Introducing our Guest Speakers: Two Professional Communicators with Two Takes on the Technical Writing Career Path - A Guest Blog by Simon Abbott

In this blog I would like to introduce our guest speakers for Saturday's Alumni Event - Geraldine Eliot and Andrea Noble. Both are accomplished writers and know a lot about social media and self-promotion.

Geraldine Eliot – Director Meerkat Communications, Writer, Marketer.

Geraldine wrote her first epic at the age of six while growing up in South Africa. She knew then she wanted to be a writer or a teacher. She now does both at the same time.

Passionate about social media, Geraldine’s personal blog, The Canadian Chronicles, was a runner up in the 2009 South African Blog Awards. She has sites on LinkedIn and Google+ and is an active Tweeter.

Geraldine has a great range of experience in creative and business writing and editing. She is a contributor to both print and online magazines (like Suite 101.com and Entrepreneurial Woman) and has had her poetry published. She has developed content for the online destination guide Wordtravels and its companion site, Mytripreport.com. And if all of this was not enough, she has taught Business and Technical Communication at BCIT and still teaches there part time. Her courses are Business Communication and Language Development, Communication for Interior Design and Writing for the Web – part of BCIT’s Technical Writing program.

A firm believer in knowledge sharing and community building, she served as the Director of Communications for Wired Woman Society, a non-profit organization focused on education, networking and mentorship for woman in technology, new media and science. She also volunteered as their Marketing Coordinator. She currently volunteers in a communication role for Education Without Borders.

Geraldine is married and lives in Vancouver and when she's not working she’s busy wrangling her French bulldog, Spock, traveling, experimenting in the kitchen, or reading.

To contact Geraldine directly, email her at geraldine@meerkatcommunications.ca.

Andrea Noble – Copywriter and Creative Strategist

Andrea has been a working writer for over 10 years. With a background in visual art, theatre and creative writing, she enjoys generating concepts that lead to integrated marketing solutions. Describing herself as a “born storyteller”, she is a master of persuasion who loves to show B2B companies how to increase their sales.

Andrea graduated from UBC with a creative writing honours degree. She also completed the Business Entrepreneurial Skills Training at BCIT.

A trained improvisational actor, she has learned to use quick wit and on-the-spot thinking to brainstorm ideas – fast. She has performed for over 10 years in front of large crowds “making people laugh, cry, and cringe.” She uses these skills with staff, clients and anyone else who wants to participate in all levels of industry including such diverse customers as: London Drugs, the City of Richmond and the Canadian Navy.

In addition, Andrea teaches communications and technical writing at BCIT. She has also created training materials and delivered business-writing courses for ICBC and the City of North Vancouver. They said she was a “Fantastic speaker and made the topics interactive and fun.”

Andrea is married (just celebrated her 6^th anniversary!) and lives and works in Burnaby. When not working, she loves to read, write, watch TV and play with her 2 dogs Beasley and Calli. She also loves watching stand up comedy and pondering life’s big questions - why are we here? Why? Why? Why??

To connect with Andrea, visit her Contact page. Andrea is also on LinkedIn. 

Give It Away and “They Will Come”; see you in a week at our Alumni Event! a guest blog by Simon Abbott

As Social Media Marketing Consultant Jim Lodico says in his blog, Social Media and the value of Free Information, ask yourself if you would rather work with a financial planner you have never met or with one who provides you with free, valuable, online information? If you are that financial planner, you are building valuable relationships as well as establishing yourself as an industry expert. Do it well and often and people will notice. This is self promotion.

In his ebook A Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing, Blogger and small business marketing consultant Adarsh Thampy talks about how his content marketing strategy consists of communicating with customers and potential customers without selling. Using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus, he advocates developing a competition analysis to determine what social network(s) your competition is using and what results they are getting. Then you should decide what network(s) would work best for you. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin by using too many. Focus on your audience. Nurture them. Giving away free quality content always keeps them coming back for more.

But this is something everyone does - how do you make yourself stand out?  Thampy suggests the following content marketing tools  along with social media to separate you from the pack:

• ·      Blogging
• ·      EBooks
• ·      Press Releases
• ·      Training (offering courses)
• ·      Audio and Video (Podcasts, Webinars, Videos on sites like Youtube)

Blogging – Easy to set up for little or no cost, blogs work well with readers who can leave comments and share their own content which is beneficial to you. Typically, blogging will require only a few hours a week of maintenance though that will depend on the number of posts you wish to make. Just remember: quality over quantity and make sure you respond to comments and questions – that’s how you create relationships.

