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Minutes of March STC Pune Learning Session

The first Pune STC meet of this year was held on Saturday, 22nd March at BMC Software, Pune. The meet witnessed the presence of nearly 80 attendees from the city and one of them all the way from Hyderabad. They comprised of a mix of experienced technical communicators, beginners, employees, freelancers, and students. The meet offered sessions by two speakers – Hemant Baliwala and Makarand Pandit along with giving everyone an opportunity to network.
Though the event was scheduled at 10:00, it began a few minutes after 9.30 a.m. Once the attendees and speakers were settled, Mugdha Kulkarni, the STC city representative for Pune, welcomed everyone and gave a brief introduction to STC India and STC Pune. She then gave an overview of activities planned for the year 2014, introducing future speakers. Later she explained the feedback forms for the sessions and requested everyone to share their expectations from these meets. This was followed by a round of introduction ofby the attendees.

The first session was presented by Hemant Baliwala, Staff Information Developer at BMC Software, on “Interactive Graphics… Exploration and Implementation.” He threw light on how complex theories can be explained in a simple way using interactive graphics. Interactive graphics can visually explain a complex workflow involving multiple components or stages while also providing contextual links to related online documentation, community discussions, and videos. A use case based documentation using interactive graphics can be accomplished by dividing the use case into multiple tiers according to functionality. He illustrated an example by showing how to storyboard, use Microsoft PowerPoint and then use Captivate. Hemant’s talk was interactive, spontaneous, and full of energy. Resources related to this session can be found here 22March_Pune_Sessions .

Makarand Pandit’s presentation on “Video Tutorials” led the audience to a new direction. Video tutorials do not mean video only, but also a blend of audio, video, text, screenshots, and various other factors. It was a very lively session that consisted of a PowerPoint presentation, playing of some audio and video files, navigating through some links, and illustrating some tools. This session was as entertaining and engaging as any other session by Mak. He also shared the resources and useful links for the audience through a .pdf file which can be located here 22March_Pune_Sessions.

The sessions focused more on content and less on formalities. A wonderful success with increased attendees would not have been possible without the venue and refreshment sponsorship of BMC Software, Pune. Their generosity was unparalleled. From the BMC team, Deval Faldu was a great help in looking after all the arrangements. She did an impeccable job. I, Nupoor, volunteered along with Kshitija to take care of the registrations. Many others also helped in many ways.

After the event, feedback was collected from the audience.

Kavitha, an attendee, requested topics, such as Usability Engineering, and Content strategy for future sessions. One participant, Prasad, had come all the way from Hyderabad. He got a lot of questions answered at the sessions, and says that the sessions were “Awesome!” He will keep coming to Pune for more. Lizy was happy with both the sessions being peppered with examples. Sayee, another participant, wants to know more about “Challenges in documenting for Enterprise Applications.” Overall, the feedback from everyone was amazingly positive, and their participation made the sessions very lively!
You, the readers, can mark your calendars for the next event, which will be held on 26th April, Pune. If you wish to get notified, Whoever wants to get a notification by email, kindly join the STC_India mailing list or get in touch with Mugdha Kulkarni (mail.mugdha@gmail.com).

See you all there!!
– Nupoor Jalindre, Volunteer, STC Pune

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