Meeting of International Minds

Meeting of International Minds

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Karen Lane, Shuoyl Li, Dan Voss, Jean Conner, Dave Coverston, Priya Sharma, and Loretta Lott Met for an International Discussion.
Submitted by Loretta Lott, Employment Manager
employment@stc-orlando.org

Our chapter had the privilege of hosting a dinner meeting with a fellow technical communicator from Shanghai, China. Our President, Karen Lane, was contacted by Shuoyl Li and he requested an opportunity like to meet with local professionals when he visited Orlando in October 2012. Karen coordinated a date, time, and place with Shuoyl and then made an open invitation to our chapter.

On Thursday, October 11, 2012, Karen, Shuoyl, Dan Voss, Jean Conner, Dave Coverston, and Loretta Lott met for a Chat-n-Chew session to discuss the profession of technical communications. Jean Conner brought her colleague, Priya Sharma. Priya resides in New Delhi, India but was working locally on a temporary assignment.

Shuoyl told us that this was his first visit to the United States. He traveled with his wife (who works for PayPal) and young daughter here for a family vacation. They were doing the worlds (Sea World, Walt Disney World, and Universal Studios) and enjoying every minute of it. He decided to mix a little business with pleasure and that is why he asked to meet us.

Shuoyl told us that he had been doing technical communications for about 10 years. He had worked for two companies, completed an MBA, and recently established his own company (infotech: http://www.info-tech.com.cn/index-en.html). He told us that with the global way of the world he felt that we were all very much the same with the work and approaches we used.

Priya shared her view of her experiences from India to the United States. She said that she enjoyed the less dense population here in Central Florida. Priya is working with Jean Conner whom are both employed by Fiserv. She will continue to work virtually when she returns to India next month. She hails from Delhi, is married, and has two kids. She is not presently a member of the STC-India chapter, but Dan Voss shared that she does know Mak Pandit, an STC colleague of his who was active in the AccessAbility SIG when he was manager.

Until recently, there have been no formal degree programs in technical communication in India; she learned strictly on the job. Jean speaks very highly of Priya’s skills and contributions to the company, and they hate to see her go back to India … although she will remain a colleague via virtual collaborative technical communication.

We all are different, but in the end, we all are really the same.

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