Event Management – Establishing and Sticking to a Schedule

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Continuing the event management riff, one of the key areas where a technical writer can add value is by applying his or her schedule-making and -keeping skills. You might be the keeper of the schedule or the event manager or both. You also might have to coordinate your schedule with the event hotel, site locations, and overall organization. Regardless, your ability to track and accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously will serve you well as you’re preparing to execute a large event, such as a conference. Continue reading →

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You’ve Won Your Event Bid! Now What?

Posted on September 23, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Note: I am on leave through the end of the month. If you have a comment or question, you might have to wait a little longer than usual for me to respond.

Congratulations! Your hard efforts to write a winning event proposal and present it to the appropriate authorities have been successful. You’ve been given authority to proceed and at least a preliminary budget to start executing your plans. What do you do now? Continue reading →

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Pitching Your Conference

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Note: I am on leave through the end of the month. If you have a comment or question, you might have to wait a little longer than usual for me to respond.

Not every organization has a formal pitch process for hosting events. The space advocacy organization I worked with, however, did require a live presentation to the Board of Directors on top of a written proposal. No pressure, right? Anyhow, even if you don’t have to give a formal presentation to promote your event, it is likely that you’ll at least have to answer some verbal questions from the decision maker(s). In either case, the primary message of this post will be: Be Prepared! Continue reading →

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Going Offline for Vacation

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Bart Leahy

How “offline” are you on vacation? The last time I took a serious vacation without a smart phone was 2009–three weeks in Western Europe. Even so, I checked in with my email once a week. Some folks considered that too often, some not nearly enough. As a result, I suspect that this post will meet with mixed reactions, from being seen as terribly naive to overly stuffy. Either or both are possible. Still, for my last blog posting before I head out on vacation next week, I am making a plea today that you take the time to live in the moment and turn off your smart phone–or at least your social media accounts. Continue reading →

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Pet Peeves, Revisited – Hyphens

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Does every editor have pet peeves? Probably. Every full-time editor I’ve worked with eventually asked me to stop doing X at some point, and I guess I’m no different. I’m just sharing my feedback via blog. I WANT people to get better at their writing so that I might better appreciate the reading experience. That’s my story, anyhow, and I’m sticking to it. Today, rather gripe about the misuse of the apostrophe, I thought I’d take some time to address another piece of punctuation that gets abused, misplaced, or forgotten: the hyphen. I’m here to help, really! Continue reading →

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