"November" Workshop
Date
Thursday 1 and Friday 2 December, 2005
Time
9:00am to 4:30pm
Venue
Cost
Introduction to developing Word templates
TCANZ members: $280 ($315.00 incl GST) Non-members $380 ($427.50 incl GST)
Introduction to developing Word macros
TCANZ members: $280 ($315.00 incl GST) Non-members $380 ($427.50 incl GST)
PC access, course materials, lunch and morning/afternoon tea are included in the cost.
Topic
Word templates and macros for technical communicators
Microsoft Word is a powerful tool for developing a wide range of business documents. As a professional technical communicator you should be aware of how to make use of the more advanced features of this product.
For the November workshop, TCANZ is offering two one-day courses aimed at providing technical communicators with a clear understanding of the capabilities of templates and macros in Microsoft Word 2003:
Day 1: Introduction to developing Word templates
Day 2: Introduction to developing Word macros.
You may attend one or both days, as you wish (see prerequisites below).
Workshop Outline
Day 1: Introduction to developing Word templates
This workshop was first run in May 2001 and provides an introduction to the development of Word templates. The session is for existing Word users who wish to extend their understanding of the capabilities of Word templates.
Prerequisites
Attendees should have a good working knowledge of Word 2000 or Word XP/2003. Level of Word knowledge required: Intermediate. This course is not an introduction to Word itself and may not be suitable for Word users with less than 6 months experience of the product.
Objectives of this session
On completing this introductory session you should know:
The purpose of Word templates
The difference between Global and document templates
The application and function of styles, auto-text, macros and toolbars
How to record a simple macro, view the macro code and make basic changes if required
How to create a Word template with its own styles, auto-text, macros and toolbar
How to create a simple toolbar and a menu that applies a style, inserts some auto-text and runs a macro.
Day 2: Introduction to developing Word macros
Macros provide a significant range of capabilities that can enhance both the power and usability of Microsoft Word. This introductory session is intended to provide participants with a basic understanding of the operation of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in the Word environment.
Prerequisites
Attendees should have a good working knowledge of Word 2000 or Word XP/2003. Level of Word knowledge required: Intermediate to Advanced. This course includes technical and programming concepts that may not be suitable for less experienced participants.
Objectives of this session
On completing this introductory session you should know:
How to set up and call VBA functions and procedures
The purpose and use of the Auto macros
About some of the commonly used objects and properties used by VBA in Word
How to enhance recorded macros with loops and conditional expressions
About built-in and custom document properties
How to set up a form to request information and store it in built-in and custom document properties
How to use Selection.Information to obtain useful information about your document.
The session works through a number of practical exercises. The main exercise sets up a simple data-gathering form to accept information about your document. This information is then stored in built-in or custom document properties and can be displayed where required in headers or footers.
About the Presenter
John Yarrall has presented successful workshops in advanced use of Microsoft Word for technical communicators. He has many years’ experience using WordPerfect and Word and developing templates and document automation for corporate and small businesses. His technical writing experience includes writing specifications, test schedules and user documentation. He also has edited international telecommunications standards. John has been with WorkWrite since 2002 and develops templates, macros and document automation for WorkWrite’s clients.
Bookings
Please click the appropriate button and complete the online registration form.
NOTE: The Introduction to Templates course is now fully booked.
July Workshops
Date
Wednesday 13th July
Time
9:00am - 12:00 noon and 1:00pm - 4:30pm
Venue
Cost
TCANZ members: $168.75 (morning or afternoon session only), $298.13 (full day)
Non-members: $281.25 (morning or afternoon session only), $410.63 (full day)
Course materials and tea/coffee are included in the cost. If you register for both sessions, lunch is included in the cost. Costs include GST.
Presenter
Phil Cohen, Managing Director, HCi®, Sydney
About the workshops
If you are in the business of developing software documentation (particularly as a consultant, or as a documentation manager) or just catching up on the latest developments in the standards area, these two workshops are for you!
The morning session covers the history and application of the worldwide ISO standard for software user documentation, with enough detail to ensure that you come away from the session knowing everything you need to make effective use of the standard. Many of the principles are applicable to general business documentation, including procedures, web sites and other technical documentation.
The afternoon session will give you a clear understanding of how to get the best value for your documentation dollar by using the right processes, the right approach and most importantly the right people.
