Advertising & PR

This is the second part of the post ‘Getting To Know Your Technical Writing Department’. We have read what questions need to be asked regarding Projects, Writing, and Collaboration. Now we need to see how documents are reviewed, stored, what tools are used to produce the documentation, how the works are distributed and how we …

What happens when your new job is to manage or reinvent a Documentation Department? Where do you begin? What do you need to know? Here are some tips on getting to know your Department and Technical Writer jobs without stepping on any toes and without being too forceful. There is a lot to talk about …

Storytelling Do’s Last time we talked about storytelling in presentations, and we named some of the benefits of doing so. If we are going to tell stories and enjoy those benefits, it is obvious that we will need to learn how to do it well. Accordingly, here are some of the best practices you will …

We are all always learning and thinking. I came across a new expression and/or synonym for Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that Technical Writers create that I was not familiar with. It’s called Work Instructions (WI) or Job Instructions (JI), and I thought I would give a short post on this newly discovered item. In a …

Maybe you have heard you should use stories to bring your content to life, but aren’t sure why or how storytelling adds value. You might even wonder if using stories is worth the risk of looking silly, or worth the time it will take to learn to do it well. Here are some of the compelling reasons why I think it is worthwhile to use stories and storytelling in your presentations.

In the previous post, I talked about focusing on some of the more fundamental and helpful components of a document (charts, figures, images, flowcharts, pictures) and their usage. My next favorite tool along this line of usage is the application of tables. Using tables for simplifying the presentation of data provides a comprehensive arrangement of …

Now what about handling questions when they come your way? Some of us love questions and deliver great answers. Others freeze or get defensive. Here are three tips for preparing to answer questions from your audience, whether they are easy or challenging. Think ahead. The worst questions are the ones we didn’t see coming. Take …