How to Be Famous in Your Profession

by John V. Hedtke

Fame—being well-known and nothing more—can make networking easier and extend your own networking reach. Fortunately, it’s not hard to become famous and it’s a lot of fun. Here’s how:

1. Get online!

Part of your success is your online presence, which can augment your local, regional, and international standing. This includes things like having a website, writing a blog (and contributing to other blogs), and being on LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media sites. There's a lot to know about social media and making a splash, but the basic rules are:

·         Nobody knows what's best, so be sure to do SOMETHING.

·         Do a lot. Don't try just one thing.

·         Be friendly

·         Provide good content to your readers.

·         Share!

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Election Day Results

by Mel Haughton, 2011 Nominating Committee

The LSC elections were completed online in April. The Nominating Committee is
pleased to present you with your 2011-2012 officers:

President	Jackie Tidwell
First Vice President	Darice Lang
Second Vice President	Alice Leal
Past President	Arroxane Eber
Parliamentarian	Mike Hiatt
Treasurer	Kristy Nolan
Secretary	Monica Winkelman

Thank you to these volunteers for so graciously offering to give their time to the LSC! Officers will be installed during the September meeting.

Read on to familiarize yourself with our newly-installed officers!

Read more »

Job Hunting Secrets that Might Surprise You

April's Community Meeting will be a webinar with Jack Molisani of ProSpring, entitled
Job Hunting Secrets that Might Surprise You.
In this session, professional recruiter and returning speaker Jack Molisani will discuss mistakes tech writers make when looking for work (whether contract, permanent or consulting), with proactive tips on how to avoid these pitfalls and increase your chances of landing that next job or contract.

From Jack: "For years I’ve resisted speaking about effective resumes and job applications, thinking that everything that could possibly be said about the subject has already been covered.  But after seeing candidate after candidate rejected based on what they had (and didn’t have) in their resumes and cover letters, I realized it’s time for me to step up and share what I’ve observed over the years:  Job hunting secrets that might surprise you.”

Have you ever submitted a resume but weren’t called for an interview?  This presentation is for you! 

Resurrecting Mapping

By Arroxane T. U. Eber

The week after our “snowpocolypse”, I had the pleasure of attending Mappers 2011, a conference in Houston about Information Mapping. This gathering of professionals was aimed at indoctrinating new Mappers as well as updating those who have previously learned, applied, and taught the method.

The conference was sponsored and led by Information Mapping USA and its parent company Information Mapping International to revive the Information Mapping culture and promote their Information Mapping software, FSPro 4.1. FSPro is an add-on tool used to help Mappers easily create documents using the Information Mapping philosophy.

The roots of Information Mapping date back to the 70’s and come from a body of publications which many Technical Communicators are familiar with. Publications in the fields of Psychology, Instructional Design, Writing, Learning and so forth by revered names such as Ben Schneiderman, George A. Miller, and, of course, the founder of Information Mapping, R. E. Horn.

Read more »

February & March Event Spectacular!

Adobe contacted the Lone Star Community to see whether we would be interested in hosting a launch event for Technical Communication Suite 3 - we said, 'OF COURSE!'
So we are happy to announce that in lieu of our typical meeting (Larry Kunz had a business obligation and had to reschedule), we are planning a very exciting event with Adobe. Registration is already underway, so click here for more details. Hurry! There's limited seating, and it's going to be really fun. Don't read any further - click!

 

Additionally, we found a great setup we're trying out for our next meeting - at Pappasito's!
Nicky Bleiel's presentation will cover document management in SharePoint, and you can read more about it at the link below. (more clicking!)

2010-11 Awards Banquet

We all had a wonderful time (and wonderful food) at our annual awards banquet! Congratulations again to all of our participants! Now to think of something to enter for next year...

Instructional Materials
Award of Distinction	Clint Clausing, Fire Protection Publications	Fire Investigator Second Edition
Award of Excellence	MLink Technologies, Inc.	Fundamentals of Crimping Techniques eLearning , Michaels
Award of Excellence	MLink Technologies, Inc.	Nokia Device Comparison eLearning, T-Mobile
Award of Merit	MLink Technologies, Inc.	Baylor Fire and Life Safety eLearning, Baylor
Award of Merit	MLink Technologies, Inc.	Nokia Mode Participant Guide, Nokia
Award of Merit	MLink Technologies, Inc.	Lennox SunSource eLearning, Lennox
Award of Merit	Ashley Owen, Inspirus	Recognition Basics Course Sample
User Support Materials
Award of Merit	Edward Hartman, Evan Olson, Harvey Clark, Al Usher, Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc.	NETSMART 2000 Version 4.1 User's Guide
Award of Merit	Robert D. Brown, Agnieszka Klucinska, Phillip Getto, OraMetrix, Inc.	Introduction to SureSmile QT Desktop Reference
Award of Merit	Jan Haan, Parker Brown, Abby Kline, Stryker Instruments	Maestro Sterilization Case--Instructions for Use
Award of Merit	Jan Haan, Parker Brown, Abby Kline, Stryker Instruments	iVAS Inflatable Vertebral Augmentation System--Instructions for Use

Awards Excitement & First Editor's Note

by Jackie Chamberlain-Tidwell

The excitement is building as we prepare for our Annual Awards Banquet!
Click here to read the details about the event on January 20th. Yummy food, good friends, beautiful projects - it's all so exciting! And the AWARDS! It will be a wonderful evening, and I hope to see you all. 

Plus, here's the new format for our newsletter! I really hope you like it - we may adjust it a bit, but it will remain essentially the same. If you have any questions about contributing to the newsletter, or any ideas to improve it, just email me.

Thanks!