preliminary program - the lavacon conference · html5, pdf, epub, kf8, mobi, webhelp, chm and more....

Preliminary Program22–24 May 2017Dublin, Ireland

Schedule at a GlanceMonday, 22 May 20170800– Registration Open, Tea and Biscuits

0900–1200Pre-conference Workshops

Changing the Engine Without Stopping the Car:Moving to Structured AuthoringStefan Gentz, Adobe Systems, München, GermanyJang Graat, CEO, Smart Information Design, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Anatomy of a Real DITA Documentation Project (Intermediate)George BinaManaging Director, Syncro Soft / oXygen XML Editor Dolj County, Romania

Snakes and Ladders: Content Collaboration with Subject Matter Experts in the Real World (All)Nolwenn Kerzreho, Technical Account Manager, IXIASOFT Rennes, France

1200–1300 Networking Lunch, Exhibit Hall Open

1300-1305 Welcome Jack Molisani, Executive Director

The LavaCon Conference

1305–1400 Tapping Into the Customer Mind Janne Jul Jensen

Senior User Experience Architect, LEGO GroupDenmark

Tracks: Spanning Silos, Building Bridges

Content Strategy & User Experience

Case Studies & Tribal Knowledge Thought Leadership

1415–1515 Turning a Silo into a Bridge: Nurturing a Collaborative CultureChristian Gericke, CMO, SMASHDOCs, München, Germany, and Rahel Anne Bailie, Chief Knowledge Officer, Scroll, London, United Kingdom

Overcoming the Forgetting Curve: New Content Creation ParadigmsOded IlanCMO, IridizeTel Aviv, Israel

What You Learn Managing 30,000 Articles: Content Strategy for the FutureDavid Avnon, Business Analyst, Ex Libris, Jerusalem, Israel, and Ari Hoffman, Success Fanatic, MindTouch, San Diego, CA, USA

Structured Content Authoring For All!Jan BenedictusCEO, Liones / FontoXMLRotterdam, Netherlands

1515–1615 Tea and Biscuit Break, Exhibitor Demos

1615–1715 Getting it Right When the Content is the ProductBrian LaniganSenior Information DeveloperTWi

A Tale of a Happy Marriage: Content Strategy and User Experience StrategyPayal MistryUX LeadVSF ExpertsFrankfurt, Germany

From Small to Enterprise: Growing Pains in the Content WorldRhyne ArmstrongDocumentation ManagerCisco SystemsAtlanta, GA, USA

Content 4.0 is Not Only Great for End Users: New Ways for Automation in CCMSMarcus KesselerCEO, SCHEMA GroupNuremberg, Germany

1715–1830 Networking Reception in Exhibit Hall

1900– Offsite Social Event

Program subject to change without notice Revised 21 May 2017

Tuesday, 23 May 20170830– Registration Open, Tea and Biscuits

0900–0920 Be a Product Samurai Chris Lukassen, Product Samurai

Xebia Group, Apeldoorn, Netherlands

0920–0940 Think Again Megan Gilhoolly, Senior Manager of Content Management

Amazon.com, Seattle, WA, USA

0940–1000 Feed the Goldfish in 19 Minutes and 52 Seconds Stefan Gentz, Global TechComm Evangelist

Adobe Systems, München, Germany




1015–1115 Breaking Down Silos One Metric at a Time: A Look at the Most Innovative Analytic Practices in the News IndustryFlavien PlouzennecUX Designer / Former Managing Editor, Xwerx, Dublin

Maturing Process MaturityDawn StevensPresidentComtech ServicesDenver, CO, USA

Digital Content Strategy: Lessons Learned from Translating Customer Insights into Relevant Content Experiences Irina PashinaSenior Director, Content Strategy and CX, SAP MarketingWalldorf, Germany

The Montagues and the Capulets: How Technical Staff and Enterprise Authors Can Find True Love (Without Death)Douglas GormanCEO, Simply XMLBoston, USA

1130–1230 Getting the Right Rules Ready for Your Flight to LavaCon Dublin: Your Life Depends on It! Anna Ngu, EASA, Germany and Steffen Frederiksen, DitaExchange, Denmark

Cross-silo Governance for Content Gone WildMarie Girard andPeter GilliverIBMBordeaux, France

Collaborating on the Truth: 3 Examples of Enterprise-wide Content ComponentizationTechnical Sales Consultant Software Inc.USA

Sun Tsu, Dorothy, and the Road to Implementing Content Strategy Julian MurfittCEOMekonSutton, United Kingdom

1230–1350 Lunch, Exhibit Hall

1350–1410 Taking Control of Your Content Career Victoria Koster-Lenhardt, Employment Consultant

Vienna, Austria

1410–1430 The Number One Career-Building Skill for Content Professionals (or Anybody, Really) Andrea Ames, Enterprise Content Experience Strategist

IBM, Maine, USA

1445–1545 Think Global, Act Global, Go GlobalBill SwallowDirector of OperationsScriptoriumClifton Park, NY, USA

Remotely Managing Content StrategyRoger RenteriaDirector of Technology LavaConAlbuquerque, NM, USA

Using Cordova to Create Multi-platform Mobile Apps from Structured ContentPhil LaneContent Strategy SpecialistImpimratur LimitedSurrey, United Kingdom

Taking Your Content with You—From Knowledge Base to Mobile AppEric KuhnenDirector of Global OperationsAstoria SoftwareSan Francisco, CA, USA


1630–1730 The Convergence of Marketing and Technical Communication Stefan Gentz Global TechComm Evangelist Adobe SystemsMünchen, Germany

Effective and Engaging: The Key to Better VideosAnton BollenEuropean EvangelistTechSmith CorporationBerlin, Germany

Static Site Generators are the Game ChangersLukasz GornickiProduct OwnerSAPGliwice, Poland

The Rail Safety Rule Book Modernised: Planning and Implementing a Successful Mobile AppAlan Cropley, IT Programme Manager, Rail Safety and Standards Board Ltd., and Joe Girling, Commercial Director, CongilityUnited Kingdom

1830– Offsite Networking Event


Wednesday, 24 May 20170830– Tea and Biscuits




0900–1000 Using GitHub for Enterprise and Open Source DocumentationLynda O'LearyScrum MasterHewlett Packard EnterpriseGalway, Ireland

Dissolving Silos with LocalisationDominique TroucheCEO, WhPNice, France

Use Case Battle Scars: How We Created, Refined, and Reduced Our Use CasesRobert MillsContent StrategistGatherContentVale of Glamorgan, UK

Content Transforma- tion: Building a Digital Experience that Supports Your Customers' Journey Antóin Ó Slatara, Content Architect, Dell EMC, Cork Ireland, andGal Oron, CEO, Zoomin Software, Israel

1015–1115 Enhancing the Customer Experience Using Dynamic Content FiltersPaula R. SternCEO, WritePoint Ltd.Jerusalem, Israel

Our Role and Responsi- bility in Information 4.0Ray Gallon, Co-founder, The Transformation Society, and Andy McDonald, Product Manager, TECH’advantageParis, France

Telling the Right Story: Managing Stakeholders to Implement an Integrated Content StrategyAndrea AmesEnterprise Content Experience StrategistIBM USA

XaaS: XML Authoring as a ServiceGeorge BinaManaging DirectorSyncro Soft / oXygen XML EditorDolj County, Romania

1130–1230 Open Membership Meeting: Web 4.0 ConsortiumRay Gallon, Co-founder, The Transformation Society

The Pit of Despair: Modern Customer ExperienceBrian HerronPrincipal Designer & Director Each&OtherDublin, Ireland

Who Cares About Change?Tristan MitchellProduct ManagerDeltaXMLMalvern Worcestershire, UK

Reserved to repeat standing room only session.

1230–1315 Lunch

1315–1335 From Filter Failure to Savvy Surfer: Riding the Crest of the Content Tsunami Stephen Walsh, Co-founderAnders Pink, Dublin, Ireland

1345–1645Hands-on workshop

Design Thinking Workshop Diego Dalia, Service and Interaction Design Lead

IBM Studios, Dublin, Ireland

1900– Closing SocialLocation TBD


Welcome to the 2017 LavaCon Conferenceon Content Strategy and Technical Communication Management

LavaCon® is a gathering place for content strategists, user experience designers, documentation managers, and other content professionals.

Our Mission: To help organizations increase revenue and decrease costs by solving content-related business problems.

It’s one thing to hear people talk about content strategy and usability; it’s another to meet peers who are successfully doing it. Our speakers are practicing industry professionals who have volunteered to share their best practices and lessons learned—both what worked and what didn’t.

Choose from more than 40 sessions and workshops on how to plan, execute, and manage enterprise content development projects.

Ready for three days of great sessions, amazing food, and plenty of opportunities to network with your peers? Welcome to Dublin!

Jack MolisaniExecutive DirectorThe LavaCon Conference

Contents

www.facebook.com/LavaCon

www.twitter.com/LavaCon

vimeo.com/LavaCon

Sponsors and Exhibitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Sessions and Workshops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

google.com/LavaCon

Sponsors and Exhibitors

Many thanks to this year’s sponsors and exhibitors!

Diamond

AdobeAdobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information. Adobe's award-winning software and technologies have set the standard for communication and collaboration for more than 25 years. Adobe's Technical Communication group delivers best-in-class tools, systems and services that help businesses streamline content workflows end-to-end. With our cutting-edge solutions, teams can effortlessly collaborate on the creation of ground-breaking content, manage and reuse assets efficiently, and seamlessly publish it across multiple channels and devices.

With the convergence of marketing and technical content across enterprises - Adobe's new-age solutions will empower organizations to create valuable experiences that build brands, drive demand, and extend the reach and ROI of customer-facing content, pre-sale and post-sale.

Adobe's Technical Communication products include the Adobe Technical Communication Suite, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe RoboHelp, XML Documentation Add-on for Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe FrameMaker Publishing Server and Adobe RoboHelp Server.

