When: the first Tuesday of every month at 7:00 pm.

Next meetings: Tuesday, June 4, 2013
                           Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Where: Blenz Coffee, Metrotown, Burnaby
        Lower Level, GS Zone, southwest side of Metrotown
        (604) 435-1114

Location from
- outside the mall: near bus loop, off Central Blvd, btw McKay and Bonsor Avenues
- inside the mall: near escalators by Urban Behavior

Best parking: P2, LL

See Metrotown map for more details: http://www.metropolisatmetrotown.com/store-directory
- Search for “Blenz” and click on the name when it appears just right of the search field
- Rescale the map by clicking on the different-sized dots on right side of map
- Toggle cursor and grab-and-drag scrolling by clicking on the cursor/hand on right side of map
- In cursor mode, click on the red octagon indicating Blenz location for more details

A half-day workshop on the principles of building a Madcap Flare project. 

Catherine Girczyc and Beth Haggerty, two experienced Flare users, share their knowledge on the basics of building a project along with some helpful tips that they’ve learned. They address the advantages of topic-based structured authoring and single-source publishing in technical communications. 

Learn the three most important things you need to know about using Flare. Take advantage of an informal question and answer session with an overview of the following:

• Basics of setting up a project and reasons for setting up a global project
• Use of templates
• Understanding cascading style sheets (CSS)
• Use of condition tags, variables, snippets
• Page layouts and Master pages
• Indexes and glossaries
• Image files and graphics
• Context sensitive links and alias files
• Preparing target files for output to webhelp, bookmarked pdf’s, HTML5, .mobi and .epub
• Import Tips for Word docx, Robohelp, Framemaker files
• Use of Contributor/Sharepoint source files from SME’s.

One lucky attendee will walk away with the full suite of Madcap Software… generously donated by Madcap Software, makers of Flare.
MadPak includes Flare, Contributor, Analyzer, Lingo, Mimic and Capture!

Workshop Details

Where: SRK Consulting (Canada) Ltd. Boardroom, 2200-1066 West Hasting Street, Vancouver

Registration and coffee: 8:30am (end time 1:00 pm)

Your Presenters:

Beth Haggerty

An artistic bent drove Beth to augment her sales and marketing career with professional writing: the Print Futures diploma program at Douglas College. Building on an earlier foundation of Fine Arts at the University of BC, she added a diploma in Graphic and Web design from Burnaby College and BC’s Institute of Technology where she had also earned a marketing and business development diploma from their Venture Program.

Beth has been in marketing and technical communications management for over 15 years, in a wide variety of industries such as telecommunications, equipment and tool distribution, industrial wireless technologies, RFID/RTLS technologies, financial services and municipal government software. Beth trained in the Madcap Software suite in 2009/10 and has added the advanced developer certification and a Technical Communication Management Certificate from the Society for Technical Communication (STC). In the fall of 2011 she launched her own business (based in Summerland), justSay-IT Technical Communications, as an associate of Growth Strategy Dynamics, a Kamloops business consulting firm. They work with companies to capture sales knowledge, creating a customized sales playbook output to mobile.

Catherine Girczyc

In her own words, Catherin is a writer – with two passions:  technical writing and screenwriting.

She also teaches – as we will see in this presentation. She loves to write - whatever the subject matter! She blogs about the screenwriting life (http://screenwriters2.wordpress.com) and tweets @MCG_Writer; and has a daughter deeply involved in the world of dance.

Currently, Catherine is the Senior Technical Writer for Western Union Business Solutions in Vancouver, and as such has delivered significant software documentation using Flare since May 2010. This includes release notes, API documentation, reference guides, trade bulletins, and user manuals.  Output includes web help, HTML5 Help, EPUB, PDF, mobile, and Word materials. She’s responsible for coordinating the Flare projects for all applications and trains and supervises contract technical writers.

She also regularly teaches a directed studies course in television writing / screenwriting for Kwantlen Polytechnic University at the Richmond campus.  Catherine says, “I’m very happy to combine with Beth Haggerty to offer this brief guide to Flare for the STC West Coast chapter in June 2013.”

Registration is Open

Where: 2200-1066 West Hastings (SRK Engineering (Canada) Ltd.) Boardroom
When: Saturday, June 8, 2013
Time: Come and start chatting and networking at 8:30am – enjoy coffee, tea, muffins and  bagels. We’ll start the presentation at 9:00 and (break at 11:00) end by 1:00pm. Then you can have the rest of the day for your weekend fun.

