Symposia
Sym·po·si·um, -a (1) a meeting or conference for the discussion of some subject, esp. a meeting at which several speakers discuss a topic before an audience. (2) a collection of opinions expressed or articles contributed by several persons on a given subject or topic.
Manual Labour publishes the handouts from various sessions we present at conferences and professional society meetings. These sessions and seminars are available for presentation at your company or society meeting
In addition, at Manual Labour we encourage writers and designers to publish in professional, commercial, and industry publications. Look here for articles by Manual Labour staff and other professionals within the professional technical and publication industries.
Symposia accepts articles for consideration from qualified professional technical and other publications professionals. If you would like to have your article presented on Symposia, send a copy to Bonni Graham
White Papers
Manual Labour provides the following white papers:
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See what home electronics consumers have to say about the state of technical manuals!
Download "What Do Your Manuals Say About Your Company?" -
Explore consumer reaction to manuals for children's products that they, as a parents, grandparents, or other caregivers, read. See what they had to say about those manuals.
Download "Do Your Manuals Put Children in Danger?"
All white papers are in Adobe Acrobat 5.0 format and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them.
Presentations
Click the presentation name for a more detailed description (where available).
Document to the Question
This presentation discusses how to identify user questions, group them into categories, then decide which categories go online and which go on paper. This article has been presented at regional professional conferences and reproduced in conference papers for the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and the annual Writer in the Workplace workshop. Document to the Question was originally presented at the annual Writer in the Workplace workshop in 1995. Document to the Question is available as a half-day or full-day seminar for private or corporate presentation. For more information on this session, e-mail Bonni Graham. To see resources for this presentation click here.
Psst! Wanna Buy Some Doc?
More than half the battle of selling documentation (whether to clients or in-house) involves educating the "buyers" as to why what we do matters to the business! It seems like most of the non-doc people we encounter think that documentation is a necessary evil—when we all know it's simply necessary. For more information on this session, e-mail Bonni Graham. To see resources for this presentation click here.
Identity Crisis: the Persona as a Tool for Evaluating Information
Knowing your audience's demographics is well and good, but statistics are not people -- and we write for people. This session explains how to turn statistics into a "persona" and use that to improve and sustain your information design. For more information on this session, e-mail Bonni Graham. To see resources for this presentation click here.
We're Just Like You Only We Use Words
Many people think technical writers write documentation the way they wrote term papers--frantically, at midnight the day before it is due. Bonni Graham will describe how writers and developers can agree on a documentation process. This process must parallel engineering development and include adequate time for documentation development and review. In this hour and a half session, she will discuss how writers can explain this process to managers and engineers in terms they can relate to. For more information on this session, e-mail Bonni Graham. To see resources for this presentation click here.
Management by Leveraging Your Personality Flaws
Afraid of being a Pointy Haired Boss? This session will guide you to understand and recognize how your own personality affects your staff -- and how you can leverage that to everyone's advantage. For more information on this session, e-mail Bonni Graham. To see resources for this presentation click here.
Indexing With a Vengeance
A good index is more than just a list of terms at the back of the book. A good online index is more than the Windows Find tool. Indexing, a form of writing in and of itself, requires as much thought as the development of the manual body. However, it's not as scary as it seems. Bonni Graham will demystify the theory of indexing and offer practical tips to make indexing easier and more effective. For more information on this session, e-mail Bonni Graham. To see resources for this presentation click here.
Corporate 101/Proving Our Worth
Technical communicators may work in customer support, product development, marketing, mutli-functional teams, or are responsible to different departments and competing imperatives. Business skills could be the difference between thriving in an organization and being the first in the layoff line. Technical communicators need to be able to better define and communicate their role within their organizations. Bonni Graham will discuss some sample business objectives of a technical publications department and how technical communicators can contribute to the department's success and prestige within the organization. For more information on this session, e-mail Bonni Graham. To see resources for this presentation click here.
Articles
Tools or
Talent? What to Look for in a Technical Writer
—Jack Molisani, ProSpring, Inc.
This article discusses the core talents you should look for in a technical
writer, and how to interview to discover them.
The Lone Writer
—Bonni Graham, Manual Labour, Inc.
This article discusses the unique challenges faced by only writers and
the possible solutions only writers may want to consider. This article
has been presented at regional professional conferences and reproduced
in conference papers for the Society for Technical Communication (STC)
and the annual Writer in the Workplace workshop. Lone Writer was originally
presented at the annual Writer in the Workplace workshop in 1993.
Choosing the Right Tool: A Comparison
of Word Processing vs Desktop Publishing
—Bonni Graham, Manual Labour, Inc.
This article details the basic conceptual considerations and differences
between using word processing and desktop publishing tools to achieve
similar results. This article has was originally published by VUEPOINT
magazine (Volume 2, Issue 5 1996), a bi-monthly publication dedicated
to publishing professionals using Ventura Publisher.
Object-Oriented Programming and Technical
Communicators OO-LA-LA!
—Bonni Graham, Manual Labour, Inc.
New technology is constantly appearing—both on the horizon and in
our midst. Occasionally this new technology requires new work habits.
Object-Orientation, one of the hottest new programming buzzwords,
is just such a development. This article discusses the major themes
of object orientation, and how we as writers can use such themes to create
documentation more appropriate to this new system. This article has been
presented at regional professional conferences and reproduced in conference
papers for the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and the annual
Writer in the Workplace workshop. Object-Oriented Programming and Technical
Communicators OO-LA-LA! was originally presented at the annual Writer
in the Workplace workshop in 1994.
Other Sites of Interest
Society for Technical Communication • STC San Diego Chapter
UCSD Certificate in Technical Communication Program
Information Technology Service Management Forum • ITSMf San Diego LIG
Copyright © and Fair Use Information
Articles appearing on Symposia may not be republished or redistributed
by any means or under any circumstances whatsoever without the express
written permission of the copyright owner or owners. All copyrighted articles
reproduced on Symposia are the property of their respective copyright
holders. All submitting authors agree that single copies of Symposia
articles may be reprinted for private use and for review purposes only.
Submitting authors bear sole responsibility for the articles they submit,
including rights to distribute and use. Excerpts from such articles may
be reproduced, provided the reproducing author/editor makes the appropriate
citations referencing the article's original author and date of publication.