Adobe FrameMaker (2017 release) is the industry-standard tool for authoring and publishing multilingual technical content across mobile, web, desktop, and print. Easily work with unstructured and structured content in the same documentation - however long and complex. Work faster and smarter with advanced XML/DITA capabilities. Publish next-generation HTML5 layouts with best-in-class search and navigation.

Adobe RoboHelp (2017 release) lets you create and deliver policy and knowledge base content for any device. Publish content as Mobile App, Responsive HTML5, PDF, EPUB, KF8, MOBI, WebHelp, CHM and more. Create next-generation HTML5 layouts with intuitive navigation. Help end-users find relevant content faster with best-in-class search, including search autocomplete. Dynamically filter content for personalized Help experiences. Generate content-centric mobile apps with a single click.

Adobe Technical Communication Suite (2017 release) is an all-in-one toolkit to create and deliver rich, engaging content experiences across devices. Easily author XML/DITA content with Adobe FrameMaker. Create Responsive eLearning modules with Adobe Captivate and interactive presentations with Adobe Presenter. Collaborate in real-time with shared PDF-based reviews using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. Publish content as Mobile App, Responsive HTML5, PDF, EPUB, KF8, MOBI, WebHelp, CHM and more. Deliver personalized Help experiences to end-users with best-in-class search using

Adobe RoboHelp.

XML Documentation Add-on for Adobe Experience Manager is a powerful, enterprise-grade DITA CCMS. Dynamically deliver DITA content directly to Experience Manager, thereby offering highly interactive and personalized experiences to end users. Effectively manage all critical aspects of your enterprise content workflow such as authoring, web-based review and collaboration, translation, project management, digital asset management, reporting, and multichannel publishing. Benefit from a unified content strategy by bringing marketing and technical content to the same platform, making it easier to deliver a consistent user experience pre- and post-purchase.

2017 Conference on Content Strategy and Technical Communication Management 5

Adobe FrameMaker Publishing Server (2017 release) is an enterprise software to automate multi-channel, multi-device publishing. Allow multiple users to access publishing services remotely, and manage your publishing setup with a comprehensive dashboard. Output technical content in multiple formats: Responsive HTML5, Mobile App, PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Microsoft HTML (CHM), Adobe Experience Manager Mobile and Basic HTML. Leverage out-of-the-box support for leading CMSs, or use the web APIs to smoothly integrate with other CMSs.

Adobe RoboHelp Server 10 extends the capabilities of Adobe RoboHelp and Adobe FrameMaker. Merge multiple segments of Help content, including responsive HTML5 content, into a unified information system. Host it for anytime, anywhere, any device access. Get extensive analytics reports on content usage, and use the insights to optimize Help content. Manage user rights and security, and take advantage of simplified deployment and configuration. Control operations remotely with an intuitive UI.

Shamrock

Gnostyx Research, Inc.Gnostyx Research Inc. (www.gnostyx.com) equips organizations with the tools and knowledge they need to make the most of content technologies. A global, digital economy demands flexibility and efficiency in how organizations acquire, manage and publish content. Responding to this demand, organizations must find a way to tap into the content technology marketplace while remaining firmly in control of their investments and their content assets. To help organizations to meet this challenge, Gnostyx provides strategic guidance, implementation assistance, learning opportunities, and reusable technology components—all based on open content standards and all based on decades of experience implementing cost-effective and sustainable content solutions.

Platinum

Astoria SoftwareAstoria Software is the world’s most successful Enterprise solution for XML Component Content Management and the first to deliver both an Enterprise-wide SaaS/On-Demand and an On-Premises approach to structured content management. Cisco Systems, Teradata, Xylem (formerly ITT), Siemens Healthcare, Northrop Grumman, LexisNexis, ShoreTel, and other Forbes Global 2000 organizations rely on Astoria to meet increasingly competitive demands for product documentation—high volume, accelerated time-to-market, and globalized output. Astoria Component Content Management, whether On-Demand or On-Premise, is an enterprise-wide solution for Translation-Enabled Content Management, reducing documentation costs up to 90%, compressing product launch times from months to weeks, and generating productivity and management benefits with its flexible delivery model. Astoria Software, a division of TransPerfect, Inc., is based in San Francisco, California.

6 LavaCon | www.lavacon.org

IridizeIridize is the first enterprise solution for real-time, contextual, training of web products.

Iridize is redefining the world of product and employee training with its new Context Aware Product Learning Mastery Suite that allows product owners to create a host of walkthroughs and guides which “sit on top” of the product interface, integrate with it and offer, small, bite-sized sessions, showing users how to operate the product.

The training is provided intelligently, as the user uses the product, and can be specific to his / her needs, roles, authorizations, and even use specific.

Iridize includes an advanced, user management and reporting dashboard which offers full analytics about guide use, down to the user level, as well as offering customization of the content and experience according to the organizational MO and branding.

The product is used today by large and small firms as well as Fortune 500 companies. Our customers include Macmillan, Nuance Communications, Network for Good, Towers Watson, and DocuSign, to name a few.

Whether you are an organization that wishes to:

• Quickly train and monitor new employees• Upgrade existing employees’ knowledge• Increase customer and user satisfaction• Reduce support and training costs• Enhance communication with customers

Iridize is your professional choice.

Gold

easyDITAeasyDITA is a next generation, enterprise level content platform that centralizes authoring, editing, and digital distribution of a company or organization’s knowledge products and assets.

Scriptorium PublishingAll organizations have content. Whether it’s telling your brand’s story to future prospects, or providing important technical documentation in support of your products or services, managing that content efficiently is the difference between it being an asset or liability.

We’re Scriptorium Publishing, and since 1997, we’ve helped companies manage, structure, organize, and distribute content in an efficient way. Turning content into a valuable business asset.

MekonFounded in 1990, Mekon are leading consultants and systems integrators. We are focused on increasing the effectiveness of your content creation, management and delivery. Faced with insufficient staff and ever increasing demand for output, organizations today often require some support to ensure project success. That support should incorporate best practice, risk management and customer- and ROI-led planning. Mekon provide a well-defined, end-to-end methodology and service that balances strategic


guidance and training with the technical capabilities to make a solution a reality. We specialize in systems that allow reuse and recombination of content for flexible, scalable two-way publication, across multiple formats and via the latest publishing media.

Experience with all the major publishing, DITA, S1000D and XML technology vendors gives Mekon a unique and un-biased insight into which technologies are suitable for specific client needs. We are one of the few organizations to successfully implement XML in both the non-technical enterprise content space and traditional technical and professional publishing. As a result Mekon are ideally placed to help you use your content as a strategic business asset. Learn more at www.mekon.com.

CongilityCongility provides solutions for the publishing and intelligent delivery of structured content. DITAweb for personalized content delivery and IdXML for the publishing of DITA content into Adobe InDesign. DITAweb is a platform for enhanced user experience, enabling collaboration and intelligent delivery of structured content. It eliminates the need to browse through large documents for relevant content. Today’s customers expect self-service information, DITAweb’s capabilities mean users can at last benefit from the intelligence of your source content. Customers can receive personalised and relevant content based on their products, role, device, location etc. they can easily find and be guided to related information. DITAweb provides low cost real-time review for an unlimited number of internal or external users. Integrated with your CCMS, authors can automatically publish to DITAweb and manage review comments within their authoring environment. Rich API’s enable integration with core systems (such as CRM), mobile devices, and software for online or embedded help. DITAweb’s easily accessible analytics provide insight into trends about your content. Come to our stand to see how DITAweb and IdXML can benefit your organisation.

Stilo InternationalStilo International is the developer of Migrate, a cloud service that enables subject matter experts (SMEs) to automate the conversion of their content from various source formats including FrameMaker, Word, InDesign, and RoboHelp to DITA XML, and AuthorBridge, a new Guided + Fluid DITA authoring solution for SMEs and occasional contributors, that enables browser-based contributions to a CCMS at extremely low cost.

Learn more at www.stilo.com.

SCHEMASCHEMA—Complex Documents Made Easy!

SCHEMA GmbH was founded in 1995 in Nürnberg and today has around 100 employees. SCHEMA ST4 is an XML-based editing and content management system, offering extensive features for all aspects of the creation, management, translation, quality management, publication and distribution of product information of any kind. SCHEMA ST4’s scalability makes it suitable for small editing teams as well as for company-wide solutions for information logistics. SCHEMA ST4 can be used as a standard product or a customer-specific solution. With the SCHEMA Content Delivery Server, information can be distributed intelligently to all common platforms, independently of SCHEMA ST4.

Our products and solutions are successfully deployed across various branches of industry to simplify ‘complex documents,’ including technical documentation, software documentation and help systems, catalogs, labeling for pharmaceutical companies, training material, solutions for specialized publishers, contract and bid management. SCHEMA ST4 is based on Microsoft .NET technology with Windows and web clients, and can easily be integrated and deployed into modern IT landscapes, as it supports the entire bandwidth of documentation standards (XML, XSL:FO, DITA, etc.). SCHEMA ST4 offers a broad line-


up of interfaces (XML editors, MS Office, Adobe CS & FrameMaker, SAP, etc.). SCHEMA is proud to be an active part of a network of renowned partners, as this also enables SCHEMA to offer specialized solutions for its customers.

Among the many customers already using solutions based on SCHEMA ST4 are: ABB, Agilent, Avaloq, Bosch, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bundesanzeiger, Carl Zeiss, Daimler, Deutsche Bundesbank, General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Lindauer DORNIER, MAN, Miele, Reifenhäuser, Roche Diagnostics, Schaeffler Gruppe, Siemens, SMS Siemag, Österreichische Bundesbahnen, Ottobock Healthcare, Philips, STOLL, Voith, Wolffkran and many more.

Further Information: www.schema.de/en and https://blog.schema-inc.com/.

