Overseas Presenters at Previous Conferences

TCANZ conferences are always a great place to hear about the latest developments in technical communication from experts in the field. TCANZ conferences have been run since 1999 and over the years we have presented an impressive range of international speakers.

Patrick Hofmann (2010, 2008, 2005, 2003)

Trained as a technical writer though working as a visual interaction designer, Patrick Hofmann has turned into 'a man of few words'. For over thirteen years, this vibrant Canadian has helped clients like Sky, HP, Nokia, Motorola, Philips, FedEx, Logitech, and Netgear improve the usability of their products--often by visualising their online, hardcopy, and interface information.

His award-winning work and undying passion for visual language send him around the world, as he teaches companies how to use pictures to improve communication. Having recently developed the post-graduate Information Design curriculum at CPIT in Christchurch, New Zealand, Patrick now works at Google in Sydney, Australia, and soon hopes to complete his first book on visual instruction.

Tony Self (2008, 2007, 2005, 2000)

Tony Self is a founding partner in HyperWrite Pty Ltd, which was the first hypertext document development company in Australia. Tony has over 25 years documentation experience, including 15 years with online and hypertext documents in WinHelp and HTML formats. He has managed large online documentation projects in Australia and New Zealand. Tony has
undertaken roles in technology training design and delivery, and computer-based training development, in Australia and Ireland.

He has spoken at conferences in Australia, the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In addition to consulting, Tony lectures in technical communication at Swinburne University. He is on the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Technical Committee and has recently completed a Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Jean-luc Doumont (2007)

Jean-luc Doumont provides help with and runs training sessions on effective oral presentations, written documents, graphical displays, and related topics of scientific, technical, or business communication. He also trains instructors and facilitates any process in need of structuring. In hundreds of sessions, he has addressed audiences of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities, in English, French, Dutch, and Spanish. He is an engineer from the University of Louvain and a doctor in applied physics from Stanford University.

Rob Houser (2007)

Rob Houser is the founder and principal consultant of User Assistance Group, Inc. (www.userassistance.com), which specializes in the design and development of user assistance. Over the past 18 years, Rob has created online help, instructor led training, user manuals, job aids, embedded user assistance, and web-based training--anything it takes to help the users succeed. Rob is a Certified Instructor and Community Expert for Adobe RoboHelp and Captivate. He is a Madcap Certified Instructor for Flare. And he is a Certified Performance Technologist through ISPI and an Associate Fellow of STC.

Whitney Quesenbery (2007)

Whitney Quesenbery is a user interface designer and usability specialist with a passion for clear communication. She creates new concepts for product designs and has produced award winning multimedia products, website, and web and software applications. Whitney is a past President of UPA and was named an Associate Fellow of STC. As a director of the UPA Voting and Usability Project, a member of an IEEE Standards Committee, and an appointed member of a US federal advisory committee, she works to ensure the usability of voting systems. Before she was seduced by a little beige computer into the world of usability, Whitney was a theatrical lighting designer on and off Broadway. The lessons from the theatre stay
with her in creating user experiences.

Dave Gash (2007, 2005, 2003)

Dave is the owner of HyperTrain dot Com, a San Diego-based firm specialising in hypertext training and consulting for help system developers. A veteran software professional with over twenty years of development, documentation, and training experience, Dave holds degrees in Business and Computer Science, and is well known in the technical publications community as an interesting and animated technical instructor. When he's not on the road doing training or chained to his PC developing new materials, Dave is a frequent speaker at Help-related seminars and conferences around the world.

Carol Barnum (2005, 2003)

Carol Barnum is a Professor at Southern Polytechnic State University, in Atlanta, Georgia, where she teaches a graduate course in International Technical Communication. She is a Fellow of STC, recipient of STC's Excellence in Teaching Technical Communication award, a Fulbright Senior Specialist, and, co-author (with her former students) of the 2005 STC Outstanding Journal article award.

Jo-Ann Hackos (2005)

Dr Hackos is President of Comtech Services, a content-management and information-design firm, which she founded in 1978. She directs the Center for Information-Development Management (CIDM), an organization focused on content-management and information-development best practices. Dr Hackos consults with corporations worldwide on content management, development and organizational management, product interface design, customer studies, information architecture, and technology selection. JoAnn is a Fellow and Past President of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). She is the author of Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery, Managing your Documentation Projects, Standards for Online Communication, and User and Task Analysis for Interface Design, all published by John Wiley & Sons.

Richard Hodgkinson (2005)

Richard Hodgkinson FISTC, from the United Kingdom is the convenor of international standards working group ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7/WG 2. He also participates as UK expert and editor in the development of International and European standards that address software icons, hardware symbols and software accessibility. From 1970 to 1994 he worked in User Technologies at IBM's Hursley Park software development laboratory in the United Kingdom. He has presented on international standards and icon design at conferences in the UK, USA, Australia and Singapore. He also writes regular articles in the UK ISTC journal, the "Communicator", which have been republished in the joint TCANZ/ASTC journal "Southern Communicator".

Kim Goodwin (2003)

Director of Design, Cooper. Kim's design expertise and teaching skill have made her popular as a speaker at conferences, universities, and corporate events. At Cooper, Kim applies her years of experience as a creative director to ensure excellent delivery of Cooper's design consulting and training services. Kim has played a key role in developing Cooper's Goal-Directed methods, including personas, and has led the effort to turn those methods into an interaction design curriculum. Kim has led a wide range of design projects, from consumer devices to complex enterprise systems. Learn more about Kim and Cooper at www.cooper.com.

Andrea L Ames (2001)

ANDREA L. AMES, M.S., is a technical communicator specialising in user-centred product interface and online information architecture and design, including audience analysis, information architecture and design, interaction design, usability, and user-centred design and development process. She has 17 years' experience designing, developing, and producing usable technical and scientific information for products, software user interfaces, multimedia and online information systems, and print documentation. Andrea is the owner of Ucentrics, a user-centred information architecture and design, interaction design, and usability consulting company. She is also a principal technical writer at Vertical Networks, where she designs information and interaction for product user interfaces, embedded user assistance, and custom help systems. She is a member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) international board of directors; coordinator for two University of California Extension technical communication certificates; a junior fellow of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC); and a published author and freelance writer. She teaches at the university level, speaks internationally at professional conferences, and presents lectures, seminars, and workshops on audience analysis, information architecture, information and interaction design, usability, and user-centered process topics.