Notes from Trends '98 Conference
Orlando, Florida, October 2, 1998

Keynote Address: Trends

Mark Hanigan
STC 2nd Vice President

Note: The ill-fated presenter had to display great dexterity afoot, having to recover from catastrophic laptop failure at the outset of his presentation. The inimitable Hanigan was up to the challenge, however. He became his own visual aids as only he could do--using charades to act out his slides until the technical support folks were able to get him up and running. ("Now imagine this really cool slide with a turtle skiing down a hill on his shell...") If you know Mark, you get the picture!

• One major trend is the globalization of the marketplace and, with it, the technical communication profession. As word merchants, we need to be very careful when we ply our trade in the international marketplace. In witness whereof, Hanigan cited 5 examples of well-intended translations that ran afoul of idiomatic idiosyncrasies:
   
1. A milk ad that attempted to translate "Are You into Milk?" into Spanish wound up asking Mexican consumers "Are You Lactating?"
2. A Swedish vacuum cleaner ad didn't quite make it into English the way its originators intended: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux!"
3. An account of a papal visit to a Spanish-speaking nation came out, "I saw the potato." Only gender differentiates the Spanish words for potato and pope.
4. Pepsi's "Come Alive" slogan came over into Chinese as "It Brings Your Ancestors Back to Life." How gruesome.
5. And Parker Pen reassured its Spanish-speaking audience that its products "won't leak into your pocket and impregnate you." They meant "embarrass." The ad certainly accomplished that!
• Hanigan defined "trends" as a "general tendency or inclination."
• As new trends continue to emerge, the only constant is change.
• He defined "futurism" as "of, characterized by, or expressing a vision of the future; being ahead of the times, innovative and visionary." By that definition, we all must be futurists if we are to survive professionally.
• Some contradictions are inherent in futurism:
   
• We are becoming a global community, yet national borders keep shrinking through Balkanization.
• We are experiencing cultural homogenization that would appear to augur well for ultimate world peace, yet ethnic-driven armed conflicts continue to abound the world over.
• Communication technology is advancing at a dizzying pace, yet the basic reading and writing skills of the population continue to tail off at an alarming rate. Will the ever-accelerating drive toward visual communication leave us a nation/world of illiterates? Hanigan referred to this rather disturbing phenomenon as "techno-poverty."
• These trends have definitely affected technical communication as a profession.
   
• Graphics and visual communication are becoming increasingly critical.
• Technical communicators are often called upon to simplify technical material into terms lay people can understand.
• We do have control (at least to some degree) of some of the trends in our lives:
   
• Our home and personal lives
• Our professional lives
• Our STC lives... Hanigan stressed that we are the communication experts, and that we can use networking to leverage that expertise.
• As STC president-elect for Y2K, Hanigan is already seeking grist for what he terms his "STC Idea Mill." Some thoughts:
   
• Conferences
   
• Establish listserve for conference coordinators to leverage everyone's experience
• Revitalize STC's seminars program
• Establish an at-cost day-care center at the international conference
• Chapters
   
• Set up STC "barter system" whereby chapters can swap resources
• Set up a sister chapter program, pairing large and small chapters and U.S. and international chapters
• Encourage interchapter visits by members during business/personal travel
• Education
   
• Establish a virtual mentoring program
• Serve as a clearinghouse
to pair industry and academe in setting up internship programs, conducting usability testing, and other initiatives--creating a win-win partnership where companies provide capital resources in return for a tax write-off and first crack at the "cream of the crop" for potential hires, and universities benefit from improved resources and educational opportunities while providing low-cost but highly motivated labor to the companies.

Note: Mark is wide open to suggestions. Send him your ideas via e-mail at onwritetrk@aol.com. He will also send you a copy of the ill-fated -- but excellent! -- PowerPoint presentation that got stuck within his laptop at the conference.