Comtech ServicesFor over 35 years, Comtech Services has helped our clients design, create, and publish information products that meet the needs of their users. We offer a combination of training and consulting services to help you define and implement the infrastructure needed to meet the expectations of both your leadership and your users. At every point in the information development life cycle, we offer expert advice and guidance to help you improve your processes, get to know your audience, fine tune your content, and use the latest standards and technologies. From process maturity assessments, to information models, to stylesheets, you’ll find the support and training you need from our knowledgeable consulting team.

Silver

SDLSDL is the global innovator in language translation technology, services and content management. With more than 20 years of experience, SDL delivers transformative business results by enabling nuanced digital experiences with customers around the world.

With the most comprehensive offerings available, SDL masters the intricacies of delivering localized brand content to global audiences. SDL helps companies gain worldwide reach across all languages, mediums and touchpoints with unprecedented relevance so they can create personalized connections with customers, anywhere and on any device.

Companies with global ambitions use SDL as their proven, end-to-end solution for increasing their reach and market share. Our in-depth technical and language capabilities establish a dynamic resonance between brands and customers that powers tangible business results.

Are you in the know? Find out why 79 out of the top 100 global brands use SDL at www.SDL.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Bronze

IXIASOFTFounded in 1998, IXIASOFT is a trusted global leader in the XML content management software industry. Its signature product DITA CMS is an award winning, end-to-end component content management solution (CCMS) deployed by industry leaders such as SAP®, ARM®, AMD and BlackBerry®. From authoring to reviewing, localizing and publishing, DITA CMS provides all the tools required for large, global organizations to support their entire DITA documentation process. IXIASOFT is also the developer of TEXTML Server, a


native XML database and powerful search engine. IXIASOFT solutions are accessed by thousands of users worldwide in various vertical markets such as software, hi-tech, newspaper, and medical device manufacturing.

For more information, please visit www.ixiasoft.com or connect with IXIASOFT on Twitter and LinkedIn. Already a DITA CMS user? Join the IXIASOFT DITA CMS User Group on LinkedIn.

oXygen XMLoXygen XML editor is the best XML editor available, with a large number of users ranging from non-technical to XML experts offering both XML development and XML authoring.

The XML authoring support is available on multiple platforms, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, etc. in different forms:

• as a desktop application• as an Eclipse plugin• as a Java component working inside a custom Java application or working within a browser as an

Applet• as a Web application running on a server and providing an HTML5+Javascript interface, thus making

XML accessible from mobile devices, smart phones and tablets

oXygen offers ready-to-use DITA support including visual editing, DITA-OT integration, DITA maps manager and much more. Its change tracking and annotation support, coupled with the possibility to create simplified user interfaces and its availability across platforms make it an ideal tool for capturing content from SMEs or for reviewing DITA documents. www.oxygenxml.com.

ZoominSuite Solutions is proud to announce its new product brand, Zoomin. Zoomin’s mission is simple: to deliver your content to your customers across all touchpoints, quickly, easily and precisely. Zoomin is strongly rooted in dynamic content delivery with a deep understanding of customer engagement and the user experience. Zoomin’s dynamic publishing platform and analytics platform meets the need for innovative, enterprise-grade publishing solutions that substantially improve your users’ experience throughout their customer journey.

Visit www.zoominsoftware.com for more information.

Datazone/MiramoPDFDatazone is showcasing MiramoPDF, the latest addition to the Miramo Enterprise Suite. MiramoPDF distinguishes itself from other XML automated publishing solutions by using a simple and intuitive WYSIWYG template designer to produce highly sophisticated documents with a uniquely low cost pricing model. An additional feature is that DITA content can be published out-of-the-box using the DITA-OT plugin.

MiramoPDF is the latest addition to Datazone’s flagship product, Miramo Enterprise, in use by the financial, manufacturing, government and healthcare sectors since 1995 to produce high volumes of varying documents types in a range of output formats with job scheduling, load balancing and auditing controls.


Fluid TopicsFluid Topics unlocks the delivery of technical content through any channel.

User guides, reference manuals, installation and maintenance manuals and knowledge bases aren’t merely product documentation—they are also tools for winning business, increasing customer satisfaction and building loyalty.

Fluid Topics is a revolutionary turnkey platform for dynamic content delivery: it transforms all forms of static documentation into a lively, simple and interactive online publishing system. Users can browse, read, search, annotate, comment, create alerts, send feedback to writers, and even create personalized documentation. For more information and a free trial, visit www.fluidtopics.com.

Simply XMLSimply XML™ offers a Microsoft Word-to-XML authoring tool called Content Mapper. Writers see the familiar MS Word user interface with the ugly but useful XML behind the scenes. Content Mapper’s target customer organization realizes the value of XML as an architecture for content reuse and flexible publishing. Target authors use MS Word instead of a traditional XML editor because they want simplicity, ease of use, and immediate productivity. You can easily get control of MS Word, implement a writing standard, and modernize your content supply chain. Our long-term background with structured writing and XML mark-up provide a great foundation for content creation and management throughout the enterprise. It doesn’t have to be complicated, its Simply XML. Learn more at www.simplyxml.com.

TWiTWi is a leading technical writing and information design service provider. We offer high-quality, flexible, and scalable documentation solutions for the Software, MedTech, and BioPharma industries.

Partner with us to turn your documentation into an asset by:

• Improving operational efficiency, saving time and resources • Supporting legal, quality, and regulatory compliance• Enhancing knowledge transfer • Growing internal capacity to meet future documentation

needs• Reducing human error rates• Promoting usability, customer safety, and user satisfaction• Generating increased sales

Anders PinkAt Anders Pink, we're passionate about helping people to discover great content, stay smart, and curate better together. Founded in 2016, we work with professional teams in a range of sectors and industries to help with better content curation.

We are focused on a problem that everyone faces: we all want to stay smart and up-to-date, but we're overwhelmed with irrelevant content. We've designed our Anders Pink Curation Tool with continuous learning and better filtering in mind. Smart consumers and curators of content need control over their sources to ensure more signal and less noise. We aim to provide an unrivalled level of control and a huge number of sources we track every day, combined with an API that lets you export our data feeds and embed in other tools and apps—CRMs, Sites, Intranets, Learning Platforms—anywhere you want.


Contact us:

www.anderspink.com

[email protected]

@anderspink on Twitter

Exhibitors

UX BoothThe UX Booth is a publication by and for the user experience community. Our readership consists mostly of beginning-to-intermediate user experience and interaction designers, but anyone interested in making the web a better place to be is welcome. Join us to discuss best practices and trending topics or share your experiences.

Globalization and Localization Association (GALA)GALA is a global, non-profit trade association for the language industry. As a membership organization, we support our member companies and the language sector by creating communities, championing standards, sharing knowledge, and advancing technology. For more information, visit us at www.gala-global.org.

Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC)The ISTC is the largest UK body representing information development professionals. With a history dating back 60 years, the ISTC:

• Encourages professional education and supports standards• Provides guidance about the value of using professional communicators• Facilitates research, discussion and networking opportunities for its

members and industry affiliates

For our members, we provide a range of benefits that are organised in the following groups:

• Community• Professional Development and Recognition• Resources• Technical Communication UK Conference• Communicator

Visit us at www.istc.org.uk.

soap!soap! is an exceptional conference any content professional will appreciate. We aren’t afraid to ask difficult questions, share real-life experiences, discuss problems. With the crowd of wonderful soapers—hungry for knowledge, tech-aware professionals—we share experiences and skills during workshops and talks, make meaningful connections and friends, have fun, and much more. soap! is an extraordinary, international community. Come join us; visit www.soapconf.com for more information.


Cork Institute of Technology (CIT)Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) is a leading higher education institution based in Cork City on the south coast of Ireland. Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) is a publicly funded higher education provider in Cork, Ireland's second largest city situated in south-western Ireland, in the historic province of Munster. Cork Institute of Technology is the largest of the state's network of thirteen Institutes of Technology and provides programmes of higher and further education and training in the fields of Business, Computing, Engineering, Fine and Applied Art, Humanities, Maritime Education, Music, and Science. The Institute under delegated authority from Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) makes its own awards for all of its taught provision at undergraduate and Masters levels. It also makes its own research awards for a wide range of designated disciplines in Science, Engineering and Computing at Masters and PhD levels.

In 2016, the Department of Computer Science in Cork Institute of Technology, together with industry developed an innovative new master's programme in Information Design & Development. This programme is delivered fully online and offers three levels of qualifications. Come join us at our stand or visit http://cs.cit.ie/ for more information on this programme.


Sessions and Workshops

Monday, 22 May

0800– Registration Open, Tea and Biscuits

0900–1200 Pre-Conference Workshops

Changing the Engine Without Stopping the Car: Moving to Structured AuthoringStefan Gentz, Adobe Systems, and Jang Graat, CEO, Smart Information Design

This workshop is for anyone who needs to move to structured authoring but has to take existing unstructured content with them. You cannot afford to leave all that good content behind, and you do not have the time to copy-paste it into a structured authoring system. Adobe FrameMaker is the only product on the market that can combine structured and unstructured content without running into any conversion or compatibility problems. Your multi-channel output production will not need to skip a beat while you are converting the content bit by bit, one topic at a time, when that topic is up for revision anyway. In this workshop, you will learn to set up the conversion and you will discover that everything you need is contained in the product; no additional costs are involved. And even if you are not using FrameMaker for your unstructured content, this will work almost exactly the same.

The Anatomy of a Real DITA Documentation Project (Intermediate)George Bina, Managing Director, Syncro Soft / oXygen XML Editor

DITA allows for a lot of flexibility, which translates to a huge number of choices. This is a good thing if you are an advanced DITA user, but it may be daunting if you are just getting started or an

intermediate user. It is always easier to look at a real example and start from there, rather than starting from scratch.

