Fwd: STC Austin Presentation Planning - Sat 3/10/07

Thu Nov 16 09:38:16 MST 2006

Marian-
I am interested in usability and storyboarding, but it's unclear to me what all the options are - information mapping maybe? Here's a thought though, do we need to be the ones deciding or should we ask the members? 

We subscribe to survey monkey, so how hard would it be to post this as a survey off the web page and poll the members/non-members? Or has there been any kind of trend you've seen from the program eval forms? I believe you ask for topic ideas on your form, right? 

I think after all, they'll be the ones that make it or break it - not us.

Leah

----- Original Message ----
From: Marian Blake <maidmari at tstar.net>
To: STC Austin Administrative Discussion List <stc-austin-admin at lists.stc.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 10:20:22 AM
Subject: [stc-austin-admin] Fwd: STC Austin Presentation Planning - Sat 3/10/07

All,
Below are the Topic choices for our next Seminar, March 10, 2007.  
Whitney Quesenbery is an Associate Fellow of STC, she is known for Usability, Software Design processes, and Storyboarding to name a few.  
She has been very active in the Usability SIG for several years (she may have started it).
I've known Whitney since I joined STC in the Delaware Valley chapter (now Philly) in the early '90s.   
There I watched her design our 1st chapter website in a text editor, in early HTML!
We've reserved the room at LCRA for this, so our expenses should be less of a concern than at UT.  
Send me the Topic(s) you like best and Order them 1st to last - I will then rank them all and let you know what was chosen or if we need a runoff.  
You can read more about Whitney at her website below.
Thank you,
Marian

Whitney Quesenbery
Whitney Interactive Design
www.WQusability.com 
whitneyq at WQusability.com 
phone: 908-638-5467
mobile: 908-328-5959
STC Usability: www.stcsig.org/usability
"Warning: Objects in the calendar are closer than they appear."

Marian  Blake
Austin STC
Dir Ed & Programs
maidmari at tstar.net
H: 830-798-1047
Cell: 512-470-1583

Begin forwarded message:

From: Whitney Quesenbery <whitneyq at wqusability.com>
Date: June 3, 2006 3:57:08 PM CDT
To: "Marian Blake" <maidmari at tstar.net>
Cc: "'Aaron DaMommio'" <aaron at damommio.com>, "'Joy'" <jwowen at texaswriter.net>, "'Cheri Mullins'" <Cheri.Mullins at genband.com>, "Tamara Dwyer" <tamara at tamaradwyer.com>, <leah.jo at sbcglobal.net>, <tcomey at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: STC Austin Presentation Planning - Sat 3/10/07

Marian,

Now, down to business on the workshop for March 10th. 

Let's hold all of the travel and fun logistics until we get closer. They're easy to do, and we'll both know better what we're up for. 

What follows are a few topic ideas from what I'm doing these days. We'll want to pick something that is appropriate for the level of interest (and experience) in usability.

1. Using Personas
I've got a nice half-day workshop on how to use personas. It's very hands on - we practice writing scenarios (a great way for technical communicators to get involved with the design process), doing a walk-through of a site using the personas, and then generating new design (or documentation) ideas from what we learn.

2. Choosing the Right Usability Technique
Now that more people are getting a chance to "do some usability"  - what should they be doing. With contextual inquiry, card sorting, usability testing... and so many more techniques to choose from, how do you make the right choice to answer the right question. FYI, I will be doing a version of this as a Phone/Web seminar in November. (Note - this was changed to May 2, 2007)

3. Creating a Search that Works
This is more like a seminar than a hands-on workshop, but over the past 5 years, I've done a lot of work in improving search, and in making web sites more "search-able" and have some great presentation material on it. It would cover both the search interface, content optimization and metatags to help people find the right topic within your content. (This would not have much focus on Search Engine Optimization as a marketing function, but will touch on it). 

