WritersUA in Long Beach last week was fun. We met a lot of people in the booth and at the show in general. I got to see our product demo-ed by a fellow who has been showing our products for years and that was a huge learning experience for me. He’s very good.

Author-it Morning was a blast. We had more people than we thought attending and everyone was excited and interested. For half the morning, we threw out our stated agenda and did what the audience wanted to see. One attendee said the morning made the entire show worth her while. Good stuff.

Peer showcases

One of the things I really like about WritersUA is the Peer Showcase event. It’s usually the last day in the food and drink area, making it available to everyone. Selected people get to show something interesting they’re doing and answer questions about it. I sat in a demo by a lovely woman who is creating, on average, 1 user guide a day using Author-it. The way she has everything set up so that she swaps out what needs to swap out and then clicks Publish had me amazed.

She uses Release States for product lines. So, for example, content that is common to all manuals are set to one release state with a color. Content that is specific to each product line is set to other release states and colored differently. That lets her see at a glance what belongs to what. I would never have thought of that and it’s a perfect solution to the problems in her workflow.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

While I watched her talk about how she did what she did, I realized that Author-it lets the 2 writers do the work of 4 writers. Talk about doing more with less! The ROI for this group of writers was measured in days, I think. And, she said, the rock solid publishing profiles meant that she always got what she expected in the output, saving hours a week in production review.

People swarmed around her table, amazed by the workload and the solution.

Local sightings

I’ll be at the Silicon Valley STC chapter March 24 for a preview of Author-it and other fun stuff, if you’re in the area. I’d love to see you there!

Not a lot of blogging this week, as we’re at WritersUA in Long Beach.

Sunday, we did the Author-it Morning and had a great time. People got a lot of value out of the 4 or so hours we were together and it was fun.

Today, the booth is very busy and the show attendees are full of excitement.

Watch Twitter for the #writersua keyword to find out what’s going on.

And if you’re at the show, stop by the booth and see what the buzz is all about.

I’ve spent 4 days combing the results, compiling the statistics, analyzing the data and I’m finally done! Now other eyes can check the analysis and the numbers.

Watch our twitter account (@authorit) or our Facebook page for announcements of a webinar where we’ll go over the results in detail. We’ll probably be presenting this webinar near the end of April.

New media stuff

If you follow us on Twitter or on Facebook, we’re trying something new. We’ve combed sources we think are related to our industry and are posting links to stories and other items we think you’ll find of value. The response so far has been good. People are clicking through to the items.

This is something new we’re trying so if you have thoughts about the items we’re posting or think our Twitter posts should be different than our Facebook posts, please comment here. We want to provide value for following us and the right information where you expect it. We can only know if we’re reaching our goal if you tell us what you expect.

Additionally, if you have a blog, or know of a blog, that posts industry-specific (not vendor-specific) content, we’d like to know about it. Feel free to let us know in the comments below.

WritersUA

See you at WritersUA this weekend! I’m so excited about the Author-it Morning.

Some days, your technology works for you and some days I think it’s out to get us. Today has been a bad technology day for me. I’m hoping it gets better as the day goes on.

Managing stress

When I’m stressed, I’m learning to go for a walk to help me manage myself. Just because I’m stressed doesn’t mean the world is actually coming to an end. I’m finally learning that walking a mile helps a lot. Especially if the day is pretty and the sky is blue – it’s hard to remember what I was stressed about when I get back.

I also find I’m more productive if I get up from my desk and walk a fast mile. When I come back, my mind is usually clearer and I feel refreshed. I can get a new outlook on something that gives me a breakthrough.

The content authoring/publishing world

Our field can be very stressful. We are a deadline-driven industry with lots of things clamoring for our attention.

Long gone are the days with one project and one thing to do all day long. Most of us have too much work for the time available and somehow we make it all happen. People show up in our offices with surprise projects that must be done right now!

But what does all this do to your stress levels?

Long term stress is bad for you

Study after study shows it’s not good for the body to be constantly flooded with stress chemicals. Additionally, it’s really not good to manage stress by over-eating or over-drinking. Nothing happy comes from either choice.

So, this year, finally, I’m learning to walk off my stress. On the weekends, I walk one of my large dogs at least 2.5 miles every day, which is great for both of us. But I’m not limiting myself to weekend walking. If I need to get out of the office for 20 minutes, I walk a mile.

What are you doing to keep your stress levels managed? How do you relax and redirect your mind?

WritersUA

One way to recharge your mind and body is to attend a conference. It’s good to get out of the office and into a creative group as passionate about our field as you are.

