Jack Molisani
LavaCon is a conference for Content Strategists, Documentation Managers, and other content professions.
The next LavaCon Conference on Content Strategy and Technical Communication Management will be in New Orleans, October 21-24, 2018.
Speaker proposals are now posted. Please vote if you are interested in our 2018 conference:
https://list.ly/list/21RP-lavacon-2018-new-orleans-speaker-proposals
We are happy to announce that the opening keynote speaker at LavaCon 2019 is Jen Schaefer, the Head of Content Design at Netflix.
Register using the referral code LISTLY19 for $100 off conference tuition! https://lavacon.org
Bill Swallow
Director of Operations
Scriptorium Publishing
Let's face it... Translating content is expensive. However, cutting corners on translation to lower costs can be even more expensive and detrimental to business in the long run. Translation isn't something that happens at the end of a project; it is something you plan for at the beginning. To get the best return on your translation spending, you need a translation strategy.
In this session, you will learn:
Bill has a long history of solving difficult content strategy, localization, and content technology implementation problems. He has worn many hats throughout his technical communication career, both on the content development side and on the translation side. Currently, Bill is the Director of Operations at Scriptorium Publishing. When not solving content problems, he enjoys practicing taekwondo and homebrewing his own beer and cider.
Allie Proff
Technical Communicator/Librarian
Boeing
Do any of these problems sound familiar? You have people and groups that don't have a way to communicate across programs or time zones. Or maybe you have senior people about to retire and you need to document what they know before they leave? At Boeing, we recently redesigned our communities of excellence and practice to increase the way people interact with information and with each other.
In this case study, Allie will share how Boeing is using internal communities to connect people to written information as well as connecting people to other people. In addition, she will share ideas any company, large or small, can use to increase knowledge management.
Allie has been communicating technical knowledge for over fifteen years, whether it be in the U.S. Navy, as a high school math teacher, or a technical communicator and now librarian at The Boeing Company.
Allie Proff
Technical Communicator/Librarian
Boeing
What if you could get different help instructions based on if you were angry, confused, tired, or all of the above? The ability for our devices to analyze and respond to our emotions would completely change our relationship with technology. Effective computing uses cameras, microphones, or biometric sensors to generate data--data which is then used to choose a response based on our feelings.
In this session, we will look at current research, current ways this technology is being used, as well as explore future uses and misuses (medical industry, education, politics, surveillance, marketing and advertising). How could emotional analytics and effective computing change the way you create and manage your content?
Allie has been communicating technical knowledge for over fifteen years, whether it be in the U.S. Navy, as a high school math teacher, or a technical communicator and now librarian at The Boeing Company.
Noel McDonagh
Director of Technical Publications
VCE
Gal Oron
CEO
Zoomin
Converged infrastructure and the cloud have changed the dynamic of how customers are demanding to access information. To that end, VCE has taken the next step in providing their customers, partners and employees with a unified information experience. The VCE customer journey provides a personalized and interactive customer experience, the delivery and access of technical information and a shift away from the paradigm of cumbersome PDF publications to an integrated one stop shop.
In this session, Noel McDonagh and Gal Oron will discuss and demonstrate how to deliver a personalized and consistent content experience for all users.
Noel McDonagh is the Director of Information Development at VCE the Converged Platforms division of EMC, where he leads teams in information development and delivery, and manages the information development tool chain. Noel has also been leading initiatives designed to drive the enterprise content strategy forward and improve the VCE customer experience. Prior to joining VCE he led a consulting division that provided content strategy and XML content management solutions for Government agencies, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing and Financial Services industry.
Gal Oron brings over twenty years of experience in sales, engineering, and enterprise management to the Zoomin team. Gal has proven success in leading and scaling global enterprise software companies. Prior to Zoomin, Gal was a partner at Trigger Partners, an investment company specializing in technology companies worldwide. Previously, Gal led M&A transactions at VERINT. Gal served for nine years in various executive management positions at Orsus, a pioneer and market leader in the field of Situation Management. Gal was President of Orsus for four of those years, leading its acquisition by NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE).
