It’s that magical time of the year, when STC holds its international conference. This year the conference is in Sacramento, California, a short drive from the lovely city of San Francisco. A slightly longer drive from Southern California, where I live, but I’m driving up, nonetheless. I have family there and I’m spending a little time with them before I come home.

If you are at the STC conference and want to talk, stop by the booth. We will be doing in-booth demonstrations during the breaks, so if you want to see some new stuff, this is your chance. If you want to talk about what Author-it can do for you, several of us will be there to do just that. Paul Trotter and Steve Davis will also be there to talk about what we’re doing and what’s coming.

Do you want to win an iPad?

This year, we’re giving away an iPad. You know you want one – I certainly do. To get in the drawing for the iPad, we’re doing something special. Late morning Monday, we’re giving out special, limited edition, Author-it shirts in the Author-it booth. You want one of these.

We only have 150 of these shirts, many fewer than conference attendees. To be eligible for the iPad, you need the special shirt. Then you wear the shirt during the conference. At some point, we’ll select a person wearing the shirt and give them the iPad. You don’t know when we’ll do that, so it’s important to always have your shirt on.

Other prizes

If you miss the shirt, we have other prizes we’re giving away, including a free copy of each of the new Author-it books. You could win Author-it Success in 12 Easy steps by John Hedtke, or Learning Author-it by Char James-Tanny. We’re very excited about these books and think you will be too.

Blogging from the conference

I’m hoping – internet connection willing – to be blogging from the conference. We’re certainly tweeting and posting to FaceBook and Tumblr. Watch our social media for what’s happening at the booth, who is winning prizes, and more.

Good luck on the iPad!

This is a short post, as I’m getting ready to visit with a client next week and need to wrap up projects before I do that. It’s been a rather frantic week.

But if you’re in Spokane, Washington and want to have evening drinks, send contact me and we’ll make a date.

Good news 1

Two new books are coming out about Author-it! I have specific information about the first book now and will share more about the second book in a week or two.

Learning Author-it by Char James-Tanny from XML Press is available this month. Char is a long time user of Author-it, Author-it consultant, and an all around smart person so this book should be very helpful as a reference to learning and using Author-it. I’ve not seen a copy yet, but we’re all very excited about this book.

Good news 2

This week, Paul Trotter gave a free webinar about his vision of the future of content development. We had nearly 300 people sign up, despite the day being Easter Monday holiday for much of the world. We knew the day might not be the best, but with Paul’s travel schedule, it was the only day we could get his attention for an hour.

If you missed this interesting webinar, click here to view the recording.

Lastly

I really hope to see you at the STC Summit in 2 weeks or so. We’ll have New Zealand chocolate fish to give out Monday and Tuesday, as well as interesting and informative activities in the booth.

Don’t forget the special Facebook giveaway – go to our Facebook page (Author-it) and “Like” the page to be entered into a special drawing. We have something very Kiwi to give away to the winner. You don’t have to be at the STC Summit to win.

If so, there are a few presenters at the Peer Showcase who will cover Author-it topics that you should check out. Char James-Tanny, who has over 25 years experience as a technical writer and is an Author-it Certified Consultant, will be presenting  “Using Author-it Xtend to analyse content reuse across product families“.

Rhonda Bracey is also an Author-it Certified Consultant, and Rhonda will be presenting on Monday at the General Sesssions. Rhonda’s topic will be Techniques For Reviewing a User Interface.

Sue Heim, a technical writer for over 20 years and a long time Author-it user, is presenting “Using Author-it Xtend and Localization Manager to reduce costs“.

And also Mary Connor, will be presenting “Integrating Flash-based Simulations/Tutorials into Web-based Help Using Single-sourced Content from an Author-it Library”

In the Emerging Skills section, Charlene Kingston Crow, a long time Author-it client will be presenting “Using Microsharing Tools Like Twitter to Build Better UA” which is topical for a lot of people right now. The Author-it team will of course be there so make sure  you stop by to say hello at Booth 10 and see demonstrations of the latest Author-it release 5.2 and products. BTW, if you haven’t yet registered for WritersUA you can still do so via their website and you can browse the full agenda online.

Posted by Kathy Howes,Author-it Marketing Manager, Author-it Software Corporation