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7 Great Reasons to go to a Tech Comms Conference

By Amanda Maher, Feb 2017

Have you ever looked at the adverts for Tech Comms conferences and wondered if it’s a good idea but then talked yourself out of it? Me too, but I decided to ignore the naysayers in my head, be daring and headed to TCUK 2016 (the UK Tech Comms conference).

Here are 7 reasons why I am really glad I did.

Relight My Fire Jim Rohn said “you are the average of the 5 people you spend most time with”. It’s easy to get stagnant in work but connecting with people who are passionate about tech comms and want to share their enthusiasm helps reignite your desire to excel.
Workshops are like mini training courses, you get experts teaching you about their specialist subject. Ranging from how to create epubs to building your portfolio. I found a system safety workshop that was really helpful to a project I was working on.
Exhibitions present you with a Tech Comms high street, with lots of suppliers all eager to engage with you about their products. This gave me the opportunity to interrogate vendors of products I’d seen advertised but wasn’t sure how they would help me in my job.
Keynote Speakers working in crucial areas of the industry, give inspiring talks covering big issues and encourage you to think in different ways. One speaker was an author that motivated me to write a book.
Face to Face meetings beat online networking every time, there are lots of opportunities for chats between sessions and connections made can prove to be valuable in ways you may not anticipate.
Presentations by both tech authors and vendors, talking about their experiences on a wide range of subjects. I gained knowledge of the pitfalls of making instructional videos, the future of augmentation and the techniques of terminology management.

And finally…

It was Fun! Mary Poppins says, “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun”. The people were lovely, the venue was great, and there were extra social events; drinks reception, fringe meetings and a gala dinner.

I will be booking my place at the next conference in 2017, and who knows I may try some further afield – I hear there is one in San Diego…