Blogging tools: Blogger, Tumblr and Wordpress.com – all of which are free.

EBooks – These are usually shorter than regular books, twenty to thirty pages long. What you want to do is pack them with useful information and lots of links. Perhaps a good way to think of an eBook is as a collection of blogs you have already written – all on the same or a similar subject. It’s not quite as daunting that way. Your aim is for your audience to find value in the eBook – whether they buy your services or not. Again, this is how you create relationships.

EBook tools: MS Word (save as PDF format) or Adobe Acrobat for creating eBooks and Scribd for EBook hosting and distribution.

Press Releases – A press release can seem odd in the context of content marketing but a good press release can stand out for that reason. If you have a specific message, a press release can help spread the word. It should not exceed 300 – 400 words. If it contains valuable information that comes straight to the point, your readers will likely read it all.  Distribution services are free and paid but the free ones may have limited reach and you may not be able to use links within the release.

Press Release Websites: PRWeb (paid but effective), 24-7pressrelease (paid and free plans)

Offering Free Training/Mentoring Sessions – You may think you don’t have any special skills to offer, but if you have something that can solve another’s problems, then think again! Provide training sessions through webinars so that you can interact with the audience and build relationships. Your audience can enroll ahead of time and you can tape the session to sell later as a potential product. Just be sure that your webinar software/service is up to scratch. There is nothing worse for an audience than enrolling for something that they have difficulty connecting to. You want them to have a positive experience.

Webinar tools: Freebinar (up to 200 attendees free – ad supported), Yugma (works with Android – 20 attendees), Intercall (IPhone and Blackberry add-ons, unlimited webinars, monthly charge)

Videos and Audio – When people see your face and/or hear your voice, you become more real and a bond is quickly formed. Use services such as Vimeo or YouTube for distribution. Create tutorials or provide explanations on subjects your audience will value. Think about providing captions in different languages thus opening yourself up to foreign prospects. For audio formats as free content, consider podcasts using iTunes. Increase the value by providing a transcript for those who find it difficult to find the time to listen. Transcripts are also great for repurposing.

Video and Audio tools: Tube Mogul (Video syndication website)

Every time you use one of these content options, think in terms of combining and repurposing. Today’s webinar is tomorrow’s blog and tomorrow’s blog along with several other blogs becomes the basis of your latest EBook. By providing free and valuable information consistently to prospective customers, the customer will eventually come to you. It’s all about getting your name out there and gaining trust by using content within social media to self promote. What’s your strategy?

The Art of Social Media Part Deux: Listen First and Never Stop Listening - a guest blog by intern Simon Abbott

In his book Likeable Social Media, social media guru Dave Kerpen says that listening is the single most important skill in social media and one that is easily forgotten. He goes on to say that Communication is 50% listening and 50% talking yet for many years, talking has always taken precedence. Now, for the first time in history, through social media, we can listen to what other people have to say.

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are engagement media and also listening networks. Before you can join a conversation, how can you possibly know what to talk about before you listen?

If you are new to listening, there are lots of free ways to listen to what people are saying online. Try these:

• Google Alerts

• Technorati blog search

• Twitter search

• Facebook search

• YouTube search

• TweetBeep

By going to any one of these and typing a keyword or phrase into the search function, you will see what people are saying using that keyword in real time.

For more advanced listeners, there are paid enterprise software solutions such as Vocus and Radian6 but these are for larger companies rather than individuals.

Per Frank Reed, managing editor for social media blog Marketing Pilgrim, you should be careful what and who you listen to in social media. Here are some rules he advocates:

• Be discerning. Not every social media user is important. Use filters and time to weed out the crazies.

• Be selective. Who do you engage with? Decide who is worthy of your time based on how they impact you and your work. Pare it down even more after deciding who you listen to and respond to.

• Be smart. Don’t engage everyone. There is a fine line between recognition and engagement. Sometimes a simple nod of recognition to an unreasonable user is enough.

• Be careful. Not everything you read on the internet is true. This holds for both your supporters and detractors. Not everyone is who they claim to be.

• Be succinct. Say enough and move on.

