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The latest change to this website was made on Sunday, August 17, 2008.

The August 2007 Chapter Meeting

Register now!:

Date:

    Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Times:

    6:00 p.m. Networking
    6:30 p.m. Dinner
    7:15 p.m. Announcements
    7:30 p.m. Presentation
    9:30 p.m. End

Location:

    Highlands Country Club,110 Hiller Drive, Oakland, California

Topic:

    Increasing Visibility and Value: Reframing the Work We Do

    It's time to reframe technical documentation from what we do to how we add value.

    To do so, it's important to consider questions like these:

    • Do you know the major business objectives for your company, for this year? What are three critical goals or initiatives?

    How does the work you do help or hinder those objectives?

    If you don't know your company's key objectives, how can you find out?  

    • How are documentation and training perceived by upper management at your company?

    Is your work a checkbox on the requirements list, or is it a critical success factor?  

    •  Does the work you do help to solve customer problems?

    Are you focused on documenting features, or on making sure your customers have information that can help them solve problems?

    Do you have the support you need to develop the latter? Do stakeholders within your company realize the value you can bring?

    • Is the glass half empty, or half full?

    When you propose changes, do they come across as complaints, or as innovations that will significantly add to your organizations' competitive advantage? 

    We know we need to think about these kinds of issues, but it's hard to do so when our day-to-day work is focused around meeting tight schedules and getting deliverables out the door.

    Bring your experiences, ideas, and questions to this interactive session for an opportunity to stop and think about your role in the organization, and identify what you can do to increase your visibility and focus on your value.

Speakers:

    Linda Urban and Joan Lasselle

    Linda Urban is an independent consultant with over 20 years experience in technical communication. She works on product usability, help systems, software and hardware documentation, and training. Linda focuses on developing solutions that meet user needs and company goals, and her work has received local and international STC awards. She also teaches in the technical communication programs at UC Berkeley Extension and UC Santa Cruz Extension. Her company is Linda Urban Communications, LLC.

    Joan Lasselle is founder and President of Lasselle-Ramsay, Inc., a professional services company that develops business information and learning solutions that drive superior user experience, productivity, and change. Lasselle-Ramsay focuses on four practice areas: content management, technical documentation, training development, and on-the-job information tools. Since 1982, Lasselle-Ramsay has worked with major high-tech manufacturers to develop technical documentation solutions for commercial products.

Monthly Chapter Meetings

The Berkeley chapter meets the second Wednesday of the month.

Continuing in August, 2007 we will regularly meet at the Highlands Country Club in Oakland, CA.

RSVP

RESERVATIONS FOR THE AUGUST 2007 MEETING
Use the Berkeley Chapter's online storefront to make reservations now for the August 2007 meeting.

Chapter Meeting Fees

For the meeting and dinner, reserved on the Chapter's website in advance:

  • Members: $18
  • Non-members: $21
  • Student members: $15

For the meeting and dinner at the door:

  • Members: $21
  • Non-members: $24
  • Student members: $18

Note: If you do not reserve dinner in advance, dinner may or may not be available on a walk-in basis. We order dinner for the number of reservations plus a few walk-ins.

To attend the program only:

  • Members and non-members: $12
  • Non-STC-Members: $15
  • Students: $10

NOTE ONE: Non-members are always welcome to STC meetings.

NOTE TWO: All members of the San Francisco Chapter of the IABC are welcome to register for Berkeley STC General Meetings at the member price.

If you wish to pay by cash or check, send email to that effect to treasurer@stc-berkeley.org, and then bring payment to the meeting.

If you wish to pay be credit card, please reserve using our online storefront.

Interested in becoming a member?

Chapter Meetings Agenda

  • 6:00 -- Networking, conversation
  • 6:30 -- Buffet served
  • 7:15 -- Chapter business, announcements, jobs available*
  • 7:30 -- Formal program
  • 8:30 -- Conversation, off-line questions for the speakers, follow-up on job announcements
  • 9:30 -- Clear the room, move conversations to the sidewalk

 *Attendees are encouraged to announce open positions. Please bring job listings for distribution. Recruiters may introduce themselves, but may not describe open positions in detail. Save that for one-on-one after the program.

Location and Directions

Highlands Country Club
110 Hiller Drive
Oakland, California

Directions to Highlands Country Club

NOTE: The club's parking lot is for members only. Please park on the street. (There's typically plenty of on-street parking right along Hiller Drive.)

  • From San Francisco

      Cross the Bay Bridge to I-580 Eastbound. Remain in the right lane, until Highway 24 Eastbound (toward Berkeley and Walnut Creek). Continue eastbound until the Tunnel Road off-ramp. Ext will loop around to the west, crossing back over Highway 24. Turn left at the stop sign. Follow Tunnel Road/Caldecott Lane to traffic signal. Veer to the right, and follow Hiller Drive halfway up the hill. Highlands Country Club will be on the right-hand side of the street.

  • From Walnut Creek

      Take Highway 24 Westbound through the Caldecott Tunnel. Stay in the right-hand lane, taking the first exit after the tunnel ends, the Tunnel Road exit, going towards Berkeley. Follow Tunnel Road to the complex intersection and stop light, at Tunnel Drive, Hiller Drive, and Highway 13. Veer to the right, and continue halfway up the hill on Hiller Drive. Highlands Country Club will be on the right-hand side of the street.

  • From I-80 and Berkeley

      Take Ashby Avenue to the Highway 13 exit. Ashby becomes Tunnel Road at the Claremont Hotel. Continue on Tunnel Road (through the split-level section) to the stoplight just before the Highway 24 overcrossing. Remain in the left lane and make a sharp left U-turn around the Firestorm Memorial Garden, on to Hiller Drive. Continue halfway up the hill. Highlands Country Club will be on the right-hand side of the street.

  • From Hayward

      Take I-580 Westbound to Highway 13 north. Continue on Highway 13 past the overcrossing of Highway 24. At the stoplight, turn right, then left, onto Hiller Drive. Continue halfway up the hill. Highlands Country Club will be on the right-hand side of the street.


Chapter Meeting Program Ideas?

If you have a suggestion for a meeting topic you'd like to hear more about or if you'd like to be a presenter, send an email to Linda Urban and Mary Ann Campbell, our co-VPs of Programs.

Last updated Sunday, August 17, 2008.
© 2005-2008, STC-Berkeley Chapter

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