Well, it’s the end of the month and I’m not going to get these results written by the end of the month. I’m shooting for end of Feb now.

The white paper will go into further detail and analysis than I’ve done here.

But the last bit of data I thought I’d share is about industries. In no way was this a scientific survey so please don’t think this shows the larger industry of people.

Software is by far the leader in this parade. I honestly expected more education than we got, but that’s my own bias, I think.

In other news

If you have been wondering how Author-it tools might help in a Technical Publications group, I have a webinar for you.

Feb 2 2011: 8 AM Pacific
Author-it for Technical Publications
This live demo covers using Author-it in multi-person technical publication groups. See the tips and tricks to help your projects stay on track.

If you’re interested in this webinar, even if you can’t attend live, click here to register. If you miss the webinar, a link to the recording will be sent to you the next day.

While I’ll be showing Author-it, I’ll be focusing on workflow and larger groups and how it works in that environment.

Hope to see you there!

You know we’re attending several shows in the next few months. But did you know you have other ways to learn about Author-it?

Webinars

Not only are we attending several trade shows in the near future, we have online webinars available for you to attend.

Author-it Morning at WritersUA

If you are interested in seeing some useful tips, talk to Author-it people, and have some coffee and you’re either in So Cal or at WritersUA in March, you want to jump on the Author-it Morning event March 12 2011, 9am to Noon.

If you’re interested in attending this event, send me an email at sharon.burton@author-it.com with Author-it Morning in the subject line. We’re charging $49 US for the event but I can get that waived. Since I’m organizing the event, I have some sway!

See you then!

I hope your week is going well. Mine has been crazy busy.

I’m posting another graphic from the Content Trends survey for you. We asked about localization/translation and got this very interesting result.

Seems that 64.4% of you are either doing it now or see it coming.

In fact, the world is a small place and getting smaller.

In other news

Don’t forget you can see us live and in person. What a great way to sit and talk to us, tell us what you need, or see new stuff we have under development.

You can find us at:

9-11 Feb 2011
Orlando Advanced Pension Conference
Orlando FL

16-18 Feb 2011
Intelligent Content Conference
Palm Springs CA

14 -16 March 2011
WritersUA
Long Beach CA

16 March 2011
SouthWest Ohio STC chapter
Virtual presentation

24 March 2011
Silicon Valley STC chapter
Live presentation

If you’re sitting in cold or snow right now, you’ll be happy to know there are warm places. Palm Springs is one of those places.

If you’re interested in developing content, you’ll be happy to know there’s a place to learn more and see the future.

And it’s in Palm Springs. How lucky is that!

Conference

The Intelligent Content conference is Feb 16 thru 18 2011 in Palm Springs at the Hotel Zoso.

This conference includes many smart people giving presentations, including our own Paul Trotter. You’re going to hear what people are doing and where the industry is going from leaders in our community.

And, if you sign up by Jan 25, you get a great discount on the conference price.

Regular Registration $1000
Association Registration $895 until January 25th.

Register now to lock in at these prices!

I’ll be there and hope to see you there as well.

Because I wanna go where it’s warm!

If you’re in the business of developing content and want to learn some best practices, I strongly recommend the Intelligent Content Conference in Palm Springs, Feb 16 thru 18 2011.

From their website:

Smart Content, also referred to as Intelligent Content, has been a growing trend in the content-rich industries. The fact that many prominent publishers…are making smart content the cornerstone of their business strategy shows that smart content is here to stay.

Author-it is going to be there. And I’m excited about it. I’m hoping to go to some of the presentations as well as work the table.

Also attending

Paul Trotter (official Author-it smart guy) will be there as a speaker. I strongly recommend you attend the event just to hear Paul talk. He’s a very clever smart guy with a lot to say about our field.

And if Paul isn’t enough, Ann Rockley, Rahel Bailie, Scott Abel, and many other people will also be presenting. It’s a smaller conference and you actually could hang out with these people and ask them questions. It’s a great conference and worth your time.

Beside, if you’re under 3 feet of snow, what’s not to like about Palm Springs in the winter?

See you there!

On another note

Don’t forget to participate in the Author-it Content Trends survey. We’re giving a great prize if you wish to provide your contact information.

We decided to make the results available after the first of the year. It’s going to take me some time to write up the results, so be a little patient, please. But I would expect the results by the end of January.

As of this writing, we have 450 responses and I’d like at least 600 before the survey closes at the end of December. It’s 10 questions and should take you less than 5 minutes to complete.

Off you go!

One of the older – and better, in my opinion – conferences is WritersUA. Those of us who have been around for a while still call it WinWriters, but that’s another whole story.

I like WritersUA because it’s very focused and to the point. You won’t find any presentations at a junior level. Typically, you see what’s coming and what interesting things people are doing that you wouldn’t have thought about doing.

You’ll leave with your head full of good and interesting ideas to implement when you get home.

