As we tried to fit a formal meetup before the end of the year, we faced a shortage of Saturdays. So, we took the opportunity to try something different: a formal meetup in a Thursday evening.
By 7 p.m. we had set up the auditorium. Manuela was thoughtful enough to bring coffee and cookies, so we had a coffee table besides the stage. Which means that we welcomed early attendees with coffee, cookies, and chat.
Manuela started her Prezi presentation around 19h45. It did not take long before the audience interrupted, and Manuela clarified the first of many doubts. 1h40 later, Manuela had succeeded in bringing to life an apparently dry topic.
The success of Manuela’s talk lead us to skip the second part, a structured interaction that was meant to serve as a buffer from the start. This interaction will reappear in another meetup.
It is always a hard call to decide between keeping time (by cutting someone off) or letting the debate go on. However, if we cut the interaction, we also cut the major value of attending face-to-face events.
Compared to previous formal meetups, we lost the energetic conversations in the coffee break between presentations. And the event ended too late for follow-up conversations at dinner.
Overall, the meetup went as expected, with lots of interesting people, and good stories from the trenches.
Institutional support
Technical Writers @ Lisbon has the support of:
The invitation
Greetings to all technical writers, and to everyone interested in technical communication!
It’s been some time since our last formal event. You might say that we had a kind of hangover after ISDOC. So…
Formal Meeting
Following up on our previous meetups, we now propose a formal meetup:
- Thursday, 11 December, starting at 19h30.
- ISCTE-IUL, auditorium B2.03.
Manuela Aparicio, EuroSIGDOC. “Copyright & Licensing in scientific publications: case of ACM”
The presentation provides an overview of the main principles and legal rules of Intellectual Property (IP). Focusing specifically on the theoretical and practical connections between IP and academic/scientific works/studies. It will also covers a topic on new way of protecting IP in digital world.
This will be a short presentation followed by interaction (questions and answers).
Joaquim Baptista, EuroSIGDOC. “ISTC Survey 2014: What can we learn from it?”
The Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (like APCOMTEC for the UK) did a survey to characterize its members. 203 people answered the survey, including 26 people from outside the UK.
This will be a structured interaction where we will capture our reactions to each of the ISTC answers.
The participation remains free.
Sponsors, as usual: ISCTE-IUL (room), APCOMTEC (marketing). Thanks! We could not do this without your support.
- Carlos Costa, EuroSIGDOC chair, carlos.costa@acm.org
- Joaquim Baptista, EuroSIGDOC vice-chair, px@acm.org
- Manuela Aparício, EuroSIGDOC treasurer, manuela.aparicio@iscte.pt
PS: Yes, Virginia, you can bring your best night dress. If you really want to.
Commercial break: Our colleague Maria Spínola (software engineer of words) happens to also own a fast food establishment at Fórum Barreiro. So, consider tasting the Döner Kebab at “Arabiata”.
PPS: On a personal note, I was fired from Altitude Software this month, after a fruitful work relationship that lasted 17 years. I am kind of loving the aftermath, though.
PS: Feel free to extend this invitation to friends and other interested parties. More interesting participants will improve learning to everyone.
PPS: Night dress and black tie are optional. Curiosity and willingness to learn are not optional. Just bring your better self.
PPPS: Meet Virginia O'Hanlon (1889–1971): She became a cliché for explaining obvious things that are really not so obvious.
Attachment
- Technical Writers @ Lisbon: The 4th Report
- Report of the meetup, including the slides of the presentation. 18 pages.