More conference presentations

At the end of 2008 I conducted an online survey about attitudes to user documentation. It will come as no surprise to hear that many respondents felt that user documentation in general wasn't really very good. It's more than ten years since the publication of books like Dynamics in Document Design and User and Task Analysis so why should poor standards of documentation still persist, and what can we do to remedy this situation?

I have given presentations about my results, and made some suggestions about how user documentation might be improved, at two conferences so far this year: the STC France Conference in Paris, and the Information Design Association Conference in Greenwich (London). I have also started discussing my results on my blog.

I'm also going to be presenting at the 10th Anniversary Conference of the STC's Trans-Alpine Chapter in Vienna in June 2009, and at Technical Communications UK 2009 in Nottingham in September. I hope you'll be able to join me at one of those events, and if not, please check back on this site after those dates for articles about my results.

If there's anything you'd like to know about technical writing, or if you'd like to talk to me about the technical communication needs of your business, please get in touch.

Technical Writing...

As an experienced technical writer, I can create the online help systems and user guides you need for your products and services. Read more...

Information Design...

Before you start writing your user information you need to plan what information to include, and how to present it. Read more...

DITA Exchange...

The DITA open standard offers XML-based answers for documentation problems. DITA Exchange delivers a DITA solution for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 users. It's a lot easier than it sounds - let me explain...

News and Articles...

Find out what I have been doing recently, my past and future speaking engagements, and catch up with articles about technical writing I've written recently. Read all about it...

About David...

Find out more about me and my career in technical communications, my recent technical writing clients and projects, and take a look at some sample documents. Read on...

Contact me...

If you'd like to discuss anything about user documentation or any other type of technical or business writing, please contact me. Read more...