Anu: My aim was simple. I hoped to arrange at least 12 sessions in the year. I tried to compile a calendar for the year, identifying potential speakers and likely topics.

Lesson 9 – Connect to the bigger cause

Ramesh: I feel the primary impediment to the growth of technical communication in India is the lack of training for junior technical writers. I wanted to serve my community. In whatever way I could, I wanted to serve the industry that fed me.

Anu: One of the purposes of establishing organizations such as the STC, is to create awareness in the industry and promote the cause of technical communicators. The more people hear about the STC and its activities, the greater their respect for our profession. I felt organizing such sessions helped increase visibility for our profession. When writers from various companies attended these learning sessions, those companies realized that their writers were backed by a huge professional community.

Lesson 8 – Evolve a sustainable system

Ramesh: Regular STC learning activities depended on three factors:

• A supplier of infrastructure and sponsor for costs associated with hosting a session. Here, we planned the logistics in terms of hardware, software, communication aids and refreshments.

• A pool of presenters who would share their expertise.

• Participants who would gain from the participation.

Anu: As processes began to fall into place for various activities, organizing sessions became easier and much more streamlined. As my network of contacts grew, tasks such as fixing the venue, polling participants for topics, finding speakers, and setting up fee collection centers, were quickly taken care of by other volunteers.

Lesson 7 – Participate in healthy competition

Anu: It is amazing how a dash of competition works wonders. Pune marching on relentlessly with session after session and notching up points! To add to that, people actually started asking why we had fewer sessions than Pune. That really charged us up, and resulted in a record number of sessions at Bangalore.

Lesson 6 – Expect initial failures

Ramesh: Initially, we did not get good support from speakers. However, persistence pays in the end.

Anu: No matter what you do, there will always be someone unhappy. But each session is a learning exercise. You learn about hot topics, the best time for sessions, potential speakers, and much more. Armed with this knowledge, each session is that much easier to organize.

Lesson 5 – Don’t own knowledge--find it, share it

Ramesh: As we organized learning sessions, we realized that both senior and junior technical communicators gain from the experience. The reason is simple. Knowledge is invaluable, but is often not shared. A free flow learning and networking session helps share knowledge. People’s questions often force senior communicators to find the right answers. The knowledge sharing helps senior communicators recognise loopholes in their assumptions and the junior communicators gain from the experience of senior folks.

Anu: Just attending each of these sessions has been an eye-opener! It has given me a glimpse into the way technical communication is morphing over time in India. Another interesting aspect of these sessions is that most often one or two writers from a company will attend the session. They will then share their learning with the rest of their team. This is a win-win scenario since everyone benefits in the end.

Lesson 4 – Announce, Publicize, Follow-up

Anu: The session announcements are posted on the STC-India and TWIN mailing lists. We try to post the announcement at least two weeks in advance to allow for planning. Word-of-mouth publicity also plays a big role. After the sessions, collecting feedback and providing the collated feedback to the speakers ensures sustained interest.

Ramesh: All STC India session require generating interest in the local community. This requires publicizing the event in relevant lists and using networks of friends to reach the intended audience. After the session, we would follow-up with feedback and often write a report, which would later appear in Indus.

Lesson 3 – Enjoy the journey

Anu: Sometimes, it is good to stop and question why we continue doing a certain task. My reasons are simple – the sense of satisfaction at the end of a successful session, the networking opportunity, the chance to meet more and more interesting people, and the takeaway from the session itself.

Ramesh:  For me, the very fact that I was doing something that could help fellow technical writers, spelt happiness. I enjoyed the work and that made it simple and attractive.

Lesson 2 – Remember the goal

Ramesh: Volunteering may seem like giving but, believe me, it is receiving. The receiving comes from getting an opportunity to work for a cause and enhancing your skills in the process.

Lesson 1 – Celebrate

Anu: While it is easy to sit back and celebrate the success of each session, it is also important to realize that these things cannot be achieved alone. At the risk of sounding clichéd, it is finally teamwork that brings everything together! The company that agrees to let us use their facility, employees of that company who run around to ensure that everything is in place, folks who volunteer to collect the fees, speakers who spare their time and effort, and others who are just there to do anything that might be required of them! These people and others who work quietly behind the scenes deserve to be part of the celebration.

Ramesh: Just don’t get carried away, because the next month is not far away!

(Anupama A is Documentation Manager at Pivotal, Bangalore.
Ramesh Aiyyangar is a Senior Technical Writer with VERITAS Software, Pune.)