Blog - Posts tagged portland-2019

Conference highlights and thanks to the community!

2019-05-30T00:00:00Z

Hey everyone,

The Write the Docs team is now emerging from the post-conference recovery period, and we wanted to send out a quick message to thank everyone for helping to make our 7th North American conference such a success. Whether you joined us in Portland or watched from afar, we thought you might like to hear some of the highlights!

Conference recap

At over 500 people, this year’s conference was our biggest yet! We had the usual mix of main stage and lightning talks, unconference sessions, writing sprints, and social events. We were also pleased with the success of our recent additions, including livestreaming the talks, running real-time captioning for the main stage, and hosting an in-person job fair.

Overall, we were excited to our awesome community come together in a lovely venue. Lots of knowledge was shared, and we had a great time.

Videos and photos

Videos of all the talks are now available in our video archive. Thanks to Backpedal for doing such a great job with these. If you gave a lightning talk, we’re working to get them on our site, but you can see them on YouTube for now. (You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss any future content!)

We also have photos from the event available on Flickr, thanks to our wonderful photographer Kay! We really love the photos each year, and you’re welcome to use them for non-commercial purposes, as per our Creative Commons License.

Code of Conduct transparency report

As with any Write the Docs event, this conference was covered by our community Code of Conduct. We aim to be as transparent with CoC incidents and enforcement as we can.

To ensure that our CoC was visible and accessible, we took a number of specific steps:

Every participant agreed to the Code of Conduct in advance during registration.
The CoC, or a summary, was included on the conference website, conference booklet, and in posters around the conference venue.
The CoC was repeatedly mentioned in announcements on the stage.
We specifically stressed that the CoC applies to all conference spaces including the social event.
We encouraged all attendees to report any incident, even if they were not sure whether it was a violation.

None of our organizers were approached about any CoC concerns at this event. We know that this is, in part, a reflection of the thoughtful and inclusive community that we’re so lucky to have.

That being said, we’re also very conscious of the fact that just because nothing was reported doesn’t mean nothing happened. If there was any personal conduct or other aspect of the conference experience that did not meet the expectations of behavior set out in the CoC, please email us at conduct@writethedocs.org.

Ready for more?

Don’t forget our Vilnius conference next week, Prague conference again in September, and our Australia conference in November. Tickets are on sale for Prague. The CFP and tickets for the Australia conference will open soon.

Our Slack network has really grown more this last year. Our general Slack channel has been extra busy in the days and weeks leading up to the conference, and we hope that y’all continue the conversations throughout the year. If you haven’t joined, now’s the time! Check out the Write the Docs Slack.

We’re also looking for more sponsors to make our events just as magical as this year’s event. You can see our prospectus for Prague. Get in touch if you have any questions.

Thanks again

We’re so grateful to our sponsors, speakers, volunteers, and attendees for making this conference possible. Whether you were able to come out this time or not, we hope to see you back in Portland next year – or even sooner at one of our other events!

Welcome to Write the Docs Portland 2019!

2019-05-15T00:00:00Z

Yet another edition of Write the Docs is very nearly upon us! We’re excited to see you all soon.

Below you’ll find all the practical information that you’ll need to plan for and navigate the event and activities.

Be prepared

Read the Welcome Wagon Guide. Our Welcome Wagon Guide is full of information on how to get the most out of the conference. There will also be a couple Welcome Wagon events that will help you learn more about the conference.
Review the schedule. The Schedule page has the latest and most complete information about the presentations. This is where we will also update any changes/cancellations if they occur.
Review the Code of Conduct. We have a wonderful community full of diverse and amazing people. We expect everyone to behave in a respectful manner at all conference events and online channels. Our Code of Conduct boils down to “Be excellent to each other”, but the full text is also available. Our cellphone numbers and email addresses are on that page if you ever need to contact us.

