{"id":29,"date":"2019-03-08T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/?p=29"},"modified":"2021-10-15T10:59:07","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T14:59:07","slug":"tech-comm-and-booth-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/2019\/03\/08\/tech-comm-and-booth-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Public: Tech Comm and Booth Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the fourth part in a series on the intersections of technical communication in the tech industry and the academy. Read the series introduction <\/span><\/i>here<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Team 8122 poses with Fiona, a pup up for adoption through their client, Laskey\u2019s Lucky Ones<\/a>, at Georgia Tech’s Fall 2018 Computer Science Junior Design Expo<\/span><\/p>\n

When I gave a talk at <\/span>Monktoberfest 2018<\/span><\/a> on my experiences teaching <\/span>Computer Science Tech Comm at Georgia Tech<\/span><\/a>, I was delighted to see such enthusiastic reactions<\/a> to the public exposition assignment we use in the course. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because the expo assignment (and the accompanying event that we organize to showcase the results) is a relatively new addition to the CS Tech Comm course sequence, it is worth a look into the types of events the assignment emulates, the considerations that went into developing the assignment, and the deliverables that our student teams are expected to develop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tech Conferences and Public Expos<\/span><\/h1>\n

Public expositions are staples at larger tech conferences. Participants in such expos often have varying motivations. Vendors attend primarily to generate interest in their tech, collect information for outbound marketing (often through a system by which attendees allow vendors to scan their conference badges), spark potential sales, and even recruit new talent. Expo attendees will often find themselves on an expo floor in between sessions, keynotes, and meals, as it offers them an opportunity to check out related tech from new vendors and new tech from established vendors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
Entrance to the Expo hall at the 2018 Amazon Web Service re:Invent conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Expo booth fees can be steep, with the larger booth spaces at some conferences costing upwards of $100k. Because vendor booths are competing for the time and attention of expo attendees, vendors must be strategic about how they stage and staff expo booths. Staging can involve banners, monitors, demos, and swag; staffing can vary from sales and marketing personnel to executives to technical resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

When software developers attend tech conferences, their motivation is usually to give talks; attend conference sessions, keynotes, and social events; and participate in certifications or hackathons. However, company support for developer attendance at such conferences is often made contingent on pulling \u201cbooth duty\u201d for their company at the public expo, as most successful booths have technical resources on hand to engage technically-inclined expo attendees. <\/span><\/p>\n

The ability to successfully help staff an expo booth therefore can determine support for conference attendance, which in itself can help shape the career paths of software developers. The public-facing technical communication skills required for booth duty can also help open avenues to additional technical roles such as technical marketing, sales engineering, and even developer relations. For developers who hope to someday found their own companies, such skills can even make or break a business.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adapting the Expo Experience for the Classroom<\/span><\/h1>\n

In Spring 2018, Georgia Tech introduced a public exposition component into its CS Tech Comm & Junior Design course sequence, which is aimed at students who are likely to work in the software industry. As I have outlined in a previous post<\/a>, this course sequence has student teams design and implement a software project (often with a real-world client) over two semesters while also completing corresponding tech comm deliverables.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Prior to the introduction of the expo assignment, student teams finished the second semester of the course sequence with an in-class group presentation. While clients were invited to attend, they rarely did so. Presentation requirements included a verbal introduction to the project, a demonstration of the completed software, and accompanying visual aids such as slides. While there were many advantages to this assignment, students complete a similar presentation at the end of the first semester of the course sequence. Disadvantages of the repeating the assignment at the end of the second semester included 1) lack of client attendance 2) no public visibility 3) repetition of a communicative form already experienced.<\/span><\/p>\n

In seeking out alternatives, my colleagues and I took a look at some of the other events designed to showcase student work on the Georgia Tech campus. While Georgia Tech holds a <\/span>Capstone Design Expo<\/span><\/a>, the College of Computing does not participate in this event for a number of reasons. First, the structure of the courses that participate in the event requires teams to charge clients. Second, the event is based on courses that follow a single-semester capstone model (whereas the CS Tech Comm & Junior Design course sequence was designed explicitly to span two semesters). Third, the presentation poster and demo format used for the event does not align with the types of booth setups common at software industry events. <\/span><\/p>\n

We also did research into what other computer science programs did in terms of public-facing tech comm skills. Our research indicated that presentations are a common feature of computer science capstone courses, with objectives as diverse as soliciting formative peer feedback, serving as an oral defense of project deliverables, and celebrating student work [1]. Types of presentations range from short in-class progress updates to longer, formal in-class presentations to public product demonstrations. Some research [2] argues that public \u201ctech show\u201d style presentations are the most effective \u201cin improving student learning in synthesis, organization, prioritization, and articulation\u201d (426), but indicated problems with deliverable forms such as posters. Our research also found that class assignments that require students to address the needs of various audiences are more effective at translating to communication practices in the workplace [3]. Because the tech show style of presentation also requires students to imagine scenarios and audiences they are likely to encounter in a variety of software industry jobs, an assignment based on a tech show\/public expo style presentation was deemed the best course of action.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on our findings, in Spring 2018 we decided to stage a public capstone exposition specifically for the teams in the CS Tech Comm & Junior Design course sequence, which would require students to produce a set of deliverables specifically intended for public consumption. Our pedagogical goals included:<\/span><\/p>\n