Registration:

• $29 - students
• $49 - STC members
• $89 - non-members of STC

Register now! Space is limited.  http://www.gifttool.com/registrar/ShowEventDetails?ID=47&EID=15003

It is nothing new to say that the digital technologies are radically transforming our lives as writers. The internet, smart phones, cloud storage, instantaneous global publishing platforms via WordPress and others, content generation software like Adobe Creative Suite, the ubiquitous presence of the social media channels, have all collided with our everyday lives to create huge opportunities as well as huge amounts of confusion.

How can a writer ever hope to grasp all of these tools and use them for their own benefit? What does a practical view of the digital terrain look like for a modern writer, regardless of their specific field? Is there some sort of simple strategy that can be deployed that can help a writer stay current and engaged while also maintaining something like a ‘life’?

These are the topics and approaches that we will discuss in my talk.

About our presenter, Sean Cranbury:

You can find out more about me at seancranbury.com.

I have spoken on digital communications and social media for writers across North America and will be leading a Masterclass at the Tyee in May entitled, Web Marketing for Creators: Platforms and Connections.

Check the link: http://thetyee.ca/MasterClass/Spring2013/Sean-Cranbury/

Also at our May program night:  Portfolio Show

Five graduating students from the Douglas College Print Futures program will be joining us for Sean’s presentation, and afterwards will have their grad portfolios on display.  We will welcome Andrea Arscott, Jacqueline Steuart, Bryce Tarling, Charmagne Yeung, and Leslie Ste. Marie. Please come and welcome these bright, young, up-and-coming entrants to our profession. Their work is awesome!  If you can, bring your HR representative from your company, too!

Registration is Open

Where: YWCA, 536 Hornby Street, 4th floor - Skills Room (turn left off the elevator)

When: Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Time: Come and start chatting and networking at 6:30 – enjoy light refreshments. We’ll start the presentation at 7:00 and end by 8:00 (-ish) - followed by time to review the portfolios of the Douglas College crew.

Registration:

• $5 - STC members
• $5 - students in technical writing programs with ID
• $20 - non-members of STC

PLEASE NOTE: There are two registration options, each with the three payment levels. Please make sure you select the correct one.

To attend in person: Join us in the Skills 1&2 room on the 4th floor of the YWCA in downtown Vancouver! Click http://www.gifttool.com/registrar/ShowEventDetails?ID=47&EID=15002 to pre-register for thein-person event..

OR

To attend from a different location (alone or with others) ...click http://www.gifttool.com/registrar/ShowEventDetails?ID=47&EID=15001 to pre-register for the webinar. You need a computer and/or telephone to watch / participate in the event. It is recommended to use a headset with an integrated microphone (least amount of noise for others in the webinar), and to always mute yourself unless you are required to talk.

ePUB files are one of the technologies that have changed how technical communicators deliver mobile documentation. The newest Help Authoring Tools can easily create ePUB files but the formatting of the content—such as fonts—may vary among e-readers.

In this session you will learn about ePUB files, their advantages and disadvantages, and how to standardize the formatting of an EPUB file so that its appearance is consistent, whether you are viewing the file using iBooks, Adobe Digital Editions, or other e-reader software.

Mobile documentation is a key trend to watch.

In this presentation Robert will explain:
• The advantages and disadvantages of an ePUB file.
• Why ePUB files are one of the technologies to watch for technical communicators.
• How modifying the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) within an ePUB file offers more control.
• The main components inside an ePUB file.
• How to add embedded fonts within an ePUB file.
• How to control text alignment, page breaks, and widows and orphans in an ePUB file.
• The differences between a “standard” ePUB file and fixed-layout file.

About Our Presenter, Robert Desprez

Robert has worked as a Vancouver technical writer for more than 10 years, working at some of British Columbia’s largest high-tech firms. He has served in leadership positions for the Canada West Coast Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication, and has worked as a writing instructor at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University.

Where: YWCA, 536 Hornby Street, 4th floor - Skills Room (turn left off the elevator)

When: Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Time: Come and start chatting and networking at 6:30 – enjoy light refreshments. We’ll start the presentation at 7:00 and end by 8:30 (-ish).

Cost:  $5 - STC members
          $5 - students in technical writing programs with ID
          $20 - non-members of STC

Registration opens in late May

PLEASE NOTE: There are two registration options, each with the three payment levels. Please make sure you select the correct one.
To attend in person: Join us in the Skills 1&2 room on the 4th floor of the YWCA in Downtown Vancouver! Click this link to pre-register: (coming soon).

OR

To attend the webinar: ...from a different location (alone or with others), click this link: (coming soon). You need a computer and/or telephone to watch/participate in the event. It is recommended to use a headset with an integrated microphone (least amount of noise for others in the webinar), and to always mute yourself unless you are required to talk. Please be aware that if you choose to watch on the computer and call in to listen using a telephone, it may be a toll call (and you may end up paying the phone company dearly).