Intro to Technical Writing: Creating Content that Google and Readers will Love

Do you ever find yourself with an itch to write but end up staring at a blank screen until you eventually give up and do something else? We’ve been there, and we’re ready to help you get started.

Work skills

Sharing your expertise with the developer community online through thought-leadership articles and tutorials has many benefits, including becoming known as the go-to expert for a topic, building connections with others who share a passion for your topic, and enhancing your case for a promotion. In this workshop, we’ll guide you through:

Brainstorming and selecting a topic
Optimizing your content for search engines (SEO)
Leveraging best practices as you write your article or tutorial
Reusing your content on other platforms

By the end of this workshop, you will publish an article or tutorial online and have a topic for your next piece.

Notes and comments

Bring a computer that can access the Internet. If you prefer to write on physical paper instead of a computer, also bring your favorite pen and paper.

Agenda:

Day 1

10:00 - 10:15: Welcome, introductions, and the benefits of writing

Selecting a topic

10:15 - 10:35: How to brainstorm topics
10:35 - 10:55: Individual brainstorming
10:55 - 11:15: Partner brainstorming

Researching a topic and making an outline

11:15 - 11:45: How to research a topic and make an outline that optimizes for the reader and SEO
11:45 - 1:00: Lunch
1:00 - 2:00: Research, build/develop code (if necessary), and make an outline
2:00 - 2:30: Partner sharing
2:30 - 2:45: Break

Writing

2:45 - 3:15: Best practices for writing engaging and inclusive content
3:15 - 4:50: Writing

Wrap up

4:50 - 5:00 Recap and plan for tomorrow

Day 2

Editing

10:00 - 10:30: Best practices for editing and review process
10:30 - 11:15: Self-review
11:15 - 12:00: Peer review
12:00 - 1:15: Lunch

Publishing

1:15 - 1:45: Where and how to publish
1:45 - 2:45: Publish article or tutorial
2:45 - 3:00: Break

Promoting & Reusing Content

3:00 - 3:30: Best practices for promoting and reusing content
3:30 - 3:45: Brainstorm how to promote and reuse content
3:45 - 4:05: Partner sharing
4:05 - 4:20: Promote content

Wrap up

4:20: Review and wrap up

Lauren Schaefer

Lauren Hayward Schaefer is a developer advocate at Grammarly. She began her career as a software engineer for IBM, where she held various roles, including full-stack developer, test automation specialist, social media lead, and growth hacking engineer. She went on to be a developer advocate at SugarCRM and MongoDB. She is a keynote speaker who is skilled in taking hard-to-understand topics and making them seem simple. Lauren holds a BS and MS in Computer Science from North Carolina State University and is the co-inventor of fourteen issued United States patents.

Megan Grant

Megan has been writing and editing professionally for nearly 15 years and is also a published author. She works alongside MongoDB's developer advocates and other creators to craft content that shines. Megan got her degree in Communication Studies from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.