Technical communicators may work in customer support, product development, marketing, multi-functional teams, or are responsible to different departments and competing imperatives. Business skills could be the difference between thriving in an organization and being the first in the layoff line. Technical communicators need to be able to better define and communicate their role within their organizations. Bonni Graham will discuss some sample business objectives of a technical publications department and how technical communicators can contribute to the department's success and prestige within the organization.

About the Speaker

Bonni Graham has spent 16 years as a practicing technical documentor. In 1994, she started Manual Labour, a technical documentation outsource provider. Bonni also works extensively with STC. A senior member, she has been involved in nearly every Region 8 conference, has been a deputy chair for the Annual Conference, has served as a local and international level publications competition judge, and has served as chapter president and newsletter editor. Her most recent STC projects included serving as Director-Sponsor for Region 8 (California, Nevada, Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand). She also teaches technical communication to engineers for the Engineering Department of University of California, Riverside and to other technical communicators for the Technical Communication Certificate program at University of California, San Diego Extension.