From the President

May 2018

Meredith EvansKia ora and welcome to May!

A highlight of my April was attending the Shelly Davies webinar on Māori Cultural Competency for Technical Communicators, and subsequently purchasing her lovely book, which I think would make a great asset to anyone’s library. If you like Shelly’s work (and who doesn’t!), you can hear more from her at our stream of the ITx conference, held in Wellington on Friday July 13.

Events

The next webinar is June 6, with Sarah Maclean presenting on Accessibility for Web and Print. This webinar is only $20 for members and free for students, so I recommend you sign up soon. Don’t forget for webinars, all attendees can access the recording afterwards for no extra cost. So if the date or time doesn’t work for you, don’t let this put you off signing up.

I know many people prefer workshops to webinars ,and the good news is that we do have at least one workshop planned for 2018. Hopefully I’ll have some more detail on this in the next couple of months.

Christchurch Branch is having a great start to 2018, holding events in March and April, with more planned for May and June. Christchurch is a really thriving branch and always has a great mix of old hands and new faces, with interesting speakers, and always a great selection of food and beverages. If you’re near Christchurch this month, you really should check out our next Christchurch Branch Event:

How to speak effectively in public – As technical communicators, we are all able to express ourselves effectively and engagingly in writing, but being able to do so in speech, in front of people, is quite a different kettle of fish. Public speaking, or glossophobia, is one of the most common fears people have, so chances are a lot of you will be at least a little uncomfortable with the idea. Enter Jordon Jones: technical writer by day, theatre junkie by night.

Chris Lovie-Tyler is kicking off the first Auckland branch event of 2018 with Editing for technical communicators - without all that boring grammar stuff – Whether you’re a dedicated editor or not, if you’re a technical communicator, you’ll end up editing other people’s writing...and your own! And you need to know how to do that as effectively and efficiently as you can.

If you’re based in the North Island and within commuting distance to Auckland, I strongly suggest you attend his Auckland Branch presentation.

Finally, I’d like to thank Stephen Knowles and Katrina Laurie for offering to help out as Wellington branch coordinators where they can. Unfortunately, the Core Education office we’ve previously used to host TechCommNZ events has been closed down for earthquake strengthening.

If you or your office can offer Wellington branch a venue to hold branch events, we’d be extremely grateful! Please contact Jane Armstrong if you have a suggestion.

We are always looking for interesting ideas for webinars, workshops, and branch meetings. We’d love to help you promote yourself. Get in touch with me by email or the website contact form if you or someone you know would like to present! You can read about all our branches on the website and get in touch with the branch coordinators from there if you want to know more.

ITx - Register now!

We’re getting really close to the ITx conference now. I’m not sure when Early Bird registration closes, but it’s not going to get any cheaper so I suggest grabbing your tickets now.

This is a great chance to experience some top notch speakers for a really good price and because there are so many streams, you can pick and choose which talks to attend. We’re thrilled that Doug Kim is coming back for this, along with Tony Self, Shelly Davies, and Catherine Caudwell. A reminder that the TechCommNZ part of the conference is on Friday June 13th.

Don't forget to nominate yourself or someone you know for our first ever Excellence in Technical Communication award! Nominations are open now, and the award will be presented at the NZ Excellence in IT Awards Gala Dinner on the 12th. Read more about the award here.

I’ll be there, along with the rest of the Board, and we’d all love to catch up with you!

PMO Leadership Conference and Women in Leadership Summit

This year, TechCommNZ is supporting Liquid Learning as they bring us their 3rd PMO Leadership Conference (June 25 to 29) and 2nd Women in Tech and Telco Leadership Summit (July 23 to 26). Both events will be held in Crowne Plaza, Auckland.

We have negotiated a 10% discount for TechCommNZ members. These are both awesome opportunities to network with like-minded professionals and explore innovative opportunities for career advancement. Both conferences look to have some inspiring speakers, so if you if you are involved in project management or are interested in hearing some inspiring men and women speak on leadership in the Tech and Telco industries, I recommend you check them out.

Plain English Awards

Last but not least, don’t forget to enter the 2018 Plain English Awards, especially the Best Plain English Technical Communicator Award, which is sponsored by TechCommNZ! There’s a small fee to enter, but it’s a valuable experience, and a bonus is that all finalists receive feedback and comments on their entries. The judges are always very experienced and respected writers or Plain English specialists, so this is very worthwhile.

I look forward to catching up with some you at the Christchurch Branch event in June, and the rest of you at the ITx conference in July.

Ka Kite

Meredith