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Meeting Details

checkicon Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009
checkicon Featuring:

User Experience (UX) and the Role of the Technical Communicator

Presentation outline

  • Introduction to Mic’s background with an overview of the two main ways a technical communicator looks at User Experience (UX): as a technical communicator; as a user experience designer
  • UX technical communicator:
    • Ensuring the user’s success with the product and it’s documentation through:
      • User research (know your audience and their goals)
      • User advocacy on the design team (works best when the tech writer is embedded on the team, such as Agile or concurrent engineering)
      • Usability testing the doc in context to the product usage scenarios
      • QA the UA
  • As a user experience designer:
    • Many UX designers started off as technical communicators
    • Many type of UX positions, and some companies combine or redefine them at will:
      • Usability Engineer
      • UI designer
      • UX designer
  • Commonality between Tech Comm and UX:
    • User advocacy in design ideas
    • Usability assurance on the design team
    • Information architecture
    • Scenarios of usage
    • Strong written and verbal communication skills
    • Persuasion, understanding politics on design teams and company wide, selling your ideas… (ROI, reduced costs, improved competitive advantage, etc.)
  • Reference material
  • Q&A

Mic Vandersluis

For over a decade, Mic Vander Sluis has been implementing design for usability in Sonoma County at several companies including, Compumotor, Agilent and recently Keithley Instruments. This presentation will be practical and interactive, so please bring along your questions and problems for discussion.

checkicon Location:

NEW MEETING LOCATION!
Petaluma Senior Center at Lucchesi Park
211 Novak Drive
Petaluma, CA

VIRTUAL ATTENDEES WELCOME! .. See below for more information.

Just south of Lucchesi Park, off North McDowell Blvd:


View Larger Map

From 101 northbound .. turn right on Washington, left on North McDowell, right on Madison, and left on Novak.

From 101 southbound .. take Redwood Highway North (Petaluma Boulevard North) to North McDowell, turn right on North McDowell, left on Madison, and left on Novak.

VIRTUAL ATTENDEE INFORMATION

If you'd like to attend this meeting virtually (via your computer), we request that you RSVP to the webmaster at least 48 hours in advance (no later than the evening of Tuesday, Nov 17) so we can contact you to make sure you've got the proper software installed. We will be using Skype for the audio and Adobe Acrobat Connect for the video (you'll see what's on the presenter's screen as well as a webcam of the meeting room). To join the Acrobat Connect meeting, all you need is a web browser with Flash 9 (or later) installed (click here to determine your current version of Flash). You'll need to set up a Skype account and install the latest version of Skype. If you've already got Skype installed make sure it's the latest version by choosing Help > Check for Updates.

When you RSVP, please send your Skype username so you can be added to the Skype "group" we will use for the conference call. We will send you a Skype message from stc-northbay that you'll need to accept in order to complete the setup. We will also send you the URL for the Acrobat Connect meeting room.

Please plan on joining the meeting by 6:30pm. We will start the call around 6:00pm so you've got plenty of time to get everything set up. Please feel free to join in on the networking and discussions as well as asking questions as appropriate. However, in order to keep the background noise to a minimum, we ask that all virtual attendees keep your Skype call on "mute" while you're not talking.

Note that we are currently limited to 13 participants, so if you'd like to join in, send in your RSVP early. This will be our first official virtual meeting, so things may be a little rough getting started, please bear with us. If you get dropped from the Skype call, just call back in a few minutes.

checkicon Schedule:

6:00-6:30 - Networking and refreshments
6:30-6:50 - Announcements, round-the-table and speaker introductions
6:50-8:00 - Program
8:00-8:30 - Networking and program follow-up

checkicon Dinner:

We provide refreshments at our meetings for no additional cost. Coffee, tea, and water are also provided.

checkicon Cost:

$2 members, $4 nonmembers.
You and your guest get in FREE if your guest is a first-time visitor!

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