What Makes a Good Website?

The STC Leadership Community Resource (LCR) sponsored Tom Johnson, who offered to critique some STC community websites during a free webinar. In addition to being a WordPress consultant, Tom is a senior technical writer for a non-profit organization in Salt Lake City, Utah. He writes a popular blog, Idratherbewriting.com, where he explores the latest trends in technical communication. He also records podcasts of interviews with technical writing luminaries around the world.

Tom had a co-presenter, Will Sansbury, who is a usability specialist in the area of web-based design.

The session ran overtime, so I couldn’t stay until the end, but here’s what I learned:

• They suggested using SharePoint as a CMS (Content Management System) for your website. Its one drawback is that it’s hard to make it look less like SharePoint.
  
• SharePoint has a Wiki that can be used for meetings, newsletters or news items.
  
• You only need generic skills to work with SharePoint, but you need specialized skills to customize it.
  

They critiqued the following three websites:

Twin Cities (http://www.stctc.org/)

• Protected site; social networking component so you can find other members
  
• Can load a photo and profile; good for interactivity, bad for broadening user base - since people are loading personal information, you can’t make it public
  
• Recommend adding an RSS feed for the blog; the feed enables easier access for RSS users
  
• Note: Facebook is blocked by some employers; if you plan to use Facebook to communicate with your members, their access might be limited
  
• Allows members to post jobs (with recommendations)—the personal recommendations are useful
  
• Job bank restricted to members; while this enhances member value, it limits the number of people who can see the jobs, and discourages employers from posting
  
• Everyone on the council is able to publish on the website; takes the pressure off the webmaster

Heartland (http://www.heartland-stc.org/)

• It’s very attractive; aesthetics count
  
• They have a problem making changes to the website because only one person (the webmaster) has access
  
• Static site; they can’t have more than one person making changes to the website
  
• He recommended adding interactivity, such as a discussion list, a Wiki or a blog
  
• All community websites should have the STC logo and a link to Head Office

Technical Editing SIG (http://www.stc-techedit.org/)

• Using Tiki; good because it’s open source, which means it’s free, there are a reasonable number of people who know how to use it, there are good sources of information about it, and it allows the website to be dynamic
  
• Opening new pages is slow
  
• The email list postings are automatically copied to a discussion forum to allow people to search the information

My notes abruptly end here because I had to leave the webinar, but if you visit some of the sites listed above, you might find some inspiration for your website.

Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics

I recently attended a webinar about Google Analytics that was aimed at post-secondary institutions who would use Analytics to gather data on how effective their website is. Not all the information was relevant to a small, non-profit organization, but I did learn a few gems:

• It’s important to define the goals of your website. Then the data you gather will have meaning.
• All data gathered by Analytics is anonymous and not shared with any other organization.
• The Pageview data tells you how many pages on that website were viewed.
• A visit or a session is 30 minutes long or until the person leaves, whichever is shorter.
• Each visitor is uniquely identified so that the data isn’t muddled by some very frequent visitors.
• Bounce means that the visitor only viewed one page for a brief amount of time. Your bounce rate is bad if it’s over 50%. To improve it, you should check the keywords for your site, and the pages where people land who are bouncing.
• The URL builder allows you to track what media sent people to your website. It tags your website’s URL which you could distribute, for example, by email. Then you can track the success of a particular promotional campaign.

Thanks to EDge, the Student Recruitment Solutions Company, for running this free webinar.

Education Evening Recap: Get a job! Or, at least learn how to get one

The Southwestern Ontario Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication hosted an Education Evening on February 9 at the University of Waterloo, which was designed to help job seekers learn about finding–and keeping–a job. The evening’s five speakers, Margie Yundt, Kate O’Donnell, Susan Malcolm, Cheryl MacDonald, and Janice McVey, used their considerable and varied professional expertise to address a diverse range of topics, all related to employment within the technical communications sector.

Kate O’Donnell, an independent contractor since 1993, spoke about her expertise in this area. She answered questions about how technical writers might consider marketing both themselves and their businesses, and was able to use her insider’s perspective to address both the advantages and disadvantages associated with contract work. Janice McVey, a managing partner for the Dean group, explained the role that recruitment specialists and agencies like the Dean Group could (and do!) play in helping independent contractors market themselves, as well as the more traditional role of recruitment agencies as matchmakers in helping companies and qualified individuals to find each other. To hear what Kate and Janice have to say for themselves, go to YouTube.

Margie Yundt, a Manager at Research in Motion who has considerable experience with interviewing and hiring, spoke about hiring practices at specific companies. Get a sample of Margie’s advice.

Cheryl MacDonald, Research Manager at The Economical Insurance Group, and Susan Malcolm, Career Consultant at the Wilfred Laurier Career Development Center, addressed resume construction, and pointed participants to websites they have found particularly useful for job-seekers.

