STC’s First Regional Conference – Bringing Technical Writing Closer Home

By Rithu Kumble

At the preconference workshop, Vijay Kumar elaborated on the current trends of eLearning. Vijay Kumar is the Founder & CEO of Equitek, Bangalore, Founder & CEO of TeCOM, Bangalore, and Mentor of Hew Softech Private Limited, Bangalore. He has over 30 years of result-proven experience gained in the IT Industry in India and the Arabian Gulf. His presentation also focused on types of eLearning, current market scenarios, and emerging trends in the field. His presentation also traced the growth of eLearning as a BPO segment. In the second half of the workshop, he introduced Epiplex, a tool that records actions in a user interface and generates procedural information on the recorded actions. The demonstration created quite a stir among the audience and facilitated a discussion on the future of technical writers.

On March 26th, Shiva Kumar, Vice President, Engineering and Asia Region of Epiance, inaugurated the regional conference at St. Marks Hotel. The first speaker for the day was Parameshwar P. Iyer, PhD (Associate Faculty, Dept. of Management Studies and Associate Chairman and Principal Research Scientist, Center for Scientific and Industrial Consultancy (CSIC) Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore). He spoke about the challenges of Technical Communication in Managing Projects.

Dr Parameshwar Iyer in dialogue with the audience...

The second speaker was Vasudev Murthy, an author, management consultant, and guest faculty at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB). Murthy’s presentation focused on the nuances of proposal writing. His presentation also highlighted the value that technical writers can add to any business proposal.

Next was a session on Technical Writing in User centered design by Anupama Gummaraju. Anupama is a group lead in Infosys and her team concentrates on user experience, specializing in technical communication. Interspersed with questions from the audience, her presentation brought to light crucial details that govern interface design.

Anupama's session in progress...

Sankara Rajanala, a senior documentation consultant from Citec Information India, took the center stage, post lunch. He introduced the concept of taking a semiotic approach to technical writing. After Sankara’s presentation, Nanda Kumar Rajaram, a senior manager at Epiance, presented a new approach to eDocumentation. His presentation also showcased the tool, Epiplex.

Shoumitro Goswami, CEO of Austal Group, introduced the audience to the field of financial services. He elaborated on the role that technical communicators can play in this domain. He mentioned that the strong analytical skills that technical communicators bring to the table are crucial and relevant to the field of financial research.

The presentations were followed by a quiz on technical communication by Sandeep Balakrishna. Three teams of two participants each, qualified for the final round. The questions ranged from grammar to technical writing concepts. Jean Rao of Symphony Services and Gurudutt Kamath walked away as winners.

Additional highlights of the conference were the presence of Doug W, Technical Assistant to the STC President. Mike Ballard and Paul Ballard, STC members of the U.K. chapter were also present at the conference. Rupa and Co. set up a stall to exhibit their books on linguistics, writing, management, and personality development.

This first-ever regional conference was made a grand reality and success by the untiring efforts of the volunteers, Gururaj, Subash, Rithu, and Saurabh. Epiance, TechnoPoint, Rupa and Co., sponsored this event.

This regional conference grabbed the attention of local dailies -- Indian Express and Times of India-- which published reports on this event, both before and after the conference. Considering the success of its first regional conference, STC India Chapter hopes that other cities will organize similar learning and networking opportunities.

Rithu Kumble is an Information Developer with Hewlett Packard.