Audience
The intended audience includes technical communicators, documentation managers and consultants. The workshops will also be of interest to IT professionals including business analysts, software project and software development managers, and IT managers.
Prerequisites
Participants should preferably have some knowledge of user documentation and/or software development - this is not an introductory course.
Morning session: Getting value from international documentation standards
Whether you are a purchaser of documentation services, a developer of documentation, or just interested in international standards in the documentation industry, there are two documents you must be familiar with, two ISO standards that set out in detail world's best practice for the analysis and development of software user documentation and online help.
In one short, lively session, we will cover the following topics:
What is ISO, and how does it work?
How can you get involved in Standards?
Types of standards: product, process and quality standards
History of IS15910, International software user documentation process standard
What's in IS15910, and what it means for you
How to make use of IS15910
History of IS18019, and how to use it
Documentation standards: the next generation - what the next ten years will bring.
Afternoon session: Getting most documentation value per dollar
This short, practical course covers everything you need to know if you manage the documentation process: from convincing people to spend the money to do the work (particularly important for consultants!), to finding the people to spend the money on, and everything in between.
We will cover:
Value per dollar?: how to justify spending money on documentation in the first place
Audience/task analysis: are there people who need documentation, that you haven't thought of yet?
Channels: how do you integrate documentation and training?
Delivery: online, paper, face to face ... which delivers best bang for buck?
Estimating costs and schedules
Hiring writers: what to look for, what to ignore
Earned value analysis for effective project tracking and management.
About the presenter
Phil Cohen started life as a Chemical Engineer, then moved into journalism, finally ending up in technical writing. He sits on both Australian and ISO documentation standards committees and is past-President of the ASTC (NSW). Phil has been a documentation consultant since 1981, and runs Realisation, a Sydney documentation firm, and also owns HCi Professional Services, a tech writing agency. He is married with three children, two dogs, one cat, a canary and a very noisy house.
Bookings
Please click one of the buttons below and complete the online registration form.
To register for the morning session: Getting value from international documentation standards
To register for the afternoon session: Getting most documentation value per dollar
To register for both the morning and afternoon sessions:
June Meeting
Date
Tuesday 21 June 2005
Time
5.30pm drinks & nibbles for 6.00pm start
Venue
Land Transport NZ (previously LTSA), Level 13, Tourism and Travel House, 73–89 Boulcott Street (opposite top of Plimmer Steps)
Cost
TCANZ will provide the usual drinks and nibbles to start with for the usual fee of $5 of members and $10 for non-members.
Speakers
Lloyd Jowsey and Jon Harcourt
Topic
Digital Storytelling in Business
We are made of stories. We speak them, understand them, remember them, and live them. They are an extremely powerful way in which to share experiences and knowledge.
An increasing number of professionals worldwide are discovering the power and applicability of personal stories for business management, knowledge management, organizational development, coaching, sales, and software interface design.
Come and hear Lloyd Jowsey and Jon Harcourt talking about the success they have had using digital stories in the business context.
About our presenters
Lloyd and Jon run Storyworks, a company that focuses on using the techniques to make digital stories in a whole range of contexts – business, education, research, personal and community.
Lloyd also runs a management consulting business called Knowledge Waves. He has 15-20 years experience consulting in New Zealand and offshore for larger change management projects. Lloyd lectures on the Otago University MBA programme where he uses digital storytelling to help bring business experiences to life for his students.
Jon has provided integrated management services since 1989, mainly to the public sector. Commissions include project management, delivering tendering programmes, organisational development, and the facilitation of learning outcomes. He works actively through Storyworks with private project teams, and both community and public organisations to stimulate collaborative learning and communication, capture insights and experience, and to promote their history, culture and values through story-based techniques.
RSVP: Please Contact David Webb no later than Monday 20 June 2005.
May Workshop
Date
Friday 27 May, 2005
Time
9.00am to 5.00pm
Venue
Cost
TCANZ members: $295 ($331.88 incl GST)
Non-members: $395 ($444.38 incl GST)
Course materials, tea/coffee and light lunch are included in the cost.
