Agenda and Registration Link: STC India Career Day and Regional Conference on July 17

Important dates
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Date: July 17, Saturday
Entry Fee: FREE for both STC and Non-STC members
Registration link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dF9LeDZUMHNOVXZhZHoxVkNfTm1ZRXc6MQ
Last date for registrations: July 15,2010

Venue: The Gateway Hotel,
(Next to The Pub World)
#66, Residency Road, Bangalore-25
Cell: 9900171161

Registration is mandatory. Your registration is
confirmed only when you receive an email
from Rajdeep.

Please carry your ID card to the venue.
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The conference will have something for everyone.
If you thought that the event will only focus on
presentations and company profiles, think again!

Also, STC India is running couple of contests
on the day; a few of these are Essay
and Creative Solutions contest respectively.

There are lots of exciting prizes to be won including a chance
to nominate a speaker whom you think should receive the
‘Best Speaker Award’ at the conference.

I am sure you have gone through Preran’ emails on
these competitions by now. Keep watching
this space for more information.

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The conference agenda is listed below:
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8:30: 8.50 am- Registrations
8:50am-9:00am- Welcome note by Michelle Cherian, STC India President
9:00am-9:30am- “Solution Documentation” by Hemanth Basrur
9:30am-9:40am- Company Profile
9:40am-10:20am-“Relevance of Design for Technical Writers” by Anupama Gummaraju
10:20am-10:30am- Company Profile
10:30am-10:40am- Tea Break
10:45am-11:30am-“Collaborating with Your SMEs and Customers to Improve the Quality of Documentation” – A walkthrough” by Sebastian
11:30pm-11:40pm- Company Profile
11:40pm-1:00pm- “Simulating the interview process” by Vasanth V
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1:00pm-1:30pm- Lunch Break
1:30pm-2:10pm-“Abracadabra” by Preran K
2:10pm-2:20pm- Company Profile
2:20pm-3:00pm- “Tech comm dot next” by Sridhar Machani
3:00pm-3:10pm- Company Profile
3:10pm-3:50pm- “Doing the right things: How to be an effective manager” by Vinay Babu
3:50pm-4:00pm- Company Profile
4:00pm-4:10pm- Tea Break
4:10pm- 4:20pm- Company Profile
4:20pm-5:00pm- “Bagging Customer Projects” by Prabheesh Kattambil
5:10pm-5:20pm-Company Profile
5:20pm-Prize distribution and closing ceremony

Agenda for Regional Conference 2010
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1) Solution Documentation
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Abstract: Customers, presales, and marketing folks are asking for more solution
documents besides product documentation! Enterprise customers usually
do not buy stand-alone products but a solution comprising of one or more
products from the same vendor  or products that seamlessly integrate
with products from other vendors.
In this session, Hemanth will cover the following:
Introduction to solution documentation
Advantages of Solution Documents
Who contributes to solution documents?
Process you can follow to author solution documents
Challenges in authoring solution documents

Profile: Hemanth Basrur is a Technical Writing Specialist working at Juniper
Networks in Bangalore. He has over ten years of experience in the
technical documentation space

2) “Relevance of Design for Technical Writers”

Abstract:  Content is intrinsic to any product, from it’s packaging
and display to detailed instructions on how to use it. However,
while there is a tremendous focus in the industry on user-centered
design for the packaging, display and most crucially, for the interface
of products, it does not follow through for content. Every element
of a product, from the placement of a button to the workflow
stems from robust user-research and design. Traditionally though,
technical writers approach writing for, or about, a product from
the technical specifications, from product briefs, from marketing material,
and other sources which could be far removed from the user-centered design
approach and so affect the usability of your content. There is a need for
writers to learn about some aspects of design and usability if we are to
effectively contribute to the experience that the product offers.

Profile: Anupama Gummaraju has worked in the area of technical writing
and user experience for a cumulative of 11 years, with
Infosys Technologies Ltd. She has worked on projects that incorporate
usability and design in technical writing. Currently she freelances when possible.

3) “Collaborating with Your SMEs and Customers to Improve the Quality of Documentation” – A walkthrough

Abstract: The presentation enable users a cost-free implementation of the following:
Simultaneous review of a document by various reviewers, Comments entered by a
reviewer is available both to the author as well as other reviewers instantly,
Easy to spot contradicting comments, Authors need not wait for the review deadline to be over.
They can start incorporating comments as and when the comments are available and so on.
All you need as Sebastian says a license of Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended.

Profile: Sebastian works as a technical writer for a leading MNC at Bangalore.