In this workshop, we will look over a real-world DITA project, see how it is organised, explore the DITA features it uses, how it is setup to keep track of versions, what publishing options are available, how to check documentation quality, and more.

On one hand, this can serve as a starting point (as an example you can follow when you start a new project), and on the other hand, you may also notice some interesting approaches that you can adopt in your own projects.

Another goal is to show you that the latest trends in the documentation world, specifically that “docs like code” ideas, are perfectly compatible with DITA.

Snakes and Ladders: Content Collaboration with Subject Matter Experts in the Real World (All)Nolwenn Kerzreho, Technical Account Manager, IXIASOFT

This workshop equips participants with planning tactics for laying out your next content change initiative. Participants will leverage a planning framework and participate in an interactive process of identifying key project opportunities and risks as well as exploring their own project roadmap. In this workshop, the project scenario focuses on how a content management system can be leveraged to facilitate content collaboration with subject matter experts. The topic will be approached using the familiar board game of Snakes and Ladders.


1200–1300 Networking Lunch, Exhibit Hall Opens

1300–1305 Welcome

Jack MolisaniExecutive Director, The LavaCon Conference

1305–1400 Tapping Into the Customer Mind

Janne Jul JensenSenior User Experience Architect, LEGO Group

More than ever, today’s users are expecting a great and smooth user experience from their applications, and creating intuitive user interfaces has become an essential skill for successful development teams. Design guidelines help a lot, but what exactly makes some apps super easy to use while others leave the users puzzled or frustrated? In this talk, Janne Jul Jensen will take us inside the mind of the user to explain why some things are just so darn hard. She will explain how we can make software with user interfaces that “work” by leveraging the way our brains are wired.

1415–1515 Breakout Sessions

Turning a Silo into a Bridge: Nurturing a Collaborative CultureChristian Gericke, CMO, SMASHDOCs, and Rahel Anne Bailie, Chief Knowledge Officer, Scroll

There’s a lot of talk about the need to break down silos: corporate silos, functional silos, content silos. The term “silomindset” has been around for a number of decades, but despite a variety of attempts to change how organisations work, the silo mindset hasn’t changed much. In the content world, the latest trend is to try to eliminate silos through the use of technology, a sort of strong-arm approach to silos-busting.

But what if the end game isn’t about eliminating silos? What if breaking down silos is really about doing something positive instead: creating a collaborative culture? Is it realistic to expect silos to be removed from an organisation, or should we anticipate ventilating silos instead, and encouraging cross-silo collaboration?

This presentation discusses multiple ways to look at the thorny issues around collaboration, context, technologies, and culture in the quest to improve our systems and workplaces, and make it possible to fulfill our business goals.

In this session, attendees will learn:

• The difference between busting silos and building bridges

• The top theories and common points within the theories

• The key aspects of silo-busting: coordination, cooperation, capability-development, and connection

• How to create a workplace environment that balances collaboration, technology, and change management to improve business effectiveness

Overcoming the Forgetting Curve: New Content Creation ParadigmsOded Ilan, CMO, Iridize

New communication technologies are opening the door to a radically different, even "disruptive", approach in training and supporting users.

Users forget 90% of what they are trained to do within days. How do we deal with this? Should we deal with this?

Do we want our users to learn or to perform?

New technology actually challenges the ages-long approach to education and provides technical communicators with powerful tools for increasing user satisfaction. In this session you will learn:

• How technology intrinsically disrupts our understanding of how to handle problems

• About the Forgetting Curve and what it implies

• How the Forgetting Curve impacts product support and training


• How you, a Tech Comm professional, can personally benefit from content that is measured and digitized with actual examples of human behavior via Iridize guides

• How new technology enables technical communicators to offer more creative solutions for improving support and training and increasing customer satisfaction

What You Learn Managing 30,000 Articles: Content Strategy for the FutureDavid Avnon, Business Analyst, Ex Libris, and Ari Hoffman, Success Fanatic, Mindtouch

Ex Libris has extensive product lines, each of which requires data sheets, training guides, videos, support materials, and user guides. Our previous content management system couldn’t keep up, and our users (internal and external) couldn’t find what they were looking for in our 30,000+ articles, often leading to duplicate content, outdated materials, and/or an increase in support handling time, which directly affected the customer experience.

In this case study, we will describe the problems we were having, the silos involved (ticketing software, customer databases, knowledge bases,

in-product help, etc.), and how we merged those systems into a single repository that creates and delivers personalized content experiences to internal employees, external customers, and buyers alike.

We will also include the high points of where we succeeded, the low points of where we failed, and how we developed key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success and build for the future.

Structured Content Authoring For All!Jan Benedictus, CEO, Liones / FontoXML

Many say, “Structured content authoring is too complex.” But organisations have no choice. To keep content consistent, findable, and manageable, we simply must write and store in a structured format. Semantic tagging, reuse, targeting, conditions, and references are all essential and valuable features that form the essence of structured content schemas. If we simply strip complexity for lightweight authoring, chances are fair that we lose much of this value. The question is: How do we make structured content authoring a mainstream activity?



Getting it Right When the Content is the ProductBrian Lanigan, Senior Information Developer, TWi

Developing a content strategy for professional training is hard. The users—both trainers and trainees—have very different needs. They need different information, for different purposes, at different times. And of course, the content itself is the product—no pressure! How can you ensure a good user experience for everybody: before, during, and after? In this session, we’ll share what we learned from developing, launching, and refining a training product, and show you how single-sourcing can give your training content a competitive edge.

A Tale of a Happy Marriage: Content Strategy and User Experience StrategyPayal Mistry, UX Lead, VSF Experts

A marriage that’s complementary, compatible, and charming. Several companies often miss that good design and good content go hand in hand,

and the success of one depends on the other. We were one of them. A group of high-performing employees who lacked a unifying vision. Tasked to create strong branding, clear content, and a delightful experience, we rose to the challenge, but the journey was tough. With this case study, I will share how we pivoted and discovered success.

From Small to Enterprise: Growing Pains in the Content WorldRhyne Armstrong, Documentation Manager, Cisco Systems

You have everything figured out. Your content is being produced, published, and curated the way you want, and the systems you have in place are relatively flawless. Then BOOM! Your organisation announces an acquisition, and your world is going to change. In this case study, we look at and discuss the differences between content in a small business and a large enterprise, and what we are doing in our organisation at Cisco to make


sure the needs of our customers and employees are met while we worry about things like compliance.

Content 4.0 is Not Only Great for End Users: New Ways for Automation in CCMSMarcus Kesseler, CEO, SCHEMA Group

For Content 4.0 scenarios, intelligent information is essential. But authoring processes also benefit from more and better metadata. Selecting the

right topic and composing maps are not only important for users of a content delivery app, but also for technical authors who have to finish documentation for a complex and variant-rich product. How do we automate CCMS processes by relying on intelligent information?

1715–1830 Networking Reception in Exhibit Hall

1900– Offsite Social Event

Tuesday, 23 May

0830– Registration Open, Tea and Biscuits

0900–0920 Be a Product Samurai

Chris LukassenProduct Samurai, Xebia Group

With Agile practices becoming more and more common, the call for product leadership has never been louder. Product owners are drowning in feature alignment and internal stakeholder discussions, slowed by technical and organizational complexity, crippled by a risk-averse company culture, and focused on internal risks rather than market outcome.

Long ago, the samurai learned that agility in itself is not enough. Leadership comes from an unwavering vision, clear values, and relentless exercise of martial practices (kata). What can we learn from them? Which katas apply to product leadership? How can me make sure that we wield the sword of agility in such a way that we don’t just make products right, but make the right products?

This lightweight talk will offer practical solutions and insights on how to become a better product owner, product manager, or anyone responsible for setting out a product strategy based on my personal experience as a product manager, director, coach, teacher (and martial artist).

For it is our responsibility to save the world of crappy products and lead our teams like the samurai.

0920–0940 Think Again

Megan GilhoolySenior Manager of Content Management, Amazon.com

Content crosses silos, giving content developers a unique perspective of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Years of experience leads to insight, but can also paralyze innovative ideas.

Has your experience given you tribal knowledge and wisdom, or preconceived notions that are no longer true or helpful?


In this keynote, Megan Gilhooly discusses new ways of thinking that challenge common business trends. She will provide examples highlighting how your ability to think critically and your passion for forging new trends can help you throughout your content career.

0940–1000 Feed the Goldfish in 19 Minutes and 52 Seconds

Stefan GentzGlobal TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems

Content consumption patterns have dramatically changed over the last decade. The maximum selective sustained attention span of a human being is about 20 minutes. The length of this talk. Latest research shows that the transient attention span of human beings has even gone down from 12 to 8 seconds over the last decade. Even a goldfish has a longer attention span.

To communicate technical content in the future successfully, we need to move from drops to drips, deliver smaller content chunks, improve findability and searchability, and tailor content to the content consumer's role and context automatically.


Breaking Down Silos One Metric at a Time: A Look at the Most Innovative Analytic Practices in the News IndustryFlavien Plouzennec , UX Designer, Xwerx

Every organisation faces the challenge of building measurement tools that can diffuse business goals over all departments, but remain meaningful and actionable for everyone.

Because of the historical “wall” dividing the newsroom and the business side, and because of a global lack of product culture, most traditional media companies have developed a silo mentality and incoherent practices.

A typical example is an obsession for page views that serves the PPC advertising model, but clashes with the brand ethos, the reality of news consumption, and more viable business models based on user engagement and retention.

However, in recent years, some media companies have embraced new approaches, experimenting with measurement frameworks and tools that translate the appropriate metrics into newsrooms, IT, sales, and marketing departments.

Maturing Process MaturityDawn Stevens, President, Comtech Services

Although tools, technology, and user expectations continue to evolve the content we produce, the processes followed while creating that content frequently remain rooted in what we’ve always done. To better respond to changing demands, we must leave behind our old concepts of information development management and adopt a new model of process

maturity. Based on continuing conversations with leading information development organisations, this presentation examines key performance indicators for 10 characteristics that define mature organizations.