All speakers touched on interview strategies, portfolio building, the importance of a well-crafted resume and overall interview preparedness.

As a service to the community, the SW Ontario Chapter of the STC hosted this evening for free. The extensive publicity resulted in a high attendance by non-STC members. The informal progression style of the meeting allowed all of the participants to have in-depth conversations with the speakers and ask individual questions. Participants left the evening having gained a better understanding of the technical writing job market and self-marketing strategies to improve chances of landing (or keeping!) that job.

Many thanks to Rhonda Lee for providing the YouTube videos.


By Katherine Heyland

Alberta STC Chapter Looking for an Instructional Designer

The Alberta Chapter of STC is looking for a qualified presenter/seminar leader for our annual ‘New Heights’ seminar to be held in April or May of 2010 in Calgary, Alberta. This is an opportunity for a person who is experienced in Instructional Design and has perhaps already created and presented on this topic (possibly covering how to design CBT or online training) in a single-day training format. New Heights is STC Alberta's premier educational event of the year. We bring in a noted speaker for an intensive day-long workshop and provide attendees with materials, lunch and snacks, and a first-class educational experience. The seminar is held on a working day, normally a Friday. The timeline is admittedly short! If you respond to this request, we will ask you to complete our Expression of Interest form that sets out our expectations and which, properly completed, should speed up the selection process. Please respond to our New Heights Manager, Mellissa Ruryk at newheights@stc-ab.org.

Thanks,

Jessie
**********************************************

Jessie Channey President

president@stc-alberta.org

STC Alberta www.stc-alberta.org

STC Toronto presents Management Day

The Toronto Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication is hosting Management Day, an interactive event designed to help technical communicators learn three important elements of effective communication:“Be Agile, “Always consider Users” and “Improve content through reuse”. Management Day: Elements of Effective Communication (sponsored by Front Runner Training) will be held on Feb 26th, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at Front Runner, 21 St Clair Ave. E, Toronto, ON. The event will feature four speakers who have real world experience in their areas of expertise. Participants will have a chance to meet each of these four speakers outside of their seminars before the day commences, during breaks, as well as during both the panel discussion and feedback and closing. Registration and payment is required in advance, and the cost to attend the event is $49 for members, students and affiliates; and $99 for non-members. To find out more about this event, as well as review the speakers and peruse seminar topics, just follow this link: http://www2.stctoronto.org/get-involved/events/management-day.

Canadian Questions Posed to STC Election Candidates

The presidents of the Canadian chapters agreed that it would be helpful to our voting members if we asked the candidates some questions that are relevant to Canadian STC members. The questions were:

• How would you propose to make international chapters like Canada feel more like they are a part of the bigger organization?
• What would you do to convince Canadian members that they should pay the same membership dues as Americans, when many of the STC services do not apply to Canada?
• Are you aware that the International Affiliation Agreement is currently being reworked, and what do you think it should contain?

These questions were posed on February 1 to candidates running for all positions: director, secretary, and nominating committee. They each had a choice of whether to answer them or not. The following people chose to answer them as of February 11:

• Mak Pandit: http://notebook.stc.org/2010-election/makarand-pandit-member-questions/. Mak requested a copy of the International Affiliation Agreement, so I sent it to him. He responded by email:
  “Since I could not answer your question I had asked forwarded it and the reply I got is STC is working with it lawyers to update this agreement. The updated agreement will then be sent to the chapters.”
• Tricia Spayer: http://notebook.stc.org/2010-election/tricia-spayer-member-questions/.
• Nathaniel Lim (answered one of the three questions): http://notebook.stc.org/2010-election/nathaniel-lim-member-questions/
• W. C. Wiese: http://notebook.stc.org/2010-election/wc-wiese-member-questions/.
• Nicky Bleiel: http://notebook.stc.org/2010-election/nicky-bleiel-member-questions/

Please feel free to scan the other candidates’ answers to see if they have responded to these questions after this blog post. You can also pose questions of your own if you are an STC member. Note that you must have paid for your membership before February 28, 2010 to be eligible to vote. Voting starts on March 9.

We hope this additional information will help you decide who to vote for.

STC 2010 Election Reminder

(Copied from the STC Election Message)

Who will be STC's next...

• Secretary?
• Board Members?
• Nominating Committee Members?

Do you know the candidates? Take this opportunity to get to know the individuals running for elected office at the Society level. Click here to visit the 2010 Election and Candidate Information page on the STC website. You can review the candidates' biographies, ask them questions, and view their responses to questions posed by other members.

The 2010 election will be held from 9 March 2010 through 8 April 2010. Information on casting your ballot will be sent to you prior to the opening of the election. As a reminder, you must renew your membership (and new members must join) by 28 February 2010 in order to be eligible to vote in the 2010 election.

Thank you for doing your part to make STC a vibrant, growing organization.