Chapter Meeting Information

Date

Speaker

Topic

May 3

Susan Becker

A Simple Approach to Writing Clearly

Whether you write embedded user assistance for web applications, API docs for programmers, or white papers for marketing, you need to construct the clearest possible sentences. You might have learned to do this in your freshman English composition class, and you probably do it easily most of the time, but you may not quite realize what you are doing or remember why it works. And let's face it: we can all learn to write better. In this evening's program, Susan Becker presents a simple approach to writing clearly. You will learn to find the subject and verb of a sentence, pick the best sentence subjects, and sharpen the focus of your paragraphs. Your writing will improve!

Susan Becker has countless years of experience as a contract technical communicator, writing manuals and developing online user assistance (Codewords). She is currently involved in a phone-based usability study, ongoing editing of Swedish financial reports (no, not in Swedish), and a user assistance project for a start up company that is creating a new type of electronic metering device with supporting software.

She is a former Touchstone director and a past winner in the competition. This year she won an award in the Berkeley Chapter's competition for a hardware test procedure she developed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Susan is a past president of the San Francisco STC and the current web team leader.

June 7

Meryl Natchez

Project Management: When Good Projects Go Bad

In project management, what are the potential project pitfalls and how to avoid them? This presentation includes warnings signs to be aware of actions to take to avoid problems on your projects. Even the best project can hit bumps, and it's important to know how to recognize potential issues and act quickly to keep the project on track. The presentation uses cases studies from a range of technical writing projects, and includes practical tips for managing people, processes and tools.

Meryl Natchez has been CEO of TechProse since 1982. TechProse places technical writers, instructional designers, and programmers on a contract basis. TechProse also provides turnkey solutions to clients, acting as an outsourced documentation and training department for entire projects. Projects range from ongoing development and management of a series of manuals and updates, to fulfillment of global training initiatives, to development of an online documentation and training interface for enterprise use.

Natchez developed TechProse from a single person operation to a corporation with over 50 employees. An alumna of Harvard University, Natchez has received numerous awards for business development and community service. She is a founder of Opportunity Junction, a nonprofit organization that provides low-income Contra Costa residents with technology, literacy, and life skills to become economically self-sufficient. (Pump up your resume -- see the call for a volunteer).

Natchez has taught courses at San Francisco State University, University of California Berkeley Extension, and California State Sacramento. She is an international presenter, who has spoken to business and technical audiences in Japan, Munich, Paris and London, as well as the across the United States. She is past President of the Northern California Chapter of the National Association for Computer Consultant Businesses and of The San Francisco Chapter of the International Society for Technical Communication. She is former chair of the Contra Costa Council Technology Task Force.