Digital Content Strategy: Lessons Learned from Translating Customer Insights into Relevant Content ExperiencesIrina Pashina, Senior Director, Content Strategy and Customer Experience, SAP Marketing

How do you best translate customer insights into an actionable content strategy? How do you reflect constantly changing customer preferences and business transformation in your content? How do you ensure the right implementation to create relevant content experiences for your audiences and achieve the business goals set? In this session, you will find out about the lessons learned in the development of a digital content strategy at SAP, the world’s largest provider of enterprise application software serving more than 345,000 customers in 190 countries.

The Montagues and the Capulets: How Technical Staff and Enterprise Authors Can Find True Love (Without Death)Douglas Gorman, CEO, Simply XML

The Information Age challenge is for information consumers (readers) to get the information they need, at the right time, on their devices/media of choice with maximum productivity and efficiency throughout the entire process. The Montagues (Tech Pubs) does this with an XML architecture and various complex technical tools.


The Capulets across the enterprise must now awaken the same content reuse and flexible publishing benefits with appropriate tools without the death of one side, the other, or both.


Getting the Right Rules Ready for Your Flight to LavaCon Dublin: Your Life Depends on It!Anna Ngu, Rulemaking Assistant, EASA and Steffen Frederiksen, CSO, DitaExchange

When flying to LavaCon in Dublin this year, your safety depends (among other things) on the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) being able to get the right rules and regulations ready before you board the airplane! EASA manages a huge collection of regulatory content for Europe. Structured content management quickly became a must, and EASA wanted to implement this based on DITA principles—but without having to deal with XML. Being here is your proof that it works!

Cross-silo Governance for Content Gone WildMarie Girard and Peter Gilliver, IBM

We thought we had tamed our content. We had automated it and continuously delivered DITA-based online help for IBM products. And then came cloud services. This changing model led us to reach beyond our comfort zone and interact with the numerous other content producers in our organisation. In this adventure outside of traditional documentation territory, we discovered new ways of managing product content. And we found that our structured content background helped domesticate wild content into great customer experiences.

Building an Enterprise-wide Content Platform—and Why DITA will FailGarry Horne, Technical Sales Consultant, Software Inc.

Breaking down content silos requires an enterprise-wide approach that is able to serve a number of distinct departments, creators, reviewers, and consumers. An enterprise-wide approach must enable collaborative content creation and review for various content types and workflows within an organization, which in many cases span tech support, marketing, product documentation, and more. In this session, we'll focus on how an enterprise-wide content strategy is made seamless as illustrated by three different content use cases managed in a single platform.

Sun Tsu, Dorothy, and the Road to Implementing Content StrategyJulian Murfitt, CEO, Mekon

Where do you start in discovering the elements of a content strategy in your business, and what methods can we use to help plan and implement the resulting strategic vision? By drawing on experiences of working with many companies over several years, Julian will share his ideas and experiences to help you plan and implement a content strategy. This is not a review of specific technologies or functional elements of what to do with your content, but rather a detailed look at the business case and how to gain management mindshare to achieve your information vision and goals.

1230–1350 Lunch, Exhibit Hall

1350–1410 Taking Control of Your Content Career

Victoria Koster-LenhardtEmployment Consultant

Vici is a job search and career strategist. She supports expat families living in Central and Eastern Europe by assisting them in finding meaningful work while living overseas. It’s her latest stop in a journey that started with a job in journalism in New York City.


A chance meeting on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1983 led to a marriage proposal and a move to Austria, where she has lived her entire adult life. Vici worked at The Coca-Cola Company in Vienna for 21 years, managing the Documentation Department for 16 years, then moving into global corporate communications.

After being laid off in 2010, Vici used her legendary networking skills to land a job as Senior Marketing and Communications Manager at Austria’s top law firm. Eight months later, a colleague there handed Vici the job description for a job search consultant covering the European region and said, “I think this is the perfect job for you!”

Vici will illustrate how you, too, can find the perfect job and take your content career to the next level.

1410–1430 The Number One Career-Building Skill for Content Professionals (or Anybody, Really)

Andrea AmesEnterprise Content Experience Strategist, IBM

If I told you that mastering just ONE skill might make you the most indispensable content practitioner on your team, in your company, or with your clients, would you believe me? Well, it’s true! It is, however, a higher-order skill, based on a solid foundation of other skills. What is that one skill? Join me for this short, fun, and information-packed talk to find out!


Think Global, Act Global, Go GlobalBill Swallow, Director of Operations, Scriptorium

The line between marketing and technical communication continues to blur. Potential customers are increasingly relying on technical content to inform their purchasing decisions. Quality, accuracy, and brand consistency have never been more important in technical content. Likewise, there’s an increasing need to provide more technical details in traditional marketing material. Integrating these two traditionally different teams can be tricky, but combining their strengths allows you to provide content that is informative, engaging, and highly effective.

Remotely Managing Content StrategyRoger Renteria, Director of Technology, LavaCon

Have you ever tried working on a team that only meets twice a year for about a week? The rest of the time it’s via email and telephone calls. How can a team work solidly and agile enough across several time zones? See how this highly specialized team gets it done to produce the LavaCon Conference.

Using Cordova to Create Multi-platform Mobile Apps from Structured ContentPhil Lane, Content Strategy Specialist, Impimratur Limited

With the ever-growing demand for portable, mobile-friendly content, delivering your documentation as an app has become a high priority. This session will look at how it is possible to create mobile applications using your existing structured content—in this case, stored in SCHEMA ST4—by combining it with web technologies and Apache Cordova to create multi-platform mobile applications with a native look and feel.

Taking Your Content with You—From Knowledge Base to Mobile AppEric Kuhnen, Director of Global Operations,, Astoria Software

There is growing demand from organisations to adopt a mobile strategy that goes beyond simply providing a responsive version of their content knowledge base. Field engineers, sales staff, and customers often need the ability to take content offline and work with no access to the Internet. Finding the content they need to take offline, and ensuring they don’t forget something, requires planning—ensuring that related content is easily discovered and downloaded.




The Convergence of Marketing and Technical Communication Stefan Gentz, Global TechComm Evangelist, Adobe Systems

For the last decades, most discussions in technical documentation were all about automation, moving to XML and structured content, improving quality, managing technical documentation more efficiently, and, of course, reducing costs. Now it’s time to talk about the customer experience. And it’s time to talk about the customer journey.

In this session, Stefan Gentz, Worldwide TechComm Evangelist for Adobe, will discuss the communication of technical content and how it’s becoming increasingly important to understand technical communication as marketing communication. The ability to blend marketing content and technical content into a unified customer experience becomes key to success. The foundation for this is dynamic, intelligent content that enables personalization and multi-channel content delivery to communicate with customers in all possible ways.

Drawing on examples from the Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Le Temps (CH), and Le Monde (Fr), this talk will give you a snapshot of the most innovative analytic practices in the news media industry to measure and communicate performance.

Effective and Engaging: The Key to Better VideosAnton Bollen, European Evangelist, TechSmith Corporation

Videos are taking on an increasingly important role in the field of technical communication. So how can we ensure that the content we are creating is optimized, effective, and meeting our viewers’ needs and expectations?

Based on a number of studies and the analysis of hundreds of videos, this session will provide a series of data-driven insights into proven video design practices while taking viewers’ behaviours and expectations into account; providing the session participants with recommendations they can apply to their own work.

Static Site Generators are the Game ChangersLukasz Gornicky, Product Owner, SAP

The most known static site generator, Jekyll was created eight years ago. That’s a long time ago, yet still not many documentation specialists know about it. This technology is a game changer in building documentation portals. Thanks to it, only the sky’s the limit.

The Rail Safety Rule Book Modernised: Planning and Implementing a Successful Mobile AppAlan Cropley, IT Programme Manager, Rail Safety and Standards Board Ltd., and Joe Girling, Commercial Director, Congility

Originating in 1876, the UK’s Rail Safety Standards Board’s (RSSB) Rule Book is an essential safety and procedural reference for the 120,000 staff responsible for operating one of the most intensively used and safest rail networks in the world. Looking to achieve a Rule Book both easier to use and keep up to date, yet more cost-effective for the industry, this case study discusses the highs and lows of moving from paper and PDF delivery to interactive mobile app.

1830– Offsite Networking Event


Wednesday, 24 May

0830– Tea and Biscuits


Using GitHub for Enterprise and Open Source DocumentationLynda O'Leary, Scrum Master, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Diving into the world of Git/GitHub and open source projects can be daunting. Git is distributed version control system for software development. GitHub is an open source repository where anyone can view, manage, modify, and store various revisions of projects. Implementing Git and GitHub into your documentation workflow enables collaborate authoring, streamlines processes, and automates your workflow. Documentation is a key software component of successful software, and you should treat documentation like code.

Dissolving Silos with LocalisationDominique Trouche, CEO, WhP

A year ago, we organised a meeting with a large customer we have been working with for 15 years. We were meeting to improve the localisation process. And something amazing happened as we introduced ourselves: the collaborators sitting opposite us exchanged business cards. They came from silos that never met: Engineering, Tech Pubs, Marketing, and Human Resources. This anecdote depicts what we regularly experience with our customers. A localisation project is a good place to start dissolving human and technological silos.

Use Case Battle Scars: How We Created, Refined and Reduced Our Use CasesRobert Mills, Content Strategist, GatherContent

When GatherContent embarked on a redesign of our marketing site, we adopted a research led approach based on customer research and real-life data. One deliverable of the research were use cases. We initially ended up with about 20, far too many to be useful and usable, supported by our metrics. We then had to refine the use cases, focused on overlapping functions and shared nuances. This distilled them to a more manageable number that allowed for organisational-wide buy-in.

