bookmark_borderConference chatter

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things…”

It’s that time of year again, with the UA Conference currently underway (see what people are saying about it on Twitter) and the Technical Communication UK conference just around the corner.

We are lucky enough to be able to get to such events, even though we still need to pick and choose due to budget constraints and, once again, the multi-stream approach of TCUK makes it easier to justify. Looking at the programme for this year, there are always two sessions of interest, sometimes three.

As ever, and this is something I’ve commented on before, the benefits of attending conferences go above and beyond attendance at the sessions. The conversations over lunch, or dinner, or over a quick coffee between sessions make all the difference. Being able to bounce ideas off fellow professionals from different companies (working in different industries) gives you some unique views and solutions which you would struggle to get otherwise.

Add in the additional interaction via Twitter and conferences can become a mind-bogglingly fast-paced solution centre!

Of course implementing those solutions is a different challenge but I’ve yet to come away from a conference NOT feeling energised and ready to tackle things and, again, social media then helps extend those conversations.

Creating the business case for attending a conference is usually centred around the sessions, and what the value and benefits of attending will be to the company, but I think it’s also worth factoring in the availability of your peers as part of that discussion.

bookmark_borderPlan for a plan

I’m a planner, a goal oriented person. Sometimes it really pisses me off but even subconsciously I’ll break down the simplest thing and give myself a goal. It can be handy when it comes to keeping up with chores (I won’t sit back down until I’ve put a wash on and cleaned the bathroom) and it’s definitely handy when I find the motivation to exercise (competitive? me?).

But sometimes that need to know what is next, what the plan is, what the goals are, means I spend too much time worrying about when things “should” (by my own weird interpretation) happen, rather than relaxing and just letting things happen.

So I’m trying to relax a bit, and only worry about the things that actually need to be worried about.

A good example of my quandary is our upcoming trip to Glastonbury. Yesterday the full lineup, including times, was announced.

Given that there are four days, and 34 different areas, with performances running from 10am through to 6am there is simply no way we’d get to see everything we wanted to see, it’s just impossible. So there are two choices.

Choice 1
Highlight the performances we really want to see and pull together a list of times and locations. That way I at least know that one a certain day, at a certain time, I need to head to a certain area. That way I’d have some level of a plan to keep me happy and the rest we can make up as we go.

Choice 2
Don’t plan a thing. Wander round and stop when something grabs our attention.

We are aiming at mostly Choice 2 (exception being made for Elbow) as it’d be good to just experience the entire thing, than spend four days rushing about from area to area.

So, that’s the plan. Mostly.

Which means, sneakily, there is still a plan!

So I win.

Or do I?

I’m so confused.

bookmark_borderWhere is everyone?

The attendance at last nights ISTC Area Group meeting in the West of Scotland was poor, and as it seems to fluctuate quite dramatically at times (we went from four people to ten and back again in the space of three meetings) I’m trying to figure out why.

Is it apathy? Laziness? Lack of awareness? Or perhaps people are unclear of the benefits of turning up?

If you are a member of the ISTC, and on the mailing list (or perhaps you are following the ISTC on Twitter?), then you will receive notifications of the area group meetings.

But what if you aren’t a member? How do we attract… scratch that, how do we FIND people who may want to attend? Where are all the technical communicators?

I wonder if more people get quicker benefit being part of online communities? If social media is part of the reason for the low attendance?

Last night was, despite the small number, useful. It always is in one way or another – I got some ideas to help me with my current recruitment drive – but perhaps, like all of these things, you have to turn up to get the benefit.

In the past some of us have contacted other “user groups” who may be interested from the likes of eLearning professionals and on the Adobe user forums. That accounts for the spike in attendance but I’m starting to wonder if there is just a general apathy about our profession (or about the professional world) at the moment.

I’m also very aware that the catchment area isn’t that large, but I know there are other technical authors, technical writers, technical communicators, and lots of other people in the local area who could benefit from attending. These people do exist, we just need to find a way to reach out to them and make sure they understand the benefits.

We have, in the past, considered running a specific session, with a guest speaker, so there is a definite agenda and perhaps that is more of what we need. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a Catch-22 scenario, we can’t (won’t) book speakers if hardly anyone is going to turn up!

It is a quandary for sure.

Why wouldn’t people want to go to the pub and have a chat with fellow professionals?

bookmark_borderTime flies…

Hard to believe that’s six months of the year gone already.

But it has and that means that Glastonbury is only three weeks away! I really need to buy me some wellies.

Other than that, life is good. I’m on the verge of, finally, buying a bike through the Cycle to Work scheme, which I’m just waiting on being launched at my workplace, and I’m managing to get to the gym a couple of times a week with the odd game of badminton thrown in for fun.

Still not really reading all that much, and my new camera has been severely underused, but that’s mostly because my new role as webmaster for the ISTC is taking up a fair bit of my downtime. Still to find the balance with that but it’s fun, particularly as I’m going to be rebuilding the entire website very soon.

Starting to think about the next holiday too, money will constrain me a bit, so likely to be a long weekend city break type thing, but where? Those things can be costly, so another option is a cheap and cheerful package somewhere hot and sunny. A week in the sun, reading, drinking and generally lounging around… yeah I could cope with that.

bookmark_borderWhat else do you do?

If ever I needed proof that I am not a bastard I need only look at what I tend to do in my spare time. For not only do I look and crack the same crap jokes as my Dad, I also seem to have the same need to be busy that he has.

Admittedly, looking through the archives of this blog, that’s something that is fairly well documented here but a recent development has finally cemented this quiet thought in my mind.

After agreeing to take over the running of the ISTC website (including a rebuild and redesign which are underway), I’ve recently agreed to serve on the Council of said organisation. That means reports, budgets, minutes, meetings and the like. Thankfully it’s not a huge commitment of time and it doesn’t really change my main focus but, knowing me, I’ll need to be on the lookout to make sure I don’t take on any further tasks.

I still have a couple of other things to finish off too, and hoping to get a clear run at them this week to get them out of the way.

There is one other thing I must do though.

Remove Football Manager 2011 from my iPad. I’ve already lost about two entire days to it.

Focus man, focus!