Straight from the Assistant Organizer's Desk

Dear Readers,

At the very outset let me wish one and all seasons greets for a fantastic Xmas and a prosperous 2008. Don't forget to invite me for the new year party :) I promise I am going to behave well :)

Coming back to the subject this is the time of the year when I usually look back at the activities that Bangalore Technical Writers Meetup carried out for the year 2007. Trust me, we had lots of sessions and activities this year. But I'll keep the email short and crisp as some usability guru opined, "write less, illustrate more".

Let me begin: we had 9 sessions in the year 2007, and the topics covered were as usual varied and interesting. Topics right from "API Documentation" to "English Grammar" and "HTML Programming" to "Comics in Tech documentation" were discussed. We also had tools session on FrameMaker and Epic Editor.

This year also witnessed an association in the form of premier Society for Technical Communication- India Chapter getting associated with the Bangalore Technical Writers Meetup. STC India sponsors the Bangalore Technical Writers Meetup now.

We at the meetup have had always tried to spread technical communication knowledge to various quarters and have not limited ourselves to just corporate offices and institutes. I am glad to announce that we are getting invites from certain colleges to organize technical writing sessions at their premises. Incredibly encouraging.

Networking still seems to be a rage in the meetup, and this month we saw a turn around of more than 50 plus people. That's great! Also, considering that the meetup membership list has grown upto 652 (till last count), the day is near when we will touch the magic mark of 1000 :)

I still get queries as to the registration amount of the Bangalore Technical Writers Meetup. Let me clarify here: This Bangalore Technical Writers meetup is absolutely FREE and no registration charges are required for participation. This is something that we organizers have always maintained, and we will unless and until we have some unavoidable circumstances to face. So, feel free to just walk in anytime at the meetup, and we won't mind having a coffee with you :)

I also look forward to have you as a speaker for the meetup. If you have any interesting topic to speak on (pertaining to technical writing), just send across an email to me and CC it to Saravanan ( sara.techwrit@gmail.com) preferably before the 5th of every month, and we will be delighted to have that as an agenda for the meetup. However, please see that you give me some time to organize the sessions. I am sure you agree to it, meetup takes a bit of time :)

This email is incomplete if I forget to mention the constant support that we received from the entire technical writing fraternity, and trust me we are more than delighted. Couple of you suggested that the meetup should take some initiative to make younger generation more aware about Technical writing as Career, How to be prepared and how they can move on. Well, we will keep that in mind, and will organize sessions soon on that.

Looks like I have made quite a few sleepy by now :) Anyway, thanks for your constant encouragement.

This is your Bangalore Technical Writers Meetup. Make it the best.

Once again Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!