PReliminary Announcement: FORUM95

[Tom Warren <TWARREN -at- OSUVM1 -dot- BITNET>]

Here is a preliminary announcement for FORUM95.
FORUM 95


Disappearing Borders:  The Interacting Communication Conference



The fifth Forum conference on technical communication will be
held at

Dortmund, Germany,
13-15 November 1995


A conference for:

 * technical communicators

 * communication researchers

 * industrial trainers

 * communication managers

Short Forum History

1975 Malm , Sweden

The first Forum conference featuring idea market, brainstorming
sessions, a canned information festival and a daily conference
newspaper.

1980 Lillehammer, Norway

The conference with 'more dinner speeches than lectures'.
Consolidating the Forum conference methods.

1985 Helseingor, Denmark

The Preseedings' and 'Postharvest' books introduced. A daily
video journal covering the day's events. Intellectual
smorgasbord, a communication cartoon party, multi-brainstorming
sessions and an information test lab running during the
conference.

1990 Stockhom, Sweden

An exceptional programme including Idea Market, Sort-and-Build
sessions, Superbrain sessions and introducing a New Media room
and a Communicators' Show Room.  Televised 'talk show' and
intellectual Sm rgasbord were present daily.

1995 Dortmund, Germany

The next Forum conference to come.  Be sure not to miss it,
register today to receive further information.

Forum 95 schedule

1994 Spring (March)      Call for papers
     June                Latest News
     September           Final Call for Papers

1995 January / February  Final Registration
                         Preliminary Program
     May                 Second Registration
     July / August       Final Registration
                         Final Program
     November            Forum 95

Program

The central theme of Forum 95 will be:  Disappearing Borders

This theme reflects the central aim of the organising parties to
fill the gaps between

  * technical communication in different countries
  and cultures

  * producers and consumers of technical artifacts

  * writers and other disciplines related to technical
  communication

  * researchers and practitioners in the field of
  technical communication

The program will include traditional Forum-aspects

 * preseedings

 * activators, presenting posters

 * discussion groups network lunches, production groups,
workshops, etc.

as well as conventional congress activities

 * plenary lectures (keynote speakers)

 * paper presentations

First call for activators

You can already now give us an early indication of your interest
in being an activator at Forum 95.  By being an activator you
gain from being able to choose your own subject - a subject with
which others are going to help you develop!  You will also have
an extra day before the conference to meet the other activators
(at no extra cost) and to get acquainted with the conference
methods to be used.

This is what to do: Send us a letter stating the subject you are
interested in (if possible give a short summary).  If you have
prior experience of Forum conferences, please indicate what type
of activation you re most interested in (e.g. idea market,
brainstorming session).  And don't forget the theme of Forum 95:
Disappearing borders.

Request for information

The Interacting Communication Conference

Dortmund, Germany
13-15 November 1995

Yes, please keep me informed about Forum 95

   I am considering presenting a paper
   Possible topic (optional)





Name

Institute or
Organisation

Address





Country

Post Code                 Tel (    )

     Mail to:
     tekom (Forum 95)         Fax to:
     Markelstr. 34            Germany
     D-7000                   +744 650767
     Stuttgart 1
     Germany

The Forum methods...

Idea Market - marketplace for your thoughts

The activity has been very successful at previous Forum
conferences and other meetings, as the result has been a change
from monologue to dialogue.

Each chartkeeper at the Idea Market has a double flip-chart at
their disposal during the session (1-2 hours).  Together with
about 10-15 other chartkeepers, you will be situated in a large
hall where the 'audience' is free to walk around and discuss the
various subjects with the chartkeepers and other participants.

Chartkeepers will often have pre-pared material (headlines,
pictures, graphs, examples, etc) on one flip-chart, and use the
other to supplement this with spontaneous visualisations and
comments received during discussions.

In this way you are likely to take home much more than you bring!

Paper presentations

Especially for those involved in academic research, Forum 95 will
give the opportunity to present projects and results in paper
presentations, followed by intensive discussions.  This way,
Forum 95 offers an excellent opportunity to share research
interests with fellow researchers, but also with practitioners.
After the conference, papers can be submitted for a scientific
anthology, which will be peer reviewed.

Preseedings - the pre-conference thinking

Pre-pared material can be published in the Forum 95 Preseedings.
This publishing service will give the basis for a deeper
discussion at the conference, as the material will be sent to the
participants before the conference takes place.

The material ought to be new, not previously published for large
audience.

Brainstorming sessions - solving your problems?

This is your chance to get technical communicators from all over
the world to help you solve your problems.  Brainstorming
sessions will take place a couple of times during the conference,
and the subjects will be chosen among those suggested in
advance by the participants.

At earlier Forum conferences, brainstorming sessions have shown
themselves to be very effective in shaking up your thoughts and
bringing up new ideas.  Besides, they are usually a lot of fun!
Please let us have your suggestions for brainstorming subjects.

Sort-and-build groups

Some subjects will likely require more time for an in-depth
treatment than available at the Idea Market. We shall be able to
arrange 'sort-and-build' groups that can dig deeper into a
subject.  Such groups can also be gathered to formulate
resolutions on various important aspects of technical
communication, based on the experience and expertise of
colleagues from many countries.

Forum 95 will be organised jointly by four societies for
Technical Communication:

 * IEEE Professional Communication (USA/Canada)
 * ISTC institute for ...... (United Kingdom)
 * STIC-QTD Studiekring voor Technische Informatie en
Communicatie / Quality of Technical Communication (The
Netherlands)
 * tekom Gesellschaft f r technische Kommunikation (Germany)

Forum 95 is supported by INTECOM

The International Council for Technical Communication