• Be Teflon. Try not to take everything personally. People can be mean and they can be idiots. Let it slide. If they want to be miserable, it’s not your problem.

IBM social business executive Sandy Carter says that in social media, listening acts as a guide through the ever-changing world of the blogosphere. So how do you go about listening? She lists 4 steps to create a social media strategy.

1. Determine your target audience. Once you have determined whom to target, you have to understand where to engage them online. A common misperception is that all social networks are the same. According to Anderson Analytics, Generation Z (13-14 year old) social network users are more likely to use MySpace than Facebook. Only 9% used Twitter and none were active on Linkedin. So if you’re targeting Generation Z on Twitter, you’re listening in the wrong place.


2. Indentify the influencers. A research report from Meteor Solutions found that the type of people who follow or friend you are more important than the numbers. An average of 1% of a site’s audience generates 20% of its traffic by sharing content and links. A Forrester Research report by Senior VP Idea Development Josh Bernoff showed that about 6% of users generate 80% of the impressions and about 13% of online adults generate 80% of the influence posts. Through these kinds of analytics you can determine who are sharing content and links and how they feel about it.


3. Know the keywords and trends. Determine the topics that are important to you and your business and identify them as potential keywords. Then, through listening, establish if that is what your audience is interested in. For instance, “cost cutting” would seem like a viable term for any business, but as a result of listening, it turns out that “cost reduction” is the preferred term. Keywords should reflect what’s important in your business.


4. Form a social business strategy. Your social business strategy should address your goals and the approach you will take. Relevancy and reputation management should be part of these goals. How often does your name come up? In what context? By what audience? You can influence this by listening to what your audience cares about and relating to their needs.

Social media analytics starts with listening and listening is not just a discipline. It is a strategy to address the mass of data we all face every day. It offers a means for evaluating this information so you can improve your business. Do you have a listening strategy?

BCIT Tech Writing Alum Annual Networking Lunch June 8 - Oh, and, #SAVEBCFILM - A Guest Blog by intern Simon Abbott

The topic of our Annual Alum Lunch this year is "marketing yourself through social media", so I decided to begin with an example of the power of "grassroots" social media campaigning. Over the next couple months I hope to delve into a variety of social media marketing topics to help professionals like you and me promote ourselves successfully.

My name is Simon Abbott and I had a very successful film career until the BC government compromised the tax credit program which helps the industry attract business, leaving me unemployed. Because I loved writing and was fascinated by the internet, I decided to become a technical writer; but I always kept one foot in film. The recent Save BC Film campaign caught my attention for obvious personal reasons but also because it was a remarkable example of the power of social media – something I want to know more about.

Save BC Film is a grassroots organization that began when BC Premier Christy Clark received over 800 Facebook posts from film workers asking why the Liberal Government’s latest Job Plan contained no support for the BC film industry? All the posts were deleted and there was no response. Naturally people were upset. Film worker Sandra Montgomery who had minimal knowledge of the power of social media started a Save BC Film Facebook page on January 11th, 2013. Its growth was astounding.

Within 2 weeks it had 5000 “likes” and was getting 50 thousand hits a week! Twitter was soon added and the hashtag #savebcfilm was a trending topic in BC for about a week after the account was established. In late February the Save BC Film website went live. Both the Facebook page and the Twitter account were linked to it using the ‘Tint’ app.

Sandra was getting calls from BC politicians both Liberal and NDP as well as news media. Unable to handle it all, she called in fellow film worker Wayne Bennett who became the movement spokesperson. He has met with politicians and fielded questions from the media (both domestic and international). From nothing, this became a big news story and is a prime example of the power of social media.

To date this grassroots organization, using mainly social media, has accomplished the following:
• Raised public awareness that led to a 30 thousand signature petition
• Garnered the support of the NDP party who promised to raise incentives if they win
• Raised thousands in donations and raised awareness amongst all the creative industries
• Received promises of aid from the City of Vancouver.

Not bad for a grassroots organization that started with one Facebook page!

Technical Writing: Are We Communicating? Skills Beyond Writing That You Need to Succeed. A Guest Blog by Judy Holt

If, like me, you attended BCIT’s recent technical writing alumni event, I’m sure you also enjoyed the interesting presentations on this topic and the thought-provoking debates that followed.