Presenter
Suzanne Currie
Topic
Introduction to Usability for Technical Communicators
This workshop will cover the following topics:
Overview of Usability and its cousins Usefulness and Desirability
Defining the System
Situating the human within the product's use
Goal-driven design
Day-in-the-Life scenarios and personas
Me-Centered design and the personification of products
Overview of the Customer Relationship Lifecycle
How to assess a product's understandability, learnability, and operability
Conducting Out-of-the-Box (OOBE, pron. 'oobie') Evaluations
Watching users unpack a new product and get it set up and going
Recording the Voice of the Customer, and making sense of the results
Usability Heuristics for software and documentation
What are they and how to report against them
Evaluating information architectures with users
Communicating Usability findings to stakeholders and the development team
Audience
This workshop is designed for Technical Communicators and Instructional Designers who are interested in incorporating user research and usability engineering into their practice.
About the presenter
Suzanne Currie is a usability engineer and interaction designer with many years' experience in the design and evaluation of software systems and consumer products. An ardent user advocate, Suzanne employs user-centred techniques in her practice, and communicates findings in a way that helps businesses understand how well their product is meeting customers'/users' needs. Suzanne practices goal-driven design which means that solutions result from satisfying the oft-conflicting goals of customers and those of the business providing products to them.
Bookings
Please click the button below and complete the online registration form.
April Meeting
Date
Tuesday 19 April 2005
Time
5.30pm drinks & nibbles for 6.00pm start
Venue
Level 6, Logical CSI House 186 Willis Street, Wellington.
Cost
TCANZ will provide the usual drinks and nibbles to start with the for usual fee of $5 of members and $10 for non-members.
Speaker
Lynda Harris CEO & Chris Travers, Business Development Manager
Topic
WriteMark - New Zealand’s plain English standard.
When your document has earned the WriteMark, your readers know that it is written to the highest standard of clarity.
Lynda Harris CEO & Chris Travers, Business Development Manager will present to us and explain the features and benefits of WriteMark.
What is the WriteMark?
The WriteMark is:
a registered New Zealand quality mark
the only New Zealand mark of document quality
affordable to all businesses
applicable to web pages too.
Displaying the WriteMark on your documents or web pages tells people that you value plain English — clear, user-friendly communication. This doesn’t mean that complex subjects are ‘dumbed down’. It means that documents displaying the WriteMark are as clear as possible for their intended readers.
WriteMark uses a rigorous standard to check your document or web page for clarity, correct grammar, and effective presentation.
About our presenters...
Lynda Harris is the founder and director of WriteMark Limited. Lynda set up WriteMark Limited in 2004 and the company launched the ‘WriteMark’, New Zealand’s only document quality mark on 1 March 2005.
Lynda is also co-founder and director of Write Group Limited, New Zealand’s leading plain English business writing company. Wellington-based Write Group is well established in the professional services market and has a broad client base of public and private sector organisations.
Lynda strongly believes New Zealanders need to change the way they communicate. She established Write Group 15 years ago, driven by a conviction that business and government organisations should use plain English in all their written communications.
'The benefits of plain English are clear. Cut out long-winded and jargon-ridden text and replace it with information that is well structured, well presented and easily understood. This saves mistakes, improves customer relations, and gives a business the competitive edge.'
Chris Travers, Business Development Manager writes...'I am interested in communication strategies, adult training, neuro linguistic programming (NLP), and marketing. Being part of the Write Group team allows me to combine my work experience and my interests to develop this exciting, new national campaign.'
See you there.....bring your ideas for events you wish to see for 2005.
Remember we are always happy to see new faces - perhaps bring a work associate?
RSVP: Please Contact David Webb no later than Monday 18 April 2005.
February Meeting
Date
Tuesday 8 February 2005
Time
5.30pm drinks & nibbles for 6.00pm start
Venue
Level 3 Press House, 82 Willis St, Central Wellington.
(the same side of Willis St as New World Metro) If doors are closed ring Alison, 021 237 5271
Cost
TCANZ will provide the usual drinks and nibbles to start with for the usual fee of $5 of members and $10 for non-members.
Speaker
Margery Watson, President, TCANZ
Topic
Margery is visiting Wellington and will give an informal talk on:
Our distant European counterparts. What are they up to with technical communication, online documentation, and where are they heading.
Margery will provide us with all the inside gossip on the Tekom conference and INTECOM. If you missed the read on Margery's trip check out the December TCANZ newsletter (PDF, 369Kb)
RSVP: Please Contact David Webb no later than Monday 7th February.