Presentation evolution: TCCamp East in Virginia

I’m very excited to present a workshop on jumpstarting your career at the new East Coast TC Camp next weekend, July 30th, at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. My talk focuses on what social media and podcasting can do for you and your career. Some great folks are going to be attending – and hopefully presenting – as well.

Un… conference?

Ed Marsh is presenting at TC Camp 2016
Ed Marsh is presenting at TC Camp 2016

I’m not a huge fan of the unconference platform, because quality of presentations is always a bit mixed. I’ve found this consistent across many versions of unconference, from content management system (CMS) development to content creation to user experience. However, I like that the model is being experimented with in techcomm. It’s also nice that this conference is using a hybrid model; a combination of professional workshops with the open nature of the unconference. Of course, one of the benefits of unconferences is that they’re generally available at a minimal cost; thanks to sponsors for stepping up.

How a presentation evolves

It’s been interesting to see the evolution of my talk about self-promotion, which wasn’t my Content Content podcast featuring technical writing and content strategyfirst intent. My initial thought was to make technical communicators aware of the options social media provides, but has instead turned into an exciting career-building exercise. The first version, presented at my hometown STC chapter, went about half an hour longer than it should, but was greeted with a warm reception and great dialog. Being accepted at the STC Philadelphia Metro CONDUIT conference forced me to be succinct for a 45-minute session, but was also met with great conversation. Now, I get to expand the session for two hours, incorporate more of my podcasting experience, and stretch into some additional resources. What a fun trip it’s been!

No easy job

Kudos to Scott Prentice, Liz Fraley, and their team for putting this out there for the technical communication world. Thanks to Alan Houser for asking me to propose a workshop topic! Hope to meet you there.

Disclaimer: I’m not being compensated in any way for my appearance at TCCamp, or for posting this blog. However, I do hope to get at least one free beer.

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