A Taste of the 2010 Conference for Software User Assistance

Access Session Slides and the Online Conference Community

The 18th Annual WritersUA Conference took place in Seattle, WA, March 21-24. Over 350 user assistance professionals attended, including most of the top luminaries from the user assistance community from around the world.

WritersUA is offering a special registration plan for those who were not able to make it to the Seattle event last March. You can now view the session slides and supplementary materials through the web-based Conference Community. Over fifty experts contributed their expertise at the four-day event. Now you can view streaming versions of the slides. If you have questions about any of the materials you can communicate directly with the speakers through the Community email system. You also can contact any of the attendees who have chosen to post a visible profile in the Community.

This feature is available right now. Once you've been registered you can log on to the Community at any time and as many times as you like to view the streaming materials. Membership in the conference community continues through February 15, 2011. This also gives you a chance to network with speakers and attendees as they are added to the roster for our 2011 event in Long Beach.

Just $75 gets you access to this great service. Register with your credit card by secure online registration (below) or by phone 206-405-0923. A complete list of session descriptions is listed below.

Emerging Skills

Making Metadata Work • Mike Crandall
eBook Conversions: A Tutorial for UA Professionals • Joshua Tallent
On the Job Twittering: Making It Work for You • Michelle Lentz
Video Basics: Getting Started with Flash and MPEG4 Video • Nick Floro
UA Design and Implementation for iPhone Apps • Joe Welinske
Wireframing Tools and Techniques • Michael Hughes
Understanding Gestures in User Interfaces • Jacob O. Wobbrock
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Using XML for Book Publication • Richard Hamilton
The Psychology of User Interface Responsiveness • Steve Seow
Interaction Design meets Expertise: Representation, Understanding, and Problem-solving • Axel Roesler
An Introduction to Quality Audio Production • Omaha Sternberg

Technology Update

An Update on DITA Features, Tools, and Best Practices • Tony Self
Developing Documentation for Open Source Environments Like Linux and FOSS • Joe Brockmeier
eLearning Smackdown: Adobe Captivate 4 vs. Camtasia Studio 6 • Kevin Siegel
The Mobile User Experience - Trends and Best Practices • Anders Rosenquist
Introduction to eBook Devices and Formats • Joshua Tallent
A Look at DocBook 5.0 and Comparisons with DITA • Richard Hamilton
Google Wave and User Assistance • Adam Lasnik

Design Strategies

Embedded User Assistance: Where Does It Belong? • Rob Houser
Getting User Feedback Quickly, Effectively, and on the Cheap • Joann Harvey
No Excuses: Getting User Input on Documentation • Marcy Telles
Strategies for Web-based User Assistance • Scott DeLoach
Think Simple - A Minimalist Approach to User Assistance • Scott Nesbitt
From Info Strategy to Info Types • Bob Boiko
Where User Experience and Software Engineeing Meet • Andrew Ko
An Authoring Strategy for XML-based eLearning using Flash or Silverlight • David Castillo
Creating an e-Learning Application using RoboHelp and Captivate • Laurie Edelman
A Semantic Approach to Embedding UA in "Active" Documents • Michael Kohlhase
Turning Seach into Find • Matthew Ellison

Tool Techniques

High-end Captivate Tips and Tricks • Joe Ganci
RoboHelp Authoring - Consistency Made Simple • Neil Perlin
Techniques for Using Acrobat More Effectively • Alan Houser
Flare Tips and Tricks • Scott DeLoach
DITA and Complimentary Open Source Tools Perspective • Thomas Towle
Developing Product Documentation in a Confluence Wiki • Bruce Mechelsen
WinANT Echidna - The DITA Open Toolkit Made Easy • Tony Self
Converting from Multiple Formats to DITA-compliant XML • John M. Kinsky
Building Your Own AIR Help Application• Scott Prentice
Software Simulations with Adobe Captivate • Alan Houser
Integrating RoboHelp and FrameMaker Using Adobe's Technical Communication Suite 2 • Kevin Siegel
Single Sourcing with Flare • Neil Perlin

Content Development

Enabling Feedback and Collaboration Within Help • Matthew Ellison
Cultural Dimensions of Software Help Usage • Leah Guren
Dealing with Subject Matter Experts in the Design Process • Kevin Moore
Agile Development: Problems and Process • Denise Kadilak
"Speed Sketching" A Software Documentation Project • Nicky Bleiel
The Storyboard Advantage • Charlene Kingston
The Power of Controlled Language in UA • Dave Gash
Building Support for Content Strategy from the Grassroots Up • Lisa Dyer
The Programming Writer: UA for Hardware and Software Engineers • Jim Causey
Cartwheels and Back-flips: Documentation in Agile Development • Jennifer Abbingsole
Gathering User Data Through Diary Studies • Rob Houser

Open Standards

Using DITA as a Content Delivery System for Mobile Devices • Kris Rockwell
Structures, Semantics, Controls, and More: HTML 5 is Here! • Char James-Tanny
Enhancing DITA Web Help with TOCJS and Zoom Search Engine • Pam Noreault
XSL Techniques for XML-to-XML Transformations • Simon Bate
Introduction to DITA Conditional Processing • Dave Gash

Special Interest

Welcome to the World of Software User Assistance • Joe Welinske
Let's Look in the Mirror and See What We See • Hosts Matthew Ellison, Tony Self, and Joe Welinske
Why Join a Professional Association Like STC? • Michael Hughes
User Assistance Trends Panel: Key Future Directions • Host Rhonda Bracey plus Nicky Bleiel, Teresa Goertz, and Leah Guren