Joe Gelb
Founder and President
Zoomin Software
How do we ensure that an optimized customer journey and reduced customer effort are attained throughout customers' content experience? Taxonomy drives faceted search, making search simple , and increases chances to find answers on the first try. Fortunately, the standards and tools supporting semantic faceted search is now within reach. In this session, Joe Gelb will discuss the importance of a corporate taxonomy, outline the process for defining and testing it, and demonstrate its crucial role within dynamic publishing platforms.
In this session, you will learn:
Joe Gelb has over twenty years of experience helping enterprises implement, maintain and capitalize on structured content. At Zoomin, he has spearheaded the development of advanced technology solutions for dynamic content delivery. Prior to founding Zoomin and Suite Solutions, Joe was the CTO at Live Linx, a leading provider of software and system integration services for technical product information, where he designed and implemented solutions for aerospace, defense, manufacturing and hi-tech companies.
Robert Mills
Content Strategist
GatherContent
Your content has to serve both business goals and user needs. To achieve the latter, you need to know your audience and understand their pains, challenges, motivations and behaviours. Use cases are a useable output of audience research that allows your entire organisation to deliver content, products and services that are targeted effectively. This talk is a detailed case study about how we defined, created and use our own use cases as part of our product and content strategy. It will uncover the challenges we faced, the solutions we found and the outcomes of utilising use cases to make informed decisions across the team.
In this session you will learn:
Robert Mills is a content strategist for GatherContent, the pre-CMS content collaboration platform. He develops, implements, measures, and refines their content strategy and is editor in chief of the GatherContent blog. He is a journalism graduate, ex-BBC audience researcher, and former studio and project manager. In the latter role, he worked with large clients, including Drupal, ESPN, and Vodafone.
Robert has written for leading web publications Net Mag, 24 Ways, Smashing Magazine, WebTuts, UX Matters, InVision and UX Booth. He recently spoke at Confab Central in Minneapolis, Lavacon in Dublin and is due to speak at CS Forum in Melbourne.
When he isn't talking, writing, or reading about content, you can find him looking for typewriters to add to his collection, traveling whenever possible, or being held for ransom by his two cats.
Sharon Burton
Technical Communication & Design Specialist
PointClickCare
Carolyn Hardy
Manager, Education Development
PointClickCare
At PointClickCare, we have domain experts creating post-sales customer-facing content. Our team of 15 content creators are experts in the clinical or financial fields, not experts in content strategy. We've also grown in 5 years. What worked when our team was 3 people and one product didn't scale to 15 people, multiple markets and products, and localization looming on the horizon. We changed everything about how we created, managed, and released content all while hitting release deadlines.
As part of this change, we imported legacy content, changed every process we had, sometimes making up new ones in real time, trained 15 people and supported them as they learned, changed how often we deliver content to the customer, and met our delivery date for the next release.
In this session, you will learn:
Sharon Burton is a nationally recognized content strategy expert, public speaker, and instructor in the field of business and technical communication. With over 20 years of experience in the field, she has consulted with companies large and small to improve their product documentation and content processes and workflow. Currently, Sharon works at PointClickCare, building the infrastructure to improve the post-sales content. Sharon has received numerous honors for her work, including the Associate Fellow from the Society for Technical Communication.
Carolyn Hardy is a Training & Education Development Manager with over 10 years’ experience in the Software as a Service industry. She has successfully managed the content conversion from paper to digital for two SAAS companies - Granicus and PointClickCare - to improve internal workflows, scale the Education Teams’ growth and products, and provide best in class post-sales experience using MindTouch and Paligo. Carolyn has held the titles of Manager of Training, Director of Training, and Manager of Education Development.
Sharon Burton
Technical Communication & Design Specialist
PointClickCare
Carolyn Hardy
Manager, Education Development
PointClickCare
At PointClickCare, a rapidly growing SAAS company, we were buried by content development and publishing processes. Our Content Developers could not keep up with the growth of the business and rapidly changing software. We needed to change everything about our content development and publishing processes because we had to prove the worth of our content to get the funding for the project. Over 4 months, we demonstrated our value, researched tools that best met our needs, and got the funding.
In this session, you will learn:
Sharon Burton is a nationally recognized content strategy expert, public speaker, and instructor in the field of business and technical communication. With over 20 years of experience in the field, she has consulted with companies large and small to improve their product documentation and content processes and workflow. Currently, Sharon works at PointClickCare, building the infrastructure to improve the post-sales content. Sharon has received numerous honors for her work, including the Associate Fellow from the Society for Technical Communication.
