day 1 – content edu summit
soap!
9:30
10:30
10:30
360° Content: Creating, managing, publishing and collaborating with DITA XML
▨ Stefan Gentz
Worldwide TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems GmbH, Germany
▨ 60 min
In this one-hour workshop we will discuss the advantages of DITA XML-based structured content for omnichannel publishing and how to bring subject matter experts, technical writers and marketers on a common platform for collaboration. Think about the challenges in your company when it comes to DITA authoring and publishing, content contribution from non-DITA based subject matter experts, organizing review and approval workflows and delivering DITA-based content to the company website, PDF, and mobile apps and bring your own questions as well.
11:00
12:00
12:00
Technical strategies for implementing chatbots with structured content
▨ Patrick Bosek
Partner and Head of Customer Success, Jorsek LLC, USA
12:00
1:30
1:30
go & grab something to eat
1:30
3:30
3:30
Building a bot from scratch
▨ Priscill Orue, Tomek Prus
Documentation Developer, UNIT4, Spain | Documentation Manager, Unit4 Poland
▨ 120 min
We want to cover this topic to explain and demonstrate that technical writing is evolving from a passive role to an active part of the development of chatbots. This workshop comprises the description and a practice session of how technical writers participate in the development of conversational interfaces (bots). Attendees will build a bot from zero taking into account provided guidelines.
bubble!
9:30
12:30
12:30
GitHub for Technical Writers
▨ Łukasz Górnicki, Małgorzata Świeca
User Assistance Developer | Technical Writer, SAP Hybris, Poland
▨ 180 min
As GitHub is the most important tool for developers and with so many different companies doing open source it is getting also an important tool for technical writers. Technical writer with experience in Git and GitHub is really valuable. Join our workshop to learn some basics and get some hands on:
- How to use GitHub for documentation purposes
- How to contribute to projects from GitHub
- Do some automation with TravisCI or CircleCI
12:00
1:30
1:30
go & grab something to eat
1:30
3:30
3:30
Drink coffee and browse memes while your computer does the work for you – ApacheANT in action!
▨ Paweł Krentowski
Technical Lead, 3di, Poland
▨ 120 min
Beep, bop, tzzzt, hey there fellow human! I am Paweł, and I am a human as well! I sure enjoy writing… *looks at smudged words on his hand and squints* user manuals.
But I also get tired of all the repetitive actions I have to perform. Copy-pasting files, renaming folders, replacing files on FTP servers, sending emails – it all gets so boring after a while.
I sure wish there was something to assist me so that I can just focus on writing my beloved user manuals.
Apache Ant is a tool whose “main known usage (…) is the build of Java applications”, but it can be adapted to perform almost any repetitive task you want.
Together we will find out what exactly Ant is, and how it can help you save time at work. We will learn about basic Ant tasks, and create our own build files from scratch.
But I also get tired of all the repetitive actions I have to perform. Copy-pasting files, renaming folders, replacing files on FTP servers, sending emails – it all gets so boring after a while.
I sure wish there was something to assist me so that I can just focus on writing my beloved user manuals.
Apache Ant is a tool whose “main known usage (…) is the build of Java applications”, but it can be adapted to perform almost any repetitive task you want.
Together we will find out what exactly Ant is, and how it can help you save time at work. We will learn about basic Ant tasks, and create our own build files from scratch.
4:00
5:30
5:30
Living in Volatile Contexts
▨ Ray Gallon
President and Co-Founder, The Transformation Society, France
▨ 90 min
With the development of ever-more sensitive context sensing, coupled with the advance of artificial intelligence technology, we are going to be able to create instant profiles for users based on their immediate situation – place, time of day, of course, but also emotional state, and ephemeral environmental factors. This means that contextualisation is not just “context-sensitive” online help, the way we have always known it, but situation-specific information, delivered on the spot, assembled in real time, based on parameters that can change in as little as a few minutes. In this workshop, we will role-play a group of KEY USERS in a situation where information changes very quickly, in order to analyse what kind of information people really might need, and how it might be used, reused, or repurposed in a volatile context. The objective is for participants to gain a sense of the users’ contingencies, in order to help them better design future information delivery systems.
sponge!
9:30
12:30
12:30
Wireframing in the post-lorem ipsum world
▨ Wojtek Aleksander
Product Content Strategist, GetResponse, Poland
▨ 180 min
Lorem ipsum is dead, long live content design. In the workshop we’ll work as content designers on design challenges. We’ll start with napkin sketches enhanced with relevant content. Then we’ll dig deeper into the sense of individual words. We’ll create a repository of usable content. Finally we’ll try to put everything on a wireframe.
