By Sujith Parakkunnath

Setting the tone for the day

The STC Coimbatore Regional Conference, the first ever for the city, took place on a bright Saturday morning on February 03, 2018.

Namecheap Web Services Pvt. Ltd, a leading ICANN-accredited domain name registrar and web-hosting company, hosted and sponsored this conference. It is a remarkable achievement considering that it was the first STC Regional event for the city. The STC India representatives who attended were delighted with the hospitality and the arrangements that were made for its first workshop in Coimbatore.

Sujith Parakkunnath, the STC City Representative of Coimbatore, planned and organized this event after a discussion with key STC India stakeholders. What started with an informal thought five months ago in October 2017, turned out be a full day STC India Regional Conference. Hearty Congratulations to all the Volunteers for hosting a great conference!

The event was kicked off with Sujith Parakkunnath introducing everyone to the Conference. He introduced the Sponsors, the volunteers from Coimbatore, and the STC India Admin Council members who assisted the team to make the event a success.

The event comprised five insightful sessions.

Session I

In the first session, A. Ashok – Director at Namecheap Web Services Pvt.Ltd – welcomed the participants and spoke briefly about the Sponsor’s perspective and expectations from the Conference.

Session II

Bharath S – Director at Namecheap – delivered the next session on “Spotlight on Entrepreneurship”. He spoke about the importance of being an entrepreneur and the challenges and roadblocks that one faces in their journey to success. This session emphasized why every employee should think like an entrepreneur.

Session III

The event continued after a 15-minute refreshment break, with the session on “Structured authoring using DITA” by Kiranmayee, STC India Vice President for 2018. This session was conducted in two parts— sandwiched between sumptuous lunch.

The first half dealt with the theoretical aspects, while the second half dealt with the practical implementation of DITA concepts. This session provided great insights into handling documentation using DITA.

Toward the end of session III, Saravanan – STC India Treasurer – gave a brief about STC. He encouraged the participants to join STC India as volunteers and to actively participate in STC India events across the country.

Session IV

The next session by Sujith Parakkunath was on “Information Mapping – An Overview”. Sujith explained the fundamentals of Information Mapping and its significance in modern day technical communication. The session concluded with an interesting exercise where participants were divided into groups of three. Each group was given a scenario where they had to apply the concepts of Information Mapping.

Session V

The next session by Padma Swaroop Mandapaka – STC India Secretary – was on “The Significance of Zero-Inbox for Technical Communicators”. Padma spoke about the importance of effective business communication. It was an informative and lively session.

Winding up

The event ended with a closure speech by Sujith Parakkunnath. During the speech, the STC India volunteers requested Namecheap representatives to hand out participation certificates to all the participants.

From the outset to the conclusion, it was a successful conference and a fabulous way to launch the STC India activities in the city of Coimbatore and for 2018. Thanks to the volunteers and all the staff, because their efforts were elemental in the success of the event. Wishing a great journey ahead for STC India at Coimbatore!

About the Author

Sujith Parakkunnath is the Head of Documentation at Namecheap, Coimbatore. He carries with him extensive experience in Elearning and Technical Communication. Sujith is also an STC volunteer who primarily contributes to the Coimbatore STC community.