Our panelists were
Jennifer Zickerman, Doc Wrangler at Mozilla Messaging
James Hill, Technical Writer for Polycom Inc
Thu Huynh, Technical Writer & Trainer for Webtech Wireless and PortaOne
Olga Kostiouchina, Technical Writer for McKesson Corp
moderated by
Ted Rutledge, Senior Applications Trainer & Analyst for Vancouver Coastal Health.

The panelists suggested that technical communication skills include the abilities to work with people and retrieve information from them, to analyze and structure information, to take charge and manage projects, and to advocate for both users and clients.

This summary—while conveniently concise—is obviously simplistic, because each item in the list represents an entire discipline. I found a useful description of the different components of a technical communicator’s role on the website for the Technical Communicators Association of New Zealand.

The article also does a great job of cataloguing the key skills and knowledge, and of giving useful tips on how to acquire them.

Considering the range and diversity of skills required, I wonder what level of specialization can realistically be achieved in each skill. As technical communicators, are we, perhaps, jacks of all trades and masters of none?

What is the Hardest Part of Writing? A Guest Blog by Judy Holt, Technical Writer

Which stage in the writing process challenges you most? Is it drafting? Revising? Editing? According to Richard Nordquist, for many of us the hardest part is getting started. We want to write, or need to write, but the ideas and words won’t flow. As I start out on my technical writing career, I’m apprehensive about being struck down by writer’s block for the first time. To prepare myself for the inevitable, I went online and discovered a plethora of strategies for overcoming writer’s block. Many web sites, such as Grammar Girl and Working Writers, recommend getting something, anything, down on paper, and worrying about improving it later. This guidance is emphasized by Margaret Atwood’s quote: "If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word." A more diagnostic strategy is recommended by Purdue Online Writing Lab, which identifies specific symptoms of writer’s block and suggests practical cures. But I found most reassurance in a Copyblogger post that adopts a novel, head-on approach to the issue. Instead of viewing writer’s block as a problem, it presents it as an opportunity—your secret weapon for becoming a better and more resilient writer. With this positive advice in my literary arsenal, I’m ready to not only face the block, but to use it to boost my writing skills and confidence.

A really rewarding technical writing job! Guest Blog by Jennifer Zickerman, Documentation Wrangler at Mozilla

What do I do on the job? Mozilla is a highly global organization with employees and community members in almost every time zone and geographic location (even the Antarctica: http://mozilla-antarctica.org/.) While we have several offices, people also work from home, from coffee-shops and from shared workspaces. My group, the team that works on the Thunderbird email client, is about 12 people. We have about 20 million users. This works to about 1.6 million users per employee. This ratio is only possible because we are an open source company and focus on creating self-managing communities and contributors. As an example, I spend as much – sometimes more – time encouraging and enabling contributors as I do actually writing technical documentation. Because of the size of the project, I have to be strategic rather than specific. I try to find ways to re-use content; to encourage people who ask a question to post the answer in a way that it can help others; to make it easy for potential contributors to find tasks. The most delicate aspect of this work is striking a balance between personal contact and efficiency. We cannot build robust communities of happy contributors without personal contact, encouragement and gratitude.


About Mozilla

Mozilla is a non-profit open-source company that works for the good of the people who use the internet. We are a global community committed to an open, free, collaborative web where people are creators, not consumers, and where they have sovereignty over their privacy and their experience.

Mozilla was born in the early days of the web when various interests were trying to “own” the web. We are famous for our David-and-Goliath role in the “browser wars”, where we fought against a closed, monopolistic environment in favour of open data standards, protocols and laws that protect people's security, privacy and freedom of choice. The fight continues as the web moves to mobile devices, where history repeats itself as various players try to create monopolies by making incompatible platforms where users are locked in and have no choice.

Our flagship product is the Firefox web browser. We also make the Thunderbird email client, a variety of programming tools, and are deeply involved in the development of JavaScript and HTML5. We are building an open mobile web platform
(http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/b2g/). We are
active in education (http://www.hackasaurus.org and
http://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-webcraft/) , community building
(http://davidwboswell.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/who-is-in-the-mozilla-community/)
and media innovation
(http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2011/2/7/knight-and-mozilla-foundations-launch-partnership-to-advance-media-innovation/).


All of our activities are guided by the Mozilla Manifesto
(http://www.mozilla.org/about/manifesto.en.html), a document that
describes our commitment to the community of the internet.