STC’s Technical Communication Summit is the premier conference for technical communication education and networking.
The annual conference attracts over 600 attendees, industry partners, and sponsors during a 3-day period and brings together like minded individuals to grow in their knowledge of the technical communication field.
The Technical Communication Summit & Expo is an in-person event. All Summit activities will be held at the Radisson Blu in Bloomington, MN.
Creating and formally supporting any fully virtual or hybrid meeting of STC’s size is more complicated than using a laptop and locating a Wi-Fi signal. It involves equipping every in-person session room with microphones, speakers, projectors, screens, video cameras, and computers. In addition, a paid technician and additional staffing resources would be needed to run a virtual platform and operate the equipment in each session room. Internet access, which is managed and controlled by a contracted firm at the venue, must also be purchased to wire each room with sufficient bandwidth to host video streaming. The total cost of making the Summit fully hybrid would more than double the cost of a typical Summit, and those costs would be passed along to attendees via increased registration rates. Beyond cost, bandwidth capabilities at the hotel are simply not sufficient to support a virtual conference of our size and STC does not have the personnel or volunteer resources to run two Summit events (in-person and virtual) concurrently.
STC does provide multiple virtual events throughout the year for those individuals interested in online-only professional development opportunities.
Individuals from all over the world and from all different backgrounds attend the STC Summit! And it’s not just technical writers who attend—project managers, consultants, content architects, web managers, professors, students, content strategists, communications professionals, content developers, illustrators, usability managers, policy writers, user advocates, and business owners and consultants are just some of the many people you’ll meet at the Summit.
Yes, all Summit attendees are required to comply with the STC Summit Code of Conduct.
The cancellation and transfer processes are fully described on the Policies page.
The STC Summit is an excellent place to network and collaborate with other practitioners, students, faculty, and researchers working in technical communication and other related fields. Here are some tips for first-time attendees:
- We encourage attendees to stay at the hotel venue to be close to the action all day!
- Connect with your fellow attendees via the #summit channel in Slack.
- Plan to attend all the networking events:
- All the education sessions (you already have something in common with the person sitting next to you).
- Say hello to people during the refreshment breaks.
- Attend all receptions included in your registration.
- Participate in an optional local social event.
- Dress to be comfortable, but remember you’ll be in large meeting rooms with air conditioning. Bring a sweater and/or jacket.
For more details, see the First-Time Attendees page for details.
- Plan your daily schedule and reach out to a few people ahead and schedule a time to meet with them during the conference.
- If you see a company or specialty area of technical communication that you’d like to know more about, you can talk to employees and subject matter experts at the social events or refreshment breaks.
- Connect with your fellow attendees via the #summit channel in Slack.
Every session will have a great quantity of information to share – listen and take notes! If you have a question during a presentation, make a note of it and use it as a conversation starter with the speaker. After or during a session, feel free to tweet about it with the hashtag #STCSummit so others can learn tidbits from the sessions, even if they couldn’t attend.
Yes, attendance at the Summit provides 8 CEUs toward CPTC currency. CEUs apply only to those who are certified; they cannot be counted retroactively.
Most likely, you can. We know that the Project Management Institute (PMI) has approved PDUs for both Summit attendees and speakers in the past. Check with the certifying organization to be sure.
STC is monitoring the guidelines from the the CDC as well as the hotel. STC will provide Summit attendees with a comfortable and safe conference environment. This includes how education session rooms are set, how food and beverage items are served, and the cleaning policies of the hotel. For full Covid-19 considerations and requirements, please refer to the Policies page.