Carolyn Hardy is a Training & Education Development Manager with over 10 years’ experience in the Software as a Service industry. She has successfully managed the content conversion from paper to digital for two SAAS companies - Granicus and PointClickCare - to improve internal workflows, scale the Education Teams’ growth and products, and provide best in class post-sales experience using MindTouch and Paligo. Carolyn has held the titles of Manager of Training, Director of Training, and Manager of Education Development.
Jang Graat
Chief Technologist
The Content Era
While organizations invest heavily in optimizing their content creation, they neglect the area that is the most painful of all stages in that process: having the content reviewed by their subject matter experts. Redesigning the process based on today's technologies allows optimizing the user experience for SMEs as well as content owners and their management. This presentation shows a method that brings reviewing into the 21st century. Live demos prove that it is not just a fancy drawing board idea.
Jang studied Physics, Psychology and Philosophy before embarking on a fast-track career in the high-tech computing business. In the past decade, he has taught himself a wide range of programming languages and tools. He combines profound insight and extensive business domain experience with the drive to optimize processes. He believes that truly innovative technology does not show on the surface. Working with Tom Aldous at The Content Era, he is living up to his nickname 'the geek philosopher'.
Ari Hoffman
Success Fanatic
MindTouch
Mobile search has forever changed the way consumers and companies interact. Buyers no longer want to be sold to, they want to self-serve and find the information they want, when they want it, and in the channel they desire. Documentation has a new power: allowing companies to touch the customer at every step of their journey (from pre-sale and purchasing to becoming product experts). Monitoring how customers use the documentation offers analytics on exactly what they want at every stage.
You will learn how to use documentation to influence both the pre-sale experience and your company's ability to retain your customers, turning them into product experts and brand promoters. Your docs will improve Google search results, brand authority, control the conversation around your product, and strengthen the customer's experience from A to Z to A again. This is an actionable insight-driven course to enhance the power of your documents!
Ari Hoffman prioritizes customer success at the heart of all business endeavors. As the official Success Fanatic at MindTouch, Hoffman focuses on actionable insights that increase customer success rates while deepening core relationships. Brought in for his collaborative approach to business and his influence in the startup community, he has had an immediate affect on the MindTouch customer/partner base. From Shark Tank, to the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest and Dream Big America Challenge, Hoffman has seen it all.
Daniel Foster
Strategy Lead for Snagit
TechSmith
GIFs are eating the world. But they're not just fun and games. See real-world examples of how animated GIFs are being used in documentation, support, and beyond. Get practical tips for when, how, and why to create them.
In this session, you will learn:
Daniel has 14 years of software industry experience, much of it in marketing communications, content creation, and social media. Currently he heads up market and product strategy for Snagit. Daniel has spoken at various events including STC Summit, World Usability Day at Michigan State University, and MarketingProfs University.
Greg Rosner
VP Customer Solutions
LingPerfect
As new markets come online with their connected devices and older international markets increase their spend on new products and services, “things” that aren’t multilingual, or don’t function in a user’s (aka “customer’s”) language, or break when translated will become a critical problem for your organization. This session will be a conversational presentation about best practices supporting IoT content development and strategy.
In this session, you will learn:
All this and more will be the subject of this breakthrough conversational presentation. This session will be what 21st century presentations should be like: a Conversational Presentation on the Foreign IoT and its impact on Content Strategy, where you will vote and react real-time to the wisdom of the LavaCon crowd, ask questions and comment using your smartphone's browser.
*Greg * has spent the last 20 years helping global businesses like GE, FedEx, HomeAway, and Kayak create and maintain their global content strategy with a focus on setting up efficient translation processes. I believe there is only one language - the language of your customer, and all translation efforts should be designed around great customer experiences. Before joining LingPerfect, I was selling and configuring Machine Translation systems and Translation Management Systems for SDL’s customers.
