August 2017

This month we hear from our new President, Meredith Evans, who was unanimously voted in at the AGM in July. Earnsy Liu has been investigating the evidence for learning styles, and we have an update on the classification of our roles in the Australian-New Zealand standard ANZSCO.

Jim Costello talks to Sarah Stubbs about her role at Endace in Hamilton, and we remind you to get cracking and enter the Plain English Awards. Finally, Luke Pivac assembles insights and tips from the WWW in Let's Tech Communicate!

From the President

I'm Meredith and I'll be your President today (and I guess for the next year or more). I'd like to offer a huge thanks to our departing President Emma Harding, who has given so much to this organisation over the past three years, and I know we are going to miss her heaps. I have a nasty suspicion none of us really know how many hours and how much Emma has given to TechCommNZ. She has left some pretty big shoes to fill, but luckily I love shoes and I own a wide variety of them, so I'm feeling reasonably positive about this role.

What’s the evidence for learning styles?

Earnsy Liu, TechCommNZ member and GDID student, looks for evidence (not just opinions) to help you manage the daily conundrums we face in our profession. If you have a question for Earnsy to tackle, please email comms@techcomm.nz. In this post, Earnsy investigates whether technical communicators need to cater for different learning styles

Update: Classification of Technical Writers in the ANZSCO standard

A year ago TechCommNZ submitted a formal request to Statistics New Zealand - Tatauranga Aotearoa seeking a reclassification of technical writers in the ANZSCO standard, and a change in the main occupation name. Emma Harding reports on progress.

There's still time to enter Plain English Awards (but be quick)

If you’ve written a communication that’s clear, simple, and easy to understand, now’s the time to enter this year’s Plain English Awards. Entries for this year’s Awards close at 6.00 pm on Thursday 31 August. That means you’ve got time to ensure you’re in the running to get your plain English communication, or your team’s communication, the recognition it deserves.

Featured TC: Sarah Stubbs of Endace

Sarah Stubbs is Documentation Team Manager at Endace, a networking hardware and software company based in Hamilton. Jim Costello recently caught up with Sarah to talk about her role and her team.

Let's Tech Communicate

In this late winter edition of Let’s Tech Communicate! we hear about the possibility of robots taking over and what we can do about it. We discuss the challenges of transparency in documentation and learn some great tips for recruiting TCs. Plus, we have screenshots with effects and the world’s most annoying writing mistakes. All this and a whole lot more, from around the 'Net!

Luke Pivac