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>My boss just handed me two seminar announcements from the Keye Productivity
>Center-Division of American Management Association. One is "How to be a
>Better Technical Writer" and the other is "How to Write User Manuals."
Each
>seminar runs 6 hours and costs $139 apiece. She wants to send half our
team
>to one and half to the other.
>
>Has anyone attended either of these seminars? I would be interested in
your
>feedback. Please respond privately and I will summarize for the list if
>interested.
Several people wanted me to summarize the responses I received for the
list. Here they are.
Yes! I took some sort of tech writing course from Keye some time
back. It was nothing short of pathetic. It seemed to me that it was
geared toward secretaries and the like rather than to working tech
writers.
These could be different courses, or they could have improved since
then, but I'd avoid these guys if possible.
I've attended the "How To Be A Better Tech Writer" seminar. It was ok,
but most of the things presented were basic, common sense ideas.
However, I did pick up a couple helpful tips that I've incorporated into
my work since.
Worth $139? Maybe. Since I was the only tech writer at my company at
the time (and a relative newbie to the profession), the seminar was
about the only place I would have picked up that info. But had I been
working with a group of other writers, the same information probably
would have come my way.
I got the feeling at the seminar that it was directed at those not
really doing writing as their primary job function. There were a lot of
people who said they had to write reports to upper management, etc.
I have attended the "How to be a better technical writer" taught by
Adrian Ulsh and was very impressed. It's an excellent seminar, and one
that my company sends writers to each year. A big thumbs up!
BTW...anyone wanting more information can check out the AMA website at
www.amanet.org and look under seminars. Their phone number is
1-800-821-3919.
Sharon Key
Senior Tech Writer
A. G. Edwards, Inc.
skey -at- agedwards -dot- com
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