Eric Reiss
FatDUX Group
If people cannot use something you make, then there is a serious problem. Usability is the science of ensuring that websites, applications, physical products and even offline services, do what they are supposed to do and that people can succeed with whatever tasks something has been designed to help them with. Usability builds on three E's - Ease, Elegance, Empathy. This full-day workshop introduces engineers, designers, and project team members to an alternative way to cut the usability cake - a method for evaluating and improving products and services that has proven successful with clients, business students, and seasoned usability professionals. And it includes a hands-on way for individuals within a large organization to carry out guerilla-style usability hacks that can be used to show the value of usability to the people in charge of the budgets.
Here's a quick rundown of the topics we'll be covering.
Ease of use: the product does what I want it to do. This deals with physical properties. Hence, the interactive elements should be:
Elegance and clarity: the product does what I expect it to do. This deals with psychological properties. Hence, interactive elements should be:
Empathy: understanding and addressing the needs of the users. After all, you can't practice user-centered or user-driven design if you don't care about these folks. Discussion of how innovation can be used in an empathetic and profitable way by designers.
This workshop is based on Eric Reiss' best-selling book, Usable Usability (John Wiley & Sons, New York). The book is currently available in four languages: English, German, Chinese, and Japanese. In addition to public-access events on four continents, the workshop has been successfully held at private events for designers and engineers at leading companies around the world, including:
Bonni Graham Gonzalez
Director of Marketing
Scantron Corporation
In the tech comm world, we often look askance at our mar comm counterparts. We perceive them to be somehow "fluffier" than tech comm practitioners, having perhaps "sold out." In the marketing ecosystem, there's a role to be played by people who know how to create, socialize, and curate actionable content. Marketing content professionals are really just like you—the only difference is our audience is buyers instead of users. Come explore the "dark side"—we might have cookies after all.
In this session, you will learn:
Bonni started in tech comm longer ago than she's going to say, but moved into marketing in 2011. Since then, she has created a wide variety of marketing content. Her current position is Director or Marketing for Scantron Corporation. Previously, she owned and operated Manual Labour, Inc, a technical documentation outsourcing firm. She currently teaches technical communication topics for two different University of California campuses. Bonni is a Associate Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication.
Joe Gollner
Managing Director
Gnostyx Research
I have threatened to do this talk for many years and Vegas seems like the right place to go all CSI on some of the world's worst content project debacles. These stories will range across decades and industry sectors to showcase project failures (so basically no one is safe). Each of these stories start out with grand visions for how organizations would modernize how they create, manage, and deliver content. But then somewhere along the line these projects wandered off track and some proceeded to fall right off the cliff. We will derive infinite merriment from scrutinizing what went wrong in each case. And we will be doing this for more than malignant pleasure. We will be trying to understand why these projects faltered and maybe, just maybe, we can learn how we can avoid starring in the sequel. Attend if you dare, and then abandon all hope once you enter. That doesn't quite sound right. It sounds like the sign above a Vegas roadside haunted house. Rest assured, it will be both more fun and more instructive.
Joe Gollner is the Managing Director of Gnostyx Research Inc., a company he founded to help organizations to leverage content technologies to achieve sustainable business benefits. Over the past 25 years, he has led over 100 major content management initiatives in a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, defense, software, telecommunications, engineering, construction, education, publishing, government, and healthcare. He has been leading large-scale and leading-edge DITA projects for global enterprises since 2005.
Blogging as the Content Philosopher, he continues to explore how content and content processes can be better leveraged to improve how organizations operate, adapt, and manage themselves.
Joe Gollner
Managing Director
Gnostyx Research
The future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed. So said science fiction writer William Gibson, the man who among other things first coined the word "cyberspace". And he was right. There are people amongst us who have worked on projects where content technologies and communication practices were taken to the next level. Indeed, they progressed up through several levels when compared to more common practice.
That this experience exists is good news. It means that we know what is coming and what this will mean for all content professionals. It also means that there is little doubt about whether or not these changes will actually happen. They will. And sooner than people are ready to believe. This session will boldly confront the reality of Content 4.0 and what it will mean to master it. The changes required will be significant but they are something that communicators can master. We will make the occasional reference to a Las Vegas staple, the Cirque du Soleil - with its trapeze artists, clowns, and yes contortionists, for inspiration and reassurance.
