FREE International Consulting Advice!!!

[Nancy Hoft <nhoft -at- WORLD-READY -dot- COM>]

(My apologies in advance to anyone who receives a duplicate of this
email due to cross-postings!)

Hello Everyone,

I am pleased to announce that I will teach workshop and a
post-conference seminar for the STC Annual Conference this year.  The
workshop is entitled Cases in International Technical Communication.
The seminar is entitled Preparing World-Ready Information Products.

I write to you today to tell you that I'm in need of some new cases.

Last year, I sent this CALL FOR CASES out and got some superb
responses.  To see for yourself, go to http://www.world-ready.com.

The cases teach the relationship among int'l business strategies,
culture, and technical communication.  They were very popular and
well received when I used them last year.  Since then, I've learned
that several college faculty are using the cases to teach courses in
international technical communication and related topics.  They're
great learning tools.  Also, I've gotten many emails from
practitioners worldwide who are using the cases and their many
solutions (available at the URL listed above) to solve similar
problems in their own organization.  I mention these facts to urge
you to consider that your participation here has benefits that are
not limited to helping your peers at the STC Annual Conference.

I'm writing to find out if any of you work in technical publications
departments or translation firms that would interested in being the
subjects of two to four new case studies I'd like include in my
participation at this years STC's Annual Conference.  In exchange,
your technical publications department will benefit from the
collective wisdom of the teams that work on your case. Hence, FREE
international consulting advice!!!

As an added incentive, I will donate a book on int'l technical
communication and to which I've contributed to those firms whose
cases I choose.  You choose the book.  See
http://www.world-ready.com/books.htm for a list of books.

I hope to have the teams that work on your case prepare a
report of some kind that we'll share with you for your benefit and
that of the seminar participants.  You can look at last year's
participant responses at:
http://www.world-ready.com/cases/studsols.htm.  (See the disclaimer
at the end of this message for additional information.)

I'd like to invite you to consider contacting me if your publications
team is struggling with international issues of any kind.  Your team
does not need to be based in the U.S.  I'd prefer to hear from people
who will NOT be at the post-conference seminar, but this isn't a
requirement.

FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO ANYONE WHO
MIGHT BE INTERESTED OR TO ANY RELEVANT EMAIL LIST.

Here are some ideas for the types of situations I'm looking for, but
I'll consider all others:

- Your management wants you to start working with
translators and  thinking about localization/international issues.
However, your publications team is new to international technical
communication and you don't know how to get started.

- Your publications team has experience creating international
technical communication, working with translators and other partners
on international projects.  However, you are currently having
trouble working with your translators, your localization partners,
your subsidiaries, or the international managers in your company.

- You are a translation firm and are having difficulty working with
the technical publications department at the client company.

- You are an internationalization consultant. Your client, a
technical publications department, isn't taking your advice.

If you are interested, give me a call or send me an email (contact
information is in the signature of this email message). We'll
arrange a time for a telephone interview (and possibly others as
necessary). I will assume that you will clear your participation in
this project with the appropriate management before contacting me.
I'd like to hear from you soon.

I think the effort will be well worth your time.  I've taught the
seminar about a dozen times all over the U.S. and can only say that
the collective wisdom and experience of the participants has been
extraordinary.  Don't miss out on a great opportunity!

Note that I cannot guarantee that I will choose your case, since
I'll be carefully screening the responses I get for their relevance
to my teaching objectives. I will honor and guarantee all corporate
privacy issues (confidentiality of company and client names).  We can
negotiate other privacy issues as necessary.

I'd also like to post your case to the cases section of my Web site,
where I include bulletin board functionality to encourage yet more
feedback on a case solution from around the world.  (I respect all
confidentiality agreements.)

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the case solutions on my Web
site are those of the participants at my STC post-conference seminar
last year. Any opinions on current and future cases associated with
this project do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policy, or
attitude of the Society for Technical Communication.

Hope to hear from you!

Cheers, Nancy

N A N C Y   H O F T
Ph.D. Student, Rhetoric and Technical Communication
Michigan Technological University
PHONE: +1 906/482.5658  FAX: +1 906/482.0019
SMAIL: P.O. Box 155, Houghton, MI 49931-0155 USA
EMAIL: mailto:nlhoft -at- mtu -dot- edu -or- mailto:nhoft -at- world-ready -dot- com
WEB:   http://www.world-ready.com