Viqui Dill: #STC12 Day Two - Keynote and Opening

Sunday evening at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare and all the Technical Communicators for miles around gather for the Keynote address from Scott Berkun.

STC President Hillary Hart gives some introductory remarks, welcoming us to Chicago for the #STC12 Summit. We are so excited to be here, the sound of 1600 hands clapping fills the huge ballroom.

Steven Jong takes the stage next. We will hear Steve sing on Monday night at the Rough Drafts open jam. He is upbeat because this has been a banner year at the Society. We are psyched. Maybe a little antsy, ready for a great Summit and a great year.

Scott Berkun takes the podium.

Scott is famous for his book The Myths of Innovation .

These are my favorite slides from the evening. Scott is engaging and relevant. He seems accessable, like he thinks he's one of us and doesn't know he's a techno rockstar. I love him immediately.

You should be poked in the eye for saying "Ideation" according to Scott. Also according to Viqui.

Give a small team authority.

Choose people who resist the status quo.

Preach it, my brother!

Yes, I love me some Scott Berkun. I will love him even more on Monday when he hangs around to participate in one of the Lightening Talks. You gotta love a guy who hangs around to be with the fellow geekstas.

And on a parallel track, the Rough Drafts were gearing up for Monday night's jam. Here's a photo of Betsy Maaks arriving at the Hyatt with a load of guitars for tonight's rehearsal.

Betsy Maaks, Viqui, and Rich Maggiani with Betsy's guitar laden Jeep Rubicon

Before rehearsal, we drop into the Red Bar at the Hyatt for some dinner. I have sushi for the second night in a row. This is called a "green dragon" and it was really good. Sushi twice in two days? How lucky am I!