MadCap Software hosted their first ever conference, MadWorld 2013, last week, which I attended as an invited speaker. Here are my initial thoughts and reflections on the second day.
Day 2
The second day began at the civilised time of 9.30am. I decided to attend “Consulting 101 – Going Out On Your Own” by Neil Perlin & Nita Beck. They provided a “warts and all” description of what it’s like to leave a salaried job and become a freelancer. They highlighted the importance of separating the working environment from the home environment, and the importance of having “retrospectives” (post project review meetings) with clients. Both Neil and Nita appear to be working “in the business” rather than “on the business”: organisations are paying for Nita’s and Neil’s time rather than for a solution or for a team of people.
It was a good presentation, and it chimed with some of the discussions that had been going over dinner the previous night. Some of us who ran technical writing companies had been discussing the role of the external consultant. Often consultants are hired because they are willing (and able) to “speak truth unto power”. We also discussed whether we may be better off presenting to people outside of the technical writing community when we want to promote our services.
Next, I saw Scott Bass speak on “Managing Translation Process with Flare and Lingo”. Scott provided a wonderfully clear explanation of the different ways a localisation project can be managed, and the value of using MadCap Lingo. Lingo is an impressive (and cost effective) translation management and translation memory software application.
After lunch, I spoke on providing User Assistance that doesn’t break users’ flow of working. It seemed to be well received.
I skipped the next session in order to have a 1-2-1 meeting. If I’d had the time available, I would have like to have seen the presentation on MadCap Pulse.
Next, I saw Tony Self’s presentation on Embedded Help. Tony looked at the history and future of embedded Help in software user interfaces, providing a more detailed look at some of topics I’d covered in my presentation.
Tony demonstrated different options for embedded User Assistance and how technical communicators can encourage these solutions in-house. He also demonstrated MyCyberTwin, an embedded chat window based on Artificial Intelligence. All in all, Tony provided a very practical and interesting presentation.
After the presentations, MadCap hosted a Farewell Event, which was very well attended. It was a really good conference: well organised, with good content and great speakers. Well done MadCap Software!
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