Dear Suncoast members: I’m so pleased to announce our February 2nd Suncoast meeting speaker, Neil Perlin (time and directions at the end of the e-mail).

What’s Up, eDoc? It’s a cliché to say that the one constant in our field is change, but it’s true. In only a few years, we’ve seen Longhorn start to become a reality, the apparent sunsetting of RoboHelp and the issue of its successor, the growing effect of XML, and the emergence of low-cost eLearning tools like Captivate and Camtasia. Add the on-going brawl over “structured content”, the spread of Flash and FlashLite for application and training development, the slow spread of metadata, application virtualization, new technologies like blogs, wikis… I’ll stop now… Keeping up technically and professionally in this world requires three things.

• The ability to communicate, something so obvious that it’s often taken for granted.
• A technical understanding about these new technologies, if only at the conceptual level.
• A business sense about these new technologies – understanding how they fit into your company’s strategic direction and our ability to explain that strategic fit in business terms.

These are turbulent times. But they’re interesting times too, with the promise of new and challenging work if we keep up. This presentation, by a 27-year veteran of technical communication who’s learned to keep up through four recessions, looks at the technical changes facing us today and how to respond at the technical and business levels.

Biography

Neil Perlin has 27 years experience in technical communication, with 21 in training, consulting, and development for various types of online documentation and tools including WinHelp, HTML Help, CE Help, JavaHelp, RoboHelp, and some now known only in legend.

Neil is a columnist and frequent speaker for the STC and other professional groups, a senior member of the STC’s Boston chapter, the creator and manager of the Beyond the Bleeding Edge stem at the STC’s annual conference, and an Associate Fellow of the STC. Neil is a Macromedia-Certified Instructor for RoboHelp, RoboDemo, Captivate, and Breeze. He provides training, consulting, and development for online help and documentation, RoboHelp, RoboDemo, Captivate, XML, and single-sourcing through various training companies and operates Hyper/Word Services of Tewksbury, MA. He can be reached at nperlin@concentric.net, www.hyperword.com. Date: February 2, 2005 Time: 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

Location: Holiday Inn Express, 3025 N. Rocky Point Drive Tampa, 813-287-8585
Cost: $10.00 for members and guests; snacks and beverages will be served
**Please RSVP to Kathy Robbins at kathy.l.robbins@us.pwc.com by February 1, 2006.