On March 24th I was fortunate enough to attend the Annual Conference of the France Chapter of the STC, which was held in Paris. The theme of the conference was Taking Charge of your Career, and I had been invited to speak about e-learning and distance learning for technical communicators, with particular reference to the MA programme in Professional Communications that I participate in teaching at Sheffield Hallam University. I was one of several speakers from outside France who took part in the conference.

There were over 40 people at the conference which was held at an international youth hostel, the FIAP Jean Monnet, in the 14th Arondissement. The morning keynote speaker was Mark Clifford (who needs no introduction to readers of this newsletter!) who spoke about current trends in technical communications. Four round-table sessions followed, with the opportunity for each delegate to attend two different sessions. The themes of these sessions were: moving from translation to technical writing; writing and translating in the financial sector; implementing single sourcing in a technical documentation department; and moving from technical writing to marketing writing.

A full three-course lunch was provided, with wine, naturellement, and delegates had a chance to chat and network. The afternoon keynote address dealt with preparing documents for translation, and was given by Jeannette Eichholz, an STC Senior Member from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This was followed by a panel discussion on education, training and professional development of technical communicators in which I took part. The France Chapter president, Stuart Culshaw, brought the Conference to a formal close. Members of the Chapter then took part in the Chapter's AGM.

I was greatly impressed by this well-organised event, which was marked by a high standard of presentation throughout, and an enthusiastic and engaged audience. The conference also reminded me of the challenges faced by English language technical writers working in a country where the first language is not English, and of the opportunities that come from these circumstances as well.

I only found out when I arrived at the airport on my way home that there had been riots against a new youth labour law in other parts of Paris during the day. Clearly, the delegates at the France Chapter Annual Conference felt that they had found a far more important, interesting, and enjoyable way to spend their day!

For more information see the more detailed report on the France Chapter web site at: www.stcfrance.org/index.php (registration required).