Joe Gollner is the Managing Director of Gnostyx Research Inc., a company he founded to help organizations to leverage content technologies to achieve sustainable business benefits. Over the past 25 years, he has led over 100 major content management initiatives in a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, defense, software, telecommunications, engineering, construction, education, publishing, government, and healthcare. He has been leading large-scale and leading-edge DITA projects for global enterprises since 2005.
Blogging as the Content Philosopher, he continues to explore how content and content processes can be better leveraged to improve how organizations operate, adapt, and manage themselves.
Caroline Juszczak
Manager, Technical Content and
Mike Wethington
Sr. Manager, Technical Content
SolarWinds, Inc.
Traditional technical writing departments are in the business of producing stodgy, largely unread, highly-detailed pdfs and online content that provides limited value to the majority of their customers. Transforming technical content to focus on customer success, context and lean documentation is key to actively engaging customers, solving their problems, and producing a positive impact on the business, i.e., sales. This is not a MindTouch sales pitch, this is about our journey to Customer Success.
In this session, attendees will learn how we transformed our out-of-date Info Dev department into a Technical Content group that goes beyond traditional documentation and focuses on customer success. We'll show how we develop dynamic content that meets the needs of our customers for point-to-point information and knowledge acquisition, which are two distinctly different things. We will show you how we've implemented a complex, enterprise-level Customer Success solution in MindTouch, a multi-channel support knowledge base and customer success tool. We will pass along some hard-won tips and tricks for those of you using or considering MindTouch.
Caroline Juszczak has been in the technical writing business for over twenty years. She has evolved as the business has evolved, from a focus on actual writing to a focus on managing content and maximizing content reuse. In addition, she keeps up with trends and best practices in the realm of customer success to deliver content to users that provides a positive experience every time. She currently leads a team of international content developers at SolarWinds, Inc.
Mike Wethington has over 19 years experience as a Information Development Manager in the software industry. He specializes in building High Performance Teams, strategic planning, and overcoming obstacles. At SolarWinds, he's helped transform a traditional global Information Development organization into a highly efficient, customer success focused, Technical Content group. Mike believes focusing on customer success and providing content with strong context are the future of our profession.
Jim Henderson
Manager of Content Strategy and
Ivan Mok
Technical Writer
Ping Identity and
Do you have web-based content that requires credentials? Do your customers have to remember separate passwords and log into your content separately from the web assets other teams provide? Come learn how using a Single Sign-On (SSO) strategy will significantly improve your customers' experience while decreasing the risk of security vulnerabilities. Attendees will learn about the benefits of using an SSO solution to provide access control and enhance your customers' experience accessing your content.
Jim Henderson is the Manager of Content Strategy at Ping Identity, and has held multiple roles over the years relating to identity and security management, ranging from technical training to implementing solutions for companies of all sizes. His background positions him well to facilitate and direct discussions between technical and non-technical staff.
Ivan Mok has been working in the identity industry for 6 years. At the beginning, he focused on supporting enterprise customers' SSO solutions. 3 years ago, he joined the technical publishing team to maintain documentation for PingFederate, Ping Identity's flagship on-premises product. Since then, he had worked on converting unstructured content to DITA-XML, and has been involved in converting manual-style documentation to scenario-based writing that focuses on reader's goals and tasks.
Megan Gilhooly
Director Information Experience
Ping Identity
Technical documentation supports customers on the customer journey. Well, duh! What about the prospect journey? What about developers? What about partners?
How does documentation support the entire customer lifecycle—from awareness to advocacy—for all levels and roles?
In this session you will learn:
As Director of Information Experience, Megan Gilhooly oversees the documentation and training teams at Ping Identity, which develops enterprise identity solutions. Formerly, Megan was Director of TechComm at INVIDI. Megan has worked with various software companies, building TechComm products and processes. As a former online retail business owner and Certified Scrum Master, Megan brings a unique perspective to managing information development and communication teams.
Linda Oestreich
Program Manager, Leadership and Talent Development
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPARWAR)
As companies adopt content management and stress about their employees and customers adopting the new paradigm, how do managers and leaders enhance the journey and help ensure success? Come to this session for an interactive discussion that will help you understand how change management needs strong leaders.