- You will learn:
- * that good content has its place in low-fi sketches,
- * how to validate words for your design,
- * to make sure the language you use is inclusive,
- * methods of work with words in the design process.
12:00
1:00
1:00
go & grab something to eat
1:00
3:00
3:00
Why EVERYONE should customize DITA, and how to do it easy
▨ Jang Graat
CEO, Smart Information Design, Netherlands
▨ 120 min
DITA was never meant to be used as is – but most people are scared of the complexity in editing DTDs. With DITA 1.3 and the use of RelaxNG files plus some free available tools, it has become much easier. This workshop tells you all the tricks and allows you to customize your DITA environment to suit your author’s needs like a glove. This covers configuration (hiding domains), constraints (hiding individual elements or changing their content rules) and specialization (creating your own elements to extend the semantics for your specific business domain – without breaking the standard).
3:30
5:30
5:30
UX copy tips for product people
▨ Yuval Keshtcher
Founder, Microcopy & UX writing, Israel
▨ 120 min
In this workshop, Yuval Ketscher explores the many different ways writers can work alongside product teams and collaborate with designers. Together, we’ll gain a better understanding of our audience while equipping ourselves with the tools and skills we need to create more meaningful digital experiences for our users.
foam!
9:30
12:30
12:30
Innovate easily with the Design Thinking toolkit
▨ Gosia Pytel
Design Thinking whiz, Northern Ireland
▨ 180 min
Seeing the world from one point of view only will never be an insightful, informative and progressive way of life. One feature of Design Thinking that touches every single person is its focus on people and their needs. Extremely fast-paced, this workshop will showcase an array of relatively easy exercises that could help anyone to change their perspective in order to plan, live or work better. Everyone will be able to choose something that works best for them!
Business-wise, this allows designing products and services that actually resonate with the target groups. Life-wise, it just makes you see the world in a larger, more compassionate scale.
Business-wise, this allows designing products and services that actually resonate with the target groups. Life-wise, it just makes you see the world in a larger, more compassionate scale.
12:30
1:30
1:30
go & grab something to eat
1:30
5:30
5:30
Get comfortable with public speaking
▨ Erin Vang
Principal Pragmatist, Global Pragmatica LLC®, USA
▨ 240 min
As a content nerd who started life as a musician and continues to perform with orchestras and chamber ensembles regularly, I’d like to share some practical tips and strategies for getting comfortable on stage. Becoming a better speaker starts with knowing how to position yourself and move around on stage, understanding how to work with different kinds of microphones, being aware of lighting, engaging with humans out in the seats, and above all, remaining focused on what you want to say instead of on worrying that you might have a heart attack on stage–so that your expertise and passion come through to your audience.
days 2 & 3 – conference
8:00
8:50
8:50
registration
9:00
9:15
9:15
warm welcome
9:15
9:55
9:55
Examining cognitive bias in bots
▨ Rahel Anne Bailie
Chief Knowledge Officer, Scroll, UK
▨ 40 min
Artificial intelligence is not neutral, and as companies rush forward to get in the bot game, it’s important to address cognitive bias at the ground level. We’ve already seen sexist and racist biases creep in around the edges. It behooves us to look at how we develop information to check for bias.
10:00
10:25
10:25
The future of e-learning
▨ Justyna Tofilska
Training Development Specialist, Transition Technologies Managed Services, Poland
▨ 25 min
You have just received an email with a new mandatory e-learning to complete… your thoughts are: “OH NO! Next mandatory e-learning… Boring… Waste of time…” It doesn’t have to be like this! The new technology and digital education allow us to deliver catchy and amazing courses that can be really useful and done wherever you are! If you think the online course is just clicking, you are wrong! In order to build an interesting e-learning we need to get to know our learner’s profile better and find out the best way how to get through to them. What an e-learning course will attract today’s public attention? How to present the exact amount of knowledge in a really interesting and interactive way? Eager to hear more about e-learning trends and what the potential of the digital era is? Come and listen to my speech!
