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LavaCon Content Strategy Recap
Written on byFocusing on Content Strategy Last week, I was in Portland, Oregon for the LavaCon Content Strategy Conference. It’s one of the rare events that I attend within my time zone. I have to admit that it’s very nice to have a short flight on Southwest rather than a long-haul journey on United. LavaCon is an […]
What Do You Get as a Volunteer?
Written on byGiving and Getting As many of you know, I’m in the second of a two-year term serving as Director at Large for the Society for Technical Communication, a volunteer role. And since my election, I’ve often been asked the same question: “Why are you on the board? What do you get out of it?” What do […]
Talking About Burnout
Written on byIt’s Ok to Talk About It This week, my dear friend Stacey King Gordon wrote about her professional burnout. I’m sharing this with you because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Most of the people I know are like me: hardworking people who are good at what we do. Because we’re good at it, […]
The Ampersand New Year
Written on byAnd a Gift Now that Christmas has passed, let me tell you a story about my silver ampersand new year’s cards for my colleagues. First, the Ampersand Let’s start with a little bit of background. I have a really awesome letterpress printer in Denver who did my business cards many moons ago. (Everyone, say hello to Jason, aka […]
Content and Context
Written on byWho, What and How I’ve recently had two separate situations where I realized that clients didn’t fully grasp the connection between content and context. Yet the two are deeply, inextricably intertwined. When I start a project — any project — I always start with the same question: Who is the reader? And some clients have actually responded […]
London Calling
Written on byCan I Speak To You, London? I’ll be in London from 6-10 February to attend a conference. Of course, I planned to fly in a couple of days early to adjust, because I wouldn’t absorb much with a freshly jetlagged brain. I could, of course, spend those days exploring my genealogy on day trips throughout […]
Self-Promotion: Putting Myself Out There
Written on byWhen Introversion and Self-Promotion Collide Last week, while I was in the Washington, DC area for the STC board meeting, I got word that my Summit session was accepted. I’ll be speaking about being an introverted entrepreneur in DC next May. (See, there’s a little bit of self-promotion right from the start.) This is a bit […]
Saving Your Sanity at STC Silicon Valley
Written on byBuilding Rapport in Client Relationships Earlier this week, I had the chance to speak at the STC Silicon Valley monthly meeting. They invited me to speak about client relationships, a topic that I’m known to be just a little bit passionate about. Many thanks to Tom Johnson for recording my talk so that I can share […]
Different Perspectives
Written on byInfluence of Experience on Interpretation We all know that different perspectives and different life experiences can influence how we interpret things that we read, see or do. My classic example is the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor movie Silver Streak, a movie I’ve thought of at least once a week for years. When I was a kid in Philadelphia, we had a […]
Making the Most of Travel
Written on byMeeting, Greeting and Networking Last month, my 9-year-old son and I took and extended road trip on the East Coast. It was a fabulous experience for both of us, forcing us out of our routine and giving us the chance to see people and experience things that were outside our normal world. This could have […]