Spring has well and truly arrived in Canterbury. Three days of 25+ temps with fierce Nor’ West winds, followed by Southerly storms, rain, and snow in the high country. It’s never boring here.

And it’s never boring on the TechCommNZ Board either. Read on for a bit of an update...

14 November 2018 | Read more...

ASTC Conference 2018

It was a privilege and a delight to be invited to the Gold Coast as the TechCommNZ Board representative at ASTC’s 2018 Conference in October. Not only did I get to hear Dave Gash’s upcoming webinar live and in person, and learn from some fabulous speakers, but I got to properly meet several members of our sister organisation that I have only spoken to via webcam.

I shoulder-tapped a few of ASTC’s speakers to write for TechCommWire while I was there too, starting with Dr Marina Hurley, who generously agreed to an article in the January newsletter!
The theme was “Let's get technical technical”. No, that’s not a typo!

So, how do we get technical technical?

14 November 2018 | Read more...

When should we use visuals?

To assemble that chair, start by inserting screw a6 into b1 while holding down c. Got that?

No? Why not? It’s a short sentence (15 words) and there are no big words. Would visuals help? When are they a good idea, when not? What do users prefer?

Let’s look at the evidence on the use of visuals, compare text and visuals, peek at a comic-style employment contract, and finish with some tips.

14 November 2018 | Read more...

Let's Tech Communicate

There’s nothing like a good family movie full of terrible puns and toilet humour at this time of year, so this month’s LTC comes with a little eighties’ movie flair.

14 November 2018 | Read more...