Conference Reports: From Clarity to UX and Back

November 2016

TechCommNZ waved the flag at three conferences in October (which is why we postponed Collaborate 2017 to next April – for a breather!) Here's our round-up of the month's events.

Clarity2016, Wellington

This large international conference attracted a dazzling array of speakers from around the world – including countries such as Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand. There were so many inspiring and interesting keynote speakers, including:

  • Former Australian high court judge, the Hon Michael Kirby, who spoke with spell-binding clarity on the need for plain language in law.
  • Former Australian Attorney-General, Rob Hulls, who explained the importance of listenability – of making spoken judgements understandable to the recipients. He provided heart-breaking anecdotes of the trouble many people have negotiating a jargon-ridden, obscure, justice system.
  • Dr Paul Wood, former inhabitant of a New Zealand jail, who motivated us to be a catalyst for change with his totally compelling journey from delinquent to doctor. I recommend his TED talk What's Your Prison? FiveSteps to Freedom.

The highlights weren't just in the keynotes. There were some brilliant take-aways from the speed learning sessions – empathy maps with Colleen Trolove of Write, and document production process analysis with Simon Hertnon of Nakedize. Meghan Codd Walker and Deanna Lorianni from Zuula opened my eyes on how to communicate with millennials (Clear is Cool). Victoria Rea and Write's Cleo Iggy gave us a tweeting tune-up (140 characters of pure business gold). Hannah Morgan-Stone had me scratching my head and learning about deductive thinking, while moving little bits of paper around to solve a complex piece of information design (Plain to all: Using logic to distil complex thinking into clear documents).

There was also the opportunity to snag a mentor. I took a tricky graphical problem to James Burgess, of Write, who helped me nut out some improvements to my early prototype, and in so doing, gave me some insights into design thinking.

The conference dinner was a brilliant night, and the crowning highlight for me was when Julie Clement was coerced into an impromptu version of Bobby McGee, sung unaccompanied. What a beautiful talent.

Full credit to Clarity and Write for show-casing New Zealand at this extremely successful event.

TechCommNZ sponsored Clarity2016. TechCommNZ board member, Emma Harding, attended courtesy of Streamliners NZ Ltd and represented both organisations.

UX New Zealand, Wellington

Meredith Evans and Peter Russell had a blast at the UX New Zealand conference – mingling with the people who focus on usability and design. According to Meredith, "The UX conference was uber cool, and definitely the place to be if you’re into blue hair and hipster beards. I’d recommend this conference to any TC who needs some inspiration around user research and testing or is just interested in design and keeping up with the latest trends."

All the UX New Zealand sessions were recorded, so it's easy to catch up with what the presenters were saying: http://www.uxnewzealand.com/2016-talks/.

TechCommNZ sponsored UX New Zealand and paid the expenses of the attending TechCommNZ board members.

Peter Russell setting up the TechCommNZ stand at UX New Zealand


ASTC Conference, Melbourne

ASTC is the Australian Society for Technical Communication, and the committee ran an excellent conference in Melbourne in mid-October, themed "Making Information Usable". There were several presentations that directly addressed the theme, for example:

  • RTFM? RTFI! Interface text is the new help (Rachael Mullins and Kylie Nicholson)
  • The challenge of developing call centre content (Ian McGregor)
  • How to create workplace procedures people want to follow (Rosemary O'Donoghue)

Other presentations ranged from the very tools-based (MadCap, Word, DITA, videos, markdown), to the conceptual (colours in CSS, the essentials of graphics formats). As all sessions were plenaries, I got to see under the bonnet of some unfamiliar tools, which was instructive but not life-changing – although markdown looks like a useful and fun item for the toolbox.

I enjoy attending conferences because you get to meet people with similar interests and reconnect with old friends – in my case from New Zealand, Australia, and the US. It was my first opportunity to meet and spend time with the ASTC president, Dave Newdick, and vice-president, David Cross. I was also delighted to meet the Australian-based members of the Southern Communicator editorial team – Ana Young and Janet Taylor. It makes such a difference talking to people in person!

And of course, the icing on the cake – Melbourne. The Rendezvous Hotel was a great location, right next to the Yarra and a vibrant night life. I didn't have much time to linger, unfortunately, but it was lovely to experience Melbourne's bright lights with friends even for a couple of nights. I thoroughly recommend The Boatbuilders Yard at South Wharf – great food, ambiance, and service!

http://www.astc.org.au/events/2016/10/Conference-2016

Emma Harding attended the ASTC conference at the invitation of ASTC. TechCommNZ paid for her travel and accommodation.

Gerry Gaffney – UX for technical communicators?