Just one month until we gather in Portland, Oregon! 
If you’ve been to Portland, where are your favorite places to visit or explore?
View our latest blog on how to join our Slack channel, Writing Day submissions, participating in the conference, and more.
https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2025/news/one-month-out/
Collaborate with other documentarians on day one of our Portland Conference: Writing Day! This is your chance to contribute to open-source projects, improve documentation, and connect with fellow documentarians.
Submit your project in advance! As always, attendees have the option to bring a project, sign up on site, and announce it during Writing Day.
Submit your Writing Day project by 4/23 to be included on the website: https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2025/writing-day/
Currently documenting: custom fields in GitLab issues, epics, etc. I don't think this screenshot would pass peer review 
Our final (free) Docs in Discussion call is tomorrow at 12:00 pm PST! Grab your spot and get ready to hear from speaker Jodie Landes and conference host Joe Meersman. You’ll learn about Jodie’s background, why they’re excited about the conference, and get a view into Jodie’s talk, “Unifying Documentation: A Tale of Two Security Giants”.
Register at https://ti.to/writethedocs/write-the-docs-portland-2025/with/free-livestream
Ready to harness the power of the Kraken to your advantage? 
In this talk, Ravind Kumar will explore lessons learned from building and maintaining custom docs toolchains, tackling single sourcing, cross-referencing, and other challenges. Ravind will dive into whether to put our Krakens into retirement or build new ways to problem solve.
In the world of technical documentation, merging two established systems is no small feat. Jodie Landes will share insights on how they launched a unified documentation platform and showcase how a Docs as Code approach can successfully scale to meet enterprise needs. 
Jode will also be our final Docs in Discussion speaker on April 1!
Heather Zoppetti will share how an unconventional career path-spanning from software engineer to knitwear design to technical writing—can be a powerful asset. Learn how embracing your unconventional experiences can shape a career you love and offer unique perspectives in technical communication.
Learn more: https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2025/speakers/#speaker-heather-zoppetti-knitting-together-a-technical-writing-career-heather-zoppetti
#writethedocs
See you at today’s Docs in Discussion call at 12:00 pm PST with Portland conference speakers Manny Silva, Alex Garnett, and host Joe Meersman!
Register: https://ti.to/writethedocs/write-the-docs-portland-2025/with/free-livestream
Can’t make it? Join the final virtual discussion with Jodie Landes on April 1st at 12:00 pm PST.
What happens when your documentation is public, and anyone can contribute? 
Colin Loretz will share how Discord's developer docs aren’t just written for the community—they're written with the community. By opening up documentation to public contributions, Discord has created a collaborative ecosystem that improves accuracy, speeds up updates, and fosters a sense of ownership among developers.
Today’s virtual “Docs in Discussion: Speaker Series” discussion is at 12:00 pm PST with speaker Stephanie Fuller and host Joe Meersman! Join fellow documentarians and get a view into Stephanie’s talk, experience, and why she’s excited about the conference.
Can’t make this one? Join us next week on March 24th, at the same time.
Register for the free virtual discussions at https://ti.to/writethedocs/write-the-docs-portland-2025/with/free-livestream.
This ticket gives you access to all three discussions.
Relying solely on doc metrics and sporadic customer feedback fails to provide a full picture of how to improve your documentation. Yanjie Nieu will identify a framework for support and documentation teams to establish a collaborative rhythm and find actionable strategies to transform your documentation process.
This article about 'invalidating management styles' really resonates with me as I recently have had a year where any initiative that I showed (and there were many) was met by a manager who said ' that is not what we need' or 'our engineers won't like that' or the other myriad problems he can find with my initiative. The worst response was 'there's too much of you in it' (translation: they don't want me to present, but he can present).
I ended up being out of ideas and miserable. All along I was networking within the organisation and found a secondment with another team. On the 1st morning a depressing weight lifted off my shoulders. I never expect perfection in others, but I love this team and its managers. We even have lunch together at least once a week because we enjoy each other's company .
#TechnicalWriting #WriteTheDocs
Wondering how to navigate the chaos of an outdated, disorganized Docs-as-Code repository and bring order to the documentation shipwreck? Stephanie Fuller's talk will explore how to prioritize fixes, maintain new documentation, and implement sustainable processes - no matter how small your team is.
Stephanie will also be a part of our first Docs in Discussion: Speaker Series virtual panel on March 18 at 12pm PST.
Learn more about Stephanie’s talk: https://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2025/speakers/#speaker-stephanie-fuller-writing-the-shipwreck-stephanie-fuller
Prepare to dive into the unique challenges of writing for the medical device industry, where regulations, standards, and international requirements shape every aspect of documentation. Holly Mickelson’s talk will explore key regulatory challenges, from classification systems to cybersecurity, and offer strategies for navigating highly regulated markets with confidence.
Want a taste of what’s to come at our Portland conference in May? We’re hosting three pre-conference discussion with a few of our speakers, on March 18, 24, and April 1 at 12pm PST. Hosted by Joe Meersman, these virtual discussions offer a chance to listen to our speakers, hear about their background, and get a small preview of their speaker talk.
Our first discussion will be with Stephanie Fuller on March 18.
Get your free ticket at https://ti.to/writethedocs/write-the-docs-portland-2025/with/free-livestream #WriteTheDocs
Pulling back the moderation curtain a little bit with notes on how I ask people to correct their behavior, as a volunteer chat moderator for #WriteTheDocs https://ddbeck.com/notes/moderation-notice-checklist/
Another day in the life of a documentarian. #writethedocs #techcomm
What about tech writers, Mr. Stephenson? "All technical devices require documentation […], but this stuff can only be written by the techies who are doing the actual product development, and they absolutely hate it, always put the dox question off to the very last minute. Then they type up some material […], run it off on the laser printer, send the departmental secretary out for a cheap binder, and that's that." Snow Crash, ch. 48
Enjoyed PyCascades? Check out another single track conference with great speakers (and organizers) in Portland
We are excited to announce the speakers for the 2025 Portland Conference! 
Each year, we strive to bring a diverse array of voices and topics that cover practical, philosophical, and technical ideas – with a sprinkle of whimsy :)
View the full list:
writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2025/news/announcing-speakers/
May 4-6, 2025