Get involved

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Plan a project for Writing Day. The Writing Day will be held on Sunday from 9am-5pm, and you can drop in at any time during the day. If you have a project you want to propose to others, you can pitch your topic during the welcome announcement that will be held at 9:30am. Check out the Writing Day page for a few suggested projects!
Plan a lightning talk. We’ll have lightning talks each day after lunch. These are 5 minute presentations and a lot of fun. They can be about anything you want. This is your chance to share something you are passionate about with the audience. Slides are not required.
Get ready for the Job Fair. Once again on Tuesday morning we’ll have a job fair where you can find your next documentarian friendly job. The job fair will be held in Lola’s Room from 9:40am to 11:40am.
Plan an unconference session. We’ll be running the Unconference all day Monday and on Tuesday afternoon. Want to chat with like-minded folks about a very specific thing? This is the place. We’ll have a sign-up board so you know what’s happening, and supplies to help you brainstorm.
Coffee, breakfast, and lunch are provided on all three days! Don’t worry about coffee before you come to the conference on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Coffee and breakfast are served at 8:15, and the conference starts at 9.

Find your way around

Riding the trains. Public transit is generally excellent in Portland, you can get from the airport downtown on the MAX red line. For more information, see our visiting page for all the details you need to get around.
Riding a bike. Portland has a bike share program that is having a promotion in May that includes free riding! Check it out while you’re in town.

Have fun

Join us for a walk in the woods. If you’re planning to come out for the hike on Saturday at 1:45pm, make sure you reserve your spot . Note that we’ve changed the route a bit this year because of construction, and will be doing an “out and back” to Pittock Mansion.
Pre-register at the welcome reception. The meet-and-greet event will be held on Sunday from 5pm-8pm. You can pick up your badge and enjoy a couple of drinks on us. This is a great chance to meet your fellow documentarians before the conference starts.
Come to the social event on Monday night. This is a private party just for conference attendees. Plan to attend so you can get to know folks in the community. Once again we’ll be at Jackknife at 614 SW 11th Ave, on Monday evening from 7pm, with free snacks and drinks.

Thanks again to our sponsors

Once again, we’re grateful to the companies and organizations that sponsor our events, some of them year after year:

We’re so excited to welcome you all to Portland in just a few days – see you there!

The Write the Docs team

Announcing Full Schedule, Live Streaming, and Tickets Sold Out

2019-04-08T00:00:00Z

Hello everyone! We’re about a month out from the Portland conference and we hope you’re getting ready! We’re writing today to announce the full presentation schedule and to give you the latest registration update.

In the meantime, if it’s your first Write the Docs, now’s a great time to check out the Welcome Wagon page, which is packed with info to help you get oriented. And whether it’s your first or fifth conference, it’s never too early to check out the Explore Portland page for inspiration on how to make the most of your visit.

Tickets are sold out

Every year we see more enthusiasm from the community, and we are grateful for your support! Tickets are now sold out and we are at maximum capacity.

We have a waiting list on our ticket website where you can register in case of cancellations, but we usually don’t have a high rate of cancellations so please do not book travel unless you have a ticket.

There are still spaces available in the Saturday hike, so if you want to join us register for the hike now!

And if you are a member of an underrepresented group, the application for diversity scholarship tickets is still open until April 15th.

Live streaming

After last year’s successful pilot, we’re happy to announce the return of the live stream! If you can’t attend for any reason, we will be broadcasting all the main stage presentations.

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Bookmark the live streaming page, which will be updated on the morning of the conference with the embedded streaming viewer. In the meantime, you can join the #live-streaming channel on Slack to connect with other remote attendees, ask questions, and troubleshoot technical issues with the stream.

Full presentation schedule

The conference website is now updated with the talk schedule for the main stage presentations, so you can start planning your time (and getting excited!) for the conference.

As always, we’ll be running the unconference downstairs in Lola’s room, and lightning talks each day after lunch.

You’ll be able to sign up for unconference sessions and lightning talks during the conference.

Start thinking about Writing Day

Our pre-conference Writing Day will happen on Sunday at the Crystal Ballroom. We’ve got a couple of projects on the docket – including our annual ‘Write Write the Docs’ sprint on the community website. But the day is much more fun when folks come with their own projects in mind!

If you have a project or are part of a community that you think would benefit from a writing sprint, start brainstorming now about what you might want to focus on. If you’d like us to include your project on the Writing Day page, drop us an email at portland@writethedocs.org. Or just show up on Sunday ready to introduce your project!