I especially like it this year because it’s down the freeway from me! So guess where I’ll be March 16 thru March 18 2011.

Where do I find out more?

From the WritersUA site:

Registration Open for WritersUA Conference in Long Beach
All of the details for the 2011 WritersUA Conference for Software User Assistance are now available, including information about topics, speakers, activities, exhibitors, and hotel and travel. Registration discounts are in effect. Four days, 70+ topics, 50+ experts.
Hands-on computer labs. Free Wifi access. Online networking community.

If your life is anything like everyone I know, this is the time of year where there’s too much to get done and nothing close to enough time. The holidays are upon us, work wants stuff done by the end of the calendar year, the house needs to be cleaned, the dogs need to be walked.

It can all be overwhelming.

Take a break

What you need is a break, a place to quiet your mind. Of course, I think you can do that by taking our survey, signing up for one of our webinars, or joining our new group on LinkedIn.

But maybe that’s not what you are looking for. Maybe you should sign up for a conference?

Coming up

The upcoming trade shows for Author-it are:

Intelligent Content, Feb 16-18 Palm Springs CA.

WritersUA, March 13-16 Long Beach CA

STC, May 15-18 Sacramento CA

I’m going to be at all of these and would love to see you there. Think of our booth as a quiet spot to come and chat about nothing in particular or about our products. I’m fine with both. We can show you what’s going on, we can knit together, or you can just sit quietly. It’s really up to you.

What ever you decide, take a few moments for yourself this holiday season.

You deserve it and your sanity will be intact in the new year.

We’d like to know what your content trends and needs are for the next 2 years or so. Towards that end, we’ve created a survey. You can take the 10 question survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QSN8M2G.

Personal information not required

We’re not tracking IP addresses, although you can only take the survey 1 time from each IP address. Personal information about you is not required to participate in the survey.

We’re also giving a prize if you’d like to identify yourself. After the survey closes, one winner will be selected to win EITHER a free license for Author-it OR one free training session in the next six months. It’s the winner’s choice.

To participate in the prize drawing, you must provide your contact information at the end of the survey.

Tell your friends

Please feel free to share the link and tell your friends. The survey closes at the end of December, just before midnight US time, I believe.

If you are from the US, this week kicks off the US holiday season. We have our national day of thanks this week, where we gather with friends and family to eat large quantities of food. Because we eat so much food, the US shuts down Thursday and Friday to recover. And go shopping.

My husband and I will go to his mother’s house Thursday to eat and see his family. He comes from a large family and all the siblings live in So Cal. Many of them will gather, with their adult kids.

My mother-in-law will have children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren at her table. There will be lots of noise and commotion as the next group arrives, and lots of good food to eat. Everyone is welcome.

Because I come from a smaller family, now spread all over the US, gathering with my family is hard. Both my parents and one brother are no longer here to celebrate with. For my next birthday, I hope to get everyone together to celebrate but it won’t be for another 7 months. We’ll see.

Family

I like to think of the people who are interested in the Author-it products as family too. If you got us all in one room, there would probably be lots of noise and commotion as the next group arrives, and lots of good food to eat. Everyone would be welcome.

Towards that end, I’ve created a LinkedIn group for people who are interested in Author-it products. Most of our staff has joined and a lot of other people. I think of it as a large table where you can meet new people, talk about things that interest you even if it’s not directly related to Author-it and our products. You can post jobs, contact others, and just get to know more people.

To find the group, go to LinkedIn and search for Author-it Friends. Or click here.

Pull up a chair, have some food. I look forward to seeing you there.

One of the many things I love about our field is that we are always learning new things. I would hate a job where you just did the exact thing every day and nothing new ever got learned. That sounds like employment hell.

I also like teaching very much. It makes me feel good to help people get ideas that help them in their life. I don’t care if it’s teaching tech comm or teaching crochet, it’s all good for me. Students go do stuff I never imagined with the bits of information I give them. I find that amazing and wonderful.

Bits and pieces and webinars

I like giving webinars and, from the sign ups, you all like them too! In the first few days we listed the webinars, we’ve had over 400 people signed up. As of this writing, we’re heading towards the 800 total mark. Thank you – that’s amazing.

The webinars are a mix of topics – some Author-it specific and some not. The ones that are not specific about our products will be, in fact, tools-neutral. I’m hoping to give you useful information and then you can do what is best for you with that information.

What do we have going

For details about each of the upcoming webinars, go to this link and see what looks interesting. If nothing looks interesting but you have a topic you’d like to learn more about, send me an email at sharon.burton(at)author-it(dot)com and I’ll see what I can do. I don’t know everything so I might have to find a speaker, which is fine. I know some very smart people!

Can’t make it? No problems!

If the topic interests you but the time is bad, sign up anyway. We will be recording these and you will get a link to the recording the next day. With the world as small as it is, we’re trying to make these available to as many people as we can, but some timezone is going to hurt. It’s just the nature of the world now.

Looking forward to seeing you!