training – WDCB Events & News

InfoDevDC Meetup — From Fred Flintstone to George Jetson: Creating Tension Increases Adoption

Graphic from a presentation slide introduction

The objective of a good training program is adoption and excellent field execution. This presentation is about how to use a combination of traditional training deliverables and old school psychology to gain user buy-in and achieve a successful launch. We’ll talk about how my company uses cartoons and countdowns to ensure that users seek out training and have a stake in adoption and field execution excellence.

Whether we create video, user assistance, classroom training, or documentation, what we really want is a group of folks who use the product to do an excellent job with little or no effort and make no mistakes. Creating good training is less about the deliverable and more about building the right relationship.

We picked two dates: February 21 is our official date with February 28th as a backup in case it snows. The usual end time is 8:00 pm but we love to continue the conversation at our traditional after-meeting at World of Beer Reston Town Center, 1888 Explorer St, Reston, VA 20190. WOB closes at midnight.

Academic Publishing and Research Grants

This Fall for the Book, save the date for a panel on Academic Publishing and Research Grants
Thursday, October 1 6:30pm – 7:45pm
Johnson Center Meeting Room C
Mason Fairfax Campus

The George Mason University chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (GMU STC) invites you to learn how to navigate the competitive world of academic publishing and grant writing from three successful scholars in the field of professional writing and communication:

Dr. Cheryl Ball is an associate professor of digital publishing studies at West Virginia University and editor of the online peer-reviewed journal Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. She recently won a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop an open source editorial management system, EditMe.

Dr. Huiling Ding is an associate professor of technical communication at North Carolina State University and researcher in intercultural communication, risk communication, and medical rhetoric. She has published more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals and won 7 grants, worth over $125,000, to fund her research.

Dr. Jeff Grabill is a professor of rhetoric and professional writing at Michigan State University. He is a senior researcher with WIDE Research (Writing in Digital Environments) and co-founder of Drawbridge Incorporated, an educational technology company. His publications include two books on community literacy.

Download the FFTB Save-the-Date flyer as a pdf.

Read about the event and see the complete schedule on the Fall For The Book website.

About GMU STC

GMU STC is the newest chapter of the STC, the world’s oldest and largest professional association for technical communicators. As a student organization, GMU STC is dedicated to helping current and future professional technical communicators—writers, editors, designers, and more—achieve their career, education, and service goals. Visit GMU STC on Facebook to learn more.

Jumping into a Leadership-Focused Content Strategy with Four Left Feet – InfoDevDC Meetup

Jumping into a Leadership-Focused Content Strategy with Four Left Feet

Tuesday, March 24, 2015
6:30 PM

OPOWER

1515 N Courthouse Road, Arlington, VA

Join us at 6:30 for networking and a presentation at 7:00. Our speaker this month is Liz Herman.

Jumping into a Leadership-Focused Content Strategy with Four Left Feet

Hear it from the horse’s mouth: how one woman moved halfway across the country to take a new leadership position and quickly found herself receiving assignments instead of giving them.

Learn how Liz Herman had to adjust her sugar-cubes-and-carrots leadership style to reinforce her management position. Canter along with her as she talks about the ups and downs of maneuvering office politics and how implementation and execution of a leadership-focused content strategy led her to success…. Or did it?

About the speaker

Liz Herman, PhD, PMP, CPTC, is a long-time technical communicator who applies the disciplines of technical writing, teaching and training, and knowledge management to her work. She is a Senior Member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), is currently serving as the First Vice President for STC’s Washington DC Baltimore Chapter, and is Chair of STC’s Intercom Editorial Advisory Board. Liz works for Battelle in its Health and Analytics business unit.

Special thanks to Opower for sponsoring this month’s event!