Time with TED

TED is all about spreading ideas, and TEDtalks are now available online, for free. These are presentations and performances from the annual Technology, Education, and Design conference, and they feature thought-provoking, engaging speakers on a wide continuum of topics.

Among the speakers, you'll find:

• Sir Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity (a must see)
  
• Richard St. John on the 8 secrets of success (another must see)
  
• Carl Honore on slowness (um, yes, another must see)
  
• Jeff Han on the multi-touch computer screen (watch this too)
• E.O. Wilson on creating an Encyclopedia of Life (okay, while you're at it . . .)

As you can probably guess, it's difficult coming up with just one favorite. I looked in my TED profile at my favorites, and that was an exercise in futility--there are about 40 videos already listed there.

So go - learn about what makes us happy or what's next in tech. You won't be disappointed.

Tech Writer Blogs

Tom Johnson is a busy man. The President of the STC Suncoast chapter not only maintains his own site, I'd Rather Be Writing, but he recently updated Tech Writer Voices with 35 podcasts from last week's conference and created the Tech Writer Blog Directory, a wiki that lets technical communicators, STC communities, and organizations share their blog sites.

Outstanding, innovative, and sustained performance

On Sunday, we let you know that STC Chicago had received a Community of Excellence Award for creative and effective initiatives that tell STC's powerful story and add substantive value to members.

At the Honors' Banquet on Tuesday, STC Chicago members proudly accepted the Community of Distinction Award for a geographic community with 301 - 600 members. This is the highest community honor conferred by the Society of Technical Communication.

According to the guidelines for Community Achievement Awards, "the awards not only acknowledge that the obligations of a properly functioning community have been met, but that the winning communities have performed well beyond expectations. The awards program recognizes, in a visible and meaningful manner, communities that demonstrate outstanding, innovative, and sustained performance in advancing the goals of the Society."

Associate Fellows
In addition to our achievements as a community, STC conferred the rank of Associate Fellow on three of our members: Dan Brantley, Beth Lisberg-Najberg, and Mary Ryba Knepper. Election as an associate fellow recognizes of the contributions and achievements of an STC member in the professional or educational fields related to technical communication, towards advancement of the Society at all levels, or both.

Competition Winners
Finally, three of our entries to the International Competitions received Distinguished Awards:

Murdock Groundwater Cleanup Project: Signage & Visitor's Guide), Argonne National Laboratory (Art)
- Michele M. Nelson
- Karen Haugen
- Patricia Weikersheimer

Zebra® XiIIIPlus™ User Guide, Zebra Technologies Corporation (Technical Publications)
- Donna Jones
- Jeff Rufenacht
- Carla Martinek

Zebra® RFID Programming Guide, Zebra Technologies Corporation (Technical Publications)
- Donna Jones
- Tony Brown

These are truly stellar achievements - congratulations everyone!

BREAKING NEWS: STC Chicago is a Community of Excellence

STC Chicago received a Community of Excellence Award for creative and effective initiatives that tell STC's powerful story and add substantive value to members.

Summit prep

To get an idea of the relationship between the hotels and the Minneapolis Convention Center, check out http://maps.mapnetwork.com/minneapolis/cvb/index.asp, and click on Hotels. Click Skyways to display the pedways between the buildings.