From the President

August 2016

What a great time to be a technical communicator! We’ve got so many fantastic events coming soon. Aucklanders have an opportunity to learn how to create splendid videos with Grant Mackenzie on 6 September, and then two international speakers are delivering workshops around the country in October. And then, in April - Collaborate 2017 – oh boy, this TechCommNZ conference is going to be huge.

So it's a great time to make sure your membership is up to date - if you haven't renewed yet, don't delay – there are member discounts to all these events, as well as the many other member benefits .

Content Strategy in a day, with Rahel Anne Bailie

TechCommNZ brings Content Strategy in a Day to New Zealand – an intense one-day workshop adapted from a two-day course Rahel has been running in London. Depending on available seats, you've got until 19th August to take advantage of our early-bird rates – but this workshop is in demand and seats are limited. We interviewed Rahel by email for TechCommWire.

Wellington (11 October), Christchurch (13 October), and Auckland (14 October)

Web Coding for Technical Communicators, with Dave Gash

In a perfect world, you get to learn from an expert and then apply what you've learnt, right? Dave Gash brings a hands-on coding training workshop where you'll get expert tuition in the latest HTML,CSS, JSS, and advanced coding. Register swiftly for Under the Bonnet - web coding for Technical Communicators.

Auckland (7 October), Wellington (10 October), and Christchurch (12 October)

Membership renewals

Roy McKone, Business Manager, sent out the subscription renewals notices at the beginning of July, and we want to sincerely thank everyone who has rushed to resubscribe to TechCommNZ. Your financial membership is our means to fund promotion of the profession. We use those funds to attend conferences like ITx, create eye-catching marketing materials to entice your clients and employers, and do many other things to make a big noise about technical communication in New Zealand.

For those of you who haven't resubscribed just yet – the grace period extends until September 1. Please don't let your membership expire, as there is a modest fee to rejoin.

AGM news

We had a great AGM – thanks to everyone who came along to hear about and support our work. Claire Nicholson, our Vice President for the last two years, has stepped down owing to family commitments, but she continues to be an inspirational ideas person for TechCommNZ. We couldn't be sad for long – the board welcomes Meredith Evans – a highly experienced technical communicator and twice-winner of the WriteMark Plain English TC of the Year Award. Meredith is joining a board that is in very good heart – and it's a fab time to be a technical communicator in New Zealand!

Winners of Member Logo competition

Congratulations to Kylie Bensemann (Open Polytechnic), Abhay Chokshi (Orion Health), and Janetta Vacherand, who all helped to promote TechCommNZ by using the member logo, and won a $100 Prezzy Card for their efforts. Thank you to everyone who took part. The logo is still available for members to download and incorporate into your promotional advertising.

Yours, longing for Spring,