After two rough years on every possible level, we are hopeful that this year, again, will bring many international speakers to our conference. We have confirmed that both Kirk St.Amant and Fabrice Lacroix will speak – hopefully in person if conditions allow and we are thrilled to have Leah Guren back for two presentations as well! For now, below are the approved sessions for this year. Still more to add. Keynotes. Tool presentations and more…
Also, now that the voting has been closed, we are beginning to add the names of the presenters!
Keynote: Surviving the savanna: adapting to an evolving career landscape
What lies ahead for technical communication as a profession? This is not the first time we’ve seen a large shift in the industry, though this shift feels more seismic than previous ones. There are no shortage of conflicting predictions. Some are of doom and gloom; others predict business as usual. All of us are keeping a careful watch for the fissures in the business landscape. Rahel Bailie brings her decades of workforce experience to the stage with survival strategies that even Bear Grylls would approve.
The Case for Humor: When, where, and why
Traditional TechComm best practices dictate that our content should not contain any humor. Since humor can be culturally-specific, and written humor can be misunderstood, that was a rational and reasonable guideline.
Things are changing. We are seeing a shift in user preferences and expectations. Personality, warmth, and humor (the human touch) may now be appropriate elements to add to our TechComm content, but we must be careful. We need to know the scenarios to absolutely avoid humor, the scenarios when humor might be appropriate, and how to apply humor to enhance the user experience, rather than ruin it.
Take-aways:
- Humor is a problematic and should be used with caution.
- When used correctly, humor can ease user stress and improve the product’s perceived value.
- It can help set your company and products apart from the competition.
Securing Content in the Age of AI
Securing your content and company knowledge in the age of AI everything. This session will explore shadow IT and AI tools common in docs and docs processes, possibly risks and what actions you can take to ensure you aren’t unwittingly compromising your company or customers with your choice of docs tooling and workflows.
Take-aways:
- How to think securely about AI tooling and workflows
- How to secure your content and company for success while making the most of AI
The invisible interface: Writing as a core part of UX
Beyond the Style Guide: Teaching GenAI to Write with Your Company’s Authentic Voice
How do you ensure content consistency when writers are split across different teams and products? This session details the journey of creating a unified content strategy, beginning with a collaborative microcopy workshop for all content creators. We’ll explore how our cross-team “technical writing guild” spearheaded the creation of a definitive company voice, style guide, and templates.
Finally, discover how we transformed this human-centric “content toolbox” into a reference set to power a GenAI assistant, which now guides technical writers, developers, and UX writers in producing consistent technical documentation and microcopy at scale.
Presented by: Rick Teplitz
Stop Writing. Start Prompting
You’re still writing everything yourself? Adorable… and so pre-AI! Learn how to transform AI from a chatbot into your personal documentation team.
We’ll build two custom assistants live—no coding required—that handle repetitive work while you focus on problems that actually need a human brain.
Presented by: Jeff Klein, Senior Manager, Imperva
RTFM 2.0: Read the Feedback, make it Better
Topics Covered:
- Who gives feedback and where to collect it from
- Feedback forms: from ticketing systems to annoying pop-ups
- Tracking strategies
- Are SLAs a good idea for documentation teams?
Future-Proof Your Writing: Writing Practices That Smooth the Path to New Tools
In a world where platforms evolve overnight and technology reshapes how we create, how do you make content that lasts? This session is for content writers, designers, and developers who want their work to stay sharp, relevant, and resilient no matter what the future brings.
We’ll uncover the forces transforming content creation, distill the core principles that keep it future‑proof, and arm you with practical, low‑resource strategies you can put into action immediately.
MCP 101
Cognitive Load Theory in Technical Documentation: Designing Docs That Don’t Overwhelm Users
In this presentation, we will explore what cognitive load theory is and how it can be applied to technical documentation to create more effective user experiences. Participants will be shown how to identify and reduce different types of cognitive load, implement practical design strategies, and measure the impact of cognitive-optimized documentation.
Participants will learn a comprehensive documentation analytics framework that spans the user journey from discovery through engagement to outcomes and business impact. For each category of metrics (Discovery, Engagement, Outcome, Business impact), the presentation will demonstrate specific measurements, interpretation guidelines, and implementation approaches.
Participants will leave with actionable strategies they can immediately apply to reduce cognitive load in their documentation, improving usability and effectiveness for their users.