Carol has always worked in the intersection of technical documentation, quality assurance, and instructional design. She celebrated her first poetry publication in a national journal many years ago at the same time she was converting docs to DITA. This sudden confluence woke her to the realization that poetry and tech comm have a surprising number of techniques in common, and that skills in each always improve performance in the other. Since then, she’s had poems published in Boston Accent Lit, California Quarterly, Hawaii Pacific Review, The MacGuffin, Midwest Quarterly, The New York Quarterly, Pudding Magazine, South Dakota Review, The Virginia Normal, and dozens of others. Her essays have appeared in The International Journal of Ethics and Information Technology, in The Journal of Philosophy in the Contemporary World, and in an anthology by Potomac Press. She’s now teaching poetry workshops around the world to help others experience a new way to grow as communicators and connectors.

They Already Sent a Poet, and It’s You!

In the film Contact, astronomer & astronaut Ellie Arroway, awestruck by what she’s witnessing as she travels among the stars, realizes the wonders of the cosmos would’ve been better described by poetry than science, admitting, “They should have sent a poet.”
So it’s fortunate that inside every technical writer a natural poet already lives. On a planet in critical need of the human connection forged through creativity, tech writers already have a unique set of skills that are perfect for composing compelling poems.
These skills are not only transferable between the two genres, but after I make you aware of them, you’ll never unsee them. I’m a Gemini, but no matter what part of the Zodiac you inhabit, you’ve already achieved crossover; when it comes to excellent writing, you are your own twin flame.
But don’t take my word for it. You’re going to walk away from this session with your own poem about LavaCon 2024! You may be selected to read your poem at the Storytelling event, but, in any case, you’ll have a unique conference keepsake & memory you can’t buy in a souvenir store.

In this workshop attendees will learn:

• All the basic techniques you need to create solid, effective free-verse poems.
  
• Knowledge of the surprising similarities between poetry and tech writing, including, but not limited to, structure, brevity, word choice, iteration, tone, and attention to detail.
  
• Examples of two specific historical poetry structures you may not have realized you already know how to write.
  
• (If you’re in a hiring role) A new appreciation of creative writers who apply for tech content roles and the concrete skills they bring to your organization.
  
• Your own first draft of a poem about LavaCon 2025. You’ll be invited to share your poem in the daily newsletter and at the annual Storytelling event during the conference. Sharing is optional, but, in any case, you’ll have a unique conference keepsake & memory you can’t buy in a souvenir store.
  
• Information and resources for how to continue your journey as a poet after the conference.

Use the Force of Your Words: The Jedi Path to Better Content

Co-presented with: Joe Gollner

We were all drawn to our calling by a love of words and a passion for connecting the people using them. We can get back to that love of words by re-engaging our hand at poetry, an inherent skill. Poetry may sound impractical, but it’s quite the opposite. By sharpening our attention to details and to the human side of our audiences, we can bring our organizations back in line with their missions and markets. AI can neither replace nor do without good content, and professional communicators who can call on their inner poets are the only source of good content. We can provide the touchstones that AI is utterly lost without. We’re going to explore why you should bring your inner poet out of hiding, because in the age of the smart machine it’s your secret weapon, and the one thing AI will never eclipse. In a very practical way, the return to the basics of communication that poetry encourages is how we’ll see truth rebuilt and made to be a stronger player in the digital landscape.

In this session, attendees will learn:

That AI is not something to be feared, but harnessed, and this can be done by improving our attention to and use of detail as we observe and connect with our humanity through the expression of an ancient and inherent force, the art of poetry.