STC Berkeley: December 2006 Monthly Meeting

The Flare authoring tool is widely perceived as the successor to RoboHelp. While it is far from a RoboHelp clone, Flare was developed mostly by developers who worked on RoboHelp. Mike Hamilton has been in the middle of this story from the beginning. He knows who did what when, and he's going to give us names and dates -- to put to rest any rumors we might have heard.

Flare uses XML as its internal format, but help authors don't need to know about or work directly with XML. Mike will show us how to use Flare to build help systems.

Speaker:

Mike Hamilton

Mike Hamilton is the vice-president of product management at MadCap Software, where he is working on the Flare help authoring tool. Previously, Mike was product manager for RoboHelp from the early days of Blue Sky Software, through the name change to eHelp, and then the takeover by Macromedia. He left before Adobe took over Macromedia and became one of the founders of MadCap.

Monthly Chapter Meetings

The Berkeley chapter meets the second Wednesday of the month.

Continuing in December, 2006 we will meet in the Town Room (on the second floor) of the Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Berkeley, CA.

Program Ideas
Fees
Agenda
Location and Directions

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 Mary Ann Campbell, VP of Programs.

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

Shattuck Plaza Hotel
2086 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA

The Shattuck Plaza Hotel is located at 2086 Allston Way in downtown Berkeley, immediately west of Shattuck Ave. We meet in the Towne Room on the second floor.

The Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Downtown Berkeley, just off of Shattuck

The hotel is within walking distance from the Berkeley BART station; meter parking on the street is free after 6:00 p.m.

The Shattuck Plaza Hotel Lobby

Directions to the Shattuck Plaza Hotel

By BART:

Emerge from the Berkeley BART station.
Walk south on Shattuck one block.
Turn right on Allston.
The Shattuck Plaza Hotel is on the left.

By car:

Metered parking on the street is free after 6:00 p.m.

From north of Berkeley: I-880 south and get off at the University Avenue exit. Follow University east to Shattuck and turn right. Allston is three blocks south of University, and the Shattuck Plaza Hotel is on the South side of the street.

From south of Oakland: SOUTH: Take I-880 north to downtown Oakland, and then bear right onto I-980. Take the Martin Luther King exit and bear left to merge onto Martin Luther King Way. Turn right onto Adeline just past the sharp curve. Adeline will merge into Shattuck Avenue. Turn left on Allston and the hotel will be on the left side of Allston.

From San Francisco: Take the Bay Bridge towards Oakland (I-80 East). At the end of the bridge, take I-80 east towards Berkeley. Get off at the University Avenue exit. Follow University east to Shattuck and turn right. Allston is three blocks south of University, and the Shattuck Plaza Hotel is on the South side of the street.

From far East Bay: Take Highway 24 West through the Caldecott Tunnel. Exit at Highway 13 north towards Berkeley. Turn right on Shattuck Avenue. Turn left on Allston and the hotel will be on the left side of Allston.

Please email webpage corrections or webpage comments to:

Jim Dexter (internet@stc-berkeley.org)

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