4) “Simulating the interview process”
Abstract:  We all have experience attending interviews.
Have you ever seen an interview happen? This is a simulation of
how interviews for hiring technical writers happen. We would simulate
2-3 actual interviews and study the common pitfalls
that candidates make. There would also be information on
what interviewers look for. Prepare for an interesting, interactive,
and enjoyable learning experience.

Profile:  Vasanth holds a bachelors degree in Electronics and
Communication engineering,and a masters degree in software systems.
His wide industry experience areas include software development,
technical support, release engineering, performance testing, and technical
documentation. Vasanth is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM).
He is a senior member of STC, and a former President of STC India chapter.
He has presented  papers in several conferences. Vasanth won the “Best Paper”
award in the PMI APAC conference held in India (2005). Vasanth is currently a
Documentation Manager at Consona Software, Bangalore. Vasanth has conducted
workshops on Agile Documentation,Program Management, and Fundamentals of Technical Writing.
He enjoys long walks in his spare time.

5) “Abracadabra”
Abstract: It isn’t uncommon for writers to often double-up as managers for their projects. The reasons vary from being the only writer on the project to reporting to a manager who is not a writer. Even when writers are part of larger teams, it helps to understand and manage their projects with minimal intervention from the people they report to.
The Abracadabra solution that Preran propose is in reality, a list of checklists
that will help writers ask the right questions, track their schedules, and avoid
common risks associated with projects. Preran have used these checklists himself, and going by his success rate, Preran feels fairly confident to present them to the rest for their use and scrutiny.

Profile: Preran Kumar is a senior technical writer with Adobe Systems Inc.
His post-graduation in Pharmacy was followed by short-stints as a
cosmetologist, packaging-professional, and web-designer. In 2002, he decided that writing was what he did best, and  took up technical writing as a career.
At Adobe, Preran enjoys documenting software that people would give their
right-arm to work with. When he is not busy writing documents, or getting them to the finishing line, he is busy cooking, reading, or listening to music.

Preran has been actively involved with STC. Apart from presenting papers at
conferences, he has helped conduct STC sessions at Adobe, Bangalore, and is
currently its competition manager.

6) “tech comm dot next”
Abstract: The landscape has changed in the technical communication world.
The users expect help topics to show up in Google (or other) search results. They want to share,
comment, and challenge the accuracy of help topics.
They want to discuss and collaborate with other users, subject
matter experts, and other stakeholders. They want to track updates on
products and services in real time. They want to do
this on computers, mobile phones, net-books, and on Internet TVs (that are coming soon).
As technical communicators, we know how to develop content.
Now, let us talk about delivering content in ways and forms the
users expect from us. Let us talk about how our roles and careers are
going to shape up in the world of Web 2.0 and beyond.

Profile:  Sridhar Machani is a technical communicator at Wipro Technologies.
As a web consultant for STC India, Sridhar has developed the STC India
Portal and other web properties (Indus, STC India Network, and Jobs Board).
His blog, tech comm dot next, tries to convince the technical communicators
that they need to be familiar with building and managing web properties or risk extinction.

7) “Doing the right things: How to be an effective manager”
Abstract: The objective of the presentation is to understand:

• Doing things right
• Delegation
• Feedback
• Conflict Management
• Performance appraisal

Vinay’ presentation will have a special focus on performance appraisal for Tech Writers.

Profile: Vinay Babu has 10+ years experience in technology communications.
His writing career started of with the publication of Technoloworld –
a features magazine in science and technology targeted at engineering students.
This was followed by editorship of some niche technology magazines
like Digital Age, Electronics Products Finder and Esecurity.

After this stint in technical journalism, he joined Philips Semiconductors
as a technical writer. In his writing career of more than 10 years,
he has worked as a team member, co-ordinator, direction finder
and a manager. He is currently working in NXP Semiconductors as
a manager – content development. In his career as a technical writer
and technology journalist, he has worked both as an individual
contributor and a manager. He has an engineering and an MBA degree
from the Bangalore University.

8)  “Bagging customer projects”
Abstract:  One important technique in attracting new business
is to be able to translate your products’ benefits into dollars and cents.
The objective of the presentation is give us an idea about “dollarization” and
other techniques to get and keep customers and clients for your business.

Profile: Prabheesh Kattambil is a Business Analyst with a leading MNC at Bangalore.

Share, participate and spend this Saturday of July 17th with us. We look
forward to see you at the conference.

For any questions, write to me off-list at rguptaz@gmail.com
Please do not write to the entire mailing list.

Thanks & Regards,
Rajdeep
STC India VP & Sponsorship Manager, 2010
On behalf of STC India Admin Council.

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