Content Transformation: Building a Digital Experience that Supports Your Customers' JourneyAntóin Ó Slatara, Content Architect, Dell EMC, and Gal Oron, CEO, Zoomin Software

The path to a content architecture, workable taxonomy, and digital experience that is reflective and supportive of your customers’ journey may seem daunting and elusive. In this case study, we walk you through the transformation that Dell EMC took to get there.

You will learn about the skills you need to acquire to implement an architecture suitable for a digital world, and how writers can and must adapt to a dynamic and living model. We will demonstrate the resulting documentation portal and how content is tagged behind the scenes to arrive at the desired user experience. You will see actual metrics that validate the approach and provide the data needed to constantly improve in a dynamic environment.


Enhancing the Customer Experience Using Dynamic Content FiltersPaula R. Stern, CEO, WritePoint Ltd.

Dynamic content filters enable users to select what content they wish to view on the fly. Admin users can opt to see only admin-related tasks; Users of version 4.1 can filter content relevant only

to their application version. Users in one country or continent can decide whether they want all the information available, or only that which is relevant to their region. This workshop will offer the benefits, offer examples, and show the results of dynamic content filtering.


Our Role and Responsibility in Information 4.0Ray Gallon, Co-founder, The Transformation Society, and Andy McDonald, Product Manager, TECH’advantage

Since April of 2016, a group of experts has been seeking consensus on what Information 4.0 is, how it impacts people, and how the content industries can deal with it. In this session, we present our results to date, and address some fundamental issues, such as:

• What will machines have taken over by the time content industries are ready?

• What's the best way to manage changes in creation, curation, and governance?

• What is the added value of humans in this scenario?

• How do these things change roles, and what responsibility to communicators have for the results?

Telling the Right Story: Managing Stakeholders to Implement an Integrated Content StrategyAndrea Ames, Enterprise Content Experience Strategist, IBM

Stakeholder management is one of the most important skills—if not THE most important skill—that you can learn to build your professional

eminence. Critical to managing your stakeholders is understanding what they need to know and communicating it to them. Sounds simple, right? Not always. Especially when you are attempting to drive a strategic initiative across silos where you have no direct authority. Influencing the stakeholders across those silos is key! In this session, Andrea will discuss success factors to aim for and derailment factors to avoid when managing stakeholders by telling the right story, in the right way, to the right person.

XaaS: XML Authoring as a ServiceGeorge Bina, Managing Director, Syncro Soft/oXygen XML Editor

In today’s world, we use more and more services. When we start a project, we do it on GitHub; if we want to communicate within that project, we create a Slack channel; to automate some tasks, we set up Travis to run some scripts; to publish content on the web, we can use GitHub Pages; and so on. In this session, we will explore how an XML authoring service can fit into this services world and various possible use cases.


Open Membership Meeting: Web 4.0 ConsortiumRay Gallon, Co-founder, The Transformation Society

Ray Gallon and other content leaders are starting a new Web 4.0 Consortium. Want to know more about it? Stop by this organizational meeting.

The Pit of Despair: Modern Customer ExperienceBrian Herron, Principal Designer & Director, Each&Other

Good sales numbers are sexy, exciting, and headline grabbing. Bent on customer acquisition, companies blast us with weaponised omnichannel marketing to drive those numbers up. But customer satisfaction often plummets after purchase.

This talk is about what happens right after someone clicks “go to checkout.”

Who Cares About Change?Tristan Mitchell, Product Manager, DeltaXML

Content moves around. It passes back and forth between authoring, editing, reviewing, and publishing before ever reaching its intended audience. Each touch point creates change, but often that change is elusive or unknown. In regulated industries such as healthcare, aerospace, and pharmaceuticals, proving that you have control over content change is a vital capability. How can you gain and demonstrate that control and how do you present an audit trail of change to the relevant audiences in an appropriate format?


1230–1315 Lunch

1315–1335 From Filter Failure to Savvy Surfer: Riding the Crest of the Content Tsunami

Stephen WalshCo-founder, Anders Pink

The Economist recently called lifelong learning the new economic imperative. We all know we need to continuously learn. But we also know that courses, corporate learning, and formal education don’t keep pace with change. We need to look to external content to stay smart, engage our audiences, and remain relevant.

Easy to say. Hard to do.

• Three million blog posts were published today.• The Washington Post publishes 1200 articles a day (yes, a day).• Google indexed one trillion articles in 2007; today it has indexed over 30 trillion.

In all that noise, how do you find clear content signals? You could read the Internet every morning. Or do something a little more practical: Fix your filters, curate content intelligently, save time, and stay smarter.

In this session, we’ll look at:

• Why continuous learning matters: for you, your business and the economy• What content curation has to do with it: the business case• How to fix your filters to find, add value, and share meaningful content• How to ride the crest of the content tsunami without wiping out

1345–1645 Hands-on Workshop: Design Thinking Workshop

Diego DaliaService and Information Design Lead, IBM Studios

IBM Design Thinking is a human-centered and collaborative approach that enables people with different backgrounds to work together by using creative tools borrowed from different disciplines to solve complex problems.

IBM Design Thinking integrates business (viability), people (desirability), and technology (feasibility). We keep the main focus on users. We develop empathy for them by putting ourselves in their shoes in order to deliver solutions that are meaningful to them, and that solves their problems and needs.

This half-day workshop will give you an idea of how to tackle challenges by solving problems with a creative, iterative, and practical approach by working in teams and stepping out of your comfort zone.

Join Diego Dalia and his team for this half-day hands-on workshop, in which you will be exposed to the practice of the IBM Design Thinking framework. Diego will share tips on how to organize a workshop, how to facilitate it, and how to get the most out of it.

1900– Closing Social (location TBD)


Speakers

Andrea Ames

Andrea L. Ames, M.S., is a Senior Technical Staff Member and Enterprise Content Experience Strategist, Architect, and Designer on IBM’s Enterprise Content team, where she is responsible for driving broad initiatives to improve integrated content experience. Prior to IBM, Andrea was a content strategy, architecture, and usability consultant, helping large and small businesses to engineer their product development processes to design and create content in ways that enhance product usability, increase and accelerate user productivity, increase product adoption and customer loyalty, and support business and marketing goals.

Andrea has more than 30 years of experience in technical communication. She is a Fellow and past President (2004-2005) of STC, a Distinguished Engineer of the ACM (the first technical communicator to achieve this distinction), a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a member of SWE, ASIS&T, IAI, UPA, and ATTW.

Rhyne Armstrong

Rhyne Armstrong has been a producer, strategist, and manager in the content world for the last 24 years, and hopes to some day figure out what he wants to do when he grows up. He is a Documentation Manager at Cisco Systems, Inc. in the Security Business Unit, and is an Associate Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication. Rhyne lives in Atlanta, and works hard to juggle his day job with his other roles: haunted house designer, stage manager, and soccer/ballet dad.

David Avnon

David Avnon is a Business Analyst at Ex Libris, an information systems specialist, highly experienced in deploying CRM systems, process implementation, content strategy, and data migration.

David has worked in international and multidisciplinary environments. His expertise focusses on process analysis and improvement with strengths steaming from a broad industry perspective and collaborative approach to business.

Currently David is responsible for managing the content implementation of 17 products with over 30,000 associated articles.

Rahel Anne Bailie

Rahel Anne Bailie, Chief Knowledge Office for Scroll, runs the content strategy practice and consults for clients with serious content challenges. She believes that content must be technically fit-for-purpose as well as editorially sound to get the most out of content as a valuable business asset. She blends techniques from multiple disciplines to develop content strategies that have business impact. Rahel also teaches in the Content Strategy Master's Programme at FH-Joanneum, runs the Content, Seriously meetup, and is working on her third industry book: writing content for a structured authoring environment.


Jan Benedictus

Jan Benedictus has been working in structured content since 1996. As founder of web-agency Liones, he has helped many publishers to migrate from paper to online publishing. In 2012, Jan founded FontoXML, web-based XML editor for non-XML experts. He and his team develop and implement structured authoring solutions for many different organisations. Jan is a member of the OASIS Sub Committee (SC) Lightweight DITA.

George Bina

George Bina is one of the founders of Syncro Soft, the company that develops oXygen XML Editor. He has more than 15 years of experience working with XML and related technologies, including XML-related projects, oXygen XML Editor. He has participated in open source projects, the most notable being oNVDL, an open source implementation of the NVDL standard, now merged into Jing and DITA-NG, the Relax NG-based implementation of DITA, which was adopted as reference schema for DITA in DITA 1.3.

Anton Bollen

Anton is an international kid. He was born in Germany, grew up in Switzerland, and moved to the United States at age 15, where he lived for 10 years before finally moving back to Germany in 2010. During the later time in the States, he was already working for TechSmith and responsible for the creation of international training videos for many years. In 2010, he changed gears a bit by moving back to Germany to represent the company on the ground as the European Technology Evangelist. In this role, his focus has shifted away from plain video production and towards customer relations, giving him the unique opportunity to work with external companies to understand and support their plans and needs in regards to their technical video content. As such, “creating effective videos” is something he is truly passionate about.

Fun/nerd fact: Anton can solve the Rubik’s Cube in under two minutes; and he can teach you.

Alan Cropley

Alan is always looking for opportunities to improve efficiency, ways to develop better products and services, and improve options for collaboration. He is an expert project manager with extensive experience across component content management, research management/decision support, and document management systems.

At the UK’s Rail Standards and Safety Board Alan has developed and managed an enterprise content management programme rationalising content development and delivery systems, with a focus on topic based semantic content for delivery to multiple platforms and devices.


Diego Dalia

Diego Dalia is a designer with a background in service and interaction design. He lived, studied, and worked in Italy, China, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, and, since 2015, he has been based in Dublin, where he works at IBM Design as a Service & Interaction Design Lead. During his career, he served in a broad range of roles, designing digital products and services in several sectors, including healthcare, human resources, and the automotive and travel and leisure industries. He is passionate about designing interactions, delivering new experiences to users, and developing new systems for products and services. He holds a Master of Science in Service Design (Politecnico di Milano, Italy), a Master of Science in Design and Innovation (Tongji University, Shanghai, China), and a Professional Doctorate (PdEng) in Interaction Design (Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands).