4. Universal Usability
I'll be doing the talk in Dallas on this, and will be developing a full-day workshop for designers that we could cut down to the half day (and focus on writing rather than interface design). It covers basic accessibility and the broader principles of universal usability and how we design and write for audiences that include older adults, young people, people with low English proficiency and so on. This might also be a relevant topic as the new Web Accessibility Guidelines will be moving towards adoption by then, and we could review what they will mean for anyone writing for the web. 

Whitney

At 10:17 AM 4/30/2006, Marian Blake wrote:

Please let me know if you get this.  
I tried sending it last week – but am having ISP troubles.

Whitney,
Super Duper!!!
I’ll begin planning for a Saturday morning event on March 10th!
Thank You So Much!
Now then – what presentations do you have available?
I thought something on Usability would be a draw here – but I also liked your Storyboarding Presentation.  
Maybe you’d have time to do two as separate presentations or Workshops in one seminar? 
Or the Board might want just one – but something longer.  
If you send us some options for us to choose from (when you get a chance) we’d appreciate it. 
We could plan for 3 hours w/ a break in between and Lunch after.  
Also for Seminars, we usually pay the Speaker something, but I don’t know what yet. 
The Board will have to discuss that.  
Then we’ll need to figure out when you will want to fly to Austin.  
We could come back to the Ranch – but it is at least an hour or more each way. 
I usually stay at my folk’s house when I spend the night in Austin - and you can too.  
Then we’d already be in Austin Saturday Morning
I can pick you up Friday & take you out & about.  
Or if you prefer a hotel, we can do that as well. 
Thank you,
Marian

Marian Blake 
Director Education & Programs
Austin Chapter Society for Technical Communication
H: 830-798-1087
Cell: 512-470-1583
-----Original Message-----
From: Whitney Quesenbery [ mailto:whitneyq at wqusability.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:04 PM
To: Marian Blake; 'Mel Haughton'
Cc: 'Aaron DaMommio'; Joy; Cheri Mullins
Subject: RE: STC LSC/Austin Presentation Schedules

I could do that.

At 03:35 PM 4/27/2006, Marian Blake wrote:

Hi Whitney,
I was wondering - would be possible for you to stay till March 10th so that we could have a Saturday morning workshop?  
If we had it in the morning – say 9 – 12ish you could catch a Saturday afternoon flight back East.  
If that is impossible, then do you think you would be able to get to Austin in time for a lunchtime event on Friday, March 9th?  
I doubt if you’ll be able to leave DFW after the meeting Thursday night & most places where we meet are about an hour from the airport, once you get to Austin.   
Friday evening is not likely to bring many folks in.  
Let me know.
Thank you!
Marian

Marian Blake 
Director Education & Programs
Austin Chapter Society for Technical Communication
H: 830-798-1087
Cell: 512-470-1583

No virus found in this incoming message.
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Whitney Quesenbery
Whitney Interactive Design
www.WQusability.com
whitneyq at WQusability.com
phone: 908-638-5467
mobile: 908-328-5959    

UPA 2006: 12-16 June, Colorado, USA
Register now at: http://www.upa2006.org/

STC Usability: www.stcsig.org/usability

"Warning: Objects in the calendar are closer than they appear."

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.5.0/325 - Release Date: 4/26/2006

Whitney Quesenbery
Whitney Interactive Design
www.WQusability.com
whitneyq at WQusability.com
phone: 908-638-5467
mobile: 908-328-5959    

UPA 2006: 12-16 June, Colorado, USA
Register now at: http://www.upa2006.org/

STC Usability: www.stcsig.org/usability

"Warning: Objects in the calendar are closer than they appear."

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.5.1/327 - Release Date: 4/28/2006

Whitney Quesenbery
Whitney Interactive Design
www.WQusability.com
whitneyq at WQusability.com
phone: 908-638-5467
mobile: 908-328-5959    

UPA 2006: 12-16 June, Colorado, USA
Register now at: http://www.upa2006.org/

STC Usability: www.stcsig.org/usability

"Warning: Objects in the calendar are closer than they appear." 

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