Did you miss my progression presentations? Or did you lose my handout that I gave you? Not to worry! I have you covered. I’ll give you a second chance to keep a copy and share it with everyone else!

STC 2013 Leadership Day Progressions (Photo: Rick Lippincott)

For those who were unable to make it to either Leadership Day or the Professional Development progressions at the STC 60th Annual Summit, you missed out! Not to worry, you can find my slides and handouts on my SlideShare page.

Leadership Day: Social Media, Websites, Wikis, and Email

Related material for websites: Evolution of a Website Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Professional Development Progression: Carpe Opportunitas! Seize the “Professional Development” Opportunity.

Leadership Day was awesome!

I really enjoyed presenting this year, it was a lot of fun. I especially liked working with Viqui Dill on the Leadership Day progression. If you are a STC community leader and need help with websites, such as WordPress, I can assist you with setting up the basics to get you started. If you know of anyone who needs help with a basic WordPress site, I can assist with my professional services as well. I highly recommend spending the extra $20 to attend Leadership Day if you are a leader of a community. You definitely get your money’s worth in coffee, tea, and valuable knowledge that you can take home to improve your group!

More coverage of STC Leadership Day on Lanyrd.

For more coverage of STC, check out

• STC Summit via TechCommGeekMom’s blog,
  
• STC Europe SIG’s Wrap-Up,
• and Rick Lippincott’s STC 2013 Photos on Flickr 

I look forward to seeing everyone soon, whether it will be later this year at LavaCon or STC 2014 in Phoenix.

I thought I would re-share my quick guide from last year and update it for the STC 2013 Summit. After attending five STC Conferences, I provide here some hints to maximize your conference experience. Enjoy!

Technology

• Sign up for Twitter and follow #stc13, @stc_org, and @stc_summit
• Don’t know about Twitter? Don’t worry! I wrote an extremely useful guide to help you!
• Join the Society for Technical Communication group on LinkedIn.
• Install a Twitter app on your smart phone/tablet/laptop such as TweetDeck or Hootsuite
• Follow the discussion online with the Cover It Live STC Summit Page.
• Friend people and participate in Twitter/session discussions.
• Sign up for STC’s Lanyrd Conference Tool
• More Social Media Info for STC: http://summit.stc.org/networking/social-media/

Sessions

STC 2012 Summit Keynote

• Spend 20-30 minutes planning which sessions you will attend. Use the Lanyrd Conference Website to help you decide!
• Select primary and secondary sessions for each hour, some session material may be available for preview on SlideShare.
• Determine within the first 5-10 minutes if a session excites you; if not, go to your secondary session.
• Ask questions at the end of the session.
• Complete post-session speaker evaluation(s). This year, there are QR codes to scan with your smart phone  to complete your surveys. If you don’t have a phone with QR code reading capabilities, visit the STC 2013 Survey Monkey Survey site.
• Look for presentation slides after the sessions from presenters on SlideShare.

Networking

• Spend about $30 for business cards from VistaPrint if you have none. Remember to pack them.
• Hand out business cards to anyone you meet.
• Write a note on the back of each person’s business card to remind you how you met them.
• Bring paper and electronic copies of your résumé. This may result in a job opportunity after the conference.

Break Times

• Offer and/or accept invitations to dine with attendees. We don’t bite.
• Visit the vendor floor, STC Central, and the bookstore
• Attend evening events with attendees.
• Share your professional experiences.

After the Conference

• Continue networking via Twitter, LinkedIn, and e-mail.
• Look for an e-mail during the summer announcing when Conference@Click is available.
• Read the conference proceedings.
• Plan for next year, and convince your company to pay for it!
• Look for a for Call for Speakers via e-mail; maybe you can present next year.
• Keep up with current trends—check STC Notebook, Intercom, TechWhirl, and TechComm.

It’s your conference experience; make the most of it!

If you want to hang out during the conference, find me by sending me a message via Twitter: @RogerRenteria. I also will be co-presenting at Leadership Day and presenting during the Professional Development Progressions.