Childcare reminder

If you are traveling with children to the conference, remember that you can register for free childcare provided by DivCare PDX. In order to plan capacity, the deadline to register is April 22nd, 2019. Please email us at portland@writethedocs.org to request one of the limited spots. We hope this effort will help more of our lovely documentarians to attend the conference!

Thanks so much for all your support and enthusiasm so far – we’re so excited to see you all next month!

The Write the Docs team

Events and Activities, T-Shirts, and Tickets Update

2019-03-25T00:00:00Z

We’re just under two months out, and we hope everyone is getting excited!

In this update, we’re happy to share with you the different events and activities that will be available as a part of the conference, announce our pop-up t-shirt shop, and remind you to grab your tickets before they run out (hint: very soon!).

Remember to check out our Welcome Wagon guide and the Visiting Portland page for help with planning your trip and making the most out of the conference.

Tickets are selling out

Every year we are amazed at the growing support of our community, and tickets have been selling out earlier each conference. We are now just over 80% sold out, and judging from past events we do expect to be sold out within the next couple weeks.

If you’re still on the fence, now is the time to decide and get your tickets.

Diversity tickets

Write the Docs aims to continuously expand our community to be more diverse, welcoming, and inclusive.

This year we are launching our first collaboration with DiversityTickets.org, a wondeful non-profit organization that shares qualifying events with various diversity organizations, and helps folks from underrepresented groups find events to attend.

Diversity scholarship tickets are free, and we hope to welcome more people from all walks of life to join our community. Please share this campaign with your social networks and encourage folks to apply if they are interested to join us!

Childcare available

New this year, we’re offering free child care for attendees who are traveling with their children provided by DivCare PDX. In order to plan capacity, the deadline to register is April 22nd, 2019. Please email us at portland@writethedocs.org to request one of the limited spots. We hope this effort will help more of our lovely documentarians to attend the conference!

Shirts on sale

Following last year’s pilot, we are happy to announce that the Write the Docs Portland 2019 Pop-Up Shop is now open! We have loose and fitted options from different fabrics, and you can choose exactly the size and cut you want!

The campaign will run in 3-day batches until May 30th. We recommend to order your shirt at least 2-3 weeks in advance, to allow for timely delivery of your shirts ahead of the conference.

Similarly, we will be continuing our bag swag this year, which you can pick up at the conference.

Events and activities

Write the Docs is more than a conference. Every year we make sure to have a variety of activities that our attendees can enjoy, whether you want to learn something, meet new people, or share knowledge.

Hike. If you’re in town early, join us on Saturday for our traditional hike. This activity is a great chance to get to know your fellow documentarians in a smaller setting. The hike is free with your conference ticket, but space is limited! We will publish a separate registration soon.
Writing Day. The Writing Day will be held on Sunday from 9am-5pm, and you can drop in at any time during the day. If you have a project you want to propose to others, you can pitch your topic during the welcome announcement that will be held at 9:30am. Please email us if you want to submit a project for the Writing Day!
Welcome reception. The meet-and-greet event will be held on Sunday from 5pm-8pm. You can pick up your badge and enjoy a couple of drinks and snacks on us. This is a great chance to meet your fellow documentarians before the conference starts.
Lightning Talks. We’ll have lightning talks each day after lunch. These are 5 minute presentations and a lot of fun. They can be about anything you want, this is your chance to share something you are passionate about with the audience. Slides are not required.
Unconference. We’ll be running the Unconference all day Monday and on Tuesday afternoon. Want to chat with like-minded folks about a specific thing? This is the place. We’ll have a sign-up board so you know what’s happening, and supplies to help you brainstorm.
Social event. This is a private party just for conference attendees, held on Monday evening from 7pm, with free snacks and drinks. Details about the venue will be posted closer to the day.
Job Fair. Following last year’s great success, on Tuesday morning we’ll have a job fair where you can find your next documentarian friendly job.

The Schedule page has the latest and most complete information about all our events. This is where we will also update any changes/cancellations if they should occur.

More news soon

We’re putting together the final talk schedule, finalizing the social event and hike details, and getting more excited, so stay tuned!

The Write the Docs team

Announcing speakers and talks

2019-03-05T00:00:00Z

We’re writing today with an update on the fast-approaching Portland conference!

