Share your ideas, research, or practice at the 52nd Annual STC Conference

It's an exciting time for technical communicators! We're at the convergence of two important trends for our profession.

The first looks inward at transforming STC to effectively respond to changes in technology, business, and professional roles. Each of these changes brings a challenge to learn new skills, to communicate our value, and to understand the role of communications in the ever-changing business environment.

The second springs from an increasing focus on user experience as part of the design and development process. Communication is a critical element of this work, whether the focus is on technical documentation, Web sites, software interfaces, or wireless applications, to name just a few. As we look outwards, STC members have much to share with—and to learn from—those whose skills overlap with ours. Whatever our titles, our goals are often similar: a usable, useful, and effective information-based product.

You are invited to be part of this vision of technical communication as central to every user experience. We welcome proposals that share your ideas, research, or practice in an interdisciplinary field such as usability, information design, or information architecture or in a traditional STC field such as writing and editing, education and research, consulting, or management.

Be part of STC's transformation and help make the 52nd Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington, an event that can't be missed.

This year, all submissions for next year's conference in Seattle, Washington, May 8-11, 2005, will be made online. Before you submit your proposal, you must know answers to the following questions:

• What are the proposal details? You must provide a title, a brief description, and the intended audience (Web designers, writers and editors, etc.), including its target audience skill level.
• Who are your presenters? Your proposal application must include the names, contact information (including employer, contact address, day/evening telephone numbers, fax number, and e-mail) of all presenters. You must also know if your presenters are STC members and if they are first-time presenters at an STC annual conference.
• Will this be a group proposal? If so, you must provide a main contact to receive correspondence.
• Which conference stem best suits your proposal? Conference sessions are categorized into several stems, or areas of interest.
• If the proposal is accepted, in which session format will you make your presentation at the conference? Please read the proposal requirements for each format.
• If the proposal is accepted, what are your presentation's audiovisual requirements? Note: You must provide your own computer, if one is needed.
• Do you have supporting materials? Please review sample supporting materials for each format. Supporting materials must be submitted as one PDF file. (If your supporting materials include more than one document, you must save them all in one file to submit them.)
• Are all presenters willing to transfer copyright of your Proceedings paper to STC? (Note: Not all presentation formats require a paper.) To publish a paper in the conference Proceedings, you must transfer copyright to STC. STC will not prohibit you from publishing the paper elsewhere. For more information, please read STC's Copyright Transfer Requirements.

The online proposal system will be available May 21, 2004. You may submit more than one proposal. (Note: Each proposal must be submitted separately.) Your submission(s) will be reviewed, and you will be notified of the program committee's decision by early December 2004.