10:30
10:55
10:55
That’ll never happen: Impossible documentation
▨ Tony Self
Consultant, Hyperwrite, Australia
▨ 25 min
The products of technical communication – manuals, Help systems, user guides – are created using authoring tools that are decades old. And although many of those products are delivered on mobile devices, many are delivered using centuries-old paper technologies, or as PDFs. The applications and services that they document can be cutting-edge and innovative, but documentation is rarely so. In this session, we take a fresh look at how documentation could take new and clever forms, and the roles that connectivity, metadata, and interchange play in making that a reality.
You will learn:
- How “legacy” tools are based on last-century approaches
- Ways in which innovation has transformed approaches in related fields
- How connectivity has impacted document delivery
- Ways in which metadata can be the basis for innovation
- The role standards play in data and document interchange
10:55
11:15
11:15
coffee break
11:15
11:55
11:55
Chat/bot – Innovating to create a new age of simplicity
▨ Patrick Bosek
Partner and Head of Customer Success, Jorsek LLC, USA
▨ 40 min
Automation isn’t automatic. As we embark on our journey towards automating our content, conversations, and customer interactions we need keep sight of the fact that simplicity can be a complex problem. In this talk we’ll explore strategies for executing these projects.
12:00
12:25
12:25
How did over 300 skeptics start writing docs?
▨ Rafał Pawlicki
Senior Developer, DreamLab, Poland
▨ 25 min
This is a story about a bunch of developers that have a lot of coding tasks on a day-to-day basis, and have almost no time for writing so-called good documentation. How can they use innovation to simplify the process of creating docs? Has it actually worked in real life? Listen to a man who started a revolution and lived to tell the tale.
12:30
12:55
12:55
How much of design is enough for learning?
▨ Piotr Peszko
Global Security Awareness Manager, ABB, Poland
▨ 25 min
Common sense and best practices for learning design. Why to design? How not to overcomplicate this? Where is the sweet spot?
12:55
2:05
2:05
lunch break
2:05
2:45
2:45
Show me the money! Finance 101 for tech communicators
▨ Erin Vang
Principal Pragmatist, Global Pragmatica LLC®, USA
▨ 40 min
It’s no secret that most technical communicators are words people, and most of us would probably rather not think about calculating costs, building budgets, and figuring out ROIs (returns on investment). The problem is that without money, you can’t do much, and sooner or later in your career you’re going to have to understand this stuff. It might as well be sooner.
2:50
3:15
3:15
DoCucumber – How eating a gherkin can benefit your software?
▨ Wojciech Baranowski
QA Engineer, Dolby Laboratories, Poland
▨ 25 min
Cucumber is a tool used for testing software and Gherkin is the language that Cucumber uses to define test cases. But Gherkin actually serves two purposes — documentation and automated tests.
It is simple, highly readable and non-technical. It falls under “Behavior Driven Development” practices, which is a pretty innovative topic.
The idea behind it is to describe use cases related to a software in such manner that they are understandable by customers, product management, writers, testers, and developers – basically everybody in the software production chain.
At the same time it is a base used to run automated test scenarios.
It is simple, highly readable and non-technical. It falls under “Behavior Driven Development” practices, which is a pretty innovative topic.
The idea behind it is to describe use cases related to a software in such manner that they are understandable by customers, product management, writers, testers, and developers – basically everybody in the software production chain.
At the same time it is a base used to run automated test scenarios.
3:20
3:45
3:45
Responsive Content – Staying on the Cutting Edge
▨ Mike Hamilton
VP of Product Evangelism, MadCap Software, USA
▨ 25 min
In 2016 Mike Hamilton presented best practices for enabling your content to automatically adapt to various computers, browsers, devices, and platforms. This is a rapidly changing area. In this presentation Mike will revisit the topic with the most recent developments in the industry that have made adaptive content presentation much easier for content authors. Mike will revisit the concept of Media Queries and compare that with the newer and easier techniques such as using the FlexBox Model. It has never been easier to ensure that your content is presented to your reader in an optimized manner.
3:45
4:05
4:05
coffee break
4:05
4:45
4:45
Getting things done with SVGs
▨ Daniel Barrio Fierro
Manager, Technical Communications, Dolby Laboratories, Poland
▨ 40 min
Managing graphic assets in documentation can get tedious and time consuming. Companies large and small face challenges when managing their graphics assets, integrating them in a meaningful and productive way into their deliverables. I will present a case study on how my team’s transition into Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) enabled paths to simplify and innovate in our deliverables, our content strategy, and our authoring process.
