Remote: GitLab for Tech Writers | Show me the Money | 4 X Lightning talks

** Schedule **

Presentation 1: Git for Technical Writers: what is it and what can it do for you?

Come and journey to the world of Git, the most popular technical collaboration tool in the world. In this presentation, we'll look at:

• What is Git?
• What problem does it solve?
• How do I use it in technical writing?
• How do I collaborate with it?

Evan Read is a Senior Technical Writer at GitLab, a company built on Git. He's worked as a technical writer for 8 years in large enterprises and startups.

Presentation 2: Show Me the Money: How to Get Your Docs the Love and Support They Deserve
Matt Reiner, k15t software

The docs are a valuable part of your product, so how do you prove to leadership that they deserve even more time and attention? This is the conversation no one wants to be part of, but everyone needs to have. We'll talk about using technical writing skills and metrics to educate our internal company leadership audience and generate business support for our work. We'll look at:

Why we need to market the docs internally
a. It's a business, after all
b. Trust must be built
c. Psychological effects of underappreciation

How to align writing the docs with business goals
a. Understand the business plan and goals
b. Prepare an elevator pitch
c. Market your documentation internally

What teams to connect with, what to share with them, and how
a. Align information experiences with Marketing
b. Share benefits with Sales
c. Build camaraderie with Support

Where to start
a. Collect metrics
b. Be helpful, and practical
c. Build your business case

This talk not only gives you arguments to build a documentation trusting culture internally, but also to garner the resources to make your docs better for everyone.

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Lightning talk 1: Sarah Maddox "Open source and technical writing"

Lightning talk 2: Chris Ward "Dungeons and Documentarians"

Lightning talk 3: Abhay Chokshi "Documentation and the Aggregation of marginal gains"

Lightning talk 4: Swapnil Ogale "What were tech writers talking about in 1999?"