In this session you will learn:
An STC Fellow, Linda works as program manager for leadership development in organizational development. Linda spent many years as manager of technical and corporate communications where change was the norm. Helped lead content management and agile doc teams at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Experienced speaker and instructor--currently teaches in the UCSD Extension certificate program for techcomm. Techcomm experience in oil/gas, IT, government, and consulting.
Connie Giordano
Executive Editor
TechWhirl.com (INKtopia Limited)
User groups...listserves... support forums... they still exist, and usually co-exist with social media platforms. We often have a love/hate relationship with the people who use, or are thinking of using our products and services. But content strategy and implementation often gives short shrift to the idea of managing a community or communities of users/buyers/consumers. Connie Giordano, TechWhirl editor and moderator of the TECHWR-L discussion board, shares insights about how community management complements and extends social media to support business objectives.
In this session you will learn:
Look for a freewheeling discussion that focuses on an often-ignored but vital part of the content and communications ecosystem
Connie Giordano is one half of INKtopia Limited, which covers content, communication, and customer experience for professional practitioners and management, via TechWhirl.com and the most active techcomm email discussion/online community in the world. Connie has more than 25 years experience traversing a many communication roles in very large to very small organizations, and holds an MA in Organizational Communication. In addition to TechWhirl, Connie works as a consultant for a large bank, providing content/knowledge management strategy and execution in IT.
Cheri Hager
Senior Consultant
Information Mapping Inc.
The proliferation of CMS and mobile devices has generated tremendous interest in creating and storing discrete units of content that can be quickly revised and repurposed for publication in different formats. In this presentation we explore the challenges and pitfalls awaiting authors who seek to design easily managed reusable content.
In this session you will learn:
Cheri Hager has over 18 years’ experience helping organizations achieve better control over their business-critical information. She has been with Information Mapping, Inc. since 2001 and utilizes the research-based Information Mapping® Method for structured authoring. The Method is now a content standard within large enterprises and government entities around the world. Cheri has worked with Information Mapping’s clients to analyze and streamline processes, manage projects, coach and develop associates, and design and develop documentation, curriculum, training guides, and web content.
Christopher Ward
WebWorks and
Bernard Aschwanden
Publishing Smarter
Does documentation have business value? We agree there is value in documentation but have been challenged at times to "prove it". In order to communicate that value, you have to talk about content as a business asset. We'll help you tell the story with solid metrics, compelling logic, and the ability to clearly "prove it" to anyone.
In this session, you will learn to present to groups including sales, support, service, IT, engineering, QA/testing, manufacturing, HR, training, finance, marketing, and every other business unit in your organization. We'll help you show how documentation drives sales and generates corporate revenue.
Christopher Ward, Director of Sales and Marketing at WebWorks, specializes in helping teams accomplish big things by better aligning departmental processes with overall company strategies. His diverse experiences allow Christopher to recognize untapped potential in a company’s overall business strategy and help them achieve that potential. His personal mission has been is to increase the value of technical communication departments in all organizations.
Bernard Aschwanden works with clients to generate revenue from documentation. To do so, he helps improve content creation, management and distribution workflows to improve quality and increase productivity. He is the founder of Publishing Smarter, an Associate Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication, and the Vice President of the STC, Bernard has helped hundreds of companies implement successful publishing solutions. Bernard is focused on publishing better, publishing faster and publishing smarter.
Matt Sullivan
Founder
Tech Comm Tools
In this session, I'll show how one of my clients reduced doc expense by 80% by adopting a template-based workflow. This is a classic ROI tale for clients: In 1.5 years, the client went from 50+ hours/week to less than 5 hours per week editing and maintaining 16 manuals, averaging 300 pages each.
Through his company, Tech Comm Tools, Matt has been helping teams with video and interactive media for over ten years. Matt regularly lectures to tech comm groups and conferences across the country on mobile, web, and interactive topics. He also regularly trains groups on Adobe tech comm software.
Matt also gives webinars on behalf of Adobe. The webinar recordings are available at http://bit.ly/tcs-webinars. His video work is also featured on the adobe.com website. In 2015, Matt changed his focus from classroom training to online courseware. This creates value for students with a deeper, project-based curricula, delivered over a longer period of time. Courseware also allows for a lower price point than traditional classroom models.
Matt offers a full Tech Comm Video course, which explores ways to deliver interactive and video documentation.