Diego is a passionate ethnographer and loves travelling. He tries to enrich himself by discovering and learning new things about the places he visits, especially the sociocultural aspects, including music and food.

Diego is actively involved in the Irish UX community, where he co-organizes the monthly Dublin UX meet-up. He co-founded the first UX Camp Dublin (uxcampdublin.com), and is currently working on some new projects, such as the Ireland chapter of the Service Design Network (service-design-network.org), and the collective Design Mentors, which aims to provide free-of-charge mentoring services to designers.

Steffen Frederiksen

Since 1989, Steffen Frederiksen has been working with the creation, management and distribution of structured, reusable business content (operating procedures, business policies, product information, manuals, etc.).

The work included methods, software tools, training workshops and CMS solutions. He has been part of the team managing the training of more than 200,000 writers around the globe, primarily in the financial services, pharma, and other regulated industries.

While working for Information Mapping, Steffen Frederiksen developed the concept of “object-oriented information” as well as the MOM (Mapping Object Model) XML DTDs—some of the work that the DITA standard is built on.

With the objective of bringing the power of structured content to everybody by combining the power of the DITA standard, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Office, he founded DitaExchange in 2001—and has been working here since then.

Ray Gallon

As co-founder of The Transformation Society, Ray Gallon focuses on complexity and technological change. With over 40 years as a communicator in media and technical content industries, Ray has advised companies such as IBM, GE Health Care, Alcatel, 3M, and the OECD.

Ray is a university lecturer and a speaker at events throughout the world. He has contributed articles and chapters to many books and periodicals and is the editor of the recently published Language of Technical Communication (XML Press).


Stefan Gentz

As the Worldwide Evangelist for Technical Communication at Adobe, Stefan Gentz’s mission is to inspire enterprises and technical writers around the world and show how to create compelling technical communication content with the Adobe TCS tools.

Stefan is also a certified Quality Management Professional (TÜV), ISO 9001 / EN 15038 auditor, ISO 31000 Risk Management expert, and Six Sigma Champion.

Stefan is a popular keynote speaker and moderator at conferences such as tekom, tcworld, Information Energy, Intelligent Content Conference, Congility, LocWorld, TCUK, STC, GALA, ELIA, TTT, Translation Forum Russia and many others. He is also a member of the Conference Advisory Board of the world’s biggest TechComm event, the tekom/tcworld Conferences, and member of the iiRDS working group for Intelligent Information. He is also an active social networker on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Christian Gericke

Christian Gericke is the CMO for smartwork solutions and a volunteer for Translators Without Borders—managing the challenge online and offline. He spent the last 25 years in various management positions in the document and information management industry for companies such as Acrolinx, HP, and Exstream Software. Christian has two daughters.

Megan Gilhooly

As Senior Manager Content Management for Amazon seller support, Megan Gilhooly leads the editorial and publishing team for content, assisting sellers on all global Amazon sites. Prior to Amazon, Megan was Director of Information Experience at Ping Identity and, before that, Director of Technical Communications at INVIDI Technologies. Throughout her career, Megan has served as employee and consultant to various software companies, building technical communications products and processes. As a former online retail business owner and Certified Scrum Master, Megan brings a unique perspective to managing information development and communication teams. She has a BA in Speech Communication, an MS in Journalism, an MS in Strategic Management, and a Master’s Certificate in Technical Communication.

Peter Gilliver

With a background in computer engineering and philosophy, Peter Gilliver has more than 20 years in technical communication as a writer, project manager, people manager, information architect, and lecturer. Peter is interested in how writers and UI designers collaborate to define user experience, the application of mindfulness in teams, and ensuring the fundamentals of elegant writing aren’t swamped in the ever-rising tide of tools.

Marie Girard

Marie Girard manages content strategy and architecture for IBM products. She leads unified content strategy efforts through collaboration across silos, content models and audits, and focus on user experience. She teaches technical communication at Paris Diderot University, and keeps investigating how everything interrelates through the practice of yoga.


Joe Girling

Joe Girling's 17 years with Interleaf, Frame Technology and Adobe Systems, combined with his aerospace engineering background, have exposed him to many structured content and long document publishing challenges.

As Commercial Director at Congility, he brings a unique perspective to the dynamic delivery of long content to multiple platforms.

Douglas Gorman

As the long-term CEO of Information Mapping, Douglas Gorman commercialized the foundational cognitive research and structured writing methodology called Information Mapping. As CEO of Information Mapping, he made content and related processes replicable, developed appropriate supporting technology, and brought both structured authoring and technology tools to more than a quarter million people in 43 countries. More recently he has developed tools and a simple approach to letting large organizations achieve content reuse and flexible publishing in an easy and cost-effective way.

Lukasz Gornicki

Three years ago, we started working on a new product based on REST API and microservices infrastructure. I’ve introduced in my company a static site generator (DocPad) and for last 3 years we use it successfully on production, plus we make a lot of contribution to the open source. Also for the last three years, I’m attending various conferences preaching about how to document REST API and how to change technology and the company for Microservices documentation.

Jang Graat

Jang studied physics, psychology, and philosophy before embarking on a career in the high-tech computer industry. In the past three decades, he has worked as a technical author, trainer, consultant and developer. He has delivered countless presentations and training courses to a wide variety of audiences across the globe. He has been using FrameMaker since version 5 and is known as the Frame Tamer.

Brian Herron

Brian Herron is a Director and Principal Designer at Each&Other, an experience design agency that partners with large organisations to transform their businesses. He has lectured on content strategy and design thinking for DIT and UCD, and his client list includes Google, Zurich International, and Vodafone. Each&Other is an employee owned company that operates internationally from an old converted priory in Dublin and works across multiple sectors, including finance, enterprise, tech, and both local and national government.

Ari Hoffman

Ari Hoffman prioritizes customer success at the heart of all business endeavors. As the official Success Fanatic at MindTouch, Hoffman focuses on actionable insights that increase customer success rates while deepening core relationships. Brought in for his collaborative approach to business and his influence in the startup community, he has dramatically expanded and enriched the MindTouch customer/partner base. From Shark Tank to the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest and Dream Big America Challenge, Hoffman has seen it all.


Garry Home

Garry Horne is a highly skilled consultant with over 15 years of experience designing and implementing technical projects in various industries, including banking, finance, and the public sector. He is currently a Technical Sales Consultant for Software, where his daily focus is on helping Global 2000 clients organize and automate the creation, management, and delivery of content across print, web and digital devices. Prior to joining , Garry held positions at Hitec Laboratories, focusing on Governance, Risk and Compliance solutions, Kenexa IBM, and Pegasus Solutions.

Oded Ilan

Even before Oded Ilan had graduated from the university in 1999, he spent four years as a high school teacher. Following graduation, Oded worked in various high-tech industries as a business developer. Getting the message across, creating appealing yet meaningful content and delivering the correct story to the customers has always been a passion of Oded’s. As Iridize’s Chief Marketing Officer, he gets to see, first-hand, how technology helps the training and documentation landscape with a new approach.

Janne Jul Jensen

Janne Jul Jensen is Senior UX Architect with LEGO. She specialises in usability and interaction design, and applies her expertise primarily to the internal systems within LEGO. She is a sought-after speaker by educational institutions, conferences, the public sector, and companies. She also gives courses internally and externally on her topics of expertise and is the founder of the user group Design & Usability, where peers can meet and learn from each other. She is also involved in a steering committee on Women in IT committed to raising the number of women studying within the IT fields.

She has previously worked five years with Trifork A/S, where she designed apps, such as Danske Bank, Bilka, and DSB. Before Trifork, she was a researcher at Aalborg University for seven years, successfully collaborating nationally and internationally with academia and privately held companies on a number of projects, resulting in a number of publications.

Apart from her research, she has taught HCI to undergraduate and graduate students and supervised student projects on these topics. She earned her Ph.D. degree in 2009 and a M.Sc. in Software Engineering in 2003, both from Aalborg University.

Nolwenn Kerzreho

As the Technical Account Manager for IXIASOFT in Europe, Nolwenn Kerzreho works with our partner network and helps customers realize the benefits of structured content, cross-silo collaboration, and DITA content management. An associate teacher at Rennes University, Nolwenn keeps a close eye on the evolving landscape and work environment for the next generation of technical writers.

Marcus Kesseler

After his studies in Computer Science at the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Marcus Kesseler joined Siemens Corporate Research in Munich. From 1992 to 1995, he was assistant professor at the Chair for Artificial Intelligence at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. In 1995, the research topic for his incomplete dissertation became the first SCHEMA product. For 20 years, Marcus Kesseler has been one of the two CEOs and major stakeholders of SCHEMA. He is responsible for R&D and the Solutions department.


Victoria Koster-Lenhardt

Victoria Koster-Lenhardt is a job search and career strategist. She supports expat families living in Central and Eastern Europe by assisting them in finding meaningful work while living overseas. It’s her latest stop in a journey that started with a job in journalism in New York City.

Eric Kuhnen

Eric Kuhnen has more than 20 years of experience in product research, development and management. Eric was most recently responsible for competitive positioning, product marketing, and product management at Astoria Software, GoRemote (acquired by iPass), and Oracle Corporation. Since 1990, he has managed the launch of nine different software products across four different disciplines: on-demand, enterprise, equipment control, and government. Products that he has launched have set sales records in the first years of their operation, and one was awarded 2002 Software Product of the Year by Semiconductor International magazine. he presently manages global operations, product management, pre-sales and marketing for Astoria Software, a division of TransPerfect, Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Brigham Young University.

