re: If you had only 1 hour to learn onscreen editing...

["technical writing plus" <doc-x -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

Yesterday I replied onlist, however, my reply was not really a direct answer
to a direct question. Here is a more direct response. I'm posting it to the
list for the benefit of others; Geoff Hart has already seen this. Jim Jones

Here is a possible approach (but I do not have much experience in onscreen
editing).

1 - What salient things differentiate onscreen editing from the on-paper
editing that we all know so well?

2 - What are some things to be aware of as you actually edit a document
onscreen? (4 to 10 specific things).

3 - Give the audience a specific routine or program - for example, the
'four-step implementation process' from ch 18 of your book (but I have not
read the book so I do not really know).

Let's say that you have 55 minutes. I'd say to use a good 10 to 15 minutes
of that time (a good chunk) to properly introduce yourself and the topic.
Motivate them for your three points that will be coming in the next few
minutes. You are leading them, because you are the expert and you are the
one STC has hired to present the stuff. 

Then 'bang bang' you enter the three point period. Give them something like
10 minutes for the first, 15 minutes for the second, and 20 minutes for the
third. 

I don't know if you will be able to have a short (2 - 3 minute) Q & A at the
end, but work one in if you can. 

(from yesterday)

'... all that anyone else can give you - an approach, a method, a strategy,
for communicating the stuff that you need to communicate. How you package up
all of the relevant information, and how you rate the information (as to
relevance) is entirely up to you. 

Of course you are not going to teach them everything there is to know about
that topic in that timeframe. You've got to begin the presentation, I'd say,
by telling the audience that you're only going to be giving them a short
overview in the next 50 minutes. 

That opening statement will serve as a kind of navigational aid in their
minds - they'll refer to it mentally as you present the stuff. It should
help them understand. 

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