First off, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve finalized our speakers for the event! Every year talk selection gets more and more difficult as we get a larger, stronger batch of submissions. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to send us a pitch – we literally wouldn’t have an event without you!

We also have some info about ticket purchasing (now’s the time!), trip planning (Portland’s cool!), and our generous sponsors (want to join them?). Read on for more details!

Full speaker line-up

Every year, we look to bring a wide range of voices to the Write the Docs stage. Because the role of “documentarian” looks so different to each of us, we aim for a line-up that spans a good mix of practical, philosophical, and technical topics – with the odd whimsical one thrown in for good measure. We’re really excited about the presentations we’ve got this year – we hope you are too!

Matt Reiner – Show Me the Money: How to Get Your Docs the Love and Support They Deserve

Meghan Mahar – Tutorials, Tooltips, and Popups…oh MY! How to ease yourself and your users into in-app messaging.

Chris Bush – SDK Reference Manuals: A flow-based approach

Ingrid Towey – How to edit other people’s content without pissing them off

Shannon Crabill – Documenting for Open Source

Mike Jang – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Command Line

Alicja Raszkowska – Draw the Docs

Jessica Parsons – Lessons Learned in a Year of Docs-Driven Development

Paul Wallace – Localize the Docs!

Kathleen Juell – Writer? Editor? Teacher?

Heather Stenson – Any friend of the docs is a friend of mine: Cultivating a community of documentation advocates

Mark F Iverson – Harvest Past Experience to be a Great Tech Writer

Sarah Moir – Just Add Data: Make it easier to prioritize your documentation

Jodie Putrino – Defying the Status Quo: How a grassroots effort can transform an organization

Kay Miles – Product Documentation Strategy: What Is It and Why Do We Need It?

Riona MacNamara – <i>Sponsored Talk</i>: Documentation for Good: Knowledge as a tool for equity and inclusion

Head over to the Speakers page to see the full abstracts. We hope there’s something there for everyone to enjoy, and also something that will broaden your horizons a bit.

Tickets are going fast!

If you don’t have your ticket yet, now’s a great time to snap one up. Conference tickets have sold out for the last several years, and they go faster along with the speaker announcement, so if you’re planning to come, don’t leave it to the last minute.

Buy your tickets here!

Planning your trip

In the next few weeks, we’ll be announcing more details about the conference events, including the full schedule, annual hike on Saturday afternoon, writing day and reception on Sunday, and official party on Monday evening. But on top of that, there’s ALL SORTS of stuff to do in Portland.

We’ve got a couple of excellent volunteers – Mo Nishiyama and Alicia Duncan – who are heading up our Explore Portland committee. They’re already hard at work putting together resources to help you plan your visit! Check out the Visit Portland page on the conference website, or pop into the #wtd-conferences channel on Slack to ask a question.

Thanks to our sponsors

We are so grateful to have our sponsors help in bringing these events to life every year. Thanks sincerely to the following companies for supporting the Write the Docs community:

Cloud Native Computing Foundation

StickerMule

Want to lend a hand? Head over to our sponsorship prospectus for details on how your company can get involved! We have several types of sponsorship available, including tables at the job fair that we’ll be hosting on Tuesday.

And that’s the latest on the Portland conference. We hope you’re all getting as excited as we are! Stay tuned for more details.

The Write the Docs Team

CFP Reminder & Tickets on Sale

2019-01-07T00:00:00Z

Happy New Year, fellow documentarians!

As we get ready to start the year, we’re happy to share the latest update about the Portland conference. We are extending our call for proposals until January 31st, and tickets for the conference are officially on sale. Read on for more details on both!

Submit your talk by January 31st

As we are aware that many documentarians were away for the holidays, we’d like to give everyone an opportunity to submit their talks. The Call for Proposals will remain open until Thursday, January 31st at midnight PST. Check out the CFP page for more details about what we are looking for and how to submit your proposal.

And if you’ve already got an idea, but you’re having a hard time getting your proposal to come together, you can always ask for feedback on the WTD Slack. The community is there to help!

As always, we’re eagerly looking forward to your submissions! We’ll be reviewing all the talk proposals early February, and will be contacting everyone who submitted a proposal by 21 February, 2019.