Phil Lane

Phil Lane has been working for Imprimatur Limited since 2009 with a focus on localisation engineering and technical documentation architecture. His engineering training enables him to analyse systems and structures to identify opportunities for systems’ interaction and process optimisation. Phil is an experienced web developer and a keen advocate of open source technologies and mobile frameworks.

Brian Lanigan

Brian Lanigan is a senior information developer with TWi, a provider of outsourced technical writing, editing, and documentation solutions based in Cork, Ireland. It suits him just fine: a wide range of clients means there’s always something new to learn. In the past, he’s worked as both a technical writer and an advertising copywriter. Different worlds, but there are lots of overlaps.


Chris Lukassen

Chris Lukassen is an innovator. His passion and drive have always gravitated to the creation, development, and introduction of innovative products or services.

He comes from a broad background in both technology and business. This allows him to quickly see opportunities, threats, and accelerators. Typically this means operating on board level, but he is also tech savvy enough to live and breathe every aspect of the product.

His career focused at high-tech companies, such as Thales (Defense), Saab (Maritime and Aviation), and TomTom (Product Management US).

He has also worked at a string of startups like Service2Media (Red Hearing, Fast 500), Be Informed, Obroni, and many others. Some utterly failed, and some became multi-million Internationals. Since 2014, he has been part of the Xebia group and fathering the Innovation Business, coaching and teaching in the ways of Continuous Innovation.

His samurai skills involve active practicing of Judo and Jūjutsu. He trained in Tai Chi in Hong Kong and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu at Gracies in the US. He also trained in Aikido, Karate, Kenpo, Kobudo, Pencak Silat, Jeet Kun Do, and Krav Maga.

Having experienced many styles, he mainly realizes that there is much that he still needs to learn. Perhaps his only developed samurai skill is a willingness to make mistakes and learn. He is very grateful for his teachers that patiently guide him on this path.

Professionally he is usually the teacher or coach and finds that in the teaching there is a lot to be learned. The secret is in doing amazing stuff, which generally attracts the next amazing challenge. Each challenge makes us stronger, more agile, and a better product samurai.

Andy McDonald

Trained as a social psychologist, Andy McDonald has been designing and writing documentation for the oil industry since 1998, and is now Documentation Products manager for Tech Advantage in the Paris area. Having seen methods, norms, and formats come and go, his basic training leads him naturally to concentrate on the people and the end-user requirements.

Robert Mills

As the Content Strategist for GatherContent, Robert Mills is responsible for developing, implementing, measuring, and refining their content strategy. He also collaborates with other content folk as the editor-in-chief of the GatherContent blog. He’s a journalism graduate, ex-BBC audience researcher, and former studio and project manager. Robert is a published author and has written for leading web publications Net Mag, 24 Ways, Smashing Magazine, WebTuts, Shopify, UX Matters, Content Marketing Institute, and UX Booth.

Payal Mistry

Payal is a UX Evangelist with a passion to help businesses identify and create the best-in-class experience for their users through strategic content design, innovative research techniques, and success metric validation. She is an advocate of UCD thinking in creating engaging yet functional designs. Her primer years in software development and eight years in UX play a key role in balancing business, technical, and human aspects of any challenge. Payal currently leads UX design, research and strategy at VSF-Experts, Germany.


Tristan Mitchell

Tristan is DeltaXML’s Product Manager with responsibility for future product direction. Over the last 10 years, his work as a Senior Developer and Solutions Architect for DeltaXML has given him a deep understanding of the products and a passion for helping customers to make the most out of those products. Tristan is also a father of three beautiful girls, a movie-lover, and a keen runner.

Jack Molisani

Jack Molisani is the President of ProSpring Technical Staffing, an employment agency specializing in technical writers and other content professionals: ProSpringStaffing.com. He’s the author of Be the Captain of Your Career: A New Approach to Career Planning and Advancement, which hit #5 on Amazon’s Career and Resume Best Seller list. Jack also produces the LavaCon Conference on Content Strategy and Technical Communication Management, which will be in Dublin in May and Portland this November: www.lavacon.org.

Julian Murfitt

Julian Murfitt is CEO and co-founder of Mekon Ltd., a systems integration and content strategy consultancy. Originally trained as a mechanical engineer, he worked as a solutions architect during the 1980s. In 1990, Julian formed Mekon to capitalize on the growing demand for technical document solutions. He led the development of the first structured (XML) standard for aeronautical information publications (AIPs) used in civil aviation authorities, along with several large civil aviation documentation projects. Julian is active in the S1000D and DITA communities and is a former council member of the Institute for Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC). He was the keynote presenter at DITA Europe 2007 and the 2010 ISTC conference.

Anna Ngu

Anna Ngu is a project manager of the eRules project at EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) in Cologne, Germany, a European agency that, among other tasks, ensures a single regulatory and certification process for its Member States. Previously, Anna worked for the Air Force Institute of Technology in Warsaw, Poland as a business development specialist, dealing with development and management of EU funded projects.

Gal Oron

Gal has proven success in leading and scaling global enterprise software companies. Prior to serving as CEO at Suite Solutions, Gal was a partner in Trigger Partners, an investment company specializing in technology companies in Israel and in Brazil. Before his work at Trigger, Gal led M&A transactions at VERINT (NASDAQ: VRNT), a leader in customer engagement optimization. Previously Gal served for nine years in various executive management positions at Orsus, a pioneer and market leader in the field of Situation Management. Gal served as President of Orsus for four of those years, leading its acquisition by NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE).


Lynda O’Leary

Lynda O’Leary is an enthusiastic professional with over eight years experience in the IT industry. Currently, she is performing a Scrum Master role in a System Team, focusing on Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery. Previously, she worked as a Technical Writer in HPE, where she was responsible for creating user-focused documentation across multiple projects.

Irina Pashina

Irina Pashina is a global expert with more than a decade of experience in content and customer experience. She has driven large content and strategy projects, and guided coworkers and teams in her various roles. Her ability to connect with people across cultures and functional areas has been a key factor for success in multiple fields of B2B marketing and the nonprofit sector. Irina’s passion for people, great customer experience, and content as a connector and differentiator is what makes her run.

Flavien Plouzennec

A former journalist and digital chief editor of the French media group “Nice Matin” for 15 years, Flavien Plouzennec has pivoted towards the growing discipline of User Experience. He has lectured on “Online Journalism Techniques” to news teams throughout France for ESJ-Pro (major postgraduate training school for journalists in France). He now works for the Dublin-based UX agency Xwerx, providing user research and content strategy services for various clients.

Roger Renteria

Roger Renteria helps out on the LavaCon Production Team! Find him running around helping attendees with their technology during the conference. Otherwise, you may encounter him throughout the year via email working to resolve technology and content management.

Antóin Ó Slatara

Antóin Ó Slatara is a Content Architect, Program Manager, and DITA evangelist. In the last 4 years at Dell EMC he has held roles in Information Development Management, Content Development, and more recently as the Lead Content Architect for the Converged Platforms and Solutions Division (CPSD) of Dell EMC. In this role, Antóin is responsible for program management of CPSD's content platform as well as developing the content strategy for CPSD technical content.

Antóin has 18 years of experience in Global Content Development with technology organizations including EMC, IBM, and Nortel Networks.

Paula R. Stern

Paula Stern is the founder and CEO of WritePoint Ltd, a senior technical writer and a long-time Adobe Technical Communications Suite user. She is also the main instructor and designer of the WritePoint Technical Writing Course, presented in both in-class and video formats. Paula is an Adobe Influencer, and has lectured in Israel, Europe, and India. She is also a well-known blogger and help authoring expert.


Dawn Stevens

Dawn Stevens is the new president of Comtech Services. With 27 years of experience, including 16 years at Comtech, Dawn has practical experience in virtually every role within a documentation and training department, including project management, instructional design, writing, editing, and multimedia programming. With both engineering and technical communication degrees, Dawn combines a solid technical foundation with strong writing and design skills to identify and remove the challenges her clients face in producing usable, technical information and training.

Bill Swallow

Bill Swallow, Director of Operations at Scriptorium, specializes in content strategy with an emphasis on handling challenging localization and terminology scenarios. With two decades in technical communication, Bill has extensive experience in technology implementation, localization, and management. His experience on both the client and vendor side of localization has made him (rather painfully) aware of all of the potential pitfalls in content localisation, from technology considerations to workflows to writing practices.

Dominique Trouche

A graduate of a leading French Engineering and IT University, Dominique Trouche has managed several multinational operations. Head of WhP, Dominique strives to make localisation rhyme with innovation. His passion for DITA has led him to position WhP as a specialist in DITA localisation, with outstanding expertise and dedicated solutions to help customers streamline multilingual DITA content management. He is an active member of the DITA community and works closely with the leading CMS providers; he speaks regularly at DITA conferences.

Stephen Walsh

Stephen has over 20 years of experience in learning, content, marketing, and technology. He started his elearning career in the US in the mid 1990s with Roger Schank at Cognitive Arts, building some of the earliest examples of video-driven scenarios for corporate learning. He ran the Chicago team and led the company’s expansion into Europe.

In 2005, he co-founded Kineo in the UK. He designed blended content-driven learning solutions and platforms for clients, including Vodafone, Apple, M&S, and Barclays. He ran sales and marketing, and grew the company to be a global leader in learning content, with teams in Australia, New Zealand, the US, China, Israel, and Sweden. Kineo was acquired by City & Guilds in 2012.

Stephen is a co-founder of Anders Pink, a content curation tool that helps professional teams stay smart and continuously learn about any topic.

Stephen is also a co-owner of BuzzSumo, a data-driven content marketing tool, and is an advisor to multiple learning technology and content companies.

A regular blogger, writer, and speaker on content curation, marketing, learning, and technology, Stephen is honoured to be included in the 2017 elearning movers and shakers list.

Stephen is passionate about continuous learning, content curation, new technology, start-ups, effective marketing, and trying get a little smarter every day.