4:50
5:15
5:15
Plain Language in mobile applications and web pages
▨ Natalia Woszczek
Content Marketer, Untitled Kingdom, Poland
▨ 25 min
Plain Language is a user-focused method of writing, designed to ensure the reader understands the message as quickly, easily, and completely as possible.
In the USA, the usage of Plain English is regulated by Plain Writing Act of 2010, ensuring that all legal, financial and medical documents are accessible, consistent, and easy to understand.
The presentation describes the benefits of using Plain Language in everyday communication with users, including both online and offline interactions. It will also draw directions of using the method in web and mobile content, which becomes increasingly more consumed form of instant information nowadays.
In the USA, the usage of Plain English is regulated by Plain Writing Act of 2010, ensuring that all legal, financial and medical documents are accessible, consistent, and easy to understand.
The presentation describes the benefits of using Plain Language in everyday communication with users, including both online and offline interactions. It will also draw directions of using the method in web and mobile content, which becomes increasingly more consumed form of instant information nowadays.
5:20
5:45
5:45
10 bursts of innovation brilliance taken from The Smart Thinking Book
▨ Kevin Duncan
Founder and owner, Expert Advice, UK
▨ 25 min
Last year two business school professors devised an algorithm to analyze 18 million scientific papers to see how original they were. They discovered that 90% of what was in these “creative” manuscripts was actually old stuff.
So innovation is effectively 90% known material, with a 10% interesting twist.
Don’t start from scratch. See what’s already been done and ask where you can take it to.
Kevin explains how in ten steps.
5:45
6:00
6:00
Day 1 closing ceremony
6:00
8:00
8:00
Networking @ Manggha
8:00
9:00
9:00
SOUNDQ Live Act live concert @ Manggha
8:00
8:50
8:50
registration
9:00
9:10
9:10
warm welcome
9:10
9:50
9:50
INNOVATION IS SHITE (not clickbait)
▨ Gosia Pytel
Design Thinking whiz, Northern Ireland
▨ 40 min
The word “innovation” has been thrown around so many times that it feels very few believe in its sense anymore. What is it exactly, by the way? Is it a magical approach, a tool that can help us invent technological marvels that would be impossible without said “innovation”? Or is it just a sham to attract investors and earn money?
I have been working in the creative and innovation field for five years now and I think… I think innovation is SHITE! There, I said it!
But before you deem me unstable, let me explain! Let me tell you a story, based on actual events, that supports my claim. Let me show you why it’s actually SHITE!
I have been working in the creative and innovation field for five years now and I think… I think innovation is SHITE! There, I said it!
But before you deem me unstable, let me explain! Let me tell you a story, based on actual events, that supports my claim. Let me show you why it’s actually SHITE!
9:55
10:20
10:20
Dear Mr. Robot
▨ Marta Bartnicka & Wojciech Froelich
Chief of translation department for CEE, IBM | CTO, Argos Multilingual, Poland
▨ 25 min
The art of writing content for Machine Translation-assisted translation process. Machine Translation develops rapidly in the most of technical translation industry. Resistance is futile. How the MT performs, however, depends greatly on the way the content was written and prepared for localization.
10:20
11:40
11:40
coffee break
10:40
11:20
11:20
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – the State of Structured Content Management in 2018
▨ Stefan Gentz
Worldwide TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems GmbH, Germany
▨ 40 min
Content can be created and managed in primarily two different ways – structured, following an XML-based information model or unstructured, without any specific information model. Over the last few years, we have seen a surge in companies (more so in a few particular industries) evaluating or migrating to structured content.
- • What is the current state of these companies and/or the industries? Did these companies migrate successfully?
- • Which specific information model did most of these companies choose? Why did they choose what they did?
Adobe recently surveyed a diverse group of 2000+ content professionals across 30+ countries to better understand their preferences, usage, and practices around structured content. The results revealed interesting trends in the areas of adoption of structured authoring, structured content management, the journey towards chatbots, and collaboration use cases, to name a few.
Join Adobe Tech Comm Evangelist, Stefan Gentz, as he shares the latest insights in structured content management based on the findings from Adobe’s 2017 – 2018 Tech Comm Survey.
11:25
11:50
11:50
Conversational UIs for writers
▨ Chris Ward
Freelance technical writer & blogger, Germany
▨ 25 min
Developers of voice and chat assistants are crying out for good writers to help them create the conversational interfaces of the present and future. In this talk I will introduce what constitutes a ‘good’ conversational experience and how we, as writers, can benefit from this trend.
