Intro to Technical Writing: Creating Content that Google and Readers will Love
Do you ever find yourself with an itch to write but end up staring at a blank screen until you eventually give up and do something else? We’ve been there, and we’re ready to help you get started.
Sharing your expertise with the developer community online through thought-leadership articles and tutorials has many benefits, including becoming known as the go-to expert for a topic, building connections with others who share a passion for your topic, and enhancing your case for a promotion. In this workshop, we’ll guide you through:
- Brainstorming and selecting a topic
- Optimizing your content for search engines (SEO)
- Leveraging best practices as you write your article or tutorial
- Reusing your content on other platforms
By the end of this workshop, you will publish an article or tutorial online and have a topic for your next piece.
Notes and comments
Bring a computer that can access the Internet. If you prefer to write on physical paper instead of a computer, also bring your favorite pen and paper.
Agenda:
Day 1
10:00 - 10:15: Welcome, introductions, and the benefits of writing
Selecting a topic
10:15 - 10:35: How to brainstorm topics
10:35 - 10:55: Individual brainstorming
10:55 - 11:15: Partner brainstorming
Researching a topic and making an outline
11:15 - 11:45: How to research a topic and make an outline that optimizes for the reader and SEO
11:45 - 1:00: Lunch
1:00 - 2:00: Research, build/develop code (if necessary), and make an outline
2:00 - 2:30: Partner sharing
2:30 - 2:45: Break
Writing
2:45 - 3:15: Best practices for writing engaging and inclusive content
3:15 - 4:50: Writing
Wrap up
4:50 - 5:00 Recap and plan for tomorrow
Day 2
Editing
10:00 - 10:30: Best practices for editing and review process
10:30 - 11:15: Self-review
11:15 - 12:00: Peer review
12:00 - 1:15: Lunch
Publishing
1:15 - 1:45: Where and how to publish
1:45 - 2:45: Publish article or tutorial
2:45 - 3:00: Break
Promoting & Reusing Content
3:00 - 3:30: Best practices for promoting and reusing content
3:30 - 3:45: Brainstorm how to promote and reuse content
3:45 - 4:05: Partner sharing
4:05 - 4:20: Promote content
Wrap up
4:20: Review and wrap up
Lauren Hayward Schaefer is a developer advocate at Grammarly. She began her career as a software engineer for IBM, where she held various roles, including full-stack developer, test automation specialist, social media lead, and growth hacking engineer. She went on to be a developer advocate at SugarCRM and MongoDB. She is a keynote speaker who is skilled in taking hard-to-understand topics and making them seem simple. Lauren holds a BS and MS in Computer Science from North Carolina State University and is the co-inventor of fourteen issued United States patents.
Megan has been writing and editing professionally for nearly 15 years and is also a published author. She works alongside MongoDB's developer advocates and other creators to craft content that shines. Megan got her degree in Communication Studies from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.