Re: STC competition

[John Weiland <weiland -at- CISCO -dot- COM>]

If you're like me, you're probably hoping for critical comments about
the writing. However, presentation is part of the message, and
therefore, part of what technical communication is about.  Judges are
human, and if they take a dislike to the publication or its form,
they're likely to pan the whole thing, as they have done in judging
some of my work in the past.

It's been my experience that, depending on the judges, the comments
received are insightful and meaningful. I would agree that the more
comments, the better.

John Weiland                               ..        ..
Customer Documentation                     ||        ||
Cisco Systems, Inc                         ||        ||
Menlo Park, CA 94026                      ||||      ||||
Tel  : (415)688-7827                  ..:||||||:..:||||||:..
Fax  : (415)688-4660                   Cisco Systems, Inc.
E-mail: weiland -at- cisco -dot- com


> Well, it's probably not too constructive to turn this into an STC
> judge bashing thread, but I have to add my two cents.  Just a few
> days ago a co-worker of mine got back the judging sheets on a product
> overview she had submitted.  She let me read them, and I was not
> impressed with the feedback.  One of the sheets had only one comment:
> "Would be better with a cover".

> Wow, what insightful, professional, analysis.  Glad to see this
> person put so much time into studying the submission.

> You could chalk this up to sour grapes (I submitted something too)
> but come the next competition I'll think twice before bothering to
> enter.  I don't expect to win, but I do expect a good evaluation and
> some feedback on what they liked and didn't like.  With the
> superficial and half-hearted comments I got it wasn't worth filling
> out the entry form.