We've been busy blogging...

...at the new STC Summit Blog.

Have you been reading the official 2012 Summit blog? If not, you've missed out on some important new developments and other details about the STC Summit. Get the scoop about this year's event by visiting the blog, where you'll hear from Host Chapter committee members who share their knowledge about Chicago, STC Chicago, and the upcoming Summit. You'll get information about interesting places to go, and things to do and see while at the Summit. You'll also have access to breaking news and a behind-the-scenes look at this year's event.


Access the blog here.

What runs but never gets tired?

A river. And, apparently, Tom Johnson.

At the STC conference last week, I had the good fortune of chatting with Tom over the topic of marketing vs. influencing. Neither of us cares much for the term marketing when it comes to promoting oneself in the workplace. This could be related to the word, our personalities, or where we work, or all of the above. We do seem to agree that in our positions, we prefer the more subtle role (responsibility?) of influencing decisions and activities regarding design, workflow, architecture, communication strategies, content, and so on.

Outside the office, though, Tom has a much greater influence, for he's doing more to promote our profession, and us as professionals and individuals, then he probably realizes.

Today, for example, he unleashed WriterRiver.com, a social news site for technical communicators, where you can submit news stories. On this river of news, you can also vote to float or sink a story. Most excellent.

This new site complements growing suite of other technical communication resources, such as the I'd Rather Be Writing blog, Tech Writer Voices podcasts, WordPress QuickStart Guide, and Tech Writer Blog Directory.

Say you're new to flickr?

perspectives1
Originally uploaded by c hester.

No problem. We'll help you get up to speed in time for the Summit.

Our new, quick-start blog training will include information about uploading photos to the STC Chicago photo pool and posting photos on the blog. Soon you'll be posting photos directly from your cell phone, if you so choose.

In a hurry to share your photos? Not to worry. You can read up on it here: Newbie's Guide to Flickr.

To learn more about quick-start blog training, send an email to blog@stc-chicago.org.

Blogging the summit

If you're attending the Summit in Minneapolis next month, we'd like to hear from you on this blog. What did you do? Who did you see? What sessions did you attend, and what did you learn?

For more ideas, check out 10 Ideas: What To Post to a Conference Blog by Amy Gahran.

For information on our quick-start blog training, send an email to blog@stc-chicago.org.

Picture of a thousand words

Paula Scher diagrams the blog (via Ze Frank).

Event blog, anyone?

I oversaw an event blog last fall for my organization's large annual conference. It was really successful, generating comments and lots of positive internal feedback. Do any of you have experience with conference blogs, or opinions?

I posted our guidelines on my blog.

Here is the event blog itself.

Blog content management is an interesting new effort, and I would love to see more conversations about this here.

Thanks!

Intercom recognizes STC bloggers

The July/August issue of Intercom makes note of STC communities and members with blogs. Ed Rutkowski, managing editor of Intercom, wonders how many STC members have blogs or contribute to other's blogs on a regular basis. You can reach him at intercom@stc.org to tell him about your blogging efforts. But wait! We'd like to know too.

Soon the STC-Chicago blog will be transitioning away from our wrap-up of this year's conference. We'll continue to post topics of interest to STC-Chicago members, the STC community (that is, communities), and beyond. We'll include links to member blogs and other blogs of interest.

So, let us know if you're out there! Post a comment about your blog in the comments area below or contact us at pr@stc-chicago.org.