Upcoming Meetings

20 May: Business Essentials — The Five Facts Every Professional Should Know about the Technical Communication Business

Experts advise technical communication professionals to develop business acumen, that is, awareness of the financial and political forces underlying the work of their groups and those of the internal or external clients they serve, so training professionals can work effectively and propose options that clients are likely to accept. This session introduces the basics of business acumen for technical communication professionals.

You’ll learn:

  • Why technical communication is a client service profession (even if you work internally)
  • How organizational contexts affect your work
  • How to use project management and processes to manage customer expectations
  • How your group charges its clients
  • The results internal and external clients really care about
  • Competition for your work—internally and externally

Speaker Profile

Saul Carliner

Saul Carliner is a Professor of Educational Technology at Concordia University in Montreal, where his research and teaching focus on the design of instructional and informational materials for the workplace, the management of groups that produce them, and related issues of policy and professionalism. In industry, he advises learning and communication leaders on strategic business decisions, conducts complex program evaluations, and offers skill-building workshops. An award winning teacher, researcher, and author, his books include the best-selling Training Design Basics, award-winning Informal Learning Basics, and hot-off-the-presses Career Anxiety: Guidance for Tough Times (with Margaret Driscoll and Yvonne Thayer) and special issue of Intercom about perceptions of technical communicators. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Performance and Learning, and a Fellow and past international president of the Society for Technical Communication.

Cost and Registration

This event is open to members and non-members.

  • Los Angeles chapter members: $5
  • Santa Barbara chapter members: $5
  • Technical Editing SIG members: $10
  • Other STC members: $20
  • Non-members: $25
  • Students: $0

Register for the Webinar:
Advance registration is required. Clicking the following button lets you register through Eventbrite without leaving this site.

A joint Santa Barbara STC and
Los Angeles STC event