Berkeley Chapter
Society for Technical Communication

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Monthly Meeting

Starting in March 2001, our meeting location will be the Silver Dragon Chinese restaurant, which is in downtown Oakland on Webster near 8th. Check this space soon for detailed directions.

As a result of our change of venue, our dinner pricing structure has increased by $3. STC members now pay $20, nonmembers pay $23, and students pay $17. The meeting-only prices remain the same: $12 for STC members or nonmembers and $10 for students.

There are two ways to RSVP:

• RSVP using our online storefront.
  Use your MasterCard, AMEX, or Visa card to pay for your reservation. Please enjoy our new online payment feature.

• RSVP by regular mail.
  Please send your payment by check (payable to Berkeley STC) to:
  Ruth Wright
  586 Vernon Street
  Oakland, CA 94610

In either case, reservations for dinner must be received by noon on the Tuesday prior to the meeting.

• Next Meeting Date and Topic
• Fees and Agenda
• Location and Directions

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Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 14, 2001

Zen and the Art of Online Help
with Mark Bloom, OCSTC President and Award-Winning Help Author

You wanted or were forced write online help, so you learned how to use a help-authoring tool. That's like learning how to write poetry by reading a Microsoft Word manual.

Now you are ready to learn a new way to approach online help development. Mark Bloom will teach you a working knowledge of Zen and how it applies to technical communication. He will present techniques that will reshape how you think about online help. He will provide help options you might have missed. He will leave you with a sense of well-being and optimism. He will do all this without leaving his body.

His presentation is not hands-on, and its not platform-specific or product-specific. Still, in a Zen-like way that makes the ordinary extraordinary, Mark employs samples and stories, sprinkled with wit and wisdom, that have implications to all facets of technical communication. He introduces, for example, the concepts of information exchange, information transfer, and knowledge engineering.

And of course there is his advice for online help.

Mark addresses the problems of most online help systems. He discusses the theory behind how people learn and how online help fits that model. He focuses on the theoretical skills and intrinsic knowledge that help authors need to produce a help system that meets the needs of its users. Mark's goal is to make help authors aware of their many options, their many challenges, and the enormous impact they can have on their product and their company.

Using the Zen concepts Mark teaches, you will learn how to overcome the limitations implicit in online help to develop truly useful and creatively effective online help. Insights will emerge. Light bulbs will begin to flicker. You might even experience an epiphany.

Mark H. Bloom is an award-winning technical communicator and an acknowledged guru of online help development. Mark currently manages a Creative Services team for America Online, Inc. An active member of the Society for Technical Communication, he has presented at international events and is serving his second term as President of the Orange County chapter.

Join us on Wednesday, March 14th for this lively presentation.

Reservations must be received by the Monday prior to the meeting.

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Program Ideas?

If you have a suggestion for a meeting topic you'd like to hear more about or if you'd like to be a presenter, send an email to Ruth Wright, VP of Programs.

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Fees

For the meeting and dinner:

• Members: $20
• Non-members: $23
• Student members: $17

To attend the program only:

• Members and non-members: $12
• Students: $10

Please remember that if you wish to come to the dinner, your reservation must be received by the Monday prior to the meeting. You can reserve your spot by paying online or by mailing a check to Ruth Wright, 586 Vernon, Oakland, CA 94610. If you wish to attend the program only, you can pay at the door.

For information on how to become a member, click here.

Agenda

• 6:00 -- Networking, conversation, no-host bar
• 6:30 -- Buffet served
• 7:15 -- Chapter business, announcements, jobs available*
• 7:30 -- Formal program
• 8:30 -- Conversation, off-line questions for the speakers, follow-up on job announcements
• 9:30 -- Clear the room, move conversations to the sidewalk

 *Attendees are encouraged to announce open positions. Please bring job listings for distribution. Recruiters may introduce themselves, but may not describe open positions in detail. Save that for one-on-one after the program.

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