Writing as an Amateur in the Space Business vs. Writing as a Professional

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Bart Leahy

This week a colleague asked for opinions about a prominent program in my industry. I realized almost immediately that I shouldn’t share my opinions in a public forum, and so responded via a private channel instead. Why? Am I being coy or hiding my insights? Not quite. It’s more accurate to say that it was a lot easier to share my blunt, unvarnished opinions when I was not working professionally in the industry of my choice. Continue reading →

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Evaluating Past Performance in Real Life

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Recently a friend invited me to the Sebring International Raceway, where his brother was driving his Porsche GT4 at a high performance driver education event. Basically, instead of a race, the track was allowing people with sports cars to drive around the track at whatever speed they felt comfortable driving, but within strict safety rules and without racing each other. This was an opportunity for me to ride in a fast car on a track with a lot of hairpin turns. Not being much of a speed demon, the question was: would I? Continue reading →

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Sorting Out Conflicting Regulations, Revisited

Posted on October 7, 2022 by Bart Leahy

Back in May, I posted an entry ranting about the conflicting regulations related to COVID-19 screening for my vacation. I’m now back from that vacation and thought I’d post a follow-up entry. There was more drama…some of it easily preventable, alas. Continue reading →

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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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