What was the question? "Do you want the morning workshops at TC Camp in 2015?" And the majority said: "YES!" So we are keeping the workshop for the early morning.

Now we have other important questions: "What do you want to learn? What's important to you? What do you want to get the leading edge on? What topic are you most interested in for your professional growth?"

So take a minute and cast your vote in the TC Camp Workshop Survey.

Why Start TC Camp?

TC Camp Top Story by Liz Fraley, Treasurer, TC Camp

An experiment that worked!

I experienced unconferences in the past through another group I've been involved with for years. I had always wondered if it could work for the technical communications community, and, two years ago, we popped up the first unconference for Technical Communications.

The first year was a huge leap of faith and one that paid off for everyone who attended. Based on your feedback and the support, we kept going and now we are already in our third year!

TC Camp's reputation has grown. For the first time, we have volunteers helping design the day and we're filing for our 501(c)(3) status so we can take the event to other communities. There's just no replacement for real, first-hand, face-to-face, connections with your peers.

I'm so glad so many people have found so much value in camp. As a nonprofit, we hope to continue to give you a highly valuable day that is extremely cost effective — a day you'll be glad to you gave up a Saturday for

Unresolved Topics

By Michael Hahn

Why do these topics keep coming up?

In the short history of TC Camp, some topics are perennial. Why are the same questions asked?

Some topics are exhausted in a session or two, but others continue to challenge our attendees. In the next few weeks, I'll look at some of those recurring topics.

Document review process

What do we do after information is created? Document Review is one of the most popular topics. It breaks down into tools, people, and processes. I think part of the continuing discussion of this topic is the mix of strategies.

Not every organization has the personnel to devote to a QA/QC process or the budget for a dedicated set of tools to answer the "who," "what," and "when" of making content accurate and interesting. Discussions have centered around routing challenges, whether to use peer review or dedicated editors (or both), and when in the life cycle to review the content, post-author or pre-publication.

Challenges of using standards

The old joke is the great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from. Discussions of standards often center around their value in information production and management, balanced against the tools and techniques needed to work with a standard.

Is it just a vocabulary or a framework or a specific set of rules that must be obeyed? Is the value of using the standard in information exchange (with other organizations or other parts of the same organization), or is it valuable because of the library of tools and techniques that may come with it?

There are many things to consider in choosing to adopt a particular standard, whether it's DITA, S1000D, or a variety of other available national, international, or industry standards.

Want to win a S'mores Maker?

Get social and increase your chance of winning the most coveted prize at the raffle! Every time you publicize TC Camp in your social media circles, you earn raffle entries for the S'mores Maker!

The winner will be announced at the TC Camp Game Show hour at the end of the day. You must be present to win.

Click to see how to increase your chances of winning the 2015 S'mores Maker!

Camp Extras!

Tips and tricks for TC Camp participants

If you've worked in Technical Communications for a while in the Bay Area, you're likely to see some people you know at TC Camp 2015. But, why take a chance?

TC Camp can be more fun with friends and coworkers. So share TC Camp now. And invite people to join you when registration opens.