My first big STC conference.
As I purge all of my old paperwork and throw three-ring binders into the trash heap, I can't let go of at least a remnant of what I'm purging. Hence the fancy pants scanner and the attention to detail. Surely in my old shit there is something useful for the Apocalypse. If not at least I will still be able to read about ways to compile winhelp.
For example I have 3-ring binders (STILL TO THIS DAY) I must destroy. While 3-ring binders were the standard by which many technical writers both excelled and failed, my only connection is that I rarely made them and mocked them often. I was young, arrogant and full of CD-ROM aspirations.
But that's neither here nor there. My full on obsession for conferences and learning kept me holding on to archaic proceedings as if they were magical. As I try to kill my inner pack rat, I still recognize the importance of respecting the old content and preserving it because it took time and money to put together. Admittedly, there is also solid, relevant content in them too.
Plus, it's not actually saying goodbye.
A few scans and shreds latter I have these items:
STC Reagion 5 Conference 1995
Joann Hackos: Designing & Implementing Online Documentation 1996
The Medium Formerly Known As Print (chortle)
My last STC Conference before disappearing for several years.
Update
I forgot to include this one too:
Information Mapping: Developing Procedures, Policies, & Documentation
Chunk, baby, chunk!
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Sex. Murder. Art. by Slayer
Word Nerd.
[Reply]
mkanderson Reply:
October 29th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Yeah, yeah, whatever.
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Love it! I too have stacks of proceedings, tons of CDs, even program schedules that go back more years than I want to admit. Last summer, I found a trip report I'd done back in 1988 or so, describing what I'd learned at that year's conference. I purge occasionally, but never really enough. I've saved all the badges from STC and other events – not sure if this shows my "passion for the learning opportunities available in our field" or just proves that I'm getting really old:
http://vagabond.blogsome.com/2006/10/27/i-love-badges/
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We all need to purge once in a while… thanks for reminding me
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I too have kept my proceedings, binders and CDs. I even have the little cooler still. I also met my husband at the 1998 STC Conference. I guess I kept an attendee!
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Reading this during a break while cleaning up (and throwing out) old papers. You, sir, have given me the courage to throw away print copies of nice VBA macro snippets I thought I would need again some day.. (Don't ask why I bothered printing them in the first place. We've all made mistakes in the past…)
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