Key Concept Archive

New Slack Channels – TC Dojo and Arbortext Users

Slack reminds us of the old IRC channels, if anyone out there remembers those. Liz was invited to Slack pretty early on but resisted using it because she said it was so isolated. In its earliest days, it was mostly browser-based, every space was separate, and you could only see…

How to Identify DITA Topic Types (like a ninja)

When you’re new to DITA everything seems hard. Even choosing a topic type. New writers lean away from the specialized toward the generic. Teams get inconsistent structures for similar information across deliverables. In this session, Liz Fraley will show you one strategy for identifying topics—in legacy content and for new…

Business Mastermind Membership (Monthly)

Monthly Subscription. Business Members get full access to everything we do, plus 45-minutes private mentoring, and more.  

Individual Mastermind Membership (Annual)

Annual Subscription. Individual Members get access to ONE, pre-selected, Mastermind Group, plus 30-minutes private mentoring. One per person.

Business Mastermind Membership (Annual)

Annual Subscription. Corporate Members get full access to everything we do, plus 45-minutes private mentoring, and more.  

Vote for TC Dojo Session Topics

Periodically, throughout the year, I look at the TC Dojo survey to see what topics and speakers are most in demand by techcomm professionals. Those topics are used to decide upcoming TC Dojo sessions. In 2018, soft-skills started appearing somewhere in the top 5 most requested topics. This is great…

UI/UX for technical communicators is the theme for TC Summer Camp 2017

I sit on the TC Camp board and am sponsoring the Structured Authoring workshop at TC Summer Camp in DC on September 9th. Every year, we ask what topic people want for the morning workshops. So far only one topic has been in the top of the voting for both…

From Clashing to Collaboration

14% of knowledge workers felt like striking a coworker in the past year but didn’t. If you are a technical writer, chances are that you were a potential target. Collaborative authoring comes at a price. It is also at odds with 87% of employees worldwide that are not engaged at…

The Best USB Headsets for Audio and Web Conferencing

Update: October 2018 My Plantronics headset died last week and the Logitech stopped charging. I went to get another, but I can’t even find the Plantronics anymore.  Looks like I will have to find replacements. In a pinch, while I was headsetless, I tried using the Blue Yeti for calls,…

Do you have a mentor?

When I first started Single-Sourcing Solutions in 2005, I didn’t know anything. I thought I did, of course. When I look back from where I am today, I can honestly say I didn’t. I was lucky, though. I got connected to a group of local entrepreneurs who would get together…