Remember, the WritersUA conference is March 13 to March 16. Additionally, Author-it is holding an Author-It Morning half day event Sunday, March 12 from 9am to noon at the conference location.

Sign up by sending me an email to sharon[dot]burton[at]author-it[dot]com with Author-it Morning in the subject line.

We’ll see you there!

By Sharon Burton

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 holidays were good and your new year looks wonderful.

At my house, the holidays were excellent. I did my traditional Christmas Eve baking event where I bake lots of cookies and other sugar-filled treats and then give most of them away. It makes me feel good to share the holiday with people and reminds me how fortunate my family is.

We did get a lot of cleaning done but never got to my home office. I got the cold that’s running like wildfire through Southern California and spent about 4 days feeling awful. I’m almost well, thank heavens! We’ll get my home office this month.

New year, new stuff

If you are interested in seeing me or other Author-it staff in the next few months, you have a lot of opportunities. I feel like my social calendar is filling right up!

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

And that gets us through the first 3 months of 2011.

I’d love to see and talk to you at any of these events. Bring questions, thoughts, or just visit. I can’t tell you what we’re doing in the next few months yet, but trust me – you’re going to want to see us at one of these places.

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.

Visit us at the 18th annual WritersUA Conference for Software User Assistance.
The event takes place March 21-24, 2010, in Seattle, Washington.
We will be exhibiting at booth # 5 and will be showcasing:

• Dynamic Assistance Platform (DAP) -the new release of Author-it Aspect - Content from your perspective

• Enterprise Authoring Platform (EAP) – the full authoring, content management, localization and multi-channel publishing suite

There will also be a number of Author-it Peer Showcases run by our clients and partners during the conference.

Using Author-it and Sajan to Improve the Efficiency of Localizing WebEx Support Content into Ten Languages. Presented by Felicia Wu, Cisco WebEx, Milpitas, California
“Cisco WebEx has increased the number of languages from seven to 10 and decreased the cost of localization by more than 60%”. Read more..

Supporting a Diverse Audience by Employing Author-it “Variants” to Embed Client-Specific Content on Demand. Presented by Chip Jones, ADP Comprehensive Outsourcing Services, Roswell, Georgia
“With variants, we can create one-off topics that retain and reuse the core content but also include the unique content as fully formatted, embedded objects”. Read more..

Improving Support for Multiple Web-based UA Deliverables and Translations Using Author-it. Presented by Cindy Stephens, RWD Technologies, Baltimore, Maryland
“Author-it has allowed us to build more than two weeks into our three-month production schedule that we did not have before. The greatest achievement? We are able to create accurate, user-focused documentation and translated content to our customers faster and better. The lesson learned? Why didn’t we do it sooner!” Read more..

Working with Author-it and FastHelp to Create Windows Mobile Help in a Single-Source Environment. Presented by Sue Heim, PGP Corporation, San Diego, California
“We could take output from Author-it that was single-sourced from the user’s guide, and import it into FastHelp. Because we also use Author-it Xtend, we could easily reuse smaller fragments and thereby reduce localization costs”. Read more..

About the conference
The conference goal is to continue to provide an event with the most comprehensive and timely information specifically designed for user assistance professionals. It features over seventy cutting-edge topics from over forty experts, project demonstrations from other user assistance developers, plus an exhibition of products and services, certificate programs, and networking events.
For further information, see http://www.writersua.com/ohc/index.html.

The conference topics cover a broad range of key tools, processes, technologies, and techniques.

• DITA, XML, Structured Authoring
• User-centered Design & Usability
• eLearning Tools and Techniques
• Hands-on Computer Tutorials
• Mobile UA

We hope to see you at the WritersUA Conference on March 21-24 and discuss your Component Content Management requirements.
We will be exhibiting at booth # 5.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us on sales@author-it.com

Posted by Michael Lai, Marketing Executive, Author-it Software Corporation

Are you interested in looking at the exhibitors at the upcoming WritersUA event at the Westin Seattle but haven’t registered for the event?

Did you know you can get Complimentary Admission for the Exhibition at the Conference for Software User Assistance  on Tuesday, March 31st from 3:45-5:15 pm however you must RSVP by 5:00 pm Friday 20th March. Details are:

Send an email to Shannonm@WritersUA.com with a Subject line of Exhibition. Include your name in the message body. You will receive an email confirmation or call them on 206 774 9294

And make sure you stop by the Author-it booth to say hi to the team!

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