11:55
12:20
12:20
Running UX workshop. Piece of cake or a tough nut to crack?
▨ Basia Kujawska
Technical Writer, 3di Information Solutions, Poland
▨ 25 min
What the heck is UX workshop and how can it help designing tech content? How to run such workshops and change a boring meeting with a client into an amazing adventure for both sides? How to organize workshop project team, improve design process, and what are the common mistakes along the way? Can’t wait to give you a few hints!
12:20
13:30
13:30
lunch break
13:30
2:10
2:10
Marrying DITA to DATA – the DITA Cascading Query Language
▨ Jang Graat
CEO, Smart Information Design, Netherlands
▨ 40 min
DITA was never meant to be used as is – but most people are scared of the complexity in editing DTDs. With DITA 1.3 and the use of RelaxNG files plus some free available tools, it has become much easier. This workshop tells you all the tricks and allows you to customize your DITA environment to suit your author’s needs like a glove. This covers configuration (hiding domains), constraints (hiding individual elements or changing their content rules) and specialization (creating your own elements to extend the semantics for your specific business domain – without breaking the standard).
2:15
2:40
2:40
Content strategy + UX design != complexity
▨ Wojciech Aleksander
Product Content Strategist, GetResponse, Poland
▨ 25 min
Did you know that you don’t need to be agile to create UI text 10 times faster? You simply need systemic approach to messaging. And this means you need UX writers or content designers. Yep, and yet another modification of your design process. The more specialties on the team, the greater complexity? None of these things!
-
- The talk discusses:
- * the stages of maturation towards reaching the “content perfect” stage,
- * the idea that UX writing isn’t just delivering the “copy”,
- * content strategy deliverables that support product development,
- * how each strategic deliverable translates into effectiveness and money.
2:45
3:10
3:10
Rethink your screenshots and tutorials with a Simplified User Interface
▨ Anton Bollen
Customer & Market Strategist, TechSmith, Germany
▨ 25 min
It can be difficult to onboard users to new and complex interfaces and workflows. Plus, software often changes quickly and requires regular updates and localization. How can we face these challenges without having to constantly update supporting content? Let me introduce you to a technique we refer to as Simplified User Interface (SUI) and learn how using SUI-graphics in software tutorials and documentation can benefit your users and extend the shelf-life of your content.
3:10
3:30
3:30
coffee break
3:30
4:10
4:10
Braving the uncharted domains of product training
▨ Nuno Grazina & Jorge Leal
Technical Knowledge Manager | Technical Writer Feedzai, Portugal
▨ 40 min
This talk will take the audience through the journey of building a product training empire from scratch. Well that was the mission anyway – “Fetch me some shiny training materials so I can rule over the greatest knowledge of all!”.
We’ll tell the epic tale of how we charted a vision, built our vessels, navigated constraints and fought monsters of doubt. But we stayed the course (see what we did there?) and the whole company is now arriving at a land of opportunity, where wonders of larger scale await us all.
We’ll tell the epic tale of how we charted a vision, built our vessels, navigated constraints and fought monsters of doubt. But we stayed the course (see what we did there?) and the whole company is now arriving at a land of opportunity, where wonders of larger scale await us all.
4:15
4:40
4:40
Readability – what is it and how do I improve it?
▨ Paweł Kowaluk
Senior Technical Writer, Guidewire, Poland
▨ 25 min
I want to talk about how you arrive at different readability metrics and how they translate to user experience. I also want to point out that technical content is slightly harder to measure than general prose or news because it contains a lot of jargon. Nevertheless, there are cool things we can do as writers to make our content more digestible. I will show lots of examples and recommend a great book!
4:45
5:10
5:10
Getting real about design systems
▨ Nathalie Kowalczyk
Product Designer, Slack, USA
▨ 25 min
Design Systems and its documentation have been a hot topic in the design industry for quite some time now. Yet, nobody seems to have found the secret recipe for it. Furthermore, everybody is looking for the “right” answer to the same questions – How do you build a system that is comprehensive, always up to date, and easy to maintain? How do you motivate other people to use it and have the system itself grow and evolve? Do we need to invent new tools to solve this problem? Or does it really come down to how our teams are structured? This talk is a collection of lessons learned from building, failing, and iterating on multiple Design Systems.
5:10
5:30
5:30
Day 2 closing ceremony
5:30
on
on
After party @ T.E.A. Time, Dietla 1 Street