Get your ticket for the conference

The Portland conference will be returning to the Crystal Ballroom on May 19-21, 2019. The full event website is live, with some preliminary details, and we’ll be filling in more as it gets closer. We’re already excited to see what this year has in store!

If you’re excited too, go ahead and register for your ticket now! For the past several years the conference has sold out, so we highly recommend buying early and reserving your spot.

Please make sure to register for your ticket before you book your travel! We cannot be responsible for any non-refundable travel costs, and if we reach capacity at the venue before you register, we cannot guarantee a spot for you, even if you booked your travel.

Support our community by sponsoring

Every year we are fortunate to have the support of like-minded organizations and communities, who believe in the collaborative and welcoming community spirit and help us make our events more awesome.

If your company is interested in sponsoring one or more conferences, check out our prospectus for details on the different packages and drop us a line at sponsorship@writethedocs.org

Following the successful launch in 2018, this year we will run the job fair again, helping documentarians and organizations connect with each other. Check out the sponsorship prospectus for more details.

Looking forward to seeing you all in Portland!

The Write the Docs Team

Announcing Write the Docs Portland 2019 CFP

2018-11-28T00:00:00Z

Welcome to the official launch of Write the Docs Portland 2019. We hope you’re getting excited – we certainly are! It’s shaping up to be another wonderful year full of great conversations and interesting talks.

Today we are announcing our Call for Proposals and website. Speaking at Write the Docs is a fantastic way to share your ideas with our inspiring community of documentarians. If there is something you’d really like to see a talk on this year, submit a proposal on it, or refer someone else who would be good!

Call for Proposals

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Every year, Write the Docs invites people from all across our community to come up on stage to share their insights and experience. We’re looking for ideas and use-cases from all disciplines and roles, so whether you’re a technical writer, developer, UX designer, community manager, or support professional who cares about content and communication, we want to hear from you!

You can read our full Call for Proposals on the website. The Call for Proposals will be open until Midnight PST January 17, 2019.

Tickets

Tickets will officially go on sale in January 2019.

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Duplicate implicit target name: “tickets”.

In the meantime, you can see the ticket prices on our Tickets page. As with the previous years, we have tiered pricing to make it fair for everyone. Please buy the ticket that best fits your situation.

As always, we keep ticket prices low so that it is accessible to the widest range of people possible. However, if you can’t afford these prices and still wish to attend, please email us at portland@writethedocs.org, and we can see how we can help.

We will also open a call for volunteers and organizers soon, both of which are great opportunities to get involved with the community and also receive a free ticket.

Stay Updated

Want to find out what’s happening with the conference, or enjoy our monthly global community newsletter? Sign up to one or more of our mailing lists. Your information will never be shared with any third-parties, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want to connect with other documentarians in real-time? Join our Slack.

Conclusion

We hope you will join us in Portland for the seventh annual Write the Docs conference. Whether as a speaker or attendee, you can bet it will be another delightful year.

Welcome to Portland 2019

2018-09-18T00:00:00Z

This is a landing page website for our 2019 conference.

More information coming soon!

Blog - Posts tagged portland-2019

Conference highlights and thanks to the community!

Conference recap

Videos and photos

Code of Conduct transparency report

Ready for more?

Thanks again

Welcome to Write the Docs Portland 2019!

Be prepared

Get involved

Find your way around

Have fun

Share the love

Thanks again to our sponsors

Announcing Full Schedule, Live Streaming, and Tickets Sold Out

Tickets are sold out

Live streaming

Full presentation schedule

Start thinking about Writing Day

Childcare reminder

Events and Activities, T-Shirts, and Tickets Update

Tickets are selling out

Diversity tickets

Childcare available

Shirts on sale

Events and activities

More news soon

Announcing speakers and talks

Full speaker line-up

Tickets are going fast!

Planning your trip

Thanks to our sponsors

CFP Reminder & Tickets on Sale

Submit your talk by January 31st

Get your ticket for the conference

Support our community by sponsoring

Announcing Write the Docs Portland 2019 CFP

Call for Proposals

Tickets

Stay Updated

Conclusion

Welcome to Portland 2019