Christchurch Branch Event: Blurring the lines between technical communicating and marketing

Christchurch Branch Event

Historically, Marcomms and Technical Communications have had a distrustful, rather than collaborative, relationship. While this may not be universal, it appears to be fairly generic in tech companies. We will share with you how we began to overcome this at Tait Communications.

We fostered collaboration between our two disciplines, and found that the lines between them are definitely blurring. By focusing on what we have in common, rather than on our differences, we were able to improve the quality and quantity of our publications. This was a huge win for us personally, and also for the company.

About the Presenters

Lorraine Bonisch and Angela Maslin worked together at Tait Communications for over 16 years. Producing technical communications for a niche engineering group, they had to turn their hands to an unusually wide range of document types. As well as documenting both hardware and software products, they were the group's main source of internal and external marketing material.

When Lorraine left the technical writing fold four years ago to become a Content Marketing Advisor, she found herself the most technically knowledgeable person within her team. She also found that engineering has a less respectful relationship with Marcomms than she was used to as a technical communicator.

Before joining Tait Communications, Lorraine and Angela came to technical writing from quite different backgrounds. Lorraine was a journalist and marketing writer and Angela completed a psychology degree, then studied towards her NZCE while working for an electronics manufacturer. Angela now works for Contact Energy but is still fostering her relationship with Marketing.

Where and when

Cost

People who register via the website: If you have any questions, please contact the branch coordinator at christchurch@tcanz.org.nz.