serving as the primary source of education for professional technical communicators.
The 2017 Summit will be held 7-10 May at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Maryland. The theme is "Gain the Edge to Get Results."
Plan to attend and bring the family. The National Harbor is just minutes away from sightseeing in beautiful Washington, DC and Baltimore. See the Washington, DC chapter's Pinterest board for Things To Do in DC & Baltimore Metropolitan Areas.
The Summit is the technical communication conference to attend for professional growthand this years theme will help attendees "Gain the Edge to Get Results" through a myriad of educational opportunities. Education sessions should demonstrate an unexpected, advanced, or less traditional way of looking at or fixings a problem with tangible solutions. Attendees should feel inspired to stretch boundaries and achieve more and this theme can be applied to all sorts of topical areas, including content, project management, career paths, teamwork, business management, and more – the sky is the limit.
The conference committee is looking for sessions that produce surprising results, recommendations, or case studies from your experience that give the attendee specific ideas, lessons, processes, takeaways, or suggestions that they can take back to further their career or become more effective at work, allowing them to gain the edge to get results.
Who attends the Summit?
Our attendees are professional technical communicators at all levels, from beginners to seasoned veterans. This includes technical writers, editors, illustrators, managers, information designers, architects, content strategists, instructional designers, usability and user-centered design practitioners, researchers, professors, and students.
Who can submit a proposal?
Anyone with experience in the latest communication techniques, technologies, approaches, and solutions is invited to submit. You are not required to be an STC member to submit a proposal, but you are limited to a total of two session proposal submissions (presentation, training solution, or spotlight) and two pre-conference workshop submissions.
What is the Conference Committee looking for in a submission?
There are several types of sessions, so please consider the presentation type that best fits your topic and your presentation style.
We welcome and review all topics and ideas to create the most relevant and comprehensive program available. For the 2016 Summit, the following track areas were used to group similar proposal topics:
Writing and Communication
Design and Testing
Career and Leadership
Technology and Development
Don't forget to check out these tips for how to set your proposal apart from the rest. Submissions that are incomplete or missing information may be ruled ineligible or returned for re-submission.
How are proposals managed?
During the call, the proposals are given a quick review to make sure they are complete and meet the minimal requirements before review by the program team.
At the end of the call period, the proposals are grouped by related track area before being reviewed by the program track team. The track teams use a set of review criteria to analyze and score the proposals for sorting.
Review criteria examples:
Is the topic timely and of interest to our attendees?
Does the topic provide "ah ha" moments and tangible takeaways?
Is the topic important for our industry?
Does the title and abstract grab the reviewer's attention and make an immediate case for reading more about the session?
Does the session proposal demonstrate a solid direction and purpose for the session?
Is the proposal clear, concise, and well-written?
Once all submissions for a track have been reviewed, the track teams provide their recommendations to the Conference Committee Chair, Director of Education, and Program Manager for final consideration. This committee will meet in October to finalize session selections. In November the Society will notify submitters of their proposal status and whether their submission has been selected.
If you have any questions, please contact the Conference